“Like a massive beach covered in dirty sand. A great big, dirty beach,” Anders offered.
“The biggest expanse of nothing you could ever imagine,” said Borman. “A vast, lonely, forbidding expanse of nothing.”
“It looks like plaster of Paris,” said Lovell. “Parts of it — the far side especially — were like some sort of ancient war zone. Craters layered upon craters. Billions of years of bombardment have torn the surface to shreds, yet it was incredibly beautiful. It was a privilege to be the first men out there. But at the same time…”
“We felt awful small floating around out there in our little tin can,” said Borman, finishing Lovell’s sentence.
“No doubt, no doubt,” said Menzel. “I think it’s remarkable that you men were willing to put your lives on the line like that.”
“That’s why we train hard — to minimise the risks,” said Borman.
“On the other hand, nothing gets done in this world without taking a few chances,” said Anders. “But, you know, to me the most remarkable thing we saw out there was the Earth. We went all that way to discover the Moon, and in the end what we really discovered was the Earth. You wait until you see the photos I took, they’ll knock your socks off.”
“Photos. Yes. I look forward to that,” said Menzel.
“Nothing will ever be the same,” said Anders. “I feel as if what we’ve achieved will make me question everything from now on. It makes me think mankind can do anything we set our minds to.”
The others didn’t quite know how to respond to Anders’ declaration, although it seemed a suitably grand summation of their endeavours. They had beaten the Soviets to the Moon. They had taken a great leap toward their ultimate destination and their experience and success would mean in a few short months their fellow astronauts, perhaps even one of them, would go all the way to the lunar surface, meeting the deadline President Kennedy had set all those years ago.
“So what can we do for you, doctor?” Lovell asked Menzel.
“Right. Yes.” Menzel sat himself down and opened the topmost folder in his stack of material.
“I have come to give you an early heads-up on a report that is about to be handed to the Air Force. It concerns two of you directly in that it examines an incident that occurred during your journey on Gemini VII.”
“The bogey,” said Borman, nodding his head.
“This would be the Condon committee report,” said Lovell.
“Precisely, Captain Lovell. I have the advance copy of the committee’s findings with me. It hasn’t been formally handed over just yet and it certainly hasn’t been made public. But when it does, it is going to get a lot of attention. Suffice to say, it will shift the ground significantly in relation to the way the Government and the military deal with the topic of UFOs.”
“A shift you say?” asked Anders, eyebrow raised.
Borman and Lovell exchanged a knowing glance.
Lovell shuffled forward in his seat. “Are you telling us the Condon report is going to acknowledge the presence of visitors from outer space?”
Menzel sniffed at the astronaut’s choice of words. “Actually, I mean precisely the opposite. The Condon committee will conclude unequivocally that there is no evidence of anything non-terrestrial or unexplainable in any so-called UFO sighting thus far recorded.
“We, that is, they will be recommending to the Air Force that it should give up its official investigation known as Project Blue Book, that there is no advance in science to be gained from such an investigation and that there almost surely never will be.”
Lovell sat back in his chair. “But what about what Frank and I saw up there? That was no rocket booster, I’ll tell you that right now. It was not space debris. I don’t know what it was, but…”
Menzel held up his hand. “Captain, please. I mean you no disrespect. I hold every one of you in great esteem. I know you are brave men of science and exploration. Don’t misunderstand me. I think it is very possible that intelligent life, perhaps more intelligent than we are, may exist somewhere in the vast reaches of outer space. But it is the vastness of space that complicates this issue. The distances are almost inconceivable. It took you, what, three days to travel from here to the Moon? And you covered that distance at thousands of miles per hour. Do you have any idea of the distance between us and the nearest star around which there might be orbiting a planet with just the right conditions to support life? What you saw up there while you were orbiting the Earth was a military satellite. A top secret satellite whose position is unknown to civilian authorities lacking the proper clearance.”
Lovell turned to Borman and then looked back at Menzel. “Under whose authority are you here today, Dr Menzel? Because I’m not exactly sure you have the military clearance for us to be speaking to you about these matters — no disrespect.”
“Mr Lovell, it might surprise you to learn that I have Navy Top Secret Ultra clearance. How do you think I came to be here today? You must hold nothing back.”
“So the Condon committee report aims to discredit all the anomalous sightings and even the most credible of eyewitness accounts?” queried Anders. “Because let me tell you, there have been more than a few I’ve heard that are enough to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.”
“Gordo Cooper’s sighting springs to mind,” said Lovell. “Surely you’ve heard of it, Dr Menzel — at Edwards Air Force base back in ’57.”
Menzel nodded. “I’m familiar with it, yes. There is a perfectly rational explanation for that sighting. For reasons of national security, it was not on the Condon committee’s list for examination.”
Lovell was incredulous. “They ignored it?”
“Nobody’s ignoring anything. They didn’t need to see it. See, you have to understand something, gentlemen.” Menzel’s tone was colder than steel. “When this report is handed down, the scientific community will be as one in its view on this topic. In a nutshelclass="underline" you cannot be a scientist and believe in UFOs.”
The astronauts looked warily at one another, each thinking the same thing. What they had seen on the far side of the Moon could not be blithely dismissed as space junk or a rogue military satellite. The object that appeared just metres from their window dramatically changed speed in order to match the velocity of Apollo 8: it was no random act. They watched it disappear into outer space at something approaching the speed of light.
“Let me tell you something,” Anders began.
Borman held up his hand to stop him. “That’s enough, Bill.”
Anders opened his mouth to object but read the look in his commander’s eyes and closed it again.
“I’m telling you this,” said Menzel, “because I know there has been a lot of chatter inside the astronaut program about the things you’ve seen, or should I say the things you think you’ve seen.”
“Chatter?” spat Lovell.
“Let me make myself perfectly clear. I am making it my mission to tear down any semblance of credibility this lurid topic has gained from the interest and input of high-profile people such as yourselves. If that means destroying a few reputations, then so be it.
“But it is my sincere hope that matters do not need to be taken to the extreme. What I’m saying to you — and I really want you to hear this — is that you need to be on the right side of this argument, because the fight is over. If not, you risk embarrassing yourselves and, more critically, undermining the space program. And that, gentlemen, is simply not acceptable.”
Menzel stood up as if to punctuate his statement. For a moment, Borman thought he was preparing to leave, but Menzel was a long way from done. He merely walked slowly toward the breakfast buffet and poured himself a cup of coffee.