Peter reflected on the night he snooped around Chris’s office and covertly learned of his computer password, Anne. By her reaction, his gut told him his suspicions about the password referring to his mother might be correct. “Mom, was there anything going on between you and Chris?”
Anne became defensive and shot him a harsh look. “What? Why would you ask that?”
“I found out Chris’s password for his computer was Anne. It always bugged me, wondering if it was somehow linked to you.”
Anne got up, went over to the couch, sitting next to Peter. “You remember that top secret thing I told you about, that your dad was working on at NASA?”
“Yeah.”
“Chris was never a part of it, but somehow he got wind of something related to it. According to your dad, the man had his facts wrong. Anyway, Chris tried to use that against your dad. He also tried to take advantage of me, using the information as a threat.” His mother lowered her eyes to the floor. “I was very confused at the time.”
Not wanting to know the specifics, Peter put his arm around his mother. “Mom, Chris was an asshole.” Cowboy boots hitting the tile floor interrupted Peter. He turned.
Anya entered, wearing black jeans and a tight blue shirt, her bright smile lighting up the room. “Are we ready?”
Peter straightened up. “Sure.”
Anya bent down and lifted her son out of the play saucer. She felt his diaper. “Oops, someone needs a diaper change.” She looked at Peter. “Let me do this real quick.”
“No problem.” As Anya left with their son, Peter turned back to his mom. He was curious if the parts he was about to inspect might also be tied into Chris. “Were the pictures I found in Dad’s safe at all related to this information Chris thought he knew?”
His mom let out a deep sigh. “I’m not sure. I never learned the full details. I got the impression your dad never opened up because he was trying to protect me. The information was that sensitive and top secret.”
“Anya and I are going to inspect an F-1 engine from a Saturn V rocket, brought up from the ocean floor earlier this morning. I was sent a picture of a part that looked very similar to the hardware found in the pictures Dad kept, even having comparable markings.”
Anne’s eyes widened. “Oh no.” She looked out the window for a moment before gradually turning her head back. “What little bit I do know is that critical pieces of evidence were supposedly buried deep in the ocean. Your dad slipped once, saying the Atlantic. He was assured the parts would never be found. I always suspected the ‘evidence’ was probably on his rocket, and the pictures in his safe were kept as proof to verify his side of the story, if needed.”
Peter leaned back on the couch as he rubbed his chin. Things were getting very interesting. He was definitely happy to be the first to see the engine with investigative carte blanche. Regardless of what he found, he was going to protect his dad’s legacy.
2
INSPECTION
An enormous cruise ship leaving Port Canaveral blew its mighty horn, causing Anya to jump back toward Peter as they walked along the soggy wooden deck of the Seven Seas. Peter smiled as he looked out toward the luxury liner. The huge ship seemed to be passing only yards away. He could clearly see the passengers’ excited faces up on the deck waving in another direction. When he turned to Anya, their eyes locked momentarily before she nodded toward the cruise liner, a slight reminder of her desire for a vacation at sea someday. He acknowledged her with a slight wink as the two continued to negotiate their way around the deck of the Seven Seas, inhaling the unavoidable fishy smell mixed in with the salty air.
The expedition vessel was littered with treasures from its recent recovery voyage, various corroded F-1 engine parts. Some of the pieces were still wet, a sign they were recently pulled from the ocean. Peter and Anya wore white visitor’s hardhats as they followed Ted Sanders, the financial backer behind this ambitious endeavor.
Ted expertly maneuvered around the obstacles wearing a blue company hardhat while holding a thin leather binder. The middle-aged CEO of Hextronics seemed to notice some of the looks Anya was getting from the ship’s crew. The men in grungy orange jumpsuits and hardhats looked dead tired, a few taking a break as the group passed. Ted glanced over his shoulder at Anya, speaking loud enough to be heard over the tools being operated around them. “Sorry about all the attention. These men have been at sea for over three weeks.”
Anya smiled. “No problem, I’ll take it as a compliment.”
“Please do.” Ted looked ahead as he extended his hand. “All these F-1 engine parts you see lying around were on the ocean floor only days ago, over three miles deep in the Atlantic. I made sure my team took painstaking effort to protect these historical artifacts as they were being lifted to the surface. I’m proud to say we have retrieved enough parts to assemble a complete engine.”
Peering intently at each artifact, Peter wondered if any one of the metal pieces he passed had been on his dad’s rocket. “Any idea which Saturn V rocket these parts were on?”
“That’s something we expect to know soon. Our hope is the biggest section you’re about to see, a thrust chamber with its intact fuel manifold, will be from Apollo 11. That would be our holy grail. A conservation team is arriving tomorrow to determine exactly what we have. We noticed the odd markings when we were searching for identification numbers.”
All three turned a corner, and there in front of them was the biggest section of an F-1 engine yet, looking over eight feet tall.
Beaming with pride, the CEO stepped to the side and made a sweeping gesture with his arm to reveal his masterpiece. “Here it is. Our big find.”
The engine was in good shape considering its age and where it had been for the last forty years. As expected, grime and corrosion coated it throughout, along with a handful of barnacles. Most of the metal tubing circling the engine was bent and twisted, and what was left of the thrust chamber was slightly mangled. But overall, the engine looked pretty damn good.
Ted proudly patted the artifact. “This will be in a museum someday.”
Reaching up, Peter touched the impressive piece of equipment. He thought of his dad as he rubbed the cold metal. He stepped back to gaze at the workhorse as he wiped his wet hand on his jeans. The F-1 was the most powerful engine ever built. He put his hands into his pockets before slowly strolling around the relic.
Ted asked, “By the way, are you the guy who flew to the moon a while back?”
Cocking his head slightly so he could see around the engine, Peter answered nonchalantly, “I am.”
“Wow, glad to meet you. That was some mission.”
Peter smiled. It had been sometime since someone had connected him to the flight. “Thanks.”
“So then you’re the son of Tom Novak, right?”
Completing his initial inspection, Peter ended up next to Ted. He looked at the CEO. “That would be true.”
Ted’s face became flushed. “Oh, sorry about saying Apollo 11 would be our holy grail. We would be just as pleased if this engine was from your dad’s Apollo 16 flight.”
Chuckling at the man’s sudden change in demeanor, Peter patted the CEO on the back. “No worries. Apollo 11 was the first mission to put a man on the moon. I agree, such a find would be extraordinary.”
“Just so you know, I consider any man who had the balls to be strapped into one of those beasts destined for the moon to be a hero in my book.” An excited look unexpectedly popped on the CEO’s face. He opened up his thin binder, revealing a notebook computer. “I’ve got to show you a cool picture.” Silver hair protruded out from under the hardhat as the CEO tilted his head down and moved his finger over the screen, quickly navigating through various files until he found what he was looking for. He tapped the screen before holding the computer pad in Peter’s direction, his expression similar to that of a proud father showing pictures of his newborn baby. “Look at this! Isn’t that cool? That could be your father’s.”