Moon Hoax

29 AGAINST ORDERS

Though his helmet didn’t rotate, he still turned his head. Bam! He slammed right into the side of the metal module.

Viktor, in a surprised voice asked, “What was that?”

Peter, half dazed and holding on to the airlock said, “Just some bird smashing into a windshield.”

“Oh, you bird. You okay?”

“Little sore, but okay. Working my way down. Boris, I should be in the airlock in one minute.”

“Roger. I hope you didn’t damage the airlock with your little stunt,” said Boris with some concern in his voice.

“Your ship’s okay. I think I took the brunt of the impact.”

Both Peter and Viktor were exhausted after their long, hard spacewalk. Peter was stoked they had finished all their tasks within the single spacewalk, a miracle in itself, while overcoming Viktor’s low oxygen problem. They even set a record for the longest spacewalk ever. He entered the Galileo to radio the good news to SpaceQuest.

“California, this is Galileo, do you read me?” Nothing. He tried again. “California, this is Galileo, do you read me?”

The radio squawked. “Hello, Galileo, this is California. Read you loud and clear.”

“California, we finished all tasks today. We’re all clear for the final stage tomorrow.” He couldn’t be too specific in case China was listening.

“Roger, Galileo. Allen wants to talk to you. Please stand by.”

Why does Allen want to talk to me? Peter was baffled. In all pre-launch meetings, Allen made it clear all conversations with the crew would be handled by the designated CAPCOM. Now Allen wanted to talk to him directly? Something didn’t seem right. Peter was also mystified that Mission Control blew right past the fact that they had done all the tasks in a single spacewalk.

Allen came on the radio. “Galileo, do you read me?”

“Read you loud and clear, Allen. Hey, did you hear we finished all tasks? We struggled, but I’m happy to say we’re a go for the final stage tomorrow. Everything has worked to plan, and Galileo flew like a champ!”

“Peter, I have been instructed to cease the mission. You need to return to Earth immediately,” Allen said.

“What?” Peter couldn’t believe what he was hearing. What could have happened to cancel the mission? He and Viktor had gone through too much to stop now. Hoping he had not heard the transmission correctly, he asked, “Can you please repeat?”

“The mission is cancelled, you’re ordered to come home,” said Allen with force in his voice.

Damn, he had heard it correctly. “Why?”

“The full task is known. You can’t win. I have been ordered to stop everything,” said Allen.

Peter seethed. How could they stop now? He assumed Allen meant China knew what they were up to. Damn it! Peter didn’t know how to respond. He thought for a moment before saying, “Does finishing our tasks early change anything?”

“No. It’s too late,” said Allen.

Peter slammed his fist on the seat next to him. “Roger, I need to discuss this with my partner. I’ll radio in after our discussion.”

“Roger,” said Allen. “Sorry, but it’s for the best.”

“Roger, signing off.” Peter ripped off his headset and slammed it down.

Viktor was going to be even more upset. Peter needed a moment to think about the mission and decide what they should do before talking with Viktor. Should they stop? If China did in fact know they were going to the moon, he figured they must have a rocket already fueled, just waiting to chase them down once they left the ISS for the moon. China’s powerful rocket could easily beat them. The taikonauts would be able to reprogram the laser, and he and Viktor would be sitting ducks coming around the back side. That must be why Allen said they couldn’t win. Peter was willing to sacrifice his life to prove China wrong, but he didn’t want to die on a mission that was doomed to fail. He took a deep breath and let it out, solemnly accepting the fact that the mission needed to end. He slowly floated through Galileo’s open hatch to inform Viktor.

SIE HAD BEEN INFORMED the Americans had docked with the space station, and once again he was surprised. He was so sure America would bring their men home once their intelligence observed China fueling Shenzhou 10. He definitely hadn’t thought they would be going to the International Space Station. He was confident CNSA did a good job faking the fueling which should have fooled the Americans. Maybe the Newton rocket wasn’t a ploy after all. Maybe the equipment was being tested. But why would America go against UN sanctions to test equipment? Was the commercial company working separately from the government? Sie did not have the answers, but he was confident of one thing—those astronauts were not going to the moon. When Sie called Kuang informing him of the docking, Sie said this was actually good news, and the mission looked like it had nothing to do with them. He assured Kuang the Americans were not going to the moon. Kuang expressed his doubts, but agreed to hold off doing anything and once again said Sie better be right!

PETER CLOSED GALILEO’S HATCH before taking a seat next to Viktor. Viktor raised his eyebrows in curiosity but did not question that Peter wanted to speak in private.

“I just got off the radio with Allen. He said the mission is cancelled. He wants us to return immediately,” said Peter with anger in his voice.

Viktor’s jaw dropped. “Why?”

“China knows of our mission. It sounds like they have a rocket fueled and waiting. There is no way we can beat them to the moon unless we have at least a thirty-six-hour head start.”

Viktor scowled, his neck and face growing red. He stared at the floor for a moment before saying, “Did Allen hear anything from Anya?”

“I don’t think so. Why?” answered Peter, thinking it was odd for Viktor to ask that.

“Curious.” Viktor suddenly got a determined look on his face, saying, “I not go back. I have mission to finish. I go to moon! China doesn’t scare me.”

“Viktor, it’s a lost cause. They will get to the moon first and reprogram the laser. The Soyuz will be destroyed when you arrive on the back side.”

Viktor looked Peter in the eye. “I came here to do job for your dad. I owe him. There is ship ready to go. I take my chances. You go back. It probably best. You can be with Anya. That make me happy. But I’m going, no matter what!”

Viktor was determined and Peter wasn’t going to change his mind. Peter was considered the commander, but he couldn’t order Viktor not to go. Yet Viktor’s odds were slim going alone. “You have no idea how to reprogram the laser if you get there first.”

“You already say China beats me. So I won’t have to. Maybe the laser misses or malfunctions on my first pass and I get pictures on the front side and forward them before my second orbit.”

Viktor didn’t know how to operate the camera or how to forward the pictures. Besides, the president wanted pictures from outside the capsule, and Viktor couldn’t do that alone. Peter sat thinking.

Viktor crossed his arms. “If we just return now, SpaceQuest still fall guy on this.”

Viktor was right; the government would have to blame someone for launching a rocket against UN sanctions. Peter thought back to Allen’s concern of his company being blackballed from any future space business. Aborting now would ruin him, plus hurt all the workers Peter got to know over the last month. But if there was some way they could succeed, Allen’s company would go down in history. Of course, it all could be worse if he and Viktor continued and failed. Continuing was just too risky. “I cannot let you go it alone. Either we both go, or not. But I want you to know, I feel our chances of getting pictures back to Earth are not very good, and the mission would be a failure. I recommend that we not go.”

Silence surrounded them for a moment as Viktor looked straight ahead. He turned and said, “Peter, you stay. You have full life to live. You have Anya. I can manage.”

Viktor desperately wanted to go to the moon, and they both knew he could fly the Soyuz on his own. It was the laser and pictures Peter was concerned about. If Viktor got to the moon and wasn’t able to take pictures, the trip would all be a waste. Peter had no choice but to support his partner. “For the mission to have any chance of success, I need to go. Since you’re determined, then I’m on board. If you go, I go!”

Viktor patted Peter on the back. “I have gut feeling. We beat China.”

Peter prayed he was right. He didn’t want to die for nothing.

ANYA ENTERED DMITRI’S OFFICE for the first time since returning from America. She shut the door and scurried to his desk, asking, “What’s the latest? Is everything still okay?”

Dmitri waved at her to sit and leaned back in his chair. “We haven’t gotten a lot of information. As you can tell with all the activity going on, the agency has been put on alert to deal with this crisis. Both NASA and FKA are concerned about what Peter and dad’s reasons are for being up on the ISS, but Peter has apparently done a good job convincing Boris to be vague on the information being passed. Mission Control basically knows there are some uninvited visitors at the station and they have a bomb in their capsule. Fortunately, their names have not been revealed. Boris stressed that he and his crew must do as they are told or risk the space station being seriously damaged. Both men performed a spacewalk earlier today, and though the specific nature of what was done was not divulged to Mission Control, it sounds like everything is going according to plan.”

“Any idea when they will leave for the moon?” Anya perched on the edge of the chair and twisted her fingers together.

“Depends upon whether they were successful attaching the booster today,” said Dmitri. “If they finished everything, they could be out of there after a night’s rest. Once they get in that Soyuz for the moon, we will be directly involved. I suspect dad will hold off initiating radio transmission with us until they are too far out to do a direct abort. We probably won’t hear from them for at least twenty-four hours after they leave the space station.”

“Do you feel everything’s okay?”

“So far. Of course, once it’s learned Dad is one of the hijackers, I’m sure there will be a lot of pressure on me to disclose what I know.” Dmitri blew out a breath, puffing his cheeks.

Anya asked, “Are you going to say anything?”

“Not sure yet. I want to do what’s in the best interest for dad and Peter. I guess it depends on how everything unfolds. But don’t worry. Dad has a lot of friends and supporters throughout this agency. Once it’s obvious we have lost the Soyuz, they should get the support they need.”

PETER FELT LIKE he was in one of the forts he used to build out of pillows and blankets when he was a kid. He was wearing his flight suit and helmet, cramped inside his seat in the descent module of the Soyuz, preparing to leave the space station for his journey to the moon. The SpaceQuest flight suit wouldn’t protect him from the dangers of space if anything happened. Instead it was worn in case they had to abort the mission and do an emergency landing back on Earth. He was sitting on his back in the left of the three seats with his knees up, a comfortable position as long as he never had to straighten out his legs. Please God… no leg cramps.

Viktor sat next to him in the commander’s center seat. Neither was strapped in so they could more easily access the control panel. Stuffed all around them was life support equipment, including the packed parachutes that weren’t needed, which puffed out of the wall like large enveloping pillows.

Peter had to lift his head to see Viktor over the overstuffed walls. “I’m glad I’m not claustrophobic. Damn, this baby’s tight. Galileo seemed like a mansion compared to this.”

“You get use to it. To me, this home,” said Viktor proudly.

Directly in front of both men was the hatch connecting the Descent Module to the Orbital Module. They had to pass through the Orbital Module to get to their seats. The one good thing about the design of the Soyuz—it had two rooms! The Orbital Module was where all their equipment was stored and though small, provided the astronauts with additional space and privacy during the long flight to the moon, especially when using the toilet. It also acted as the airlock for spacewalks. One astronaut was safe from the hazards of space in the sealed off Descent Module while the other depressurized the Orbital Module to vacuum so they could open the hatch and venture out into space.

Clank! The ISS crew began locking the ISS hatch, Peter having already locked the Soyuz hatch.

This is it… I can’t believe I’m going to the moon!

The two men were able to get in six hours of sleep to be recharged for the big day. Peter finished his checklist of duties and looked over to see how Viktor was doing. His list was much longer. Viktor was confidently flipping switches and pushing buttons, bringing the ship to life. Peter was watching a master at work.

Peter still wondered if they were doing the right thing. He elected to lie to Allen and tell them they would scrub the mission and return to earth in the Galileo. SpaceQuest was expecting radio transmissions from Peter within the next few hours in preparations for their flight home. Allen was going to be pissed.

Peter couldn’t miss the focus and determination in Viktor’s face or the enthusiasm in his voice. The old cosmonaut was in his element and excited to finally reach his lifelong dream of going to the moon. To Peter’s delight Viktor continued to exude confidence that they would beat China. Peter found his assurance and excitement infectious. He might as well enjoy the adventure and hope for the best. Of course, they would be going nowhere if the booster didn’t fire. Peter wished he could have done a last check during their EVA to insure everything was hooked up right, but with the low oxygen levels, time didn’t allow it. It was in God’s hands.

While waiting, Peter reached down with his gloved hand and grabbed Anya’s picture out from a bag squeezed between his seat and the wall, attaching the picture to a hanging clip by his seat. Viktor stopped what he was doing and said, “Da,” and reached down to pull out Maria’s picture. Once he had her picture up too, he quickly resumed work, but now whistling.

Viktor’s whistling stopped when a call came in over their headsets. Since they had not turned on the transmission to the Russian’s mission control, the squawk was the space station over the closed circuit radio. “Peter, this is Boris, do you read me?”

“Read you loud and clear.”

“Peter, I just got an urgent radio message from Doug Rose of NASA. He informed me of your mission and insisted you stop immediately and return to Earth.”

Peter lifted his head and looked over at Viktor, whose eyes got big as he started shaking his head aggressively back and forth signaling “No!” Peter set his head back and thought for moment. Well, the cat’s out of the bag. He already lied to Allen. He now had no choice but to lie to Boris. He decided to throw out Jack’s name in hopes of convincing him a higher power was in control. “Boris, Doug does not have the authority to stop this mission. I talked to the head of the CIA earlier this morning, Jack Dawson, from the Galileo, and he confirmed everything was a go. He said the president informed him Doug might try to cancel the mission and for us to ignore this. Apparently he was given some wrong information.”

The radio was silent for a moment. Peter again raised his head, looking back at Viktor with an expression of hope.

Boris responded, “I can’t allow you to go until I get confirmation on this.”

Viktor cringed. They needed Boris’s help to guide them into the right orbit before firing the engine for the trans-lunar injection, or TLI. He signaled to Peter he would talk, and began speaking in Russian. Peter listened as the two talked, not able to decipher exactly what was being said. When Viktor was done, he cut off the radio. “We okay. Let’s back this ship up before he changes mind.”

“What did you say?”

“I say president of U.S. wants this, and Doug not in loop. I say tell NASA we did not respond to your requests to stop, so he not blamed.” Viktor resumed his work before stopping to say, “Oh, yeah, I offer him my car if I lie.”

Peter smiled; Viktor saved them again.

Viktor grinned. “Remind me to tell Dmitri during flight to change Will to include car for Boris.”

Viktor clicked the radio back on. “We are set for undocking.”

“Roger, four minutes until undocking,” said Boris. The goal was to put them in the most optimum position for a straight shot to the moon.

Both men buckled their seat belts. Once strapped in, Viktor could no longer reach the control panel. Instead he had to use a poking stick to push buttons. Peter smiled. Not the most technological way of doing things, but that’s the Russians.

“Gentlemen… you are go for undocking in 5 seconds… 3… 2… 1… Good luck,” said Boris.

Viktor pushed in the button with the poker to initiate undocking and the muffled sound of clamps lifting in sequence circled them as the ship released from the station. After placing the pole in a secure place, Viktor wrapped both gloved hands around the controllers on either side of him. A slight grin crossed the veteran’s face. Viktor lightly pulled back on the left controller momentarily catching Peter off guard before remembering the controllers were in the opposite position as on American ships. The thrusters fired as the spacecraft slowly moved away from the station.

“Say goodbye to space station,” said Viktor.

Peter had a small porthole window by his elbow, allowing him a view of the station. He watched as his last home with people slowly drifted away. It was just the two of them from this point on, a thought that saddened him. He looked at Anya’s picture, realizing he was leaving the world he knew forever. He was going to miss it.

“How we look outside?” asked Viktor.

Peter shook his head clear and looked out. “All clear, looking good.” Staring at the station, he was still impressed—a technological marvel the world should be proud of. What a cool place to stay… not too bad as a hotel. Viktor pushed the controller forward to its original position, stopping the thrusters as the Soyuz slowly floated away.