Moon Hoax

33 IT’S TIME

“Sir, we should know in the next few hours if Peter successfully reached orbit and was able to reprogram the laser,” echoed Doug’s voice through the phone’s speaker in the Oval Office. Breaking away from his family’s annual Fourth of July barbeque to participate in the conference call with Bill was Steve, listening intently.

Bill sat hunched over his desk nervously tapping his finger. “What are their chances?”

“Tough to say—the last update we received from Russia’s mission control was the Chinese were closing on them. In fact, our men had to jettison their living quarters, the Orbital Module, from the Soyuz spacecraft during flight so they could fire their main engine to speed up their ship,” Doug said.

The president peered at the phone. “Was that successful?”

“Yes, sir, but unfortunately that was their airlock. So when Peter does his spacewalk, Viktor will die,” Doug said.

The president felt a ping of sadness as he looked at the picture of his father on his desk. He lightly caressed the outline of the frame. Even though he knew Viktor was going to die on the mission, knowing he would die at that moment made the reality tough on him. He reflected on the sacrifice both men were making for America before responding. “Damn.”

“Hopefully that will do the trick,” Doug said.

“Let me know as soon as you learn the outcome,” said the president as he pulled his hand away from the frame.

“Yes, sir.”

Bill turned to Steve. “You’ve scheduled the special session at the UN, right?”

Steve straightened in his chair and locked eyes with the president. “Yes, sir. It’s scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good.” Looking back down at the phone, Bill asked, “Doug, is that enough time for Peter to be ready for the spacewalk?”

“If they make it into lunar orbit today, that should be.”

The president leaned back in his chair folding his arms. “Good. If at all possible, I would like to get a live feed from Peter while the session is going on.” The president uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. “Will he be able to submit a few early pictures of some of the landing sites before his spacewalk?”

“He should—of course those pictures will be taken from inside the spacecraft through the small porthole window, so probably won’t be of the greatest quality.”

“I understand that. But at least that gives Steve something to work with. The higher quality pictures taken during the spacewalk will be the ones we submit to the UN to be studied.”

“Yes, sir,” Doug said.

Steve chewed on his bottom lip for a moment before he asked, “Sir, what if they don’t make it into lunar orbit? How do you want me to handle the session?”

Bill tilted his head as he lifted his hands palms up. “You’re the secretary of state, you’ll think of something.” He clasped his hands together on his desk. “Right now, I have faith our men will accomplish this mission. As soon as those early pictures start coming in, I want them incorporated into your presentation. I suggest having them displayed on the large screen behind you. Then have the live video feed added toward the end, which should shock the hell out the Chinese delegates.”

“Yes, sir.” Steve glanced at his watch. “Looks like it’ll be a late night for me and my staff.”

PETER COULDN’T BELIEVE how crowded and tight the descent module had become since they jettisoned their living quarters. He smiled remembering back to when he first entered the ship at the space station and how cramped he thought it was back then. He now realized how good he had it. All of the equipment needed for the spacewalk along with the needed essentials to survive for two days was stuffed all around them. It was going to be a tight and uncomfortable trip from this point on.

Both men were buckled in their seats preparing for the pivotal moment of the operation that was quickly approaching—their first pass around the back side of the moon. Not only would Peter have to reprogram the laser during this pass, Viktor would have to do the LOI burn that would put them into lunar orbit. Both understood the importance of each task and not making a mistake, especially with China right on their tail.

While Viktor programmed the Soyuz for the LOI, Peter set up his computer. Their spacecraft had already been maneuvered so it was turned backward with the engine pointed toward the moon, allowing the engine to act as a break when fired.

Peter could feel the presence of the moon behind him but could not see it. Viktor looked through the eyepiece of the periscope for a moment, saying nothing. Finally Viktor lifted his head flashing a lopsided grin. “You take look.”

Peter assumed his partner was looking at the moon and thought it odd he didn’t make any comment. What’s Viktor up to? Peter unbuckled himself before leaning over to look into the eyepiece, expecting to see the moon up close, but all he saw was darkness. He lifted his head. “I don’t see anything.”

A mischievous smile crossed Viktor’s face. “Look again.”

Peter shrugged and rubbed his eye before looking back down. Once more, all he saw was total blackness. He slowly moved the eyepiece slightly to one side while his eyes adjusted and focused, then he saw it—tons of tiny stars outlining one side of the huge black circle that engulfed his viewing area. Their ship was practically on top of the moon. Since the sun was behind the moon versus their position, the portion of the moon in the eye piece was completely black, an ominous sight. “Wow, I see it.”

Viktor gave him a congratulatory pat on the back. “We almost there.”

Their headsets suddenly came alive. “Maria 1, this is Mission Control, do you read me?”

Viktor answered, “Read you good, Dmitri.”

“Roger. We have some good news. You’re going to beat China. They look to be twenty minutes behind you, over.”

Peter shook his head, amazed how close they came after traveling over 200,000 miles. Yes! A first round victory for America, and on the Fourth of July. He was happy Viktor’s gut feeling was right. Relieved beating China here was no longer a concern, he understood success of the mission was now down to himself and Viktor. “That’s great news, Dmitri!”

“We have the final parameters and information for your LOI burn. Considering your fuel limitations and having to estimate your exact weight, we had to make adjustments on your final orbital plane. We wanted to keep your LOI orbit above 110 kilometers. The orbital plane selected will allow us to optimize the LOI and conserve fuel, but will only allow Maria 1 to fly over two U.S. landing sites, not the three Peter requested. However, one of those sites will be his dad’s, over.”

Viktor gave Peter a thumbs-up. Peter smiled grimly. Though pleased they would be flying over his dad’s site, he preferred an orbit that allowed the best opportunity of taking more pictures.

“Dad, for this to work, you will need to maintain your altitude throughout the burn so your velocity and position are close to our calculations. Any errors can put you in the wrong orbital plane, preventing you from flying over any U.S. site. If that happens you will not have the fuel available to make any correction, over.”

Maintaining a specific altitude would be difficult, even if Peter was able to help monitor the burn, especially in a ship not designed for it. They had to get this right; if they were put into the wrong plane and not flying over a U.S. landing site, the mission would be a failure, regardless if he did his job reprogramming the laser. Viktor answered confidently as he winked at Peter, “Don’t worry, son, I can do, over.”

Peter shook his head; if anyone could pull it off, it was Viktor. Once again, he was happy to have the old man on board.

“HAVE TANG RAM THOSE AMERICANS!” Kuang said definitively over the phone.

Such a maneuver could kill the taikonauts. As long as Sie was in control that would never happen. He was expecting Kuang to relieve him from his duties after learning they were no longer going to beat the Americans. Sie was surprised the Americans jettisoned part of their spacecraft so close to the moon, allowing them to arrive first. His staff had assured him they would win. The numbers didn’t lie. But no one predicted the Americans would lighten their load so late in flight. Once again, he had dishonored Kuang by giving the wrong advice. His boss only kept him in charge because of his background with the laser, and now with the Americans ahead, Nei stood little chance to get the opportunity of reprogramming it. He was sure he was going to be fired over the phone, but Kuang seemed more concerned about killing the Americans.

Sie tried convincing Kuang to hold off. “Sir, remember the Americans have to reprogram the laser in a short twenty minutes on the back side. I doubt they will be able to do that. If they are unsuccessful, they will be fired upon and destroyed. Let’s wait and see when Tang and Nei come around the moon. If the American spacecraft is destroyed, our men will be able to reprogram the laser and all will be right. But if I instruct them to ram the Americans now, our men could die trying that maneuver when it may not be necessary.”

“You have not been right yet! We have too much to lose. I want Tang to ram those sons-of-bitches. If we wait too long, the Americans will be able to transmit pictures back and expose the truth. I don’t want to risk that. Have Tang ram them!”

Sie ground his teeth; he was not going to have that happen, not on his watch, but he needed to put his out-of-control boss at ease. He wanted to stay on the mission as long as he could. “Yes, sir, I will have your request radioed in to Tang immediately with hopes that they will be able to catch the Americans in time.”

Of course he had no intention of relaying the message. It was too late anyway. He would continue to give the impression Kuang’s request had been passed on to the taikonauts and state the reason the ramming had not happened was due to Tang struggling to catch the American spacecraft. If he strung his boss along, it would eventually become obvious it was too late to stop the Americans from revealing the truth.

“Good! Keep me informed,” said Kuang before hanging up.

He was not rooting for the Americans, but discrediting the American moon landings was becoming a lost cause, and Sie didn’t want the taikonauts to die for nothing. He was going to take advantage of his last moments in charge to make sure he did what he could to save Tang and Nei. After all, those men were there because of his failures and he didn’t want to end his career being responsible for the deaths of two Chinese heroes, men he respected and cared for. He wasn’t worried about the repercussions from his actions. He was going to be fired anyway.

SILENCE FILLED MARIA 1 as the ship approached the back side of the moon. Viktor and Peter were strapped in their seats, having completed all of their tasks in preparation for the maneuvers to come. The moment of truth was fast approaching for both astronauts. Peter nervously rubbed his hands back and forth on his thighs under the laptop strapped on his lap. Peter looked over in Viktor’s direction, but with all the stowage in the way, all he could see was the bottom of his legs and arms. Peter turned to look at Anya’s picture. He reflected on their recent conversation, happy to hear her voice and pleased she seemed strong. Neither mentioned the communication could be their last and Peter prayed it wouldn’t. He touched her picture. This is it baby. Wish us luck.

Viktor broke the silence. “I think we take shot vodka for good luck.”

Peter was a little surprised by the offer since Viktor mentioned the vodka was for after they had completed the mission. Maybe Viktor was a little nervous too. Peter liked the idea, hoping the vodka might calm his nerves. “Sounds good to me.”

Viktor’s hand came out from under the stowage holding the plastic bottle, top already off. Peter grabbed it and before taking a chug said, “To our success and proving Dad walked on the moon,” then squeezed the bottle, forcing a glob of liquid into his mouth.

“Amen,” said Viktor.

Peter pulled the bottle from his mouth and a couple of droplets leaked out and floated in front of his face. He extended his tongue, catching each one. “That tastes damn good for straight Vodka,” he said handing the bottle back.

“It premium Russian vodka. Maria and I bought it together to drink on anniversary. She died before we could share it.”

Wow. He’d assumed Viktor brought it along because a shot of vodka was just another cosmonaut tradition. Moved, he said, “I appreciate you sharing it with me.”

“Maria bring us luck. She sit with God now pointing us out, say, ‘Watch over those men. Help them succeed. Then bring Viktor to me.’”

Peter smiled, happy to see Viktor so in love and at ease with dying.

“Maria 1, this is Mission Control,” said Dmitri over the radio.

Peter answered, “Roger, we read you, over.”

“Peter, we did a final check of your coordinates and everything looks good. This will be our last transmission until you two come around the back side. We wish you and Dad the best of luck, over.”

“Roger. We appreciate all the efforts from you and the controllers. We plan on talking with you shortly, over,” said Peter.

Viktor chimed in, “Dmitri… A man sees pretty girl in bar, whispers in ear, ‘Tell me those three special words that will make me walk on air,’ over.”

“What?” asked Dmitri.

“I give punch line when come around back side. Love you, son.”

“Love you, Dad. Over and out,” said Dmitri.

Peter smiled. “So what does she tell him?”

“I not tell you. You wait too. Reprogram that laser and save our ass, then tell you,” said Viktor.

Peter laughed, shaking his head. The old man knew how to put everyone at ease.

DMITRI WAS SITTING QUIETLY at his consul tapping his pen, feeling the intensity throughout the room while he and the flight controllers waited to hear back from Maria 1. The clock had started and they had a good forty-five minutes before hearing anything back. There was nothing he could do while Peter and his dad were on the back side of the moon, out of contact. He felt they had a fifty-fifty chance of coming back around safely and in the right orbit.

Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Dmitri turned to see Anya, her mascara a smudged mess around eyes reddened from crying and lack of sleep.

“Dmitri, I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

Dmitri grabbed a chair from the desk next to him and patted the seat. “Sure, have a seat.”

Anya shifted from one foot to the other. “Can we please go to your office?”

Since there was nothing he could do at that point to help Peter and his dad, he said, “Sure.” He escorted her out of the room and on down the hallway to his office. After closing his door and sitting at his desk he caught his sister wiping her face with a crumpled tissue as she sat across from him. Trying to cheer her up he said, “Don’t worry, Dad and Peter will be all right and make it around safely.”

Anya wiped her nose and wrung her hands. “I need to tell you something.”

Dmitri was all ears, wondering what else could be bothering her with everything going on. “What is it, sis?”

Anya looked to the floor for a moment, as if trying to figure out exactly how to say it. She looked up and with a forlorn look said, “I’m pregnant.”

Dmitri widened his eyes. He didn’t know what to say. “Is it Peter’s?”

Anya scowled at him, the jut of her chin calling him ridiculous for asking. “Yes!”

Dmitri looked out his window for a moment, shocked by the news. Looking back he asked, “Does Peter know?”

“No. I just confirmed it yesterday. I haven’t told him because I don’t know if I should. In fact I haven’t told anyone. That’s why I wanted to talk with you. What should I do?”

Dmitri was silent for a moment, looking at the picture of his family on his desk. He always hoped Anya would have a child, but assumed it would be when she was happily married. Now she would be a single parent. Trying to be positive, he said, “This is great news, but you were probably right not saying anything to Peter, especially with all he has on his mind right now.”

“But what if they don’t make it around? I would hate if something happens and I didn’t tell him.” Anya started to cry.

Dmitri crossed to his sister, bending down and giving her a hug. “They’ll make it around, don’t worry. I have all the confidence in the world in those two men. Once they do we can decide when the right time is to tell him. I know he’ll be ecstatic about the news, and so will Dad.” While still hugging her, he lightly patted her on the back. “Anya, this is wonderful news. Congratulations.”

Not saying a word, Anya just squeezed her brother tighter.