Space Hoax

13 INITIATE FINAL PHASE

With the air conditioner running full blast in his mom’s home, Peter had to fold his arms tightly around his body to stay warm. His dad’s office was always the first room to cool down. As he stood freezing, he stared at one of his dad’s many NASA group shots hanging on the wall, the one with all the crews involved on the USSR/USA space mission in 1975. He focused on Chris Riddick, who was on the support crew. Of all the men in the picture, only he had the camera red-eye effect from the flash, giving him a sinister look.

He remembered Chris’s comment earlier in the day about helping his father, implying Chris had saved his father’s career. His dad never spoke highly of Chris and definitely never volunteered any information indicating the man rescued his career. Instead, Peter heard countless stories on how his dad often saved Chris’s ass.

The familiar aroma of his mom’s famous pot roast cooking in the kitchen started to penetrate his senses as he crossed to the chair behind the desk and sat. The office was just as it was when his father died. He looked down at the only two items resting on the bare desktop, a picture frame at each corner. One had an elegant picture of his mom and the other had Peter’s official NASA photo. He smiled as he lifted his photograph to get a closer look. He then looked past the picture to the chair across from him, recalling when he sat there and first told his dad he was just selected in the new astronaut class. His dad was so excited he practically flew out of his chair to give him a congratulatory hug. He later cautioned him that Chris harbored an old grudge, which might affect Peter getting a crew assignment. When Peter questioned why the ill will, his father’s response was always vague. He simply stated Chris often backstabbed fellow astronauts to better his position. His old rival had damaging information which he threatened to use. When pressed for specifics, his dad felt it was water under the bridge and not worth discussing.

His dad’s concern was ultimately valid. Peter never got an assignment even though he was one of the top astronauts in his class.

Peter put his hands behind his head as he leaned back in the chair, scanning the many other pictures and mementos that decorated the walls. But his eyes were drawn back to that picture with Chris, wondering what the man meant by his statement.

The partially cracked office door was suddenly pushed completely open, breaking Peter’s concentration. His mom stood in the doorway with a cooking apron on. He assumed she was there to tell him dinner was ready. Like all his past visits, she was going all out to make him a spectacular, home-cooked meal. The joy was radiant in her face. “What are you doing, son?”

Peter pulled his hands off the back of his head. “Just reminiscing.”

His mom navigated around the two chairs across from the desk as she proudly scanned the walls. “I love this room. I come in here every day to read or relax. Whenever I’m in here I always feel your dad’s presence.”

Peter could sense his mom’s undeniable love for his father. Something he felt he could have someday with Anya.

After a brief stroll around the office, his mom sat in one of the chairs across from him. “I know your dad is very proud of you for what you did. Taking on that dangerous mission and restoring his good name and our country’s.”

“I’m just glad it all worked out and I made it back safely.”

His mom’s face lit up. “Me too!” She put both hands in her lap, turning her head toward the picture of his dad and Viktor. “Though I’m sorry Viktor didn’t make it back. He was a good man, a good friend.”

Peter looked over at the same picture. “It was in this office that I offered him the assignment. He was so gung-ho and excited. He was ready to go right then. He didn’t care he wasn’t coming back. He said he was doing it for Dad.”

His mom slowly turned her head and directed her eyes at him. “Son, Mr. Alexandrov was always impressed that you stepped up and took responsibility for breaking that simulator at Star City. He thought you were very brave taking full blame for Dmitri’s actions, especially having to answer to military soldiers. I bet you he accepted that mission to repay his debt to you.”

Peter looked back at the picture. He rubbed his fingers over his mouth as he stared. He never thought of it that way. But he was the one who ultimately made the decision to cover for Dmitri. His dad left it in his hands to make the call, and his father said he would support whatever choice he made. “You might be right. Regardless, I was lucky he did join the operation. Not just because of his expert flying skills, but also because of his humor and coolness. There’s no way I would have survived that mission without him.”

She turned with a grim smile. “Your dad always said he was one of Russia’s best.”

“Victor proved that more than once.”

She leaned forward. “Did he know about you and Anya?”

“He did. We talked about it quite a bit. He was very supportive of the relationship.”

“Good, though that doesn’t surprise me.” She gave him a wink before crossing her arms and leaning back in the chair. “So how are you and Anya doing anyway? I was surprised she went back to Russia.”

Keeping his elbows on the armrest, he lifted both hands as he nodded. “Me too. I think something is bothering her. I’m assuming it has to do with the miscarriage. I was—” A soft chime from his pocket interrupted him. “Sorry.” He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the incoming number. It was a local call. Thinking it could be EarthOrbit, he excused himself. “I need to get this.”

His mom mouthed, “Go ahead.”

He pressed the answer button before bringing the phone to his ear and looking past his mom. “Hello.”

“Hello, Peter, it’s Chris.”

Peter forced himself to respond with a chipper voice. “Hello, Chris, it’s great to hear from you. I hope you’re calling with some good news.”

Chris sounded impatient and was blunt. “Walter was very pleased with you today. He decided you’re our man.”

Interesting he said it was Walter’s decision. “Great, that’s wonderful news. I look forward to working for you again.”

“We were wondering if you could start tomorrow.” Chris’s voice was flat and emotionless. He didn’t sound too enthused over Walter’s selection.

Peter was still hoping to get to Russia, but SID wanted him to start as soon as possible. “No problem. What time should I come in?”

“How about 10 a.m.? You need to first meet up with personnel before you’ll be brought over to my office.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be there at ten with bells on. I’m looking forward to being a part of the EarthOrbit family.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow.” Before Peter could say goodbye, the phone went dead.

His mother inclined her head. “Was that Chris Riddick?”

How in the world could his mom have picked that up? He lifted an eyebrow. “Yes. He’s going to be my new boss.”

A disgusted look crossed her face as she stood up. “Dinner will be ready in ten minutes.” She turned and marched straight out the door.

Though she knew not to ask for too many details concerning his business, her response was odd. He looked back at the USSR/US crew picture and picked out Chris. With his fingers resting on his mouth, he began to lightly pat his index finger on his lips. “What do you think you know about my father?”

PLOPPING HIS FEET up on his desk, Peter made himself comfortable in his new office at EarthOrbit headquarters. In his lap were the files of the men training to fly the company’s first rockets into space. He was now their boss, and it was his responsibility to make sure when the time came, they were ready to fly. Presently the training group had six men. Of these men, only Jesse Johnston had any experience in space. He had one Shuttle mission under his belt and was considered the senior astronaut and leader of the team. Peter barely remembered the young man from his days at NASA.

Peter called Jesse to his office so he could pick his brain. He wanted to get as much information on the astronauts as possible, and Jesse was the perfect start.

He separated Jesse’s file from the pile and began to study it. If EarthOrbit was involved in any kind of illegal activity or conspiracy, Peter had to consider every employee as a possible informant or threat, even though he was certain Chris was his man. As Peter flipped through the paperwork, he was impressed with Jesse’s background. He would be surprised if a graduate from the Naval Academy who served as a Navy SEAL could be involved with any kind of plot against America.

A knock at the door broke Peter’s attention. He flung his feet off the desk and let them fall to the floor with a loud thump. “Come in.”

As the door opened, in marched a powerful, compactly-built African American man dressed in a casual white polo shirt sporting an EarthOrbit logo. The shirt was neatly tucked into a pair of khaki pants. The young man looked like he had just come off the golf course. “Hello, Mr. Novak.”

Peter stood to greet the man. “You must be Jesse. Welcome. Come on in and have a seat.”

Jesse proudly approached the front of the desk and extended his hand. “Thank you, sir; it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Peter grabbed the hand, pleased with Jesse’s strong grip. “Please call me Peter.”

As they both sat Jesse asked, “I’m not sure if you remember me when you were at NASA?”

Peter realized that he should project the impression that the young man stood out. “I do. Congratulations on getting a ride so early.”

“Thanks, lucky I guess.”

“I doubt that. With so few seats available on the Shuttle, I know NASA only picked their top candidates.”

“But I didn’t go to the moon. That was an amazing flight you piloted. Attaching the booster from the ISS was brilliant. I’ll bet that was some ride.”

“The whole trip was incredible, but I won’t lie to you. Sitting in that capsule before the booster lit was a little nerve wracking.”

“Well it’s an honor to work for the man who successfully completed such a risky flight, and to think you used a commercial rocket to get you into space.” Jesse started shaking his head. “Absolutely remarkable.”

“Thanks, but unfortunately my little stunt shot SpaceQuest to the front of the pack for receiving the NASA contract to deliver astronauts to the ISS. We need to change that. In fact that is one of the reasons why I was brought on board. I’m counting on you to make sure our astronauts will be ready to fly when called upon. We need to get back the momentum that was lost.”

“We have a good group, sir. I know you’ll be pleased.”

“Tell me about them. If we were to fly today, and we only needed a two-man crew, who would you suggest?”

“Not to sound immodest, I would first recommend myself as your commander since I am the only one with flight experience.” Jesse looked past Peter as he curled in his lips. “Mmmm…then I would say the next best candidate is Blake Hamilton. I have no idea why NASA didn’t pick him when he went through their selection process. He made it all the way to the last cut. Though he’s Mr. Funnyman, he’s extremely cool under pressure, and his flight skills are impressive.”

Peter pulled out Blake’s file and skimmed through it. The man graduated top of his class from the Air Force Academy and went on to fly the F-15 and later the F-22. From Peter’s experience flying in the Air Force, he knew getting such choice assignments was a testament to the young man’s flying ability. So far, Peter was impressed with the caliber of EarthOrbit’s astronauts.

KUANG’S PALMS WERE sweating as he sat at the head of the conference table in CNSA headquarters. Sitting to his right was Lin Wu, the assistant director of the MSS. To the left of Kuang was his assistant, Ming. All three men were meeting to discuss the latest on the top secret operation, Tianlong, which would, hopefully, propel China to the position of leader in space exploration and erase their recent humiliating defeat by America.

After China’s lie was exposed to the world by the American astronaut, Kuang had one last chance of sticking it to the United States and saving his career. He was allowed to stay at his post only after convincing his superiors that failure in beating the Americans back to the moon was due to Sie Wang’s miscalculations and eventual betrayal. The disloyal man was now in prison.

A few years earlier, Kuang had given his approval to the MSS to begin the initial stages of Tianlong, which would seriously damage the International Space Station, possibly making the outpost useless. He had hoped to never have to put the plot into action. Tianlong was only in place as a backup plan in case they were unsuccessful with the moon mission. With that failure and the military’s lack of success in capturing the astronaut, Kuang had no choice but to give his acceptance and carry out the operation.

Kuang’s superiors wanted China to rule space for military reasons and did not care how it was done. After the recent success of putting their first space station module into orbit, CNSA was ready to start adding more modules to rival the ISS. However, the military’s goal was for their station to be the only one circling the globe, and that was Kuang’s objective.

Kuang was pleased that the first phase of the operation to test the remote-controlled detonation system on the Soyuz worked, causing an explosion on the ship in space. Though he was disappointed no cosmonauts died. No doubt such deaths would have led to the spacecraft being grounded indefinitely, clearing space of any international-manned flights. The director looked at Lin. “What is the status of your inside man in America?”

“He’s in place with the commercial space company waiting for our orders to proceed with the final phase.”

“Do you feel we are ready to carry out the operation?”

“After the success of our detonating device on the Soyuz, I’ve been assured that all pieces are in place. The only question is if our operative can get EarthOrbit to launch an unauthorized manned-mission to the International Space Station.”

Kuang leaned back in his seat. Lin was implying they had the bomb in place, as well as the automated system capable of firing a set of thrusters. The plan was that when EarthOrbit’s capsule rendezvous with the space station, MSS would remotely fire the thrusters, crashing the spacecraft into the ISS. At impact they would detonate the potent bomb, seriously damaging the station and probably killing astronauts. It was paramount that the explosion be deemed an accident with no chance of China being linked to the incident. Kuang’s hope was that the ISS would be damaged beyond repair and abandoned.

The bomb had been secretly switched with the pyrotechnic device needed to deploy the main parachutes in EarthOrbit’s capsule. The MSS special weapons department designed the powerful mini bomb to look exactly like the parachute’s explosive device. Of course, this made the parachutes inoperable. It didn’t matter since the spacecraft would be destroyed, killing all its occupants.

The MSS selected EarthOrbit as their target since they were the only U.S. commercial space company having key components of their spacecraft manufactured overseas, making them more accessible to the agency. The Parachute Disconnect Assembly was manufactured at a plant in Germany where the MSS had undercover agents deployed to make the switch.

“I want this mission put into its final phase, now! Communicate this immediately. Tell your man that waiting is not an option, and it will be detrimental to him and his family if he doesn’t get a rocket launched soon to the ISS.”

Kuang stood, indicating the meeting was over. Lin bowed, signaling he understood what needed to be done.