David Golemon - Legacy

“We never believe anything we hear, Niles. You know that. Are Jack and Carl all right?” Her voice dropped in volume. Niles suspected she didn’t want the senator to overhear.

“Jack and Carl haven’t been heard from in forty-eight hours. They also have Ellenshaw and Golding tagging along, so that may be the reason they’re a little slow in getting to a phone.”

“Jack always takes the strangest people on missions. How about you, Niles? Are you being careful? That assassination in Pasadena caught us by surprise.”

“The opposition to the mission is getting stronger and far more organized than should be possible among such diverse groups. If I didn’t know any better I would think that it’s-”

“Being orchestrated?” Alice said, finishing Niles sentence. “The senator’s exact words. He told me to tell you to look to the obvious first.”

Compton understood what Alice and Lee were trying to tell him. This was his next project. If one group or a single individual was responsible for the loss of life in Kazakhstan, Berlin, and here in the States, he would find them. Thus far they knew the Saudi-born Mechanic was involved, but the current global operation seemed a stretch for what amounted to a small-time terrorist.

“You take care of yourself, Niles, and I’ll let you know when things go bad here. Concentrate on what you need to do. That’s why your friend the president chose you to get this thing off the ground. He trusts you and you also just happen to be the smartest man on the planet.”

Niles had to chuckle. “Unfortunately, we’re dealing with a little more than just this planet.”

The line then went dead and Niles hung up.

“We’re ready Director Compton,” the signalman said. “All interested parties have confirmed audio and visual.”

Niles nodded and accepted the recommendations from Virginia. He stepped to the podium, glancing over at the largest of the monitors. Besides the cameras at the Johnson Space Center and JPL, he was hooked into Cape Canaveral and the Pentagon’s Space Command, and all of the general contractors for the systems that had been chosen to bring this hurried mission to its final stages. On the center monitor was the Johnson Space Center, and sitting in front of the crowded room of over two hundred men and women was the vice president of the United States, Harold Darby, the technical head of the entire space program.

The Navy signalman pointed to Niles as the others in his conference room went to their seats. He looked at Virginia and her staff that had done so much to get them where they were today, feeling proud of her and all of his people. They fought and succeeded in coming up with a viable plan on the shortest timetable in the history of the space program. They would at least have a fighting chance.

“Good afternoon. We’re ready to start the final assembly of the platforms. All I need to do now is step aside and hand Dark Star over to people with far more capable hands than my own.” Niles glanced again at the center screen and the stern visage of the vice president. “I have taken a lot of time exploring the facts and personal histories of all personnel involved in every aspect of Dark Star, and I have come to the conclusion that we need to stay in-house, so to speak.”

Vice President Darby smiled as he looked around at the men and women at his table.

“Since the senseless murder of Stan Nathan a few days ago, this choice had become even more important. I had to factor in many differing elements and the person that met or exceeded knowledge in every aspect of the platforms to be used is Flight Director Hugh Evans. His knowledge of the Ares system and his experience with the Apollo program preclude anyone else taking command of the mission. Mr. Evans, you may not like it, but congratulations anyway.

“Now, I will allow Hugh to absorb the enormity of what I’ve placed before him and give him time to decline, a notion that would immediately be rejected by the president, of course. And then we’ll cover what the base plan is. For the general contractors and their employees, the president wants me to pass along his sincerest thanks for all of the hard work you have put in.”

On the monitor from Houston, Niles saw the seventy-four-year-old Hugh Evans stand and walk toward the back of the room, out of view of the camera.

“Ares I and Ares II are scheduled for heavy load liftoff in seventy-eight hours. The crews will be shuttled to the International Space Station immediately after the two Ares launches. The shuttles Atlantis and Discovery will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, and the shuttle Endeavour from the Cape, if that mission becomes necessary because of the failure of one or both of the first launches. We were very lucky that the shuttles’ last scheduled missions kept them in fine mechanical shape. Dark Star will be one hell of a note for the shuttle fleet to retire on.”

Niles smiled when he heard applause erupting from every view of every venue. He also saw the vice president stand and leave the Johnson Space Center mostly unnoticed by anyone.

“The backup is, of course, the Saturn V launch vehicle. The payload, as with the two Ares rockets, has been expanded to carry the new Lunar Excursion Module and the expanded crew cabin that will eventually double as the crew capsule on the ride to and from the Moon. The Altair Lander has been massively redesigned to carry the necessary men and equipment to and from the lunar surface. Needless to say, ladies and gentlemen, this is where the real danger lies. The Altair system is totally untested-therefore the need for two complete crews and one solid backup in the Atlas. These three expanded crew capacity landers were only prototypes five weeks ago, and the engineering done to complete the systems has just been amazing. The Dark Star mission time will be a record-setting two days to the Moon, with four days there. We’ll leave coming home to another timetable.”

Niles allowed that to sink in for the general contractors who had not been privy to the time element before today. He braced himself for what was coming.

“At this time, I am ceasing today’s communications with all but the military and space elements of Dark Star. For the contractors who have contributed so much manpower and time in bringing these systems, expanded prototype landers, and equipment online, thank you and good-bye.”

Three quarters of the monitors went dark inside the Event Group conference room as Niles saw the civilian aspect of the mission vanish. He looked at the Navy signalman.

“Please bring up the astronaut training facility,” he said, opening a red-bordered file folder on the podium. He glanced up and looked at the president, who was waiting as patiently as the others.

On one of the monitors, a room full of blue and red clad men and women appeared. They sat patiently with pen and writing tablets. They knew they were about to be briefed on the parameters of the mission ahead. In the back of the astronauts’ room, Compton saw his very own people looking at up at his image. For all he knew, this might be the last time he saw the young faces of Sarah, Mendenhall, and Ryan.

“Our mission goals,” he said, not looking into the camera, “are to militarily secure the Moon and any artifacts found there. The mission landing area is one mile from Shackleton Crater. NASA personnel will deliver geology specialists and engineers to the surface of the moon. The site will be secured by fourteen United States Special Forces personnel undergoing training in California. If the failure to secure Shackleton is likely, and it looks as if the Chinese will take it intact, the site will be destroyed. I repeat, the site will be destroyed. This act is regardless of any foreign government’s presence in or near the crater. None of you will be expected to go into this blindfolded. What follows is top secret information. The European Space Agency and NASA have been cooperating since the emergency began, for reasons I cannot go into now. The base problem here is the Chinese government. The president is attempting to gain cooperation from the People’s Republic in this and other matters, but as of this moment that issue is in doubt.”