Paul Gillebaard: Moon Hoax

The Beijing Command Center figured they could keep the taikonauts in orbit for twenty-two more hours to troubleshoot the problem before they would have to be sent home. Sie Wang, the manager of China’s space operations, was in the command center monitoring what was going on. He had been the lead on the laser weapon and was responsible for making it work. He had tried all the ideas their experts had considered. With the short time available, his only option was to get the laser’s design engineer out to China immediately. Unfortunately, the company that designed the laser was Byington Corporation, which was out of the United Kingdom. Though meeting at the command center would be the quicker trip than meeting at the launch center in Jiuquan, he was concerned about bringing foreigners in with a mission going on. Instead he decided it was best to meet at the launch center where the laser prototype was and where past meetings had taken place with Byington personnel. Such a trip from the United Kingdom to Jiuquan would normally take a day, which would be too late to help the taikonauts. However, Sie estimated they could get the Byington engineers out in less than ten hours using private planes, allowing twelve hours to solve the problem. Sie quickly discussed this with his superiors, who approved the plan.

PETER NOVAK WAS sound asleep when his phone rang, sounding like a train whistle blaring in his room after a hard night of partying. He reluctantly looked at the clock. Five a.m.! Who the hell is calling at this time? Thinking the caller was from the United States, he rolled over and put his pillow over his head. As he suspected, his little trick didn’t solve the problem. No matter how hard he pressed, he still heard the damn phone. He jumped when a warm hand nudged him under the covers. Who’s that? A sly smile started to cross his face as he smelled perfume. Oh yeah, now I remember. He took the pillow off his head, and saw a beautiful head of blond hair flowing over the pillow in front of him. His head pounding, he quickly replayed the evening’s activities, trying to remember who she was. The night all started coming back to him. His smile was quickly displaced by that obnoxious ringing. He had no choice. Grudgingly he rolled over and picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Wake up chap, it’s Rob. I’m glad I got you. Sie Wang just rang and said they have an emergency with the MK Laser and we’re needed at the Jiuquan Launch Center immediately.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Peter snapped, trying to wake up and shake off the hangover.

“We need to get to Jiuquan now! CNSA has already sent a bloody car to your flat. They will be there any minute. There will be a private jet waiting for us at the airport.” Rob Foster, the senior design engineer for the laser, was an intellectual nerd; Peter couldn’t help himself. “Do you know what I have lying next to me in bed?”

Rob, knowing Peter’s history, knew exactly what was next to him. “What’s the tart’s name?”

“Good question. Should I ask?” Peter whispered with a slight chuckle.

“Enough of this rubbish. You need to get your ass out of bed and get ready. They’ll be knocking on your door shortly. Cheers.” Rob hung up.

Peter rolled back over, put his lips to the ear of the pretty blonde and whispered, “You were wonderful last night.”

Without turning over, she answered back seductively with her English accent, “You were quite smashing too. Fancy another go around?”

Boy did he! But he had a job to do. He turned her over and gave her a passionate kiss. “Sorry, honey, I have to get to work.”

“Please don’t leave me,” she purred.

He just smiled, got up buck naked and paraded his muscular body around the bed into the restroom.

PETER WAS PART of the Space Intelligence Division (SID) of the CIA, recently developed to handle any international events associated with space. The United States Government had been getting concerned with the number of countries and private firms either flying in or close to flying in space, and believed criminal activity or receipt of threats from space was imminent. The United States needed an agency that could police such activities and respond if anything occurred. A space division was added to the CIA, a top secret operation. The CIA recruited their first agents from NASA, wanting them to be trained astronauts, ready to fly in space if needed. Peter was the first astronaut to sign on as an SID agent. At the age of forty-six, his current cover assignment was working at Byington Corporation as the director of engineering.

The United States was concerned with the activity China had been engaging in with international companies over the last few years. Byington Corporation of the United Kingdom, known for their advanced laser technology, had been working closely with China over the last three years providing them with information, hardware, and technology on their MK laser, a state of the art laser operated by a small nuclear power source. The laser was not designed as a weapon, but as a possible solution for cleaning up the massive amount of space junk floating around Earth’s orbit. Byington’s hope was that NASA, as well as other space agencies around the world, would be interested in the laser. Its beam was designed to have the right amount of energy to push large space junk out of orbit into deep space without destroying it, clearing out the crowded orbit and making the thermosphere safer for spacecraft. However, the CIA suspected China was planning on increasing the laser intensity so it could be used as a destructive weapon, possibly being used on their version of a “Star Wars” like system to protect against missile attack or worse, used as an offensive weapon capable of firing at any location on Earth. Such a weapon would be virtually impossible to defend against. With China’s recent success in space, they now had the capability to put up such a system. Peter’s assignment over the last year had been to gain the trust of the Chinese and learn their plan. His superiors felt there was no need to use an alias since his background as a NASA astronaut was beneficial in the director of engineering position. Only the president of Byington knew of Peter’s connection to the CIA.

Peter barely had enough time to throw some clothes in a bag before Chinese officials were pounding on his front door to escort him to the airport. Before walking out of his room he had to take one final look at the silhouette sleeping under a thin sheet on his bed. As she lay on her side, sound asleep, he scoped the outline of her body. He started at her feet and slowly worked his way up her beautiful curves. Wow, what a night , he thought with a smile. He wondered how quickly he could get in some more fun before walking out. His fantasy was interrupted by more pounding on the door. He shook his head in frustration as he turned away. He briskly walked to his desk next to the bed, pulled out a piece of paper and grabbed one of his company pens and wrote Had a wonderful time! Help yourself to some breakfast and lock up on the way out. Peter. He taped the note on the mirror above the desk and smiled as he wondered if she even knew his name. As he was putting the pen back in its holder he saw a gift wrapped box of company pens on the corner of his desk, perfect for a gift at the CNSA meeting. Grabbing it, he turned to leave. Looking back for one last glimpse of the blonde, Peter uttered, “Damn.” He shook his head and walked out of the room.

The hallway was dimly lit as Peter and Rob were quickly escorted by two Chinese soldiers, one in front and the other behind, at the Jiuquan Launch Center. Jiuquan was located a thousand miles west of Beijing in an isolated desert in the northwest Gansu province in China and was where all CNSA’s manned missions were launched. Peter and Rob had made it to Jiuquan in record time. What normally was a day trip from England to the remote location was cut to seven straight hours thanks to China providing a private plane and helicopter. Peter was still perplexed about what the rush was to get him and Rob to Jiuquan, especially since China was right in the middle of their historical moon mission. He surmised the laser was somehow involved in this mission, which was not a total surprise since the commander was Tang Liwei, who had attended past meetings. Though Peter did not know Tang’s exact position at CNSA during those meetings, he was always impressed with his questions. But how was the laser being used?