The Accidental Explorer

by George Deeb

  “Some of our Top Secret research projects would amaze you, and the people conducting them are the best in their field. These are people whose vision of the future makes me feel like my brain is stuck in idle. It's only after they explain the science behind it that you can get just a basic understanding of what they are doing. These are brilliant minds, Mr. President. If only a fraction of them are fruitful, we should be able to successfully accomplish what is outlined in that brief.” He paused again but still didn't get any reaction. He thought – hoped - this was a good sign.

  “In the time frame laid out, we expect our capabilities will be far advanced from what we can do today, judging by the rate of advancement we've made in the last twenty years.”

  Reagan sat back in his chair and looked at the two men. He could tell that they both thought the mission was a good idea. He was still trying to accept the fact that someone would propose such a thing. He knew progress only came when boundaries where pushed beyond their limits, but he couldn't get his mind passed the risk factor. He was sure that anyone going on this mission – even ten years from now – was a dead man. He had always considered himself to be slightly more visionary than normal, but any way he tried to twist it this came out as a suicide mission. He thought about what Farber-Chatwell had said, and considered the advancements made in the last twenty years but concluded that another ten years would not be enough. 'Hell,' he thought, 'another twenty years won't be enough to make this safely feasible.' He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms across his chest.

  “I know that in the military you have to sometimes send men out on missions they are not likely to come back from,” the President said, looking at Farber-Chatwell, “but doesn't the level of risk here bother you at all? I don't care if they are volunteers. They are investing their faith, and lives, in your assessment of the situation. Are you ready to take that responsibility? Either of you?”, he said, now looking at Ramsdel.

  “Some things are necessary for the good of the nation.” said Farber-Chatwell. “My people all know that. They are all willing to take the risks explained to them. I believe, as outlined in the mission statement, success is possible. If I didn't believe it, I wouldn't be going.”

  The President's eyebrows raised up in surprise.

  “You're going?” he asked Farber-Chatwell.

  “Yes sir.” he replied. “That's the reason there are two of us.” indicating Ramsdel with a nod. “One to handle things here, and one on site.”

  Reagan stared at Farber-Chatwell for a while, quietly evaluating the man. Then he looked and Ramsdel. After a while, his eyes went back to the document in front of him.

  “What about training?” asked the President. “You're going to have to train people for this mission. How are you going to accomplish that and still keep this secret. The only organization in the business to train people for this kind of thing is a very public one. Unless there is another agency for this sort of training that I don't know about – is there?”

  “No sir. Page sixteen covers that. No other organization exists for this type of training. But that's not a problem. A lot of people are put through the specialized training required, so that there are available backups in case something happens to the first string. As far as anyone will know, our people will be just some of the backup team and not really expected to ever fly. There is always some promotional good will activities carried out in these organizations. Some high profile congressman will be allowed to go through some of the training as a good will gesture, and of course because it never hurts to develop friendships with the people who control the purse strings. These promotional activities will supply some of the cover for our true purpose. My personal training will just be considered to be inter-organizational good will.”

  There was no response to what he said. They sat silently while Reagan continued reading.

  “Of course,” the president said after a few minutes, “this cost estimate is complete bull. It always costs the tax payers a hell of a lot more.”

  “Actually, we tried to evaluate the cost as accurately as possible.” said Ramsdel.

  “Your ten year estimate is in the hundreds of millions.” said the president. “How are you going to finance this?”

  “With your Presidential Finding, we'll be able to fund from the black ops budget. That way, no questions – no exposure.” replied Ramsdel.

  “But Congress will ask questions. Not of you, but of your bosses. They always do – especially when your expenses exceed the hundred million mark. For some reason they seem to think that's a touchstone figure.” Reagan said. “And once money questions start, questions about the operation soon follow.”

  “That's why we proposed the operation the way we did. They can't ask about the operation. Once it's authorized, even they can't question it.”

  “Don't be naive.” snapped Reagan. They might not be able to question you, but they will ask about the authorization, and then they'll start questioning those people. It only takes one slip. They will find out who authorized, and use every trick they have against them. It won't be long after that you'll read in the papers about some 'unnamed source' giving them information they shouldn't have.”

  “Circular authorization.” interjected Farber-Chatwell.

  “What?” responded Reagan.

  “Circular authorization. The CIA and DIA have many different offices of operation, each one specializing in a separate field of expertise. The first office authorizes the second to do the mission. The second authorizes the third – the third authorizes the next, and so on, until the last office comes back around and authorizes the first. While they are doing that, each office of the CIA is authorizing the DIA to perform the mission as a contract operation. At the same time the DIA is doing the same thing the CIA did. Any investigation of authorization will just take them in circles – and circles have no end.”

  Reagan looked back and forth at the two men for a minute. Farber-Chatwell had explained all this with a straight face. Ramsdel was smirking.

  Reagan flipped back to the first page, and started asking questions about every aspect of the plan. The question and answer session went on for over an hour, with Farber-Chatwell and Ramsdel each taking turns answering within their field of responsibility. When all his questions had been answered, The President rubbed his eyes, took his pen from his pocket, and signed both copies of the Finding.

  “One more thing, Mr. President,” said Ramsdel, “if you will. Because of the nature of the mission, and the fact that implementation is so far in the future,...” he said as he removed an ink pad from his attache´, “and that we don't have an official stamp of office here...”. He handed the pad to the President. “This isn't SOP,” he continued, “but as you said, there will be questions sooner or later. Both thumbs should suffice – just under your signature.”

  President Reagan took the ink pad from him, and smiled.

  “I'm impressed.” said Reagan. “There may be questions in the future, but they won't be able to question my signature.” He nodded in approval.

  The President inked both of his thumbs, and placed an imprint of each under his signature, on both copies. Ramsdel then handed him a small cloth and a plastic bottle of ink remover. Reagan cleaned off as much of the ink as his could.

  Both men thanked the President as he handed each one a copy.

  “All I did was sign the Finding, gentlemen.” said Reagan. ”You're the ones who'll have to carry the ball.” He paused for a second. “You also helped me make up my mind about a little problem I'm having with Air Traffic Controllers and the union. As you said, some things are necessary for the good of the nation.”

  He looked at the two men for a while, trying to get a better sense of them.

  “My wife is waiting. I told her twenty minutes, and it's been over an hour.” He stood up and walked to the door, then paused and turned around. His face was serious, and his eyes lowered in thought. “Good luck.”

  After the door closed behind the Presi
dent, Ramsdel signed his copy of the document, imprinted his thumbs below the signature, and handed it to Farber-Chatwell, who did likewise. After both had cleaned the ink from their hands, he offered his hand to the other man who shook it. Neither of them were smiling. The mission was now effectively authorized, and suddenly they both felt the weight of it on their shoulders. Until this moment, it all was just an interesting mental exercise – now it was reality. Both knew how to get in touch with the other. They gathered their belongings, and said brief goodbyes. Shortly after the President had left, Farber-Chatwell walked out of the room and turned right, to the elevator. A few minutes after that Ramsdel walked out and turned left, to take the stairs. No one had paid much attention to them. They were just two more visitors in the White House hallways.

  4

  President Reagan went to the living quarters in the White House. He knew his wife would be ready for the evening's events, and waiting for him. He found her talking to some staff members about tomorrow's reception. They greeted him as they left, and he walked over and kissed his wife on the cheek.

  “Ready for dinner?” he asked.

  “Oh yes. You're late. That must have been an important meeting.” she said.

  “There was no meeting.” he told her. “No meeting ever took place tonight, dear.”

  Mrs. Reagan looked at him for a while, then said, “I see. No meeting ever took place. I guess that means you were here with me all this time then.”, she said smiling at him.

  “And that's just one of reasons I love you so much.” the President said, as they left their quarters. He smiled at her, and kissed her hand.

  Chapter 3

  Preparation

  1

  STS 103 - December, 1999

  From: OP361MBC

  To: OP361EBC

  MISSION STATUS UPDATE

  31DEC1999

  SEASONS GREETINGS – HOPE YOU ARE WELL

  BRIEF FOLLOWS -

  December 1999 - Space Shuttle Discovery launched on the one hundred and third mission of Shuttle program - commanded by Curtis Lee Brown and piloted by Scott Joseph Kelly. ship carried five other crew members representing American and European space agencies. mission was to service and upgrade Hubble Space Telescope. Throughout the years it had been orbiting planet the Hubble had given scientists of international community views of space that changed or confirmed their beliefs and knowledge of universe. There was no replacement system planned for in near future so keeping it in working order was very important to scientific community. We were able to take advantage of this as follows.

  previous was what public and national press wERE told. also was what most of shuttle crew believed. repair components and tools for job did nOt come close to 50000 pound pay load capacity of shuttle so it – officially - would be flying almost empty.

  truth was that STS 103 would actually be launching at maximum safe payload capacity. Stored in CARGO bay - inside OUR specially designed container - were tons of carbon fiber panels - and other structural components and fasteners. –- NOTE – WE HAVE DEVELOPED NEW FASTENER COMPONENTS AND TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL PROVE USEFUL TO COMMERCIAL Application. DUMMY COMPANY BEING SET UP TO MAKE THIS TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE TO INDUSTRY. –- END NOTE - The container Is coated in black COLORED light absorbing material. To conceal fact that Shuttle was launching IN heavy CONDITION flight controllers and Shuttle crew members were told that a new launch profile would be tested on the mission. Of seven member crew only one person was aware of what was actually on board the ship. It was necessary that one of our associates be on crew and aware of this in case payload became a factor in an unforeseen emergency – someone had to know what could possibly make a dangerous situation worse and act to mitigate it.

  BRIEF ENDS -

  Mission report follows -

  03Nov1999 – Misinformation was disseminated to the press and public that a problem had been detected and main engine replacement was needed to be performed on shuttle. THIS CREATED problem OF NASA AND CONTRACTOR SUPPORT PERSONNEL waiting to be called in to perform the maintenance.

  04Nov1999 - NASA AND CONTRACTOR SUPPORT PERSONNEL told the engine replacement was determined to be unnecessary. Unknown to them - in previous twenty-four hours - additional payload was placed in the cargo bay by our people. Cargo never recorded in shuttle logs and never documented in NASA records.

  05Nov1999 - Shuttle Discovery was set to be moved to the launch pad. It was not. During loading of our cargo container some of the SYSTEM wiring was damaged and move had to be delayed while it was repaired. Special team of our technicians was brought in to perform the repair since it required working in the cargo bay.

  19Dec1999 - after multiple delays due to maintenance and weather Discovery finally launched on mission to repair Hubble. Upon reaching altitude and establishing stable orbit the cargo bay doors were exercised open to confirm they were functioning correctly. It was during this test of doors that cargo CONTAINER was ejected. Cargo release Took only few seconds to complete while rest of crew were busy getting ready for their assigned tasks. retaining clamps were surreptitiously released by our collaborator and small calibrated springs that were attached to bottom of cargo container pushed load gently away from shuttle. CLAMPS ARE INTEGRAL TO CONTAINER SO THAT NO UNEXPECTED HARDWARE WOULD BE FOUND IN CARGO BAY. container Designed so there were no noise GENERATING rockets or any other detectable propulsion systems. Although springs not required to be very strong in the weightless environment of space they did have to be specifically calibrated for load they were attached to. Springs at rear of load were slightly weaker than those at front. System of springs designed to impart an outward and SLIGHTLY rearward motion to load. CONTAINER Had to achieve enough separation distance from the SHUTTLE to clear vertical stabilizer before moving back and away from ship. Reaction by the shuttle was slight - easily compensated for by our crew member.

  As container Moved behind shuttle Navigation receiver detected and locked onto MODIFIED military GPS satellites having secondary use capabilities. –- NOTE - Although NASA had been agency that put these in orbit it was not aware of this capability. Even in military establishment there ARE only a few who know about this. except for their specific contributions to project, they know nothing else about how it Is being used. satellites already budgeted and scheduled to be orbited were modified with the extra capabilities to reduce costs and hide existence of the project. modified satellites have multiple antenna configuration that allows them to simultaneously be used by extraterrestrial vehicles i.e. vehicles moving away from the planet. –- END NOTE

  When on-board receiver had locked onto enough satellites for navigation THE embedded computer calculated thrust and vector solutions. nozzles for compressed nitrogen rockets were opened and angled to place container on course. Compressed nitrogen jets used because they required no ignition source - generated no heat signature - added little overall weight. –- NOTE - We adapted technology that had been developed and abandoned by NASA in 1984 for the astronaut Manned Maneuvering Unit. It took only a little work to modify system for this application – quick and relatively cheap. –- END NOTE

  Container did not require a lot of thrust, as there was no need for rapid acceleration. more important to be on course and schedule for perihelion than to get there quickly. ion thrusters activated to propel it towards destination When container reached distance of five NM from shuttle and had better chance of not being detected. There was plenty of time and only 225,623 miles to go. –- NOTE – that was a joke. –- END NOTE

  As it travels through space computer continually making course corrections - at first using GPS and later using inertial navigation.

  on-board low power HF transmitter programmed to send data back through highly directional and steerable antenna. encrypted and time stamped signal sent at irregular intervals. simple data stream to tell tracking personnel where container was at time of transmission - and possibly where it was when/if the mission fails.

  Package on course. Will not arrive for Chr
istmas. Have tried to include more operational details per your request.

  Mission report Ends -

  HOPE YOUR HOLIDAYS ARE MEMORABLE AND ENJOYABLE.

  Ransen Ramsdel sipped his coffee as he read the latest update from Farber-Chatwell. 'Hope you have a good holiday as well.' he thought, as if he could send the words to the other man by telepathy.

  The two men had only met face to face a relatively few handfuls of times over the years, for security reasons. Still, he considered Farber-Chatwell to be a friend. How could he not – the two of them shared what was presently the greatest secret in the world. Even the people that worked for them weren't aware of the final goal. But that would change in the next few years. It was all coming together now. They were finally closing in on the point where they would have to pick the operational team, and those people would have to know everything.