A Disruptive Invention
Page 28
“Well, what do you think of that?” asked Steve. John replied: “I can remember that Tanya asked the Russian crew to turn on their transponder so that we could find them. Right after that they had this terrible problem with depressurizing the spacecraft, and not surprisingly they forgot all about turning off the transponder once they got the hatch open. I wonder if that is the last we will hear of this?”
John’s rhetorical question was answered on Tuesday. He was reading the news on the internet before work when he saw an article in the Washington Post:
Russian Premier Thanks the United States
The Russian Premier today publicly thanked the United States for its cooperation in returning safely four Russian cosmonauts who got into difficulty last week. There has been no corresponding announcement from the USA and so it is something of a mystery as to the circumstances of this rescue. The Russian premier appeared publicly with his daughter Olga who was apparently one of the four cosmonauts involved. He said that this gesture of friendship was going to usher in a new era of peaceful scientific cooperation and political coexistence between Russia and the United States.
John whistled and shook his head. That day in the Electrolev building, he said to Steve: “Did you see that article in the Washington Post this morning about the Russian premier?”
Steve replied: “I did not catch the Washington Post but I saw something in the New York Times reporting a press announcement in which the Russian premier appeared with his daughter and announced a new era of peaceful coexistence and scientific cooperation between Russia and the United States. It seems like this thing is really starting to move, if you see what I mean.”
On Wednesday morning Steve was following John’s example of scanning the internet news when he saw this report from the Washington Post:
Sofia mystery partially clarified
Investigative reporter Tim Owens of the Washington Post yesterday chartered a Cessna citation aircraft to investigate the mysterious Sofia space station. He was able to borrow an HD camera with telescopic lenses and image stabilization that is normally used for helicopter reporting of traffic and news, and took it up to an altitude of 35,000 feet over the North Atlantic. The camera was set up under the large sloping front windows of the jet looking up at the sky above. Knowing the latitude and longitude of the mysterious object Sofia that has been reported for the last ten days over the North Atlantic, he was able to go to that location and search the sky above for the enormous balloon that has been believed to be transmitting transponder signals with the call sign Sofia, from a distance of only 13 miles. Below is the image that he was able to photograph. Scientific evaluation of the picture suggests that it is a roughly circular object about seventy feet across. Four nearly square structures are apparent on its underside, which has a square hole just a little off from the center. This image deepens the mystery dramatically. For the last week scientists had been speculating that Sofia was in fact a monstrous balloon, floating over the North Atlantic. Now it is clear that Sofia is not at all monstrous, but is only seventy feet across and presumably quite dense. It is clearly constructed by the Russians using stealth technology so that it does not show up on radar screens. This raises the obvious question concerning the oxymoron of a stealth vehicle displaying a transponder response which clearly identifies its origins as coming from Russia. Our aerospace correspondent speculates that this event is probably unintentional, and that Sofia, whatever it is, is malfunctioning.
Thursday morning both Steve and John saw this report from the Washington Post. There was a picture of Ivan, Olga, Yuri and Valentina walking from a car and into the Russian Embassy.
Russian Cosmonauts enter the Russian Embassy in Washington
On Tuesday of last week a photographer took this picture of two men and two women getting out of a car registered to the US Air Force outside the Russian embassy. Our diplomatic correspondent has identified the young woman on the right as Olga, the eldest daughter of the Russian Premier. Olga is well known to be in the Russian cosmonaut corps and it is surmised that this group is the quartet of cosmonauts referenced to by the Russian Premier on Monday of this week when he was thanking the United States for the rescue of four cosmonauts and announcing a new era of peaceful coexistence and scientific cooperation. Investigative reporter Tim Owens now speculates that the malfunctioning object which is still broadcasting the transponder signal “Sofia” twenty miles over the North Atlantic is in fact the space craft from which Olga and her three companions were rescued. The coincidence between the announced rescue, the new era of peace and cooperation, and the appearance of the malfunctioning Sofia over the North Atlantic is too strong to ignore. There are two dramatic questions involved. First, does Russia have some new technology which allows it to park a stealth vehicle indefinitely at a height of twenty miles above the earth, without orbital velocity? Then secondly, does the United States have some corresponding technology which has allowed the US Air Force to apparently rescue the four cosmonauts from high over the Atlantic and return them to the Russian embassy safely?
When they both got into work on Thursday, John went straight to Steve’s office and said: “Did you see the Washington Post Report?”
Steve replied: “Yes I did. You know this could work wonders for the value of our stock options. The administration is soon going to have to admit that LeviStar technology exists and then Electrolev can be admitted to be the prime contractor, which will allow us to plan an IPO in due course. We could all get really rich at last.”
“I had been hoping for something like this,” replied John. “But now it is happening it seems almost unreal, like a dream come true.”
“Let’s give the administration the weekend to react and I bet we will get some announcement next week,” said Steve.
Steve’s pronouncement was indeed prophetic, since on Monday morning the Wall Street Journal trumpeted a headline which sent all their pulses racing:
Administration spokesman confirms US rescue of Russian Cosmonauts
On Sunday the US administration officially confirmed that the United States had indeed rescued four Russian cosmonauts from a now defunct space vehicle which is still broadcasting the call sign “Sofia” twenty miles high over the North Atlantic. Apparently the space station had malfunctioned in some way and the lives of the cosmonauts, including Olga the daughter of the Russian Premier, were in imminent danger. The United States Air Force under the command of Brigadier General James Harper mounted a rescue using hitherto secret space going vehicles which went up to the Sofia space station and evacuated the crew of four. The technology which allows Sofia to remain stationary over the North Atlantic has never before been described in scientific journals. The technology used by the United States to mount the rescue was also the same kind of technology which reportedly makes possible non orbital, low speed travel at altitudes of 20 miles above the earth. The existence of these new space capable flying vehicles has never before been admitted by the United States government. The spokesman said that there will be a media photo opportunity on Wednesday at Huntsville, Alabama in which these new flying vehicles will be shown to the media for the first time.
On Monday morning John rushed into Steve’s office and said: “What do you make of this morning’s Wall Street Journal?”
“Well, it’s great for our stock options,” replied Steve. “However you would think that James would have said something to us!” At that moment his phone rang. “It’s James,” he grinned. “Yes, I am available now, and John is here with me. He’ll be here in a few moments,” he said as he replaced the receiver.
True to his word as usual, James walked into the office a couple of minutes later. “Did you read this morning’s papers?” he asked, tensely.
“We sure did,” replied Steve with a smile. John was also chuckling inwardly at the apparent concern and discomfort on James’s face.
“We are committed to making a photo op presentation to the media on Wednesday,” said James, straightforwardly.
“That’s just how I read it,” responded James. “I was thinking that the United States Space and Rocket Center owes us a thing or two to say the least of it. They have the floor space, parking and facilities to accommodate thousands of visitors there, and it is only about a mile from here. We could ask them to close the place for normal business for a morning. Also the historical exhibits of rockets and space station stuff there would make a great backdrop that the media would really love. Let me go and do some negotiating. I might have to promise them to have one of the Delias when they are finally obsolete, but I am almost sure that I can manage it somehow.”
James was successful, and following is a description of the presentation by Cable Network News during prime time that Wednesday evening.
Chapter 60
The presenter was the senior news anchor Roland Ritter, a white haired forty something man who had a news show in his own name every weekday night. The scene opened with Roland standing in front of an empty parking lot, on the other side of which could be seen the impressive rockets of the Space and Rocket Center which stand beside Highway 565 and are such a well known Alabama landmark.
“Tonight we bring to you a presentation of new United States technology of a truly stunning kind! You will have all heard during the last two weeks how the daughter of the Russian Premier and three other cosmonauts were rescued from their space vehicle twenty miles over the North Atlantic. The Russian space vehicle apparently malfunctioned in space, and the lives of the cosmonauts were in imminent danger. It has now been revealed that the United States Air Force was able to mount a dramatic rescue using a new technology space going vehicle of a kind the existence of which has never been disclosed before. Today we are here at the United States Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville to be shown these new vehicles for the very first time. In a matter of minutes two of these space-going flying vehicles are going to land here in this parking lot for us to see. As you can see, this event has attracted a good deal of media attention.” The camera scanned round to show easily five hundred news people complete with all manner of cameras. One anchor person after another was talking into their camera in the same way as Roland Ritter.
“Here they come now!” he exclaimed. The camera scans round to pick up the outlines of Delia 1 and Delia 2 approaching from the direction of the Arsenal. Stars and Stripes insignias had been painted on either side of the stubby little tail fins. There was a small green light on the right side and a small red light on the left . As they approached the fact that the whole underside was a mass of what looked like car headlights was readily apparent. The two Delias approached the parking lot at a height of about 100 feet and slowed to about ten miles an hour. Banking gently, they circled gracefully around the parking lot as if they were at the two ends of an invisible bar, for two laps, then they slowly moved down in front of the waiting cameras and stopped side by side about fifty yards apart. The pilots inside evidently put them in park, because they stopped exactly eight feet from the ground.
The audience could hear the low whine of the APU jet turbines on board, suddenly stop, leaving the Delias sitting there silently, eight feet from the ground. The audience was silent, stunned at what they were seeing. After about a minute, the undercarriage was lowered from beneath each of them, and then they settled down on their wheels as light as a feather. The bottom hatch opened up beneath each of them, and the built in ladders were dropped down to the ground. From the right one came Major General James Harper, who had his always resplendent uniform even more neatly pressed than usual, and from the left one came Steve Harmann wearing a smart business suit. All this showmanship had been rehearsed to a great extent the previous day, and each of them looked relaxed and amused. The pair walked up to a battery of microphones which had been set up in front of the army of reporters.
“Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Major General James Harper of the United States Air Force. I have been primarily responsible for coordinating the development of these new flying vehicles which we call LeviStars. My companion here is Steve Harmann, the Chief Operating Officer of Electrolev, which is the company that is the prime contractor on this project. We two are chosen to speak with you because neither of us knows how these vehicles work, and so we cannot accidentally give away any secret information!”
There was a faint titter followed by a murmuring from the throng.
“The vehicles which we just arrived in are called LeviStars as a type. These particular ones are the Delia class LeviStar. They can seat four people including the pilot, and we both travelled in the passenger seats on our short journey here from the Redstone Arsenal. We have chosen this location to unveil these vehicles because here we are surrounded by reminders of the past aerospace achievements of the USA, as we see this latest wonder that has now emerged from the Marshall Space Flight Center. These are the very vehicles that were used two weeks ago to rescue stranded Russian cosmonauts from the space station Sofia which is still floating somewhere in near space over the North Atlantic. You will see that they are capable of flight without using wings or rotors, and hence they can navigate effectively in near space. We see them as having a great future for all kinds of surveillance activities and rescue missions. The technology by which they work is highly classified at this moment and so for the immediate future these aircraft will only be used by the United States military.
I can now answer your questions.”
“Mike Thompson of the New York Times – To me these vehicles look just like flying saucers out of a science fiction story. Was there an extra-terrestrial involvement in creating them?”
Steve said: “Let me answer that one. The pilots sitting in those cockpits are red blooded American patriots. The technology was actually invented in Long Beach, California.”
“Roger Trueblood of ABC news – Can you fly these vehicles to the moon? “
James answered: “I am sorry but we cannot give you any operational capability information. What might interest you though, is that they have a galley and toilets just like an aircraft, also the seats are just like the first class seats on a big airliner. There is always gravity inside the vehicles which is very comfortable and pleasant.”
“Heather Turner of CBS news – how were the cosmonauts rescued from the Sofia space station?”
James answered: “Everybody put on pressure suits and both vehicles were depressurized. Then a rope was dangled down from Sofia into the topside emergency escape hatch which these Delias have, and the cosmonauts slid down the rope and into the Delias.”
“Roland Ritter of CNN – how do you fly the Delias?”
James replied: “The controls inside are exactly like a helicopter. Anybody who can fly a helicopter can fly one of these things.”
“Tom Margolis of the Washington Post – What went wrong on Sofia that meant it had to be evacuated in such a hurry?”
James replied: “We are not completely sure, but in general terms it was a malfunction of the flight control computer. These vehicles are what the aviation industry classifies as fly by wire vehicles - there is no way a human being can intervene if the electronics really do fail.”
“Alan Toper of the BBC – what makes these vehicles go up in the air?”
Steve Harmann answered: “I don’t understand all that scientific mumbo jumbo which is the reason why they sent me out here!”
“Harry Jones of NBC news – why do they have so many lights underneath?” James and Steve looked at each other. James said: “Let me handle that one – I don’t really know – maybe they come in handy for night operations.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I think th
at we have answered all the questions which are possible here today. So if you will excuse us we will now go back to our work. Thank you for your time and attention.” With that parting statement, James and Steve walked back to the two Delias and climbed aboard, pulling up the ladders behind them and closing the bottom hatches. Next both Delias lifted silently up two feet, and retracted their under carriage. Then they silently rose to about a thousand feet before they restarted their APUs and jetted off southwards towards the Redstone Arsenal.
The camera then turned back to Roland Ritter, standing holding his microphone with the rockets of the Space and Rocket Center in the background. “Well that is a truly incredible sight. We will now take you back to the studio where a panel of military, political and aerospace experts will discuss the meaning of what we have just seen.”
Chapter 61
In truth the two Delias were in the air for no more than two minutes after they left the press conference before they were touching down again outside the Electrolev hangar. Inside Delia 1 James shook hands with Terry Mettle who had been the pilot. Inside Delia 2, Steve shook hands with John and said: “We are clear to make that initial public offering now!”
All four of them exchanged high fives as they emerged onto the tarmac. “Great work guys!” exclaimed James. It was now just five days before Christmas and the Electrolev Christmas party was the main thing on everybody’s mind. Up until now access to even seeing the Delias had been strictly limited to need, but after the press photo-op the security was relaxed for a day. The Christmas party was to be held in the hangar that evening, with the two Delias present as a backdrop. Strictly speaking it was a LeviStar project party, since there were really two groups of people present, the original Electrolev staff who had stock options and the subcontractors who did not. Steve had made a point of seeing the Electrolev staff one by one to point out this sensitivity and ask people not to talk about it in order that it should not threaten the superb working relationship that had been built up. “If anybody mentions the word stock or stock options change the subject,” he had advised.