The Gemini Divergence (82 page)

*~*

Volmer and Kasparov nervously walked into
General Fitzpatrick’s office, where he courteously asked them to
remove their coats and sit.

Volmer spoke first, “General Fitzpatrick sir,
I was summoned to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland
recently to help them solve a troubling anomaly that was occurring
with their laser ranging experiment. It seemed that they were
experiencing some type of light spectrum distortion with the laser
that they were bouncing from a reflector left by the Apollo 11
crew.”

“What does this have to do with me?” inquired
Fitzpatrick, “and why was it important enough to fly comrade
Kasparov here to meet with us?”

Volmer looked nervously at Kasparov, who then
signaled with his hand for Volmer to continue with his explanation
to the General, “Comrade Kasparov and I recently took the liberty
of placing messages in some of the recent Soviet Martian
probes.”

“What? …What type of messages?” asked the
instantly intrigued and slightly agitated general.

“We anticipated that there was a schism
growing within the Raumsfahrtwaffe between a faction that wishes to
remain at war with us and a faction that wants to run away and be
left alone.”

Kasparov interjected, “We also theorized that
the faction that was retreating into space was being led by our
arch nemesis, Schwerig. But, since we had communicated with him
before, and because he was an obvious opportunist, we figured that
we could strike some sort of deal with him.”

The General looked peeved as well as
perplexed and was speechless as Volmer spoke again, “When I started
to review the laser data that was troubling NASA, I first suspected
that it was caused by seismic disturbances to the reflector on the
moon, but then I began to see a pattern… a pattern that could only
be generated by an intelligent being. Before long I realized that
it was Morse code, probably being tapped on the reflector by
someone on the moon.”

“Wait a minute,” Interrupted Fitzpatrick,
“you mean that the Germans are basically sending us smoke signals?
…Why didn’t they just radio us? They’ve done it before.”

“Oh,” answered Volmer, “They must be very
discreet, if their conspiracy were to be discovered… Well you know
how that usually turns out in other countries and throughout
history.”

“How can we possibly trust this guy?” moaned
Fitzpatrick.

“We can’t,” sternly answered Volmer, “We can
only rely on him seeing the advantage of our mutual goals.”

Fitzpatrick winced, “Well I’m a little
bemused… What mutual goal are you two talking about?”

Gennedy leaned forward, “Comrade Fitzpatrick,
Feldmarschall Schwerig may be hesitant to go through with a coup
while still at odds with the societies of the Earth… If we could
assure him that we would allow them to live in peace if he were to
overthrow the present Overseer leadership and finally bring peace
to this decades old secret war, it may just be the final nudge that
he needs to bring this war to an end.”

“I can’t make a decision like that by
myself,” explained Fitzpatrick, “I would have to take that to the
President… How many others know about this?”

Volmer answered, “Only us… even the
technicians at NASA are unaware what I found in their data.”

“How would we contact him back?”

“We would have to modulate the next laser
measurement.”

“How would we do that?” scoffed Fitzpatrick
as he laughed, “tap on the NASA laser”

Volmer and Kasparov looked at each other and
shrugged as Volmer turned back and responded, “Why… Yes.”

*~*

Citizens of Mars, most of which were unaware
of the growing conflict between Schwerig and Von Sterbenbach or
about the notes that were contained within the probes, began
reporting back to Von Sterbenbach their concern and dismay about
the Soviet probes that were starting to show up around Mars
already. Many had foreboding recollections of what soon followed
the probes back on the moon.

The distance between Earth and Mars was too
great to carry on regular radio conversations, so people
communicated with transcripts, much like telegrams that they would
dictate to communication technicians who would then broadcast the
content to a technician on the other end, who would then type up
and deliver them.

In response to the growing Raumsfahrtwaffe
concern, Von Sterbenbach sent a message to Schwerig

Feldmarschall Schwerig;

Your seemingly adoring public has been
expressing extreme concern that your Martian infrastructure may not
be the protection against the Earth dwellers that you have promised
them.

Since you have forgone submitting plans for
dealing with these adversaries, I have delegated the authority to
inflict further strikes upon the Earth dwellers, the Soviets in
particular, since they are the most recent chronic violators of our
lebensraum, to General Adlerkrallen; who has assured me that he
will teach them a lesson that they shall never forget.

I should hope that you will make reparations
to your image with your constituents in so that they may regain
their allegiance to your frontier endeavor.

Führer der Raumsfahrtwaffe

Günter von Sterbenbach

Schwerig was livid that Von Sterbenbach would
literarily slap him across the face like this. He knew that Von
Sterbenbach was actually fiercely jealous of his followers’
adoration.

He also knew that a sharp response letter
would infuriate Von Sterbenbach into action, but wondered if now
was the time… he hesitated and refrained at first from taunting the
Führer further, but then realized that he would never have another
opportunity like the present… He would wait, only for an
acknowledgement of his recent response from Volmer.

30 May 1971

NASA launched Mariner 9 to travel to Mars and
insert itself into orbit with hopes that it would be more
successful than Mariner 6 or 7.

6 June 1971

The Russians were dismayed to find all three
crew members of Soyuz 11 dead in their capsule.

Soviet news reels showed the Red Army
recovering the capsule and discovering the bodies of their
comrades, who had apparently died from sudden depressurization
while re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

Further inspection of the capsule that wasn’t
filmed, however, revealed the tell tale scorch marks of a
Raumsfahrtwaffe Strahlenkanone.

*~*

Kasparov flew back to the Soviet Union and
Volmer had returned to the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland
to finish his analysis of NASA’s refractoral intermittence problem
and await his opportunity to transmit a return message.

As he sat at his usually disorganized and
unkempt desk doing calculations… his phone rang,

“Dr. Volmer speaking.”

On the other end of the receiver was the
voice of General Fitzpatrick, “Dr. Volmer, I have just received
word from the Joint Chiefs. The President has ok’d an agreement,
but with one big caveat.”

“What would that be?”

“Well, it turns out that President Nixon has
witnessed negotiations with Schwerig before, having been
Eisenhower’s Vice President, and with his upcoming second term
election, he doesn’t want a lot of back and forth messaging. The
more message traffic that is out there, the better chance of it
being apprehended and exposed, so the caveat is this… If there is
to be a deal, it has to happen before the end of this year, no
exceptions.”

“We are going to perform another test later
today… I will try to send a reply. I hope that somebody is up there
listening for it… That is, using the same method in which they sent
their initial message.”

“Well, good luck.”

“Thanks, I think we all need it.”

*~*

Schwerig received word from Faust that Volmer
had responded with a confirmation from the American President.

It was just the message that he had been
waiting for.

He quickly penned another message intended to
spark immediate outrage from Von Sterbenbach and compel him into
Schwerig’s hands as quickly as possible.

*~*

Von Sterbenbach was dining with Generals
Adlerkrallen and Kreutztrager, when a messenger delivered a folded
paper to the Führer. He looked curiously at the letter, then opened
it and began to read it privately.

My Dear Delusional Führer;

Your observations as to which of us has more
astuteness or popularity with the Raumsfahrtwaffe populous, is as
myopic as your strategy for the conquest of Earth and space.

Your conceited hawkish delusions coupled
with the impotent mental contributions from your haplessly naïve
advisory staff, i.e. Adlerkrallen and Kreutztrager, will conclude
in nothing but the certain destruction of the Raumsfahrtwaffe and
or any hope for a Fourth Reich.

Recent thwarting of the American’s Apollo 12
and 13, as well as the attack upon the Soviet’s N-1 program will
result in nothing but a renewed and invigorated assault against our
every endeavor, such as the recent increase in Martian probes,
which may have been a total surprise as well as a mystery for your
blindly sycophantic word echoers, but it has not been the slightest
of shocks for me or my faction.

Your continuous pointless pontification will
ascertain nothing but complete contempt and apathy towards your
self indulgent wants and wills. You lead through fear alone and
couldn’t muster the natural leadership to coerce a drunk towards a
bottle.

Your mental tunnel vision towards the Gemini
War and away from the plight of your people will only result in
your demise as well as the passing of your regime.

The faster you lead your small pack of loyal
lemmings over your favored cliff, the faster I’ll be able to lead
the Raumsfahrtwaffe onto better things.

Schwerig!

Von Sterbenbach quietly refolded the letter
while showing no expression. Then he began sticking the letter in
his coat pocket as he ordered, “General Adlerkrallen… I want you to
watch over the station for a while… Feldmarschall Kreutztrager…
Pack your bags. We’re going to pay Feldmarschall Schwerig a visit
on Mars.

*~*

Schwerig was dining with Graf, when a
messenger approached and snapped to attention, “Feldmarschall
Schwerig, I am pleased to announce that the Führer has just
announced that he will be traveling to Mars to visit us and present
you with an award.”

Schwerig put on his best faux face and
exclaimed, “Oh, how wonderful… We shall have to roll out the red
carpet.”

Graff mumbled under his breath, “Yeah, to
hide the most certainly to occur stains.”

Schwerig held up his wine glass for a toast
and confidently winked at Graf as he boasted, “Freedom’s stain, my
friend.”

26 July 1971

Apollo 15 was launched.

Days before the launch, Volmer had conversed
with Faust about the Presidential deal and was able to receive
information about the evident preoccupation of Adlerkrallen with
other tasks, like punishing the Soviets for the rash of Martian
probes.

Amid Von Sterbenbach’s obvious absence,
Apollo 15 found itself with much more time to spend on the lunar
surface.

It was the first mission to use the lunar
rover and was dubbed the most successful Apollo flight of them
all.

This time NASA had added a Gamma Ray
Spectrometer onto the Command Module to map the lunar surface for
nuclear activity; secretly, they were trying to find out whether
the Raumsfahrtwaffe was safely firing down its reactors or
carelessly scuttling them before their exodus.

~~~**^**~~~

From Gemini
to Apollo / The Tumult Unfurls

Schwerig had been working even more overtime
than normal to prepare for Von Sterbenbach’s arrival.

He had heard nothing about the outrage over
his letter, so he figured that Von Sterbenbach hadn’t told anyone
else, and would probably find a way to covertly kill him sometime
during his visit to Mars.

He had his police operatives keeping a close
eye out for clandestine plots, fomented by Von Sterbenbach
loyalists that may be receiving undetected messages.

He quietly liquidated all of Von
Sterbenbach’s operatives that he was able to detect and promptly
removed any record of their existence from the books.

Some citizens noticed that something was
transpiring but most were oblivious to the mountain of tension that
was building amongst the upper echelons of their society.

Against the danger of being detected by
Schwerig’s secret police, some even began to place back room wagers
as to who would prevail in the coming clash.

Schwerig had anticipated that Von
Sterbenbach’s station and entourage would take the usual six months
of transit time, but was taken by complete surprise when, because
of the present alignment of the planets as well as an alternate
course taken by the Führer’s pilots, Von Sterbenbach had been able
to arrive within five months.