The Gemini Divergence (39 page)

The Raumsfahrtwaffe had moved their stations
far enough away from the Earth that they were able to figure out
how to orbit in geostationary positions. Once they discovered they
could do that, they set out to build a larger network of stations
that would eventually circle the globe, so that they could always
be in contact with each other and communicate with their saucers
anywhere on Earth.

Schwerig turned to Graff and ordered, “I want
a patrol circling above Kwajalein in space. As soon as they see the
Russian ships and the American aircraft commencing operations, I
want them to descend and investigate.”

“Jawohl, Herr Oberst.”

“Tell them to keep their distance and not to
interfere or make themselves easy targets. I just want to find out
what the Americans are up too.”

*~*

The next morning Gus and Volmer were on board
one of their planes and both aircraft were in the air circling the
test site at Bikini Atoll. The Russian fishing trawlers had
relocated to observe the test as well.

After they circled for a while they heard the
count down commence in their head phones.

As Gus scanned the island from the air he saw
something that excited him. He turned to Volmer and signaled for
him to look.

As Volmer looked in the direction that Gus
was pointing he could see three saucers flying in formation about a
mile off their left wing.

Gus adjusted his mike and reported, “Captain,
if you look to our nine there are a few new friends watching
us.”

“Holy shit!” responded the captain, “What the
hell are those?”

Gus smiled at Volmer and winked, “I don’t
know, maybe Martians.”

The rest of the crew had no idea what the
saucers actually were, so every remaining crew member scrambled for
the few open windows to look out at the mystery objects.

Volmer worried that the excited crew would
loose attention for the countdown and be caught looking at the
wrong time, he warned, “Gentlemen, we must not loose sight of the
countdown. No one can be looking out of the window when the bomb
detonates.”

As the countdown approached zero, the captain
ordered everyone away from the windows and told them to cover their
eyes.

“For how long?” asked Gus.

Volmer responded, “You’ll know.”

Gus sat there with his eyes shut. Just a
short moment after the count reached zero he saw the light through
his eyelids. It reminded him of the sun shining trough them when he
slept on the beach.

He heard no sound, but as soon as the light
dimmed, he looked out of the window and saw a massive mushroom
cloud over the atoll.

As he glanced towards the saucers, he noticed
that their formation was highly irregular.

He nudged Volmer and laughed while he
pointed, “I think they may have been a little surprised, don’t you
think?”

Volmer looked at the saucers struggling to
reform and laughed as well, “Oh I suppose that they may have to
clean their pants when they return to their station.”

Then the radio went crazy with people
commenting in disorganized excitement.

As they listened they could begin to make out
that the yield of the test was much larger than they had
anticipated.

They proceeded with their testing, then
returned to Kwajalein, where they heard about the confirmed over
yield of the test.

Apparently the physicists at Los Alamos had
greatly underestimated the potential of a lithium isotope that they
felt at first was inert. The yield turned out to be 15 Megatons,
two and a half times larger than they first expected.

The U.S. Military had to quickly evacuate
inhabitants of the surrounding islands. Fallout from the test had
also contaminated a nearby Japanese fishing boat causing an
international outcry.

Gus and Jack were compelled to work much
overtime flying from location to location, tracking the debris
cloud as it circled the Earth.

The test actually turned out to be the
largest yield test ever detonated by the United States.

*~*

The German saucer patrol returned to their
station to report to Oberst Schwerig what they had witnessed.

They told him how large and destructive the
burst had been, and how by listening to the radio chatter that it’s
yield even took the Americans by surprise.

Schwerig thanked and dismissed them.

As he turned to walk away, he stopped for a
second and slightly turned as he sniffed… as if he was in disbelief
what he might have just smelled.

Then he shook his head and continued on.

*~*

Eisenhower sent a team of ambassadors to have
another talk with the Germans at Holloman AFB.

He and his staff had grown very concerned
with how fast the Raumsfahrtwaffe had been expanding their force in
Argentina and could only imagine how much expansion had taken place
in space. The Americans were becoming worried that if the expansion
were allowed to continue that it would become impossible to hide
from the public.

~~~**^**~~~

The Cold War
/ MacArthur’s Gaffe

October 1955

General Douglas MacArthur gave a speech to
West Point cadets where he unexpectedly warned them of the
possibility of a pending third world war with flying saucers.

He was quoted as saying, “The nations of the
world will have to unite, for the next war will be an
interplanetary war. The nations of the earth must someday make a
common front against attack by people from other planets."

The speech launched uproar from government
officials everywhere, especially those in the know about the
Raumsfahrtwaffe.

MacArthur’s phone started to ring off the
hook as Eisenhower, Lemay, Samford, and any other officials in the
know, called to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing.

He responded that he thought it would be
prudent to subliminally ready the young cadets for a war that they
may actually have to fight some day. He felt that the
Raumsfahrtwaffe would not be an inert force forever, and would have
to be dealt with eventually. In his mind; having a force of
completely ill prepared officers would be totally
irresponsible.

*~*

When Khrushchev was briefed about his rocket
and missile program progress, he was told that no matter what they
did, they could not make their missiles as accurate as the
Americans had been able too.

Khrushchev merely responded by asking if the
Russian missiles were capable of carrying more weight.

When his experts replied that, yes, they were
capable of carrying more weight, Khrushchev dauntlessly imparted,
“Then make the bombs bigger! They don’t have to be as accurate if
they are large enough to still take out the target.”

*~*

Disney and Von Braun finally met.

Disney was ecstatic about Von Braun’s vision
for space and was overtly elated about the potential for
collaboration with the famous German rocket scientist.

Von Braun jumped at the chance to work with
Disney.

They were mutually overjoyed at the growth
opportunities for both of their continuously evolving
endeavors.

It was a truly win-win situation as Von Braun
could now learn how to make his sales pitch cartoons and Disney
could use Von Braun’s reputation to sell the fantasy of future life
and space travel to the American public.

*~*

Lockheed began flying the prototype U-2 out
of NTS-Groom Lake, later known as Area 51.

The entire program was dotted with test
pilots reporting strange objects approaching them during the
testing of the strange new plane.

They nicknamed the saucers… ‘Overseers’,
since they always seemed to be over their shoulders, watching.

*~*

In November of 1956, General Samford was
promoted from Air Force Intelligence to head the National Security
Agency.

*~*

Later in 1957, Lemay was promoted to Vice
Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

~~~**^**~~~

The Cold
War / Operation Plumb-bob

May 1957

An American phase of nuclear testing called
‘Operation Plumb-bob’ began, starting with the detonation of a bomb
called “Boltzmann”.

Later in June, while the tests were still
ongoing, the Air Force started receiving delivery of the military
version of Boeing’s new 707, called the C-135.

The AFOAT version of the plane was called the
WC-135, the ‘W’ standing for weather. It was the most advanced air
sampling platform yet built, and the first built totally by
contractors instead of being converted by AFOAT technicians.

There were so many new options that Gus and
Jack had to immerse themselves in learning how to operate and
repair all of the new equipment.

Some of the first flight missions to utilize
the new birds were used to fly background checks against the
Plumb-bob test ‘Franklin’. The new equipment worked fabulously.

Upon returning from the flight, in his
traditional routine, Gus checked the chalk written pie divisions on
the front landing gear wheel and was disappointed to find out that
he had to buy the first round for the crew that night. He thought
nothing unusual about it and went back to his work routine the next
day.

Later that same month, they ran through the
same routine for the ‘Priscilla’ test. All went like clockwork. The
new equipment worked flawlessly, but Gus was dismayed that, once
again, he had to buy the first round. He thought that it had to be
a coincidence. This had never happened before… it must be a
fluke.

In July of 57, Gus was on the crew that would
fly backgrounds against the latest upcoming test, ‘Hood’. Like most
other tests at NTS, it was to be detonated in the Yucca Flats
valley to the south west of Groom Lake.

Unlike Castle Bravo, the Air Force had a good
idea how large Hood was going to be, except that they were still
not prepared for the unexpectedly large debris field that this
particular test event would actually eject.

Hood was the largest bomb ever tested at NTS,
and it threw debris for miles. Groom Lake had to have their runway
cleaned before the test planes could land again. People considered
non essential to the Plumb-bob or U-2 testing, were temporarily
evacuated.

After they were able to land, then taxi up to
the flight line, Gus hastily disembarked the WC-135 from the trap
door in front of the nose gear.

Upon looking at the wheel, he shook his hands
in the air in a gesture of disgust. Then he relaxed his posture
with his hands on his hips wondering what the hell was going
on.

As the captain again patted Gus on the back
while he laughed, Gus turned and walked away; shaking his head in
dismay.

While walking from the flight line, Gus
passed a crew working on one of the new U-2s. He recognizes one of
the crew as the young technician that talked to him four years
before when Gus and Jack were working on the converted Martin
WB-57F.

The technician, Everett Klein, recognized Gus
as well and waved politely.

Gus returned the wave and gestured at how
much the base had grown in four years, “Everett, right? Looks a
little different now doesn’t it. Do you remember when there was
only one shed and one airplane?”

“Oh I remember,” responded Everett as he bent
over and picked up a rock that the ‘Hood’ test had blown onto the
Groom Lake tarmac. He displayed the rock to Gus and acerbically
suggested, “Do you still think that you are keeping what you have
been doing on the other side of that ridge a secret? How are the
‘monsters’ over there? You guys must be feeding them rocks that
they don’t care for.”

Gus laughed and replied lightheartedly, “I
still have that card in my wallet if you would like to make that
call.”