The Gemini Divergence (46 page)

Schwerig smiled and boasted, “Well then,
there should be no other test as perfect as the real thing. Then we
shall know exactly were the real flaws are.”

“Ja wohl, Herr General.” snapped the
engineer, “I will dispatch it at once.”

12 April 1961

Yuri Gagarin was launched into space
unannounced, as usual for the Soviets.

Once Gagarin’s capsule was sighted and
reported by a German patrol. A Raumsfahrtwaffe dispatcher ordered
the fighter to return and dispatched the new capture craft to
ensnare the Soviet capsule.

Gagarin was oblivious to the events unfolding
around him in space, and was totally ignorant of the Nazi presence
in space. He had been told nothing of the Germans by his Soviet
superiors. He merely believed that his unsuccessful predecessors
met their fate from technical glitches and hitherto unknown
scientific obstacles.

Gagarin routinely radioed back status reports
to the Soviet Union while the Germans were locking onto his
broadcasts in order to zero on to his location.

On the ground, the Soviet commanders in the
know, and their free world counter parts listening in, were all
biting their nails, wondering if and when Gagarin would become the
next victim.

As the Germans extended their capture boom to
snare Gagarin from behind, they immediately realized some fatal
design flaws that would not permit the mission to be a success.

Their magnetic capture attachment had no
effect on the aluminum Soviet capsule, and the pincer attachment
was too small to grab onto anything on the craft as well.

Gagarin reported back that he was hearing
unusual sounds from the rear of his capsule but could not see
behind his craft.

The Soviet command center reported back to
Gagarin, that the sounds were probably just the metal changing size
from the temperature differences, traveling from the dark side of
the Earth to the dayside.

The German crew in the capture vehicle,
decided to break off their attempt, thus allowing Gagarin to return
to the Earth.

Schwerig was furious that they didn’t destroy
the vehicle after their failed attempt. He correctly feared that
this success would embolden the public into encouraging their
respective governments to expand their space programs.

After Gagarin’s safe return, the Soviet Union
announced proudly to the entire World that the Soviet Union was the
first to launch a man into space, then orbit the Earth and return
him safely home.

Yuri Gagarin became a household name around
the entire planet, and the Space Race exploded through the world
media.

5 May 1961

The U.S. launched its first astronaut, Alan
Shepard into space.

The Germans were expecting the launch because
the Americans always pre announced their missions.

Once the Raumsfahrtwaffe had detected the
launch, they dispatched the new capture craft to retrieve the
American capsule. But they were unsuccessful again, as the
Americans did not orbit, thus not giving the Germans enough time to
overtake Shepard’s capsule.

It seemed as though the Americans had fooled
the Germans, but Schwerig vowed that they would be waiting for them
at the top of the trajectory of their next launch.

The next American will not be so
lucky
, thought Schwerig.

Shepard returned to a hero’s welcome.

The American public opened its arms and
hearts for the brave young astronaut, America’s first in space.

*~*

Kennedy …again in a meeting with Lemay,
McNamara, and Symington, and now because of Cheyenne Mountain,
Volmer was present as well.

The President said, “I understand how they
came up with the name Gemini for the twin missions of the new
McDonnell capsule, but what should we call the whole operation? You
know, to use the Blue Gemini capsules to chase down the saucers… Is
there a name for a secret battle?”

“The Gemini Divergence!” strongly suggested
Lemay.

Kennedy’s eyes lit up as the sound of praise
for Lemay’s suggestion rose from others in the room, he excitedly
stated, “That’s perfect; The Gemini Divergence… Kind of makes you
wish it wasn’t secret, so you could see that in a history book,
doesn’t it.”

McNamara quipped, “I think this is the first
time that I can remember that I felt this good about a suggestion
from Lemay.”

Lemay laughed with McNamara as he responded,
“Well if you weren’t such a stuffed shirt, you might spend more
time pondering my other faultless inklings.”

McNamara responded in disgust, ‘You see,
there he goes again.”

Kennedy interrupted them, “Can you guys stop
for a moment? I’ve got other things to talk about.”

Everyone quieted down as the President picked
up his notes and continued, “The CIA has briefed me on Eisenhower’s
meeting with Frondizi in Argentina. It seems that Ike has been
successful at talking Frondizi into kicking the Germans out of
Argentina, and it appears as though they are moving their earth
bound operations to a place called Colonia Dignadad in Parral
Chile.”

The President switched papers as Lemay
commented, “Looks like we got ‘em on the run again boys.”

Kennedy cleared his throat and continued, “I
am working with Secretary McNamara to find a way to ask congress
for more money than we have ever asked for before, without them
knowing exactly what it is for. I worry that we may just have to
win this thing with the traditional American war strategy.”

“What’s the traditional American strategy?”
asked Volmer.

Symington answered, “Logistics, good Doctor,
Logistics.”

Lemay snorted, “If you can’t out fight them,
you out supply them.”

McNamara added, “America has done this in
every war, if the enemy’s soldiers are averaging killing two of our
soldiers for every one of theirs, then we put three soldiers on the
field for every one of theirs.”

Lemay then added, “The Germans complained
that their Tiger tanks could take out five American Shermans for
every Tiger of theirs, but the Americans always had a sixth
tank.”

Volmer looked stunned as he surveyed their
faces with his eyes optically filling his coke bottle glasses, as
he gasped, “Oh my.”

16 May 1961

The Soviets launch Ludmilla Serakovna into
space, in an attempt to get recognition for a second cosmonaut in
space.

Once again the Russians did not pre announce
the launch, so the Raumsfahrtwaffe had to discover the capsule with
one of their patrols.

The gears of their capture exercises were
beginning to turn better as the pilot requested the capture craft
and it was dispatched in a matter of seconds. Only this time,
Schwerig was watching personally.

He immediately ordered the fighter to stay on
station in case the capture craft failed again. He would not let
another capsule return safely to the earth if he could help it.

As the capture craft approached the Soviet
craft from behind, they were unaware that the Soviets had installed
a rear view mirror on their latest capsule after the scars they
discovered after Gagarin’s mission.

The Overseers had also enlarged the size of
their pincer claws in order to better capture the Soviet craft.

Just before the Nazi craft overtook the small
capsule, Ludmilla fired her de-orbit rockets and spun the craft
around, in a lightning fast response, enabling her to escape,
slowing her capsule down so much that the German capture craft
passed her right by.

The German fighter pilot radioed back news of
how the Soviet cosmonaut had successfully eluded the capture craft
again, and that it now would probably be re-entering the earth’s
atmosphere before the capture craft could re-engage it.

Schwerig, fuming at the clever evasion,
ordered the fighter pilot not to wait for the capture craft to
re-acquire the Soviet craft. He wanted the fighter pilot to destroy
the Russian capsule before it entered the atmosphere.

The fighter pilot then fired on Ludmilla’s
capsule, burning a hole in the side, causing it to depressurize and
spin out of control into the ionosphere, burning up completely.

The Soviet Space Command mourned the loss of
Ludmilla in secret, never announcing the incident to the Russian
public or to any one else in the world.

Schwerig was growing very weary of all of the
failures to capture a capsule in spaceflight.

He was now more determined than ever to get
the next one.

~~~**^**~~~

~~~**^**~~~

The Divergence / A Better Mouse Trap

President Kennedy traveled on a diplomatic
mission to Argentina in order to visit with their new leader
Frondizi.

It was very unusual for two separate
Presidents to visit the same third world country in such a short
period of time, and whether by coincidence or covert coercion, the
American press gave this issue very little coverage.

The press that did cover the trip focused
more on the fact that El Ché was also at the meeting with Kennedy
and Frondizi.

The Kennedy administration played it off as
Frondizi trying to make peace between Cuba and the U.S., but in
reality El Ché was there to discuss the plans for the up and coming
faux operations of the Gemini Divergence, which would become known
as the ‘Bay of Pigs Invasion’, and the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’.

Having the discussions with Khrushchev
himself would be far too obvious.

Cuba also wanted America’s help because they
feared that the Raumsfahrtwaffe was starting an underwater base
somewhere off the southeastern coast of Cuba, around Puerto
Rico.

The Americans had recently stepped up their
presence in Puerto Rico and Guantanamo Bay because they had begun
to suspect the same thing.

The U.S. Navy’s carrier F.D.R. had, in recent
years, witnessed several incidents of saucers coming out of the
ocean in that global vicinity.

In one case, former President Eisenhower
himself was aboard to witness an event.

But the main purpose of the meeting with
Frondizi was to find out the size and scope of the German
Raumsfahrtwaffe force remaining in Argentina, even though they were
in the process of moving out.

Kennedy still had U2s in Argentina, flying
daily missions to measure the progress of the forced exodus.

16 May 1961

Radio signals of Russian Cosmonauts were
picked up orbiting the Earth again.

The powers that be, in the free world, just
figured that it was another unannounced Soviet launch.

This time, however, it didn’t appear to be a
single cosmonaut, but two men and a woman.

Records of the incident show that the
cosmonauts transmitted statements such as, “Why don’t you answer?”,
and “The world will never know of us,” before the voices and
transmissions fell silent.

In America, the new space monitoring radar
system that Volmer had just designed was able to track a large
vessel approaching the Soviet craft before it fell silent.

The Americans were then concerned, as only
the large object continued on. The Soviet capsule did not then fall
to Earth, as if it had been shot down… It merely disappeared.

When this was reported to Lemay, he
immediately called Volmer and asked what this report could
mean.

His worst suspicions were confirmed when
Volmer theorized that it was most likely that the Germans had
developed technology to capture our spacecraft.

Lemay knew that, now more than ever, we
needed a way to shoot at them in space, and we were decades from
developing the DEWs that we had already witnessed the
Raumsfahrtwaffe using.

*~*

Schwerig walked briskly and authoritatively
into a dark room on his space station with his hands clasped neatly
behind his back.