Tag: Apollo 11

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 2: A First Step

Old notebook with image of astronaut on the Moon overimposed

After having lunch with his daughter Vega, Lucas went back to his studio and spent the afternoon working on a client’s website. It was 2008 and the site looked like it was done in the early days of the World Wide Web. It needed a revamping badly. He tried to focus on the task at hand but for some strange reason he couldn’t shake off Vega’s comment about the Kitty Hawks’ manager possibly being a Space Race buff. After a while, curiosity got the best of him and he pulled out a battered notebook from a special section in his studio’s bookshelves.

It was filled with notes he had written through the years about different things associated with the Space Race. Some referred to aspects he found odd and others pointed out things that he thought needed a better explanation. Chief among them was, of course, why we haven’t gone back? But that was not what he was looking for that time. He flipped the pages until he got to the topic of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. His notes included a comment that simply stated, “Did they???”

Lucas was not a conspiracy enthusiast. He believed the claim that the U.S. never made it to the Moon was ludicrous. The fact that proponents of that idea were the ones that got the most airtime made him think that the extremely outlandish conspiracy theories were promoted by NASA itself to somewhat discredit the more reasonable ones. After all, there were some valid theories about the Apollo 11 Moon landing being faked. The extremely poor quality of the video has being one of the most compelling arguments, but to Lucas, Armstrong’s relative silence after being the first freaking human to step on the Moon was the proverbial smoking gun. The fact that after becoming a historical figure as the first man on the Moon he spent the rest of his life not as immersed in the limelight as one would expect, always felt odd to Lucas.

A wild thought crossed his mind and immediately went over to his computer to Google Neil Armstrong. He found nothing that would infer the former astronaut was a baseball fan, but something curious appeared in his search. In 1994, the Major League’s Houston Astros distributed a special baseball commemorating the 25th anniversary of man’s first Moon landing. It featured the team’s logo as well as the signatures of both Armstrong and fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

Although Lucas didn’t find what he was looking for, a little voice kept telling him to dig further. Old Houston Astros CapFeeling stumped he decided to go to his fantasy baseball website to check on that day’s matchup with the Kitty Hawks. The pairing came up on the screen and what jumped right straight at him was the Hawks’ team logo, something he hadn’t paid attention to before. They were using a Houston Astros vintage cap logo – the one with a capital H in front of a star.

He went back to Googling Armstrong. Armstrong and Houston Astros. Armstrong and baseball. Since the man was from Ohio he Googled Armstrong and Cincinnati Reds, just in case he had ever mentioned he was a fan of that team. Nothing.

He gave up Googling and opted for a different approach – he wrote to the Kitty Hawks’ manager through the fantasy baseball website system.

“Good luck tonight. By the way, I like your logo,” he wrote trying to start a conversation.

He wasn’t expecting an immediate reply so he went back to his client’s website design.

After a couple of hours he got a message back.

“Same to you.  Are you from Ohio?”

The question referred to Lucas’ choice of the Cleveland Indians’ logo for his Red Lions fantasy team. Chief Wahoo, the character in the emblem, was a controversial issue and Lucas was in favor of phasing it out. Nevertheless he had chosen it because, besides being his beloved Indians logo, he felt that Red Lion sounded like a Native American name.

“Thanks. Big Indians fan but not from Ohio. Just wondering, why the Kitty Hawks?”

“I grew up near Dayton.”

“?”

“The Wright brothers lived and worked in Dayton, Ohio. They chose to test their flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina because of the wind patterns there. For that reason some people refer to their original flyer as the Kitty Hawk. I know that it is not the correct name but I like the sound of it.”

“It has a nice ring to it. Interesting, isn’t it, that flight in the U.S. was first accomplished in a place called Kitty Hawk?”

“Yes it is. Well, good luck tonight” and just like that the Kitty Hawks’ manager signed off.

Lucas reviewed the conversation a couple of times and then made a quick Google map inquiry. Neil Armstrong was born and raised in Wapakoneta, Ohio, which, as it turned out, was less than an hour away from Dayton…

 

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 4: The Patch Collection

Image of binder containing Vega's collection of Apollo mission patches in front of her bedroom closet

Vega entered her apartment after another long day at the law firm, and went straight to her bedroom closet. There, on the top shelf, was the cardboard box she was looking for. From it she pulled out a three-ring binder with gold lettering embossed on its black cover.

It was his father’s old collection of the Apollo program mission patches. He had given it to her when she was 10 years old. His way of showing her how much he loved that she shared his interest for the space race. This had always been one of her most precious possessions. A treasured symbol of the special bond she had with her dad.

Since lunch, a little voice kept telling her to look into that collection. She began staring at the colorful embroidered patches in the album without really searching for anything in particular. While doing so she could hear her father explaining them to her like it was yesterday.

“The Apollo astronauts had a lot to say about their mission patches. Some of them even took it upon themselves to design theirs. Looking at them is like taking a trip into the astronauts’ minds,” he told her the first time he showed her the collection. And then he would go through each one of them explaining their missions.

Apollo 1 mission patchApollo 1’s patch irony was not lost on her. She couldn’t help thinking about the astronauts’ family members while staring at the patch showing a command module orbiting Earth.  A mission that never left the launch pad where a fire ended the life of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.

The mission numbers then jumped from one to seven. According to NASA there were some unmanned missions between 1 and 7. Her father always doubted their official numbering story.

Apollo 7 mission patch“The mission commander for Apollo 7 was Walter Schirra, one of the Mercury seven original astronauts,” her father would say.  “After the Apollo 1 tragedy, NASA needed all the positive vibes available in the universe. So they went with lucky number seven. Remember that all the Mercury missions used that same number and they were all successful. Of course NASA would never accept they were as superstitious as the next guy so they came up with this cockamamie story about obscure unmanned missions that only they knew about, or understood for that matter.”

Vega noted something she hadn’t before in the Apollo 7 patch. Although the key visuals on it were similar to Apollo 1’s – they both featured a command module orbiting Earth – on this one the ship’s engine was lighted while on Apollo 1’s it wasn’t. Did the astronauts do that on purpose? You know, to indicate that this one would get off the ground… and avoid their predecessor’s fate after featuring what could be referred to as a dead engine in their patch. Was this superstition at work again? She wondered… but moved on.

Apollo 8 mission patchApollo 8’s had always been her favorite – a very sleek design that featured a red “8” denoting both the mission number, and the circumlunar trajectory of the mission. The design was first conceived by mission astronaut Jim Lovell who then prepared a sketch and gave it to the NASA artist in charge of the project.

Apollo 9 mission patchApollo 9’s mission patch was probably the least appealing of them all. Her father used to compare it to an elementary school textbook diagram. She moved over quickly to the Apollo 10 patch – another one of her favorites. Apollo 10 mission patchA pretty busy design, unlike Apollo 8’s sleek one, but somehow it worked in a very pleasant manner. Mission astronauts Young and Cernan designed it and its shield-like outer shape gave it a space ranger flair.

She turned the page and came face to face with the most famous patch in the history of space flight – Apollo 11’s landing eagle insignia.

“This one here is where it all started,” her father would tell her. “When I was a little kid I swallowed NASA’s official version regarding the meaning of this design. The eagle with the olive branch in its talons representing the United States going to the Moon in peace. And no astronaut names on it because the feat was an achievement for all humanity. But as I grew older I started to feel there was another more revealing meaning to it.”

Apollo 11 mission insigniaThe first time he said that my eyes opened up like Frisbees, thought Vega.

“Mission astronaut Michael Collins designed the insignia,” he would go on, “and I truly believe he and the rest of the crew decided to leave their names out of it for another reason. In case they didn’t land on the Moon and had to go to their backup plan. The one  in which only the image of the United States accomplishes it. What if their real mission was to make the world believe they had landed regardless of whether or not they did.  Back then, there was a great deal of pressure on NASA to fulfill Kennedy’s dream. Plus the reputation of the United States was on the line. Not to mention the political pressure associated to the Soviet Union’s parallel efforts to reach our companion in the cosmos.”

But they did land on the Moon Dad, Vega could hear herself say with the innocence of a ten year old.

“The United States did, yes,” he would say, “but not Apollo 11. To the astronauts’ credit, they tried, but had to abort and go with the backup plan – make the world believe they did.”

Vega was incredulous the first time she heard her father’s theory. Then, after reading a great deal about the Apollo missions through the years she had to conclude that something didn’t quite match. Especially suspicious were those of Apollo 12 and 13, just ahead of the Kitty Hawk mission.

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 5: The Tell Tale Missions

Psychodelic juxtaposition of the Apollo 13 crew against a scene from Hair

As fate would have it, while Vega was going through the Apollo missions’ patch collection, Lucas was watching the Indians game on TV and reviewing some of his old notes on the Apollo program. His theory on the hidden missions of Apollo 12 and 13 still sounded valid after all these years.

In the summer of 1969 NASA was not ready to land on the Moon. They had known since 1968 that it was nearly impossible to do so, but the pressure to fulfill Kennedy’s dream was enormous and there was no room for failure in that respect. The President’s words were crystal clear: “Land a man on the Moon before this decade is out.” The end of the given timeframe was approaching fast and the powers that were at the space agency panicked.

By December of 1968 the lunar module was still not ready. That’s why Apollo 8 went all the way to the Moon without it during Christmas. The first manned test of the lunar module in space didn’t happen until March 1969. The problems with the machine were widely known through all spheres at NASA. So, they developed a secondary protocol of missions. One that would be put in motion if the primary mission couldn’t be carried out due to any type of malfunction on the lunar module. This secondary protocol was structured to foster the public perception that NASA had been successful in achieving Kennedy’s goal.

After all these years Lucas still hadn’t figured out exactly how they did it but he had a general idea of what the plan entailed. And he did because the astronauts had been good soldiers but better fellow citizens. They had worked through the NASA smoke screen to leave clues as to the true state of the endeavor. Starting with Apollo 11 and following up with 12 and 13.

He truly believed that Apollo 11 never landed on the Moon. And some of the most compelling proof is found in the clues left by the astronauts of the next two missions.

The astronauts, besides meddling with their mission patches, had a lot to say regarding their spacecrafts’ call signs as well. The name of the Apollo 12 command module was “Yankee Clipper” and its lunar module was “Intrepid”. Employees of the ships’ prime contractors suggested both monikers. It felt almost as if the astronauts didn’t have much interest in it. Apollo 12 mission patchFurthermore, the mission patch had a clipper ship sailing around the Moon as if to convey the idea of never stopping at that port. But, with regards to that mission, what knocked the ball out of the park for Lucas was the fact that the video camera got damaged. There was no video feed from the Moon!

From Apollo 11 the world saw a very grainy video supposedly from the “surface of the Moon”, and from Apollo 12 got plenty of visuals from inside the spacecraft and nothing from our satellite’s surface. How convenient!

Apollo 13 mission patchApollo 13 seemed more obvious. So much so that it makes the world back then look extremely naive. By April of 1970, since public perception was that the U.S. had already beaten the Soviets in the Space Race, American society was rapidly losing interest in their own nation’s Moon landings. Lucas believed  NASA designed this mission to heighten public interest on the program again. The truth is that, in hindsight, everything about it seems pretty well planned from the communications standpoint. Starting with the selection of “Odyssey” for the command module’s call sign. It was as if the astronauts knew beforehand what their voyage would become.

But even more revealing was the lunar module’s number. It was LM-7. Lucky seven!  Apollo 13 had lunar module number 7. As if they knew  that particular spacecraft was going to be their lucky charm and lifeboat for the unlucky 13th mission. Add to that the name “Aquarius” and you have a Hollywoodesque script.

The Age of Aquarius

Remember this was the spring of 1970, and just a year earlier a song titled “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” from the musical “Hair” was topping the charts. Lucas had written some of the lyrics of the song in his notebook:

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius

Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind’s true liberation
Aquarius
Aquarius

The first verse mentions the Moon, the planets and the stars and ends with the statement that this is the dawning of a new age – the Age of Aquarius. Then the second verse tells us what that age is all about including “no more falsehoods and derisions, golden living dreams of visions”. Lucas did not buy for a moment that this was a coincidence. It was obvious to him they selected the name “Aquarius” because that particular lunar module was pivotal in the astronaut’s assignment’s drama. The center stage from which they were to pave the way for the truly historic mission. The one that would both end the phase of lies and finally see Kennedy’s dream come to life. It represented the last lie and thus the dawning of the age of truth.

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 6: Houston, Do You Copy?

Montage of Houston Astros Logo over LBJ Spece Center display and old photo of the Wright Brothers Kitty Hawk flight

The night before, the Indians lost to the Yankees in extra innings with the Bronx Bombers coming from behind, and over in the fantasy league Lucas’ Red Lions lost to the Kitty Hawks by a run. Nevertheless, in that particular morning those results felt perfect for they gave Lucas a good excuse to contact the Hawks’ manager again.

He sat down on his computer and wrote the man a message while sipping his first cup of morning coffee.

“Congratulations on the win. Looking forward to our next match. By the way, I’ll be in Houston on a business trip next week, and I see you chose the Astros’ logo for your Kitty Hawks. Are you familiar with the city? Any recommendations as to where to go for a good dinner?” he wrote.

The Houston trip was a lie but it was the only thing he could think of to get the man back on the topic which could lead to the information he was interested in. He had been to the city once for the wedding of a college friend hence he felt confident he could answer with credibility any questions regarding the fake trip. He looked once more at the written message to make sure it was perfect, and then clicked on the send button.

After showering he started his day’s work. An hour or so later he got a call from Vega.

“Hey Sweetie, good morning! What’s up?”

“Well, Mr. Dashing you,” she said in a sassy tone, “I just talked to Dalia and she told me that in her aunt’s opinion you were a real life Prince Charming during last Friday’s date(1). Not bad for a man who’s not interested.”

“Well, you know me, I always try to make the other person feel comfortable.”

“Oh come on, you’re not a sofa. You were enjoying her company and couldn’t help being your adorable and fascinating self.”

“It wasn’t on purpose Moonbeam.”

“Sure Dad, whatever you say. It’s just nice to hear about you having a good time on a date. It makes me happy. Anyway, I thought about you a lot last night.”

“Oh really! What about?”

“I was going through the old patch collection.”

“No kidding? The Apollo mission patches?”

“Yep, I could hear you explaining them to me like it was yesterday. It was a nice trip down memory lane.”

“Funny you mention that because last night I was poring over my old Space Race notebook. Weird, don’t you think?”

“We’ve always been connected. Listen, I’ve been wondering…” said Vega, “is there any way you could find out the real name of the Kitty Hawks’ manager?”

“Already on it.  I’ve had a couple of exchanges with him through the fantasy league’s messaging system.”

“Oh really? Anything interesting?”

“Well, for starters, he told me he grew up near Dayton, Ohio. Do you know who  else was born an hour away from Dayton?”

“Well, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell were born in Ohio…”

Yes, but only Armstrong grew up near Dayton.”

“Hmm, don’t jump to conclusions just yet Rocket Man. Keep talking to him. My advice is, don’t be direct. Try to make the man paint himself into a corner by asking innocent sounding questions that allow you to discard other identity options. Oh, and don’t forget, if he is who you think he is, you’re dealing with a very smart person. Don’t try to reel him in with transparent stuff. Listen, I got  to get ready for a deposition, but keep me posted. Ok?”

“Sure Moonbeam, have a great day.”

It wasn’t until after lunch that Lucas got an answer from the Kitty Hawks’ manager.

“A close one,  but I’ll take it any day :-)”, he wrote. “If you like the classic steakhouse menu your best bet is Brenner’s. It’s been there forever and for good reason.”

Lucas didn’t want to waste time in idle chat so he went straight to the point.

“What about the Kennedy Space Center? Is it worth a visit?”

“I’m guessing you mean the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, right?”

“Yep, sorry about that. The ‘Houston we have a problem’ one.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s a very common mistake. The LBJ Space Center is a nice visit if you’re into that sort of stuff.”

Lucas decided to go for all the marbles.

“The Space Race has always been one of my favorite topics. As a matter of fact, Apollo 14’s lunar module was called Kitty Hawk,” he wrote. “Funny that you chose the Houston Astros H logo for your Kitty Hawks. Where you aware of the connection?”

Lucas waited for an answer but the minutes passed and nothing came back. Should he interpret that as good or bad news?

Over in southwestern Ohio an old man stared at his computer pondering his next move.

 

(1)Vega talked to Lucas about this date in Chapter 1: Moonbeam.

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 9: On the Down Low

Dark at night in the street a man looks at government's car approaching

David stayed up late that night trying to figure out how to go about his assignment. The people at The Bar were government agents and not forerunners for a new client as he told the group. To organize his ideas he went through the conversation with them in his mind:

“We need your firm to handle this with extreme discretion.” said one of the agents.

“Mr. Roman here, is Ms. Aldrich’s immediate superior and has developed a good personal relationship with her,” said Mr. Martin. “We believe he has earned a high level of trust from her and that the assignment wouldn’t need any other firm asset. That should take care of the discreet aspect.”

“Vega Aldrich should never know she’s being asked to do something for someone else,” said the second agent. “The trick is to make her do our bidding while believing it’s all her idea.”

“We’ve been closely monitoring our man since his first contact with Mr. Aldrich popped up in our surveillance systems,” added the first agent, “and we are very concerned with the direction the conversation is taking. Mr. Martin, it is of utmost importance that, for his own good, Lucas Aldrich stops this before it goes any further.”

The “for his own good” part left David with a bad taste in his mouth.

Mr. Martin asked for information regarding the identity of the man Lucas Aldrich was contacting, but the answer to most of the questions was always the same: “That’s classified.”

In that respect, the only thing the lawyers got from the government agents was that their man was the manager of a fantasy baseball team called the Kitty Hawks. A piece of information David found laughable given the supposed seriousness of the situation. Apparently his face betrayed him with an unconscious expression that prompted one of the agents to ask him if there was anything wrong.

“No, nothing, it’s just that I once had a terrible experience in one of those fantasy leagues,” he said. “They are definitely not my cup of tea.”

“Well’ gentlemen, time for us to start doing our job,” said Mr. Martin after a few more frustrating minutes of unsuccessfully trying to fish out some meaningful information.

Both attorneys got up and left the agents’ table. “Please give me a call tonight once you’re in a place where you can talk privately. Oh, and in case they ask, just tell your team that these guys were forerunners for a potential new client,” Mr. Martin told David as they walked back to Vega’s table.

He called as soon as he got home, and they discussed strategy. During the conversation he could tell that this wasn’t the first time the firm was involved in this type of operation for the government.

David was now going through his mind’s archives of conversations and interactions with Vega trying to find a subtle way to seamlessly talk to her about her dad’s fantasy baseball hobby. In the process he recalled something Dalia said at The Bar just before Mr. Martin pulled him out of the table. It was about Vega’s dad going out with her aunt.

Hmmm, maybe there’s a way there, he thought.

He spent some more time on that train of thought before calling it a night.

Over at Lucas’ place, that night’s game was over and he remembered he hadn’t taken out the trash earlier. As he was taking care of business, he noticed a dark car rolling slowly down his street. Nothing out of the ordinary, except the car looked like a caricature of a government-issued car. He half expected people in dark suits to step out of it. The thought made him chuckle until a yawn attested to his tiredness.

The next morning Lucas was leaving for an early meeting with a client and as he was going out the door he saw the dark car again. A disturbing thought crossed his head: They wanted me to see them.

While getting into his car he though about calling Vega but then decided otherwise. No reason to alarm her, he thought. What was going on? Why would a government-looking car be making the rounds in his street? He was a law-abiding citizen who hadn’t done anything wrong. What if it wasn’t the government? The license plates didn’t identify it as such. What was going on here? He breathed in deeply and tried to relax. The most probable explanation was that the car had nothing to do with him and that his mind was playing tricks with him.

He kept looking in his rear-view mirror all the way to his early morning meeting but the dark car was nowhere to be seen. The previous day optimism was nowhere to be found either. He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something bad brewing under the surface.  

 

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 11: The life and death of Edwin Moon

Photomontage of Buzz Aldrin from Apollo 11 and Gene Cernan from Apollo 17 whose connection Carol questions

Carol wasn’t sure about her husband’s course of action.

“Edwin Moon? Really? You couldn’t find a more transparent pseudonym? The Red Lions’ manager will see right through it,” she said.

“Don’t worry Honey, I did my research. There are several persons named Edwin Moon in Ohio.”

“Yes, but why that particular name? Edwin is Buzz’s first name, and Moon, well that’s just… just… I don’t even know what to call that choice of last name… obvious, unimaginative, careless…”

“It’s just my way of telling him that’s he’s on the right track without telling him,” said the old man  with a smile. “If he’s in advertising as he claims to be, he’ll get it. Trust me Carol, he’ll google the name and very probably see that one of aviation’s pioneers was named Edwin Moon. There he’ll find out that the guy’s plane was named Moonbeam.”

“So?”

“Well, the guy also claims to be a Space Race buff. If that’s true, he’ll be familiar with Gene Cernan’s promise to bring his daughter a moonbeam. I know it sounds like a stretch but it’s the kind of diagonal thinking typical of creative advertising people. And if he makes the connections then he would have proven himself right for the job. Think of it as a final test.”

“I’d hate being a student of yours,” said Carol.

As Carol wondered about her husband’s tactics, far away, two government agents had been made privy of the communication and were moving quickly to address the situation.

Over at Oliver, Martin & Simon Law Offices David was reading an odd email that had just arrived. It was sent by an old acquaintance from his law school days. One he knew to be dead.

“Hey buddy how are you doing? I’m writing because I remember you being involved a while back with some baseball fantasy league and I just got an official message regarding some sort of investigation of a scam going on in those leagues. It seems there’s a person or a group of persons working in various leagues who get close to other players and lead them to join a new business venture where they are subsequently  fleeced. A typical con job. Be careful and keep your eyes open.”

For a few seconds he stared at the email not knowing what to do with it. His first instinct was to delete it but as he pondered his options Mr. Martin walked into his office.

“I can tell by the look in your face that you got the email,” he said.

“You know about it?”

“I got a blind copy. It was sent by our government friends. I just talked to them; they want you to show it to Ms. Aldrich. Can you do it without arising suspicions?”

“Yes, just this morning I got Vega to talk to me about her father’s involvement with fantasy baseball. It would be a seamless expansion of our earlier conversation.”

“Perfect. Let’s make this happen today.”

“Just one question. Why use the name of a dead person I used to know?”

“I don’t know son, these spook types can be very weird at times. I’ve deal with them before; don’t read anything into it.”

Mr. Martin left and David wrote Vega a little message of his own acknowledging their earlier talk about her father’s involvement with fantasy baseball.

Oblivious to all that, Lucas was working on an answer to Edwin Moon’s message in the fantasy league chat room. He was usually aggressive in the pursuit of new clients, so even though he couldn’t pinpoint which Edwin Moon was contacting him he decided to take a swing at it to see if he could put the ball in play.

“Nice to meet you Edwin. Can I call you Ed? You’ll be able to see what I can do for you regarding communications at lucasaldrich.com. If you have specific questions please don’t hesitate to contact me through the website email. With regards to travel, it wouldn’t be a problem but, as is customary in the industry, your company would be responsible for all travel expenses. Looking forward to talking to you outside the fantasy league confines.”

Lucas then pressed the Send button and stared blankly at the screen for a while. Something was telling him that he was missing something about Mr. Moon.

Edwin Moon, he thought. Edwin. Buzz. Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin. Apollo 11’s lunar module pilot. Armstrong’s wingman. Moon. Moonbeam. Gene Cernan. Apollo 17. Last man to walk on the Moon. From Purdue University. Same as Armstrong. Shit! It’s him! He’s using a fake name!  

 

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 12: Connecting the Dots

Image illustrating Vega calling her dad to tell him about the email and connecting the dots

Lucas couldn’t wait to share his excitement with Vega so he called her.

“Hey Moonbeam! Whatcha doing for lunch?”

“Hi Dad, it looks like I’ll be having a sandwich on my desk at some point ‘cause I’m knee-deep in stuff that can’t wait. Why?”

“I’ve got very exciting news from our Kitty Hawk,” said Lucas.

“Really? Well, I guess I can step out of the swamp for a coffee break now. Spit it out; I’m all ears.”

Lucas read her all the messages. From the moment he asked about the Apollo 14/Kitty Hawk connection to the Edwin Moon revelation. And finished with his rationale of why he strongly believed that the man was indeed who he thought he was.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know Dad. I think you might be stretching the facts a little. Tell you what. Let me get through all the stuff I have on my desk and I’ll call you when I get out of here.”

“Sure, no problem. We’ll talk later.”

Not long after hanging up with her Dad, David came knocking on her door.

“Hey Vega, some of us are going to Beppe’s Deli for lunch,” he said. “Would you like to join us?”

“I’m up to my ears in paperwork regarding the Chronologix suit. Gotta work through lunch. But if you could bring me a Reuben sandwich, I’d be eternally grateful? Here let me give you the money,” she said while reaching for her purse.

“Don’t worry about it, my treat,” said David. “By the way, did you receive my email about the fantasy leagues?”

“I haven’t checked email in a couple of hours. What about the leagues?”

“Oh just something I got from a friend regarding a scam that’s going on. I thought you would like to put your Dad on notice.”

“Sure, thanks. I’ll take a look at it as soon as I finish drafting this motion.”

As soon as David left for Beppe’s, Vega looked up his email and immediately called her father. She got his voicemail:

“Hey Dad, it’s me again. I just got some information that I need to share with you. In the meantime, please hold off any contact with the Kitty Hawks’ manager.”

She hadn’t hung up yet when Lucas called her back.

“Hey Dad I just left you a message.”

“Sorry I couldn’t pick up, had to visit the little boys’ room. What’s up?”

She told him about the scam and found it odd that her father sounded unfazed.

“Hmm, that seems to tie in with the dark car,” he said.

“What dark car Dad?”

Lucas told his daughter about the mysterious dark car that had been doing the rounds in his neighborhood.

“They wanted me to see them. No doubt. And now you talk to your boss about my fantasy league hobby and all of a sudden you get an email about a supposed scam that sounds exactly like my communications with the Kitty Hawks manager. I’m too old to believe in coincidences.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean coincidences?”

“Don’t you see it? They know about our communications but don’t want to acknowledge that I’m on to something, so they resort to what they do best, intimidation and disinformation. The dark car is intimidation while the email is disinformation. Both with the clear intention of making me stop all contact.”

“Dad, I think you’re not…”

“Sweetie,” he interrupted her, “when have you heard of FBI-like organizations in the United States warning about an investigation in progress?”

Vega had to admit her father had a point.

“Please, just be careful Dad, and keep me posted,” she said.

After hanging up Vega connected some dots of her own. The government-looking characters talking to Mr. Martin and David at The Bar the night before; the email; fantasy baseball. Was David in on it? She thought.

She decided to play along just in case. So as soon as David came back with her lunch she thanked him for the information and told him that he had already advised her Dad to avoid any approach that sounded like that.

“Good advice counselor,” he told her and left her office satisfied that his job was done.  

 

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 13: Michael Collins

Michael Collins with the rest of the crew of Apollo 11 in 1969 and in 2004 during their visit to the White House

The old man had been staring at the curious email for a few minutes, trying to make some sense of it. He went over it one more time:

“Hey old man, how’re you doing? Listen, I’m writing because I remember you being involved with fantasy baseball and I just got an official message regarding some sort of investigation of a scam going on in those leagues. It seems there’s a person or a group of persons working in various leagues who get close to other players and lead them to join a new business venture where they are fleeced. A typical con job. Be careful and keep your eyes open. Don’t let them sell you a moonbeam. Give my regards to Carol, looking forward to seeing you both during next year’s 40th Anniversary ceremonies.”

It was from Michael Collins. He hadn’ seen him since their visit to George W. Bush’s White House for the Apollo 11 mission 35th anniversary in 2004, and he was sure he’d never shared his interest for fantasy baseball with his old colleague. But what intrigued him the most was that he was talking about something that eerily mirrored his contact with the Red Lions’ manager. Were those bastards monitoring his emails? He wondered.

Just in case, he decided to analyze the situation the old-fashioned way, without the computer. He took out an old notebook and a #2 pencil from the desk drawer and started going through the situation in his head. The email was obviously not from Michael Collins, but why choose him? He thought.

Did it have something to do with his missions? Michael’s missions included Gemini 10 which entailed a heavy load of experiments but was mostly about mastering orbital rendezvous. No connections there. Then came Apollo 8; he was grounded for that mission because of knee problems. Knees? Are they using Michael’s name to imply that if I talk they would hurt my knees Mafia-style? No, of course not. Keep thinking…

Michael was the one who came up with the idea for the Apollo 11 mission patch. The eagle landing with the olive branch symbolizing that we came in peace. Not much there either. What else? If he had stayed active he would have been back-up commander for Apollo 14 and mission commander of Apollo 17. Hmmm…

He drew three boxes in the notebook with the numbers 11, 14 and 17 inside them.

These mark the beginning, he thought as he circled the boxes with the 11 and the 14. And 17 is the end. Gene Cernan’s mission. The one with the moonbeam story.

He looked back at the email: “Don’t let them sell you a moonbeam.”

Ok, Michael is the only astronaut that can be linked to the two missions associated with the beginning of the moon landings and to the last one. But why say “Don’t let them sell you a moonbeam” in the email. It seems forced, like it was placed there for a reason… Oh my God… of course… Edwin Moon’s flying machine.

It’s them. They know I’ve been talking to the Red Lions manager and they have somehow sniffed my intentions. This is their way of letting me know that they are watching. Fuck. Time to go back to the drawing board.

His first task was to come up with a communications strategy that would allow him to maintain his contact with Mr. Lucas Aldrich without being monitored. No doubt he had received an email like mine to dissuade him from contacting me, he thought.

A ploy started to take shape in his mind, and the first step was to answer Michael Collins’ email.

“Thanks for the heads up Mike. I’ll keep my eyes open. Send our regards to Pat.”

Short, to the point and most importantly it read normal, like he didn’t suspect a thing, he thought as he pressed the Send button. He had just done so when his wife came in and caught him with a strange-looking smile on his face.

“What’s going on? You look like you’re up to something,” she said.

“Oh nothing, just emailing with Michael Collins,” he said as he scribbled something on the notebook for her to read. “It’s such a nice afternoon, why don’t we go out for a stroll?”

“What’s going on?” asked Carol once outside the house. “Why do I have to keep quiet and follow you outside? What do you mean they could be listening?”

“It seems my communication with the Red Lions’ manager has been monitored by people who want me to stay quiet. I don’t know for sure who they are, so for the moment we will assume our house is bugged. Although I’d like to think that’s unlikely. Anyway better safe than sorry. I have an idea on how to approach this and still carry on our original plan. It implies going low tech and I’m going to need your help.”

As the old man explained his idea, his wife understood that there was no turning back now.  

 

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 15: Pregame Jitters

Margarita cocktail for the pregame jitters related to the letter

Vega met her father at their favorite Mexican restaurant right after work. The letter was definitely an astonishing development and just holding it in her hands was spellbinding.

“You said you went to a client’s office and checked the handwriting using one of their computers?”

“That’s right,” said Lucas, “if my computer is being monitored, then using it for that would have compromised the whole thing. I’m no expert and, like everybody else’s, his handwriting evolves through the years, but this letter looks like it was written by the same person who wrote these other notes.”

Vega looked at the printouts of about a dozen different handwritten notes and nodded in agreement.

“So what’re you going to do?”

“My first reaction is to go,” said Lucas, “but I wanted to know what your gut tells you after reading the letter.”

“My mind tells me to be very careful,” said Vega, “but, oddly, my gut feels the man’s legit. It’s hard to explain, it’s like the letter itself has some kind of positive energy.”

“I know, I felt it too. So, it’s settled then, I’m going to Cincinnati.”

“We… are going to Cincinnati,” said Vega emphasizing the word we. “I’m not gonna let you go alone. My mind is still telling me to be careful.”

“Ok, so we are going… Shit I’m nervous. You know pregame jitters. I mean we’re gonna meet a historical figure. What if I screw it up?”

“Dad, you know more about the subject you’ll be discussing with him than the average person. Besides, he wouldn’t have invited you if he hadn’t noticed something special about you in the conversations. Plus I’m sure that after more than 40 years he must be used to people stuttering or going gaga when meeting him. Just do your homework and prepare well for the meeting. As for your current jitters, your lawyer advises a large Margarita.”

“Whatever you say counselor,” said Lucas while signaling for the waiter.

Two hours later at Lucas place…

Ok, showtime, thought Lucas as he sat on his computer.

He signed into the fantasy league chat room and wrote a message to the manager of the Kitty Hawks.

“Hey Ed, hope you’re well. I’ve been out for a few days and haven’t been checking my messages here. Listen, regarding the job you talked to me about, something has come up that will make it impossible for me to travel. Sorry for any inconvenience this might cause. Anyway, Godspeed in your venture.”

He had discussed the content of this message with Vega over Swiss enchiladas and they agreed that using the can’t travel excuse would help mask their real intentions later on when they did buy air tickets.

Over in Ohio, the old man read the message and smiled. He still had to wait a couple of days to get a confirmation by regular mail, but he was confident that the electronic message was part of the ruse he had proposed. He answered promptly:

“Don’t worry about it. Maybe some other time. By the way, it looks like we are leading our league. Would you be interested in a trade?” And just like that their conversations turned to pure baseball.    

 

 

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 19: Third Inning – Who’s on First?

The third inning started, and Lucas’ list of questions increased with every pitch.  

“Who decided which astronauts were to carry out the secondary protocol missions?”  

“One simple directive guided the selection process: they had to be the ones most likely to keep their mouths shut,” said Armstrong. “Military background was preferred although in my case it was more of a psychological profile thing.”  

“What do you mean?”  

“In August 1968 George Low, Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, had a secret meeting with Bob Gilruth, head of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Chris Kraft, Director of Flight Operations, and Deke Slayton, who as NASA’s Flight Crew Director was the person tasked with making crew assignments. They were Apollo program’s four senior administrators, and by that time had become an unofficial committee that got together often in Gilruth’s office to discuss and make decisions on the future of the program. Not much happened that didn’t originate with them.

“Well, in that August meeting Low convinced the group that the only way to meet Kennedy’s goal was to send Apollo 8 around the Moon on December of that year. It was a Hail Mary pass that would allow NASA to fulfill in one mission many of the program objectives needed to land on the Moon.

“That meant reshuffling the other missions and the crew assignments. The original Apollo 8 mission became Apollo 9 and in the process Buzz, Michael and me, instead of being back-up crew of Apollo 9 became back-up for Apollo 8. Something that meant that our place in the rotation suddenly had us in line for the prime crew of Apollo 11, which was, at the time, scheduled to be the first G-type mission. In other words, the first Moon landing mission.

“At the time I thought that such a realignment of missions had been simply a lucky break for us, but I found out shortly thereafter, that I had been chosen not to be the first man to actually land on the Moon but to be the commander of the mission with the secondary protocol to tell the world that we had landed on the Moon. Very big difference, believe me. And the reason I was selected for that was that Gilruth, Low, Kraft and Deke saw me as a person who did not have a large ego. Chris Kraft wrote about that in 2001 as part of his autobiography.”

“So, in June 6, 1968, LBJ gave the order to put the secondary protocol in motion,” said Lucas, “and in August, the Big Four laid out the whole plan. Right?”

“Pretty much. That Apollo 8’s crew, was the first to train for a secondary protocol. The crews of Apollo 7 and 9 were kept in the dark. Their missions were about testing the spacecrafts on Earth orbit and as such, were of little or no use to the overall plan.

“Only seven astronauts were aware of the whole secondary protocol: Commanders Frank Borman of Apollo 8, Tom Stafford of Apollo 10, Pete Conrad of Apollo 12, Jim Lovell of Apollo 13, Alan Shepard of Apollo 14 and myself on Apollo 11. Nobody else was made aware of the whole plan; it was just us. As a matter of fact Lovell carried out two secondary protocol missions; the only astronaut to do so. We were all members of the New Nine group except for Shepard who, as you know, was one of the Mercury Seven; the first American to go into space way back in 1961.”  

“What about their crews? You said that the commanders would brief their crews only to the extent of their mission and did not include any information regarding the role of other missions. Didn’t they have questions? How was that handled?”  

“There was a total of 10 crew members involved in the secondary protocol missions; all were military men. They knew how to follow orders without questioning them. Plus there was always the ‘that’s classified’ response,” said Armstrong with a smirk. “Actually, two of them, Young and Cernan, did get to walk on the Moon in later missions. And a third one, Dick Gordon was in line to do the same in Apollo 18 until his mission was cancelled due to budget cuts. I’m sure they didn’t need much more motivation to keep their mouths shut.  

“All astronauts involved were given a lifetime mission that transcended the primary mission objectives. Our mission would not be completed until we have taken what we know to our graves. It’s a very heavy burden I’ve come to regard as unjust, not for me, but for the ones who were not given the credit they deserved. Look Lucas,  I’m convinced that it was the right thing to do in the context of the era, but we now live in a different world. It’s time for people to know the truth.”  

Over on the field

The third inning was a testament to the pitching duel in front of us that day with only one hit between the two teams and no runs scored. Reds still leading 1-0 after three.      

 

 

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