The Inner Circle (34 page)

The man typed into his computer, but could not come up with the answer.

"Does anybody know what the hell is going on around here?" Newton yelled, angry that his people had seemingly lost all control, yet relieved that the probe did not crash as he’d expected.

"Calm down, Will," Armour said quietly. "The computers are probably just reading the wrong information. It wouldn't be the first time we had a malfunction. There probably wasn't even a problem in the first place."

"I got it," a woman across the room yelled.

Newton and Armour walked over to her station, where the workers around her already stared over her shoulder.

"The computer system was overridden," she said.

"Overridden?" Newton asked. "I didn't even know the probe was built with a computer override system."

Neil did it,
Armour thought. It was not even five minutes into the mission and already the decision to send an astronaut on board had paid off.

"That was one of the last minute features we added," Armour explained. Many of the people turned to the NASA Chief, as if he knew something that they did not. "For the manned-mission prototype. You aren't going to put an astronaut about a spacecraft if he or she wouldn't be able to take control for himself." He looked down at the woman at the computer. "Or herself."

"That's all well and good, but how the hell could it have been overridden? Did anybody here do it?" Newton asked, looking around at the people in the general vicinity.

The workers shook their heads.

"Did anybody here override the system?" Newton asked louder, so the whole room could hear.

"I don't think anybody could've," one of the workers said. "We all lost the ability to send commands to the probe during the launch. If we couldn't connect with it, we wouldn't have been able to override the system."

"Then how could it..." Newton stopped speaking, as a thought suddenly dawned oh him. "A hacker. A hacker must have broken into the system."

"A hacker broke into the system, disabled NASA from connecting to the probe, found an unknown source of power and diverted it to the thrusters just in time to save the day?" Armour asked, his voice oozing with disbelief.

"Like you said, he could have just made it seem like there was a problem when there really wasn't one at all," Newton countered.

"Or he could have made it seem like the problem went away when it really didn't," the woman at the computer said.

Newton and the mission control workers looked around at each other, apparently lost and confused about how to proceed. Armour knew this was the perfect time for him to take charge.

"What’s the information we have available right now about where the power came from?" Armour asked.

"According to the computer readouts, the probe's main thrusters received power from an unknown source," one of the workers replied.

"Then that's the story we go with for now," Armour answered. "Will, you go and talk to the media, tell them that the probe had some complications that we are currently looking into, but it reached space in one piece. The rest of you, go back into the systems and check every place that power could have come from and figure out what the hell happened. Does anyone know how long that will take?"

"About an hour, sir."

"I want a full report on my desk as soon as we find out anything. Now let's get moving on this, people," Armour said.

The mission control workers busily began to type away on their keyboards as Armour left the room. He had work of his own to do and knew he had to call and consult with the 'Inner Circle' in case their plans needed revision. This launch might be the perfect opportunity to push up their timetable.

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"We are receiving word now that an emergency press conference has just been called," the reporter on television said.

President Marshall and Peter Mansfield looked at one another, each wearing a worried expression.

"What the hell can this be about? Could something have happened?"

"I think we would have heard about it by now," Mansfield answered.

The television screen changed from a shot of the reporter near the launch pad to a small conference room, where a man – who looked very stressed – entered and was met by a barrage of camera flashes. The president turned up the volume.

"Good afternoon, or morning, or whatever time it is," the frazzled man said, as the bottom of the TV screen flashed BREAKING NEWS. "We have confirmed that the probe we launched half an hour ago has escaped the Earth's atmosphere and is now in space. However, I would not have called an emergency press conference if all had gone as planned."

The bottom of the screen now identified the man as WILLIAM NEWTON, HEAD OF NASA'S MISSION CONTROL.

"During liftoff, the probe suffered a loss of power to the main thrusters, which are located on the back of the craft and are used to power the rockets. A significant loss to the thrusters would not allow the probe to power through the Earth's atmosphere. This was obviously a major concern for us. But the good part about this problem is that many of the systems in the probe have transferable power, meaning it could be rerouted from one system to another. This was how we dealt with this problem and we hope the rest of the mission will continue as planned."

President Marshall breathed a sigh of relief, but Mansfield did not feel totally relieved. This mission had to run perfectly if there would be any chance at success. An early error such as this was not the way they wanted to start.

"Where did the extra power come from?" a reporter yelled out.

"Will this cause any of the other systems to fail?" another one asked.

"Those are good questions but I can’t fully answer them yet. The previously scheduled press conference for later today will deal with the rest of the information," Newton said before walking out of the conference room.

"What could have happened?" Mansfield exploded, as the TV went to a commercial. "I knew trusting Armour with too much responsibility could wind up hurting us."

"Calm down, Peter. We don't even know what happened yet. It could turn out to be nothing," Marshall said.

"Maybe, but why would they be calling a press conference now? If the problem was something minor, NASA would have addressed it later."

The president thought about this for a moment, having not considered that calling a press conference now could be a precursor to announcing a bigger problem later.

"You might be right," Marshall answered. "Call Armour and find out what’s goin on there."

Mansfield's phone rang while he was in the process of dialing Armour's number, as the NASA chief must have read his mind.

"What the hell is this problem we had to learn about from the TV?" Mansfield demanded. "Why weren't we notified the moment something went wrong?"

"You little son of a… How dare you talk to me like that," Armour responded.

Mansfield was surprised that the kindly old NASA Chief could speak in such a harsh manner but thought that Armour had still better watch who he talked like that. After all, Mansfield was an important man and deserved the utmost respect.

"Do you know who I am? How dare you speak to me like that, you crazy old – "

"Peter!" Marshall yelled. "Give me the damn phone."

The president snatched the cell phone out of Mansfield's hands, which were now shaking in anger.

"Calm down," Marshall said in a rare display of his own anger, holding the bottom of the phone so Armour could not hear. He moved his hand away from the phone before speaking again. "James, I'm sorry about that, we are all just a little tense around here and wished we knew exactly what was going on. This news conference has really shaken us up."

"You need to put a leash on that dog of yours, Mr. President," Armour said. "I think we've all had quite a bit of stress today and I don't need to be lectured by some snot-nosed punk."

Marshall turned away from Mansfield, who was still standing right next to him, trying to overhear what was being said between the two men. The president hated when his advisors argued like this, especially now, when remaining calm was so important for the success of this mission.

"Look, James. I know Peter can be a bit pushy at times," Marshall said, keeping his back turned to Mansfield and his voice down. "But he needs to be like that with most people and I'm sure he's sorry he talked to you like that. Please, let's just forget all of this nonsense and get down to business."

"Yes, Mr. President."

"Now what the hell happened down there today?"

"We're not a totally sure, sir. There was a problem with the main thrusters on take-off and the probe was literally seconds away from losing power and plummeting back to Earth."

Marshall did not even want to think about the dire consequences had this happened. It was the absolute worst scenario they could have imagined, one that would have resulted in the detonation of a nuclear bomb over U.S. soil, the deaths of thousands of U.S. citizens and the cover of their secret being completed blown. This scenario had been considered during the planning of Phase One, but it was never really given much serious deliberation. After all, Armour had assured all of them that the chance of this happening was extremely slim and they had all decided the risk must be taken. But now, Marshall was wondering how smart that decision had been…

"I thought you said this wouldn't happen," the president said.

"Sir, NASA has not lost a spacecraft during liftoff in over twenty years. While I said it likely wouldn't happen, I never said it
couldn't
happen," Armour responded. "It was a possibility that we all agreed had to be risked."

"So how did the probe get the power necessary to clear the atmosphere?"

"Again, sir, that is something that we don’t know for sure, not yet at least. I set up the bug in NASA's computer systems so ground control would not be able to access the probe's computer system. My people were shocked when their commands sent to the probe did not register in the system. They were equally as shocked when the probe received power from an unknown source moments before it should have fallen back to Earth."

"Peterson," the president said, realizing the doomed astronaut must have been the reason the probe survived.

"That's what I'm assuming, sir. There is no other explanation about how power could have been diverted. And he also did it in a way that ground control would have trouble tracing," Armour explained.

"How did he do that?"

"Well, sir, again, this is only an assumption, but one based on the evidence I've received from the probe readings. The bug I installed to stop commands from being sent to the probe did not stop readings from the probe returning to mission control. According to these readings, power was diverted from an unknown source. There was only one source of power that would not report in mission control's computer systems and that's because it’s a system nobody knows about but us. The nuke’s firing system."

The president felt like he’d been punched in the stomach.

"The firing system? That means the nuke can't be fired now?" he asked, panic clearly in his voice.

"No, sir. It can not be fired now. But that doesn't mean it can't be detonated," Armour explained. "Originally, Peterson was supposed to fly the probe to a certain location, where the nuke would be fired at a specific spot near the comet. With the firing system out of power now, he will have to do everything manually, meaning he will have to fly the probe closer to the comet than we planned."

"Does he know this yet?"

"No, sir. I have not been able to communicate with him yet. Mission control is still quite busy at the moment. I've instructed them to find out the location of the probe's unknown power source."

Marshall again felt as though he was receiving devastating news.
Why would Armour want them to find out? That could blow everything.
The president was beginning to wonder if Mansfield was right, that the elder NASA chief was given too much responsibility and could not handle everything.

"Can your men find out about the nuke system?"

"I'm not sure, sir. But I'm also afraid that the existence of the bug in the computer system could be jeopardized. Newton – the head of mission control – has the computers being checked at this very moment for signs of a hacker."

"How can all of our well-thought plans be crumbling around us so easily?" the president asked.

"Sir, there is one way that we could avoid all of the inquiries that will surely follow this fiasco," Armour said.

"How's that?"

Armour told him. The president was very much like Mansfield, who thought that once they had a solid plan in place, they must follow it precisely. His brain met any sort of change with a great deal of resistance and the change that Armour suggested certainly could not be taken lightly.

"Give me five minutes," the president said. Marshall hung up the phone and turned to Mansfield, whose curiosity about the probe now far outweighed his anger toward Armour.