"Good evening, America, we are interrupting our normal programming to give way to a televised address from the Oval Office which is set to happen in fifteen minutes." - Walter Cronkite, CBS News, October 21 1973, 5:45 pm, Eastern Time.
It is often said that the world is like a stage, then therefore historical events are its plays, and there were plenty of chaotic scenes spattered across key locations as information was received by NASA and passed through the channels at Washington D.C.
At Ground Mission Time after orbital encounter of five, nearly six, hours, the discoveries of the astronauts on the Discworld and on its moon were being received with awe and disbelief, NASA had decided to suspend the broadcasts from Mission Control and had told the press to wait for a press conference.
President Nixon, who has miraculously survived an impeachment vote in the House of Representatives - and won the 1972 elections by a landslide, immediately called for a meeting with the Administrators of NASA as well as the top brass of the Pentagon, all the while being aboard Air Force One en route to Washington D.C.
The transcript and descriptions of the meeting by the countless of men and women who were there during the nervous times - probably second only to the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor - are compiled in order to paint a picture of what had happened.
President Nixon was in Texas, one of the many unexpected 'safe states' for the Democrats to suddenly swing towards the Republicans in the flurry of keeping Nixon in the White House for the mission, when the relatively new Administrator of NASA, Dr. James C. Fletcher, called.
"Mister President," a nervous Fletcher on the other end of the phone had said while Nixon was in the Presidential Limousine, "as your chief space sciences adviser, I would say that-…sir, we've encountered the Discworld and it has life on it sir, including what looks like a possible space program."
Inside the Presidential Limousine would be the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Advisor, and both men had recounted how the President covered the mouth piece of the phone and said "Gentlemen, we may have life on our hands out there and our astronauts are down there."
The Secretary of Defense reached into his black leather bag and pulled out the back up plans made by the Pentagon just in case if any of their astronauts were to be detained against their will by the denizens of that planet, all the while Nixon replied "Dr. Fletcher, I am on my way to Washington D.C, I would be calling for a telephone meeting with the Pentagon and NASA."
After Nixon had hung up the phone, he told the driver to head back to Lackland Air Force Base, and then he told his aide to phone up Lackland AFB to have Air Force One ready.
The Secretary of Defense then handed a bunch of documents in a folder, "Mister President, I would like to brief you on the plans made by a joint committee of the Air Force, the Marines, and the Army."
"In case of what exactly? Secretary, this looks like a plan for an interplanetary D-Day." was Nixon's response after going through the plans.
"Mister President, let's say that the locals are hostile and took our astronauts hostage, the joint committee had suggested that we use the Air Force's Big Blue Gemini to mount a rescue mission." explained the Secretary of Defense.
"Oh hell, the Soviets had landed a man on the moon, what makes this plan impossible?" Nixon remarked, "We shall wait and see how the situation unfolds, only then we will know what to do."
By the time the Presidential Limousine had reached the air force base, the news had somehow reached the hourly news bulletin, NASA had decided to comment that there was a remarkable discovery and plenty of people across the world had begun to have gotten hold of the information when Air Force One took off from the air force base.
Nixon had spent the whole flight to Joint Base Andrews on the telephone, "Are we all here, gentlemen?" Nixon was the first one to speak.
"Yes, Mister President, the Joint Chiefs are right here." said the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman.
"NASA is here, Mister President." said Dr. Fletcher.
"Now, Dr. Fletcher, can you please give us a summary of your discoveries." said Nixon.
Fletcher was said to have consulted his notes before speaking, which explained the momentary silence in the recording, "Mister President, at Ground Mission Time of Six months, one day, and thirteen hours, Mission Commander Thompson had begun their lander descent, he then conducted his EVA immediately after touch down an hour after the retrograde mark."
"Thompson reported to have interacted with the locals and was on his way to supposedly meet one of the local political chiefs who was referred to as 'Baron' according to the reports of Lander pilot Jebediah and geological sciences mission specialist Bill.
Two hours after the descent of the Lander, the Flight Director had given the Apollo Orbiter a go to explore the moon, initially the Orbiter Mission Commander Ares Bacon had reported that their sensors have detected the moon to have a thin but breathable atmosphere, as they executed their orbital insertion burn to an orbit about fifty kilometers above the surface, their cameras have spotted footprints and remnants of a moon exploration as well as wildlife on the moon.
As of this moment, Ares Bacon and mission specialist Bob is on an EVA on the moon."
"Okay, anything else on the Discworld itself?" asked Nixon.
"Mister President, the last few words from Mission Commander Thompson was 'Houston, uh…there's a witch descending on a broomstick…yeah, she has a pointy hat, black dress and all…and…uh…' before it was cut off." reported Dr. Fletcher, "Further reports from the other two points that there is on the Discworld…what we call 'magic', but it seems that this 'magic' is as normal as our fundamental laws of physics, which I guess would explain the fact that the Discworld is a turtle with elephants on top."
That fact had already been in circulation ever since the first report from NASA during the 1970s, however it was earlier dismissed as caused by poor image quality, but now they have confirmation that it was indeed what it was.
"Any other peculiarities noted?" asked Nixon.
"Yes sir, Orbiter Mission Commander Bacon had noted that their engines are working but is not consuming fuel." said Dr. Fletcher, "And that the planet itself is emanating this powerful unknown radiation that, so far, is harmless to our astronauts or to the people living there."
As Nixon was about to speak, Fletcher made some weird noise as if he'd forgotten to say something, "Oh and the Mission Commander Thompson was last seen…uh…flying on a broomstick."
Nixon laughed, "Is this for real, Dr. Fletcher?"
Fletcher nodded and said "Yes, Mister President, we have just begun decoding a video data taped and broadcast via Slow Scan Television, and it shows that Thompson somehow ended up flying this thing, the broomstick, in the distance like some fighter jet."
On the Pentagon's end, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force chuckled, "Sorry, Mister President, but I knew Mister Thompson when he transferred to the Air Force from the Marine Corps Aviation, he was twice reprimanded for buzzing a Carrier bridge and a United Nations watchtower at the 38th Parallel."
Nixon was legendary for his skills at poker, said to have funded his first congressional campaign entirely with poker winnings when he was in the US Navy during the war, his poker face showed during the meeting, "Gentlemen, we have life on something that breaks the laws of physics all in all, and we have American citizens down there."
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs spoke up, "Has the Secretary of Defense briefed you on our contingency plans?"
"Yes, he has, and I cannot believe that you want to send what is basically an Interplanetary D-Day to mount a rescue mission." said Nixon.
"But Mister President, we have the resources and manpower to mount one immediately, we'll be using a modified Big Gemini and a weapons platform variant of the Mobile Orbital Laboratory, we'll have one pilot and eleven troopers in the Big Gemini, and possibly an extra six in the MOL. The flight would only take two months since it would use a faster orbital approach." said the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
"We'll save that for the worst, however I suggest that you do keep your rescue team ready just in case." said Nixon.
"But, how about contact with the locals?" asked Dr. Fletcher.
"We'll just use the Mission Commander's cover, whatever cover he used to convince the witch he had encountered that they were not from out there, I mean that is what I believe he had used." said Nixon, "Has the lander crew been given intelligence and espionage training?"
"Yes, Mister President." said Fletcher, "They are trained to use several aliases and cover, plus they have been given enough supplies to last for a month in their lander."
Nixon nodded and said "Alright, we shall keep an eye on their situation, and only then can we make a decision. I will be going on air to address the nation, I heard that rumors have begun circulating about the current events. Thank you, gentlemen."
Nixon had hung up the phone as the Andrews Joint Base had appeared on the horizon and as the plane had begun its descent.
###
From Mission Commander James Thompson's journal:
Now this place, the Chalk, I'm telling you, it's a lot like South England during my vacation there, and I took in the scenery as I piloted what has got to be the most useful tool in any war; a flying broomstick, at least you can have a faster response time when the enemy shows up while you're cleaning up the Barracks, the only problem is figuring out how to shoot down your enemy.
Anyhow we flew to the Baron's castle and when we landed I can recall the look on Tiffany's face, that look of surprise and a bit of anger at how I flew, "Mister Thompson, I do not know who you are exactly but you just nearly injured someone I know and-…"
"Let me guess,your beau?" I replied.
Funny thing, while I was flying the broomstick - actually now that I thought of it, it's nothing like a normal plane, it's like it goes where you point it, like a rocket - buzzing the guard tower nearby, I have absolutely nearly hurt a young man sitting on a patch of hill, Tiffany called out his name "Preston!" as I nearly crashed into him, luckily I pulled up.
Tiffany blushed, "He's just back from Ankh Morpork for the spring."
I laughed, "I've got a sister back home and I know that blush." I then shook my head, "Anyhow, I think we should meet this Baron."
Tiffany knocked on the door of the castle and a somewhat middle aged and well dressed assistant appeared, though he stared at me somewhat before saying "Miss Aching, how may I help you?"
"We have a newcomer to the Chalk, and he wants to meet with the Baron to introduce himself, this is his land after all." said Tiffany.
The assistant stepped aside and said "Allow me to lead you to him, Miss Aching."
We were led through this big castle in the middle of a green plain area, I mean a large gray building in the middle of all that green, either an eyesore or Washington D.C on a map, or both.
Just as we were being led to the Baron, we encountered a young-ish blonde woman whom the assistant referred to as, "Baroness Leticia Keepsake Chumsfanleigh, this man here is a new comer to the Chalk and intends to reside here."
I bowed my head, "I am James Thompson, Baroness." I said.
The Baroness smiled, "Ah, welcome to the Chalk then, I do believe you're on your way to meet my husband then."
"Yes, madam." said the assistant.
You know, now I thank God that these people could speak English, at least I can understand them and they could understand me.
This Baroness then went to a door at the end of the corridor, and came out with a young man of her age, the Baron I presumed, "Ah, Baron Roland, your grace." said the assistant.
"Miss Aching, a good day to you." said the Baron, Tiffany did not have to bow nor curtsy by the looks of it, though she did bow a slight curtsy but not like the actual bow of the assistant.
"Roland, James Thompson here is a new comer to the Chalk and he wished to introduce himself to you." said Tiffany.
"Is that so?" said the Baron, "Well, who's house have you bought?"
I smiled, "Well, Baron, my house..sort of flew here, I'm an inventor you see and I just came up with a flying house…or rather how to send a house across the skies."
Roland turned to Tiffany and said, "Is this man making fun of me?"
"No, what he's saying is true, I saw his house falling from the sky myself." said Tiffany.
Roland nodded and seemed to have thought through some things for a while, "Miss Aching, may I have a word with you in private?" he then turned to the assistant and said, "Please do keep our guest company."
The Baron, the Baroness, and the witch had all entered the Baron's room, or office, leaving me with the assistant, whom I noticed had some weird choice for socks, "New York Yankees!?" I swore it looked like the symbol of the New York Yankees.
The assistant looked left and then right before leaning in towards me and saying "You're from space, aren't you?"
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, I should have kept my mouth shut, "And you sound like you came from New York!" I exclaimed.
He clasped my mouth shut and looked around him again, "Are you from the United States that I came from?"
Now I wonder how did this man, who looked like he was a close aide of the Baron, has come from the United States, my theory was that this weird planet on top of a turtle was used to these interplanetary visits…I mean I've read some weird science fiction stories of crossing dimensions and things.
I nodded, he removed his hand from my mouth and I said "For God's sake's man, how did you get here?"
"Well how did you get here?" the assistant asked.
"By a spaceship, the Apollo program, when did you leave Earth?" I asked.
"1963…wait, who won the World Series that year?" he asked.
I scratched around my head, "Uh…Los Angeles Dodgers."
"I-…oh boy, I thank God that Earth has finally come to rescue me." said the odd assistant.
"How did you get here?" I asked.
"That depends, are you with the C.I.A or somebody else?" he asked.
"I worked with the Marines before going to the Air Force and being picked up by NASA." I said.
The assistant paced around the hallway for awhile, "Alright, the C.I.A in 1963 had begun experimenting with some things which are theoretical, teleportation to be precise."
My mouth dropped open, "You mean like the ones in Star Trek?"
"Star Trek? Is that some science fiction thing? Well if you mean teleportation like the ones in science fiction comics, then yeah." said the assistant, annoyed, "My name is Jonathan Reacher by the way, I served as an Intelligence Officer during the Second World War in Europe, you won't believe what the Germans had tried experimenting on."
"James Thompson, Captain in the U.S. Air Force, Astronaut in NASA." I shook hands with him.
"Good to meet you, now…I have a serious question, was there a reported explosion somewhere in the Mojave desert around 1963?" he asked.
"Yeah of course, but the officials say that it was a test for a non-nuclear device." I said, much to his anger.
"That was no bomb, that was them trying to hide their failure, those idiots teleported me here and I was forced to fend for myself using what I learned in espionage." he said.
If this man had survived the war as an intelligence officer, what else can he survive? I guess a simple teleportation mishap is nothing more than a mere annoyance.
"How did you know that there would be an explosion?" I asked.
"It was part of our plan to blow up anything that went wrong and call it an accident." said Jonathan, "I'm telling you, I have a grudge with the C.I.A, the K.G.B, and this whole damn Cold War!"
"Was that what the research into teleportation was for?" I asked.
"Yes, mainly to find a way to get agents into Russia without having to, you know, fly over it with a spy plane only to crash." said Jonathan.
"Wait, what do you mean by a grudge with the K.G.B?" I asked.
"I just hate the Soviets." hissed Jonathan, "Anyhow, I think I would need to go now, just wait for the Baron."
Huh, what a weird guy, however coincidentally the door to the Baron's officer sunk open and out came the Baron, flanked by the Baroness and the witch. The Baron approached me and shook my hand, "Mister Thompson, welcome to the Chalk, while we do note the odd way of your moving in here, Tiffany has assured me that you're of no problem."
Oh good, so they trust that Tiffany the same way Nixon was trusted back in the 1972 elections, "I thank your vote of confidence in me, and I do hope that I would meet some of your citizens."
"Say, where did you come from?" the Baroness asked.
I faltered, "Well, I just came from the patch of forest nearby, I'm an inventor you see."
"At least now the Chalk has another bright mind, I have heard that you are a flyer to?." said the Baron with a smile, "You may go back to your…flying home, or rather your once flying home.'
I bowed, "Thank you."
The Baron turned to Tiffany and said, "Miss Aching, will you bring our guest back to his home, and Mister Thompson, do allow Miss Aching to fly this time."
###
The clacks, the wonderful invention that had allowed the Disc to be closer and smaller, information now flowed from one end to the other end instantaneously, especially after the arrest and death of Reacher Gilt.
Inside the Patrician's Palace, Lord Vetinari looks outside through the window and at the city which he has ruled and stabilized for decades, he may be slightly aging but he is still that sharp and fine figure of a tyrant.
A knock on his door interrupts his silence, "What is it, Drumknott?" Vetinari turned around to face the door.
"A encrypted Clacks message from one of our spies, my lord." said Drumknott while holding a piece of paper.
Vetinari reached for the paper and read through it, "Report from C.L.K, unusual new people, claim to have come from a flying house but really a space vessel similar to moon mission mounted before, is armed with gonne."
Vetinari laid the paper on the table, "Ah, is it that spy, Drumknott?"
"The one that has been, according to the Archancellor, teleported from another world, somewhat similar to their Roundworld experiment but a different one." said Drumknott.
"Yes and the one who was caught by Captain Carrot to have tried to steal money from the vaults of the Guild of Thieves, I knew I just had to use him." said Vetinari, "So, we now have…aliens visiting us?"
"I would not call them that, my lord, that is if our spy, Mister Reacher, is of their species, he has taken you into his confidence of explaining his predicament." said Drumknott.
"Interesting, and this species had developed weapons, the gonne to be precise, for everyday use?" said Vetinari, he himself was hit by a gonne fired by an assassin and was nearly killed.
"He himself had said that his species do use gonnes for everyday use, and our visitor in the Chalk was armed with one." said Drumknott.
"Our spy has good eyes, I don't think our visitor would keep the gonne on him where visible, I'd say our guest kept his gonne in his pocket." said Vetinari, "Or so I'd imagine."
"What should we do now?" asked Drumknott.
"There are times when the best thing to do is not to make a move until your opponent has, wouldn't you think so, Drumknott?" said Vetinari.
Drumknott nodded, "Oh yes, I'd think so too."
"Good, then tell our good spy to keep an eye on him, and maybe even allow him to introduce our world to them, I think that enough would keep them busy." said Vetinari, "Our spy came here with survival instincts in full swing, I do believe that our new visitors came here out of curiosity, and based on the data of Unseen University on a magic-less roundworld, I think our visitors would be too busy pondering about our world." said Vetinari.
"That is what I shall write to our spy, my lord." said Drumknott.
"And I do believe that by now Miss Aching has most likely summed our visitors up already, I do believe the witches are good with those things." remarked Vetinari, "Anyhow, do go now Drumknott."
As Drumknott walked away, Lord Vetinari sat down on his desk where a untouched game of Thud! was sitting, he knew that somehow they were the board and their visitors the player, but then there must be another one.
Why else would someone go this far? Conquest perhaps, but without an army? Then show off, just like during the old days of exploration when kingdoms raced to the edge of the Disc or to the center of the world, the Hub, by pouring the most amount of money on expeditions.
Whenever there's a race, it has to be a two horse race, Lord Vetinari knew that this is just the beginning, their spy has said something about a 'space race' which to Vetinari just translated to 'Exploration show off' with the word 'exploration' being silent.
Until then it's all his theories, but as with Vetinari, some of his theories may be right.
###
On the night of the 21st of October 1973, President Nixon went on air to address the curiosity of the public and of the world from the Oval Office, it was broadcast through the radio and TV and even made first page of the New Yorker, Washington Post, and New York Times the very next day.
"Good evening, my fellow Americans, I would like to address a topic of great concern for the American public and for the world, and allow me to speak as the commander in chief, your president, who has ordered this mission. The rumors are true that there is life on the mysterious planet that was spotted by space probes two years ago.
Our astronauts as of this moment are making contact with life and as such I am calling for calm in this time of anxiety and uncertainty, we have handled the Vietnam War, we have returned our boys home, we can return our astronauts home.
This is exploration just like how our history books have shown, it is not a place for the weak and we trust that our representatives, our ambassadors, that being our astronauts will handle the situation well if not, hopefully, perfectly.
My fellow Americans, and to the humans of the world, we have the situation under control, and while we stare in awe at the discoveries being made by the astronauts and with the rumors going around, we must keep ourselves level headed.
I understand that the video cutoff from Mission Control on national television had caused some worry and concern, the Administrator of NASA has assured me that they were not covering up anything and were only following regulations set in place in order to not cause a panic or mass hysteria.
Yes, it is a big space turtle with elephants on top and a flat world sitting on the top, yes it does have things which we call magic, however we must keep in mind that a man from the War would have called the historic mission of landing men on the moon, or of even sending a human being to space, as witchcraft.
We are humans and we humans tend to want to understand and observe things and I know it rattled our nerves, but we must allow for our astronauts to do their work and discover the truth, this is what this mission has been about, to find the truth.
To quote President Kennedy, 'We choose to go to the moon', and it is this same spirit that has drove us to choose to go to the Discworld, we set sail on this new sea for new knowledge and for new rights to be won, and it is this same sea, this same goal, and the same rights which we are fighting for. Why fly across the Atlantic? Why climb Mount Everest? Why land on the moon? Not because it is easy but because it is hard, and I repeat those words from President Kennedy and also repeat the spirit that has gotten us to the moon and over the Soviets.
I would like to remind the American public that the Soviets have gotten us into the Vietnam conflict, have gotten us into the Korean conflict before that one, and had caused a great uproar in the aftermath of the Second World War with the Berlin Blockade. I am warning the Soviets against using this new world as a chessboard for war, I am more than aware that they've landed a man on the moon and now we reach out our hand in peace asking them to explore the world with us in peace and to represent humanity in peace.
The question now is how we should handle this contact with the locals, our rules are simple, we are for peace and not for war, we trust that our astronauts would carry with them the identity of not just that of America but of the whole world."
It was at this point that Nixon was about to say something but then someone from behind the camera told him to cut off the speech.
"Thank you for listening, my fellow Americans and to the world, may we get through this peacefully." and the TV screens would cut to the seal of the Office of the President of the United States.
Nixon, who was quite frustrated at the interruption stood up and said "Alright, what is it now this time?"
The man who had interrupted him was the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, he had a folder with him, "Mister President, we may have committed an Intelligence mistake, sir."