Star City, USSR, 1965
The retrieval operation from the Bering Strait was a success. Soviet fishing trawlers, working in tandem with the Navy, hauled in the specially shielded Agena panel that the Americans had jettisoned.
Sergei supervised the delivery of the metal to the N1 development factory in Fili. The KGB was already pushing the engineering team hard.
"We have three weeks to integrate this into the design review!" Colonel Volkov thundered at the head engineer, a man named Turchinsky.
"It is impossible," Turchinsky protested. "We have to build new test rigs, run simulations, verify the materials!"
"Dr. Kirov has already verified the simulations," Volkov lied smoothly, nodding at Sergei. "He says the design is sound. It will solve our Pogo problem. The data is a miracle of intelligence."
Turchinsky looked to Sergei for confirmation. Sergei met his gaze, the heavy weight of his decision pressing down on him.
"The simulations indicate high promise," Sergei said stiffly. "We must proceed with urgency, comrades."
Sergei walked away, leaving the engineers to the impossible task. He felt a profound isolation. He was now a traitor to his own engineers, working to ensure the N1 failed. He returned to his office and pulled out the small envelope he had prepared earlier—the one with the correct calculations for the oscillation dampener. He resealed it carefully. He needed to get this out.
Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, USA, 1965
Major Jim Donovan and his crew landed at Andrews after their successful Gemini VIII mission. It was a triumphant homecoming. A man in a rumpled suit with an Air Force Intelligence lapel pin approached him after the debriefing.
"Major Donovan? I'm Captain Sterling. A friend of yours in Intel reached out to me. You had a concern about a cargo manifest?"
Jim looked around. General Teller and Dr. Thorne were not nearby.
"Yeah," Jim said, pulling the slip of paper from his pocket. "Item code 44 Alpha-Delta. Data storage unit. It just felt a little... high security for a 'long-term exposure test'."
Sterling looked at the code and his eyes narrowed slightly. He wrote the code in a small notebook.
"Thanks, Major. Probably nothing, but we'll check it out," Sterling said. He paused before leaving. "By the way, Major, the Agena vehicle's deorbit maneuver was successful last night. Burned up exactly as planned over the North Pacific."
Jim thanked him, but felt uneasy. He trusted his instincts. They were telling him he had delivered something terrible into enemy hands.
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