Intermission-- Instant Xenologist, Just Add Alien
As Charlie took a big gulp from his glass of water, his nerves began to calm. He was still plenty nervous, but his frazzled mind was returning to rational thought. Now that that particular ordeal was over, it was probably time—Time to talk to the higher-ups. Shoot.
One of the aides came in with a telephone. “It’s the President, Mr. Duke,” he said calmly, probably used to taking calls from the rich and powerful to direct them to others.
“Yes, right, give me the phone,” Charlie said numbly. He put the proffered device up to his ear and stammered, “Yes, Mr. President?”
“Mr. Duke,” President Nixon said calmly. “I’ve been informed there’s an unusual situation with Apollo 11. Would you care to inform me in greater detail then I could get from the television networks?”
“Of course!” Charlie exclaimed, before filling him in on the current situation as best he could. “—Now, if you were to talk to Neil, he could probably tell you exactly what’s going on up there,” Charlie finished.
“Thank you for the suggestion, Mr. Duke, I’ll do just that in a moment,” the President said. “Before I do, however, there’s something I need to tell you. When Apollo 11 splashes down, I’m going to be going to meet them—though I won’t tell you what ship, in case the line is tapped.” His voice was humorous, but the possibility was very real. “After the Eagle gets off the Moon and meets with Columbia, I’m bringing you to me. As of now, you and Neil are the two xenologists with real-life experience. I want one of you with me, and, well, Mr. Armstrong certainly can’t be here for his own landing!”
“Ah... xenologists?” Charlie questioned.
“Oh! A scientist or person who studies or interacts with extraterrestrials, Mr. Duke. It’s not exactly a large field—before today, no one had actually met an alien and had proof of it. I expect the field will grow tremendously in the next few months—but I digress. You are currently the only person on Earth with any experience with real-life alien contact.
“There will be a car waiting outside for you after you’re done. It will take you to the airport, where a flight will take you to Los Angeles and a second will bring you to Hawaii. You’ll be met there and taken to the ship I will be traveling on as well. All your needs will be provided for, and you’ll be compensated for your work. Any questions or complaints?”
“No, sir!” Charlie said excitedly. “I’m happy to help.”
Neil’s voice came over the line, and Charlie diverted his attention back to the camera for a second. “Houston, what do we do now? We have only seven hours of air left now.”
“Um, well, one second,” Charlie stalled, returning to his phone call.
“One more thing, Mr. Duke,” Nixon said.
“Yes, Mr. President?”
“I want you to take the cameras off the air; let the news networks stew over this for a bit while we get some real work done. Then, I want you to put me on the line with Mr. Armstrong. Can you do that?”
“Yes sir, I can,” Charlie affirmed. He took off his headset, setting it on the desk. “We’re going to take you off the air first,” He said to Neil. “And there’s someone who wants to speak with you.” He placed the phone next to the headset, turning it on speakerphone, and then turned to go take the mission off live television.
His mind, meanwhile, reeled at the fact that the President was taking him off the mission to confer with him—personally. That and the fact, apparently, he was the second qualified xenologist in the history of the human race. Lots of records, tons of precedent—and piles of regulations, Charlie suspected—no, knew—were being broken today.
Today was just one of those days.
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Nixon: best President ever!
Got shit done, if it wasn't for Watergate he'd be beloved by everybody!
Well, this is going to get interesting fast. I wonder exactly how long any regulations and what not will last when the first thing Luna wants to do when she lands is fly or go splash in the water?
I forget if it has been mentioned before. Have you taken into account that there was an artificial delay between the film being received and it being sent out to the public? Specifically so they had time to take it off the air if something happened.
I'm literally sitting here hitting refresh so i can be the first to read the next chapter, I don't care how long it takes
Man. The possibilities for alternate history are interesting.
I mean Equestria is a democratic monarchy and semi-socialist due to biology rather than politics. This could be a big problem in a cold war Vietnam conflict climate.
Can'o'worms much?
3893687 He was...Then he did Watergate.
I don't think they'll be able to bring Luna back with them considering that the Apollo missions weren't built with alot of space for anything but some specialized tools and samples.
Not to mention that the nature of Luna's banishment may make it impossible to take her off the moon.
However with the LM now being pressurized it should be possible for them to try talking with Luna.
3894060 Also, how heavy is Luna? Her weight, if it lowers the LM's TWR or Delta-V too much, the LM is stuck in a suborbital/uncontrolled orbital trajectory.
3894060 Well, seeing as she's a deity, she can probably adjust her weight and/or the ascent stage's fuel load as she sees fit. Besides, things like this are designed to carry more resources than they really need just in case they wind up needing more fuel or more air or more food. Particularly with the first lunar lander, they wanted to be sure they had way more than enough fuel in case something happened, and it did. Apollo 11 landed with less than one minute's worth of fuel remaining due to quick maneuvering to avoid a crater. It was supposed to land with more than two minutes of descent fuel. I'm sure the ascent stage carried extra as well, particularly since they didn't know just how dense the rocks they were returning would be.
3893989 I'm not American, and I don't really know my recent history, so forgive me when I ask; what the fuck is Watergate?
3894603 Nixon hired people to break in the his democratic opponent's Election HQ, in the Watergate hotel, and find out his plans for election and list of supporters to win his reelection. It worked but he was found out and would have been impeached but he resigned before congress could start the process.
3893687
Maybe, but doubtful.
I don't claim to remember much about Nixon besides his nickname and the screw-up that was Watergate (Appo school district is of lacking in many fields of education) but 'People' ALWAYS find something to not like about a nation's leader, regardless of the nation.
I've been told that if it weren't for the choices Clinton made regarding women he might have been considered a good president. (I was not old enough to vote when he was running, so I did almost zero research on him before, during, or after he was gone as it really did not matter in the long run anyway). The fact remains, though, he DID make a big mistake, and it DID wreck his reputation,
3893687 Probably not—his administration was responsible for some sketchy stuff in Vietnam. A lot of people have a lot of bad things to say about Kissinger.
Nevertheless, he would most likely have been remembered quite positively, if not for Watergate. In this story, which takes place before he's had a whole lot of time to misstep in the ongoing Vietnam mess, Nixon has a chance to top the triumphant landing on the Moon with handling first contact with aliens in a sensible and productive way. He could easily be in the top 5 if he doesn't screw up.
Dude... Why the crossover tag? Should be AU instead.
FWIW, the President's conversation would more likely be with Dr. Thomas O Paine, the Chief Administrator of NASA. Charlie wouldn't have had the authority to do much.
What would happen is that Nixon would give Dr Paine his marching orders. Dr Paine would then call Gene Krantz, the Mission Flight Director, to tell him to shut off the media picture feed and that Charlie was being relieved because he was going to Washington DC to brief the President. Charlie would likely only find out when he's told by Gene to finish up his notes and hand over to the cover CAPCOM technician because he's off to the Capitol.
3893707
Luna will probably know what to do - Neil, Buzz and Mike Collins would have told her how the humans want to handle it on the ride back to Earth.
What will most likely happen is that NASA will have contrapted a HAZMAT suit for her (three days is enough time, really) and she'll be helicoptered over to the Hornet with the crew. They'll all remain in the quarantine unit before being shipped to the Lunar Receiving Lab in New Mexico. Luna is a walking, talking biological disaster waiting to happen and she's not going to be allowed out into the open air until the scientists are sure she hasn't got a case of the sniffles that will kill everything on Earth in a matter of days.
Only after Neil, Buzz and Mike don't drop dead will they let her out. After that, the USSS has the fun task of stopping lunatic religious fundamentalists trying to assassinate the 'demonic' alien visitor as she begins her tour of the US and later the world.
Oh... and I'm sure that Nixon is going to be juggling innumerable outraged 'phone calls from world leaders about the US 'kidnapping' her or 'conspiring with alien powers' to subjugate the entire planet. You know, the usual political horseapples.
3894718 Ah, I see. I suppose it would make sense if people hate him for that...
Pretty nice AU. Don't know anything about NASA's hierarchy, so you just write it as you wish. Waiting on updates!!! ☺
Random thought totally disregarding Neil's actual life:
Neil and Luna sitting in a tree! Kay eye ess ess eye enn gee!
^.^
3895693
XD is all I can say. XD. Also, the whole NIxon talking to Charlie thing: He's literally the only person on Earth with experience (and a laughably little amount at that) dealing with aliens. He's bringing him in to have as much help as he can, even if it isn't much.
3894451
Good points and possibilities (with Luna helping out with her magic).
But my point about Luna's banishment possibly preventing her from leaving the moon still stands.
And a different thought that should have crossed my mind before now.....the re-entry capsule only has three seats. With three astronauts in there it's already crowded, now add Luna and.....well.....
*Wing flap-slapx3!*
"OW!"
"OW!"
"OW!"
Embarrassed/sheepish Luna. "Sorry."
"Houston? Were gonna need more aspirin."
3894603 Quite literally, the biggest political scandal in american history. President Richard Nixon was deeply involved in a break-in at the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Complex, going as far as to cover up major details of the break-in. This, ultimately, resulted in the government attempting to impeach him, but he resigned before they could.
If you want to know more, click here.
3897818 True. I've seen the Apollo 11 capsule on display at the Smithsonian. The astronauts actually described that as a "spacious"(no pun intended) capsule. However, I'm going to once again make use of this ultimate deus ex machina: Luna is a god capable of using extremely potent magic. If she wants to go, she can fit herself into that capsule by either making it bigger or one or more of its occupants smaller. She could even teleport to the surface directly, or, given her being a god and presumably immortal(she's already shown that she's capable of surviving in open space), she could reenter separately. If she's a god, the shock heating won't harm her. Now, as for the point about being unable to leave, there are a few options here. For one thing, the spell was likely intended to prevent her from using magical means of escape, and physical means were not considered. For another, it's possible that it was only intended to prevent her from being able to return to the planet hosting Equestria, not to prevent her from leaving the moon or landing on a different planet. Finally, most likely she's in a different universe altogether, given both the actual scientific factors and simply that that's how this fandom usually does things. She was likely prevented from returning to her universe, without any regard for her ability to travel within this one, and this would not be an issue under known circumstances on an uninhabited planetoid with a very thin atmosphere. The Elements of Harmony were not designed with pressurized, rocket-powered landing craft in mind.
3898173 I think that's enough information for me to go on, as a Canadian. I don't need the gritty details, I just needed to know the topic.
So... does Dr. Manhatten exist here?
You did a good job bringing Nixon's paranoia to this story.
dan dan dan
People talk about Watergate, and yes, it was bad. But are we also going to talk about how he was so paranaoid that he recorded literally EVERYTHING in the White House, just in case? Even the confidential, SECRET stuff? Watergate was the nail in the coffin for his reputation, but it wasnt the only blow. He got stuff done, yes, but he also sacrificed his morals and bent the rules on several occasions to do it.
Well, everything seems to be going well.