SYNOPSIS:

Moon Hoax - Novel by Paul Gillebaard In 2014, Chinese taikonauts land on the back side of the moon in secret, out of radio contact with Earth, a risky feat not even attempted by the U.S. space program. The mission is to gather rocks, photos and film to discredit America’s evidence from their historic moon landings. The taikonauts also deploy an MK Tactical Laser Weapon on the surface to insure no hardware left by them or the Apollo missions is ever seen or filmed. No telescope on Earth is strong enough to see the equipment left by the Apollo missions, not even the Hubble. If the Asian powerhouse is successful in proving one of the United States’ greatest technological achievements is a hoax, and subsequently are able to land, a Chinese taikonaut will then be considered the first man on the moon, not the 13th. History books will need to be rewritten. China will become the global leader in space technology and elevated to the greatest superpower of the world. Yet when the taikonauts hit the “send” button to arm the laser, nothing happens—the laser doesn’t work! PETER NOVAK, a 46-year-old playboy and an Apollo moonwalker’s son, was trained as an astronaut like his father. He joined NASA with the hopes of flying the shuttle, only to be continually bypassed because the man calling the shots had issues with Peter’s father. Frustrated, Peter left NASA to join the Space Intelligence Division (SID) of the CIA, whose purpose is to watch and police all space activities. Peter’s current undercover assignment is Byington Corp., makers of the MK laser device. An early-morning call sends him to China, to troubleshoot the laser supposedly being tested at a quarry; Peter suspects otherwise and tells his superiors China has planted a laser on the back side of the moon, yet why? Having returned with lunar samples, China announces in front of the UN Council that NASA’s moon landings were faked, and they have proof. The U.S. Secretary of State says if independent scientists confirm the “moon rock” samples are the same, the U.S. will concede the landings were false, confident China’s samples came from meteorites as claimed and will not match the Apollo samples. They do match, sparking a media frenzy. On the president’s orders, NASA immediately sends an unmanned spacecraft with a powerful HD camera onboard to take detailed pictures of the original landing sites. NASA is stunned when the craft comes around the back side in pieces. To disarm the laser, the SID will need to send a manned mission to the moon. Because of Peter’s astronaut training and knowledge of the MK laser, he is the ideal agent to send, but with no existing U.S. rocket capable of sending a man to the moon, and the shuttle program retired, and UN sanctions against sending a rocket of any type up due to rumors of satellite weaponry, they’re stuck. An elaborate scheme is hatched to hijack a Soyuz escape pod from the International Space Station (ISS). Peter will be launched into orbit on an unproven space capsule and rocket with help from the CEO of the commercial spaceflight company SpaceQuest. The president will disavow all knowledge and a fake bomb will lend deniability. Once on board the ISS, Peter will perform a spacewalk to attach a booster engine to one of two Soyuz spacecraft, lifeboats for the crew in case they must abandon the station. In order to fulfill the mission, this engine will need to be jettisoned en route to the moon, leaving no booster for a return trip home. The entire operation will be a suicide mission. On top of that, if he cannot access and disarm the laser within 20 minutes, he’ll be killed before any proof can be sent to Earth. If China reset the factory codes to lock out hackers, their plan will fail. Peter is not ready to die, but the moon flight is the ultimate space adventure. He struggles with the idea of meeting his maker in order to restore the integrity of his country, until his father dies in his arms from a massive heart attack brought on by being unjustly ridiculed by a duped news media and a doubting public triggered by China’s lies. His last words to his father are, “Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll prove those Chinese bastards wrong!” Peter will take on the suicide mission for his father and his country, but he needs help. His childhood friend Dimitri Alexandrov, Assistant Director in the Russian Federal Space Agency, suggests Peter enlist Dimitri’s widower father and trusted family friend Viktor, a 75-year-old ex-cosmonaut who worked with Peter’s father on the U.S./USSR joint space mission in 1975. The short bald Russian with the wrinkly face is a jokester; his one-liners ease the pressure no matter the situation. Viktor has more experience with the Soyuz spacecraft than anyone else alive. He agrees to go, eager to reunite with his wife in heaven. As the two perform rushed and crucial training for the mission at SpaceQuest’s launch facility, Peter falls for Viktor’s beautiful 36-year-old daughter Anya, whom he hasn’t seen since she was a teenager when the families often got together. While Peter and Viktor agree to keep the mission’s dire ending from her, Peter struggles with hiding the truth. Even though they’re falling in love, he believes he has no choice but to end the relationship to save her from additional pain, breaking both their hearts. When Anya learns from Dimitri that their father and Peter will die, she is devastated. She frantically rushes back to the States. With less than 24 hours to spare, she gets to hold her father one last time. He tells her of Peter’s true feelings for her. When she confronts Peter, they have an emotional encounter which leads to one last magical night together to express their true love. Just before launch, a reenergized Peter confirms China did not change the MK laser’s factory codes, insuring he will be able to access its remote control system. However, China realizes their mistake. The two nations must race to the moon. China’s direct rocket to the moon is faster, but Peter and Viktor are leaving sooner. Will it be soon enough? After launching into space and overcoming bolt failure and jettisoning the heavy airlock, Peter and Viktor reach the moon mere minutes before the Chinese arrive. After a near miss, Peter disarms the laser weapon. When Peter goes EVA to take detailed pictures of landing sites, Viktor will die; they have only one suit. Watching his friend take cyanide to avoid asphyxiation deeply saddens Peter, but he fights through the sorrow to complete the assignment before his limited air supply diminishes and he too succumbs to death. Peter’s orbit allows him to fly over his dad’s landing site. He’s in awe as he films his father’s old stomping grounds, including a special shot of his own initials etched in the lunar surface, a tribute by his father over forty years ago. The pictures are broadcast to a special UN assembly and projected on a large viewing screen. As China’s lies are exposed to the world, the Chinese delegates scurry out of the assembly, humiliated. Oblivious that he is now a hero back home, Peter floats silently alone in space, less than a half hour of air remaining. As he covers and uncovers planet Earth with his thumb, he wonders if he did the right thing leaving his soul mate, who is pregnant with his child. Knowing they’ve lost, China’s space program manager, an acquaintance of Peter’s, directs their nearby rocket to rescue Peter and bring him home. Peter has to jump from one vehicle to the other, freefalling above the moon. His foot slips, throwing off his trajectory. He catches an antenna with his gloved fingertips, and passes out near the Chinese airlock door, out of oxygen. He is brought on board and revived. He congratulates the taikonaut who was the 13th man to walk on the moon, and they set a course for Earth.