Nexus - 0228 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Confusion spread over her face, and I added, "Well, we're two sign. Nothing but a heavily wooded area! Driving back and forth taxpayers, and we're here to see our pictures, Who's got them?” along the road, trying to decide whether they had done it to us Before she could recover, we flashed Leonard's book in her again, we noticed a narrow dirt road running back into the woods face. I continued, "What's so unauthorised about pictures that directly along NASA's fence line. Hung on the chain between two have already been published?" From then on, we decided to stay small posts was a sign that read simply: “No Trespassing". on the offensive at all times. Instinct told us this had to be the place. We lowered the chain and Reinforcements were called in, and we soon found ourselves drove about three-quarters of a mile down the dirt road which U- having the same conversation with the big boys from administra- turned back toward the highway. Directly behind the trees and tion. None had seen the book, but, significantly, one had taken the | camouflaged by the woods was our building. There was no num- time to confirm that Leonard was in fact a former NASA scientist ber, only a small plaque near the door that read “Lunar Landing at the Jet Propulsion Lab, from what I could gather. This threw Observatory" in half-inch-high letters. Somehow we weren't sur- them, and they seemed even curious to learn about the book—for _ prised. after all, the information had been generated by NASA in the first Upon entering, we found ourselves in a small alcove. A large place. We settled for a truce and to return : >] main room buzzing with people was off to the next day. Before leaving, however, we To this day, I can the right, and what appeared to be a small reiterated that these two taxpayers had every . a broom closet was on the opposite wall. intention of going to the mat with whoever remember these views: When we told the receptionist we wanted the was holding back ‘our photos’. ...ODVIOUS machinery ON | library, she pointed toward the broom closet To make a very long story short, we spent : which, as it turned out, opened onto a wind- the next several days filling out enough the surface...; three ing stairway leading down into a dimly lit forms to give a woodpecker a headache. My dilapidated ‘bridges’ office advised me that NASA had called to . * back toward the NASA property line. confirm my employment history and to crossing a chasm...; pipe At the end of the tunnel was a large room ingur apout Les His hoe advised iat | fittings thiat could Ihe Seen | wer we fm ourselves uning in fron staying there. Obviously the wheels were | 1 @VEry photo...; three | the tibrarian who was sitting on a stool. 1 turning. Finally, someone called to say we risi ids...: seem to remember that his name was Roger. could see the photos. sada ising pyramids maf He explained that there were at least two We returned to NASA thinking we had apparent pipelines CFISS- | million photos in the library—everything underground tunnel. I'm certain it took us Sealy ded Bul ess et ad crossing the SUITaCE, fay MASA Yo! pong se Building 30 which had not been on the funning to and from "random" photos, as time was always tour and which didn't even exist. * ist Building 30A turned out to be empty, so craters; a UFO rising from we walked into Building 30B and found its specific code-number. the surface... ourselves in the middle of a high-securi- 5 . Roger was surprised that we had all the ty area where an existing mission was The clarity and resolution numbers (no one had told him about the short and filing systems complicated. In other words, to see any picture you need being ws eo, that i were were unlike that of pot) " or Maes - a somewhere we should not have been, we . we had hit pay dirt at last. But after a tried to blend in. Failing miserably to do anything | had seen quick glance, he gave us the bad news: so, we were soon unceremoniously before or since... the numbers were meaningless in : 2 Houston. He explained that for security ed to know how we had passed the civil- teasons NASA had split the country into jan section—and what was this about five regions, each with a duplicate set of Moon pictures, taxpayers, and a book about the Moon? We knew __ records and a different code-number system. Leonard's numbers we were really in sheep dip when security not only whisked us out ~—_ weren't applicable in this facility. I asked where the master list of the building but escorted us off the premises altogether. was kept, and Roger replied at Langley, Virginia. Les and I The next day, after some scrambling on both sides, officials looked at each other. We didn't have to say it, but we suspected apologised to us for the mix-up. For our part, we insinuated that — who that meant. at least 1,000 photocopies of the Leonard book could rain down on We huddled in the corner for a few minutes trying to decide everyone on the space centre's mailing list. We were counting on —_ whether this was another stalling effort. But we had come too far this bluff to get us past what we considered an impasse. It was to give up. We informed Roger that we wanted to proceed. He time for NASA to act. After all, we weren't a couple of underwa- _ said that someone in the NASA complex had the proper forms to ter pipe welders from Boise. We were fellow engineers, brothers start the ball rolling. He just wasn't sure who, since no one had tossed out. Security personnel demand- of the blood! ever requested the photos before. We were the first, he said—at Finally, some serious discussions transpired. The photo library, __ least in Houston. we were told, had been relocated off site to the Lunar Landing A few days later Roger called us to come fill out new forms, Observatory directly adjacent to the east NASA property on though there wasn't much they didn't already know about us. It NASA Road 1. They would be expecting us in two more days at took two more days, but our summons finally came. Roger 8.00 am. announced that the photos were ready for our inspection. There Two days later, we drove east on NASA 1 past the main _ were, however, strict rules. We were to get three eight-hour busi- entrance of the facility and found a chain-link fence that marked _ ness days. We were not allowed pens, pencils, paper, calculator, the eastern limit of the property line, expecting to see a building or camera or recording devices of any kind. Nor could we be left 46 « NEXUS OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1995