Storming the Kingdom (27 page)

CHAPTER FORTY - TWO

One Day Ago
4:15
A.M.

H
awk and Kiran climbed up the unmoving escalator inside the Contemporary Resort. Their destination was the boarding level of the monorail. Although the Walt Disney World Resort’s fleet of 12 Mark VI monorails had been secured and stored for the storm, Hawk had managed to get the monorail back on line for his use. As they crested the top of the escalator, Kiran looked over and saw Monorail Blue sitting in the loading area.

“Hawk, I’ve got to tell you…I’m impressed.”

“You forgot what a monorail looked like?” Hawk responded over his shoulder, moving toward the cab of the monorail.

“No, I’m impressed that you’ve gotten one for your personal use.” She was smiling.

“A perk of the job.” He paused and allowed Kiran to enter the front cab of the monorail before boarding.

Motioning for her to take a seat, he took his in the pilot’s chair. With a push of a switch, the automatic doors of the monorail clicked shut. He hesitated, trying to refresh himself on how the vehicle operated. The Mark VI monorail had been put into service because it had a higher passenger capacity as well as improved air-conditioning, door systems, and safety features. Each Mark VI train consists of six cars. The overall length is 203 feet, and on a busy day, it carries over 350 passengers inside. The 13.6-mile monorail system will carry over 150,000 guests to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot parks on an average day. It’s an attraction in and of itself.

“Let’s go,” Hawk said softly, and the monorail shook slightly as they began the trip from the Contemporary toward the Ticket and Transportation Center.

Kiran was silent as she looked out the front window that wrapped around the cab of the monorail. Emerging from the Contemporary Resort back into the burst of nasty weather had caused the monorail to rock on the rail. After the initial shock of the storm, the vehicle performed as Hawk had hoped. The sleek design cut through the wind and rain, and despite the inclement weather, they had an incredible view that most guests would never get the chance to see. In the predawn hours, lights glinted their reflection from the Seven Seas Lagoon as Hawk and Kiran streaked through the sky above it. In just a few minutes they pulled into the TTC, and the monorail slowed to a stop. Again Hawk activated the switch on the control panel, and the doors opened with a click. He motioned for Kiran to exit.

“I thought we were riding in the monorail to Epcot.” she said.

“We are, but this one doesn’t go that far. We have to change monorails.” He pointed across the loading area for Monorail Red, which waited with its doors open. It would be their express ride to Epcot.

“Of course, I always forget you have to change tracks. Not just one but two personal monorails.” Kiran shook her head. “You know how to show a girl a good time. Wow…do you bring Kate out at night to ride through the resort on monorails?”

“That is none of your business.” Hawk stepped to the front of Monorail Red. He looked back at her. “If you’re coming with me, get in.”

Going through the same mental checklist, Hawk once again propelled the monorail forward toward Epcot. They rode in silence as they made their way to Epcot. Hawk was trying to formulate what he was going to do next. He was confident he was thinking correctly about the next clue. His destination was Mission: SPACE, but once there, as he often had to do…he was going to trust he could develop his strategy in real time. In less than ten minutes, they arrived at the monorail station at Epcot. The six cars slid to a stop, the doors opened, and they exited down the ramp and moved through the front gates of one of the four major theme parks within Walt Disney World. In the week since he’d announced the fifth, Hawk felt like he had lived a lifetime.

Epcot, one of the most popular theme parks in the world, attracts over ten million visitors each year. It was eerie to be here alone under the incredible Spaceship Earth sphere that dominated the park. Hawk paused and looked up at it as they entered. It hadn’t been that long ago that he had been standing on top of the sphere, battling Reginald Cambridge, before Cambridge had disappeared over the side with the help of mountain climbing gear.

This had always been a special place to Hawk. Epcot represented Walt Disney’s personal vision for Walt Disney World, which was to be a living city of the future. After Walt’s death that didn’t happen, but Hawk believed the innovative elements and unique feel would have made Walt proud.

The park gave him a choice of two areas: Future World and World Showcase. Future World, a vision of the future and a place to learn about innovation and technology was where they would find Mission: SPACE. Veering to the east side of Future World as they passed under Spaceship Earth, they headed in that direction.

“So what are we going to do when we get to Mission: SPACE?” Kiran asked Hawk as they briskly made their way toward the attraction.

“You can see when we get there.”

“You don’t have a plan,” she surmised. “But you are resilient, you will figure something out. You always do. That is why I kept telling—” She closed her mouth for a moment. “You’re a valuable asset and we need your help.”

Hawk wanted to respond with a quick retort but held his tongue. He redirected his thinking toward figuring out the clue: ‘If ELSIE is worth 31573, then he is worth 197 more. The name of the last of Walt’s nine will help you find what is forgotten in space and time.’ Mission: SPACE was loaded with space history that many in the world no longer remembered or never knew to begin with. The parts about ELSIE, 31573, and the 197 more still didn’t make any sense to him at all. Ollie Johnson, they had figured out as the last of Walt’s nine old men, but now the challenge was to put all the individual pieces together to unravel the mystery and find whatever Farren had hidden for him—ideally without Kiran learning what it was.

Approaching the pavilion, Hawk noticed the three planetary objects in the plaza outside the attraction building. Anything and everything could be a clue. He stopped and studied them. The first is of the Planet Earth, which has the Mission: SPACE Logo with a spacecraft appearing to take off in front of it. On the far left is a scale model of our moon bearing different-colored markers. He looked at this model closely.

“What are all of those markers on this model of the moon?” Kiran asked as she stood next to him.

“They represent the landing sites of moon missions between 1959 and 1976.”

“We’ve been to the moon that many times?” She sounded surprised.

“Nearly thirty. Some manned flights, mostly unmanned flights, and a combination of Russian and US landings.” Hawk decided to move on. “There’s a lot of real space history here, along with the stuff created to help Disney Imagineers tell a great story.” He waved her forward, and they approached the front of the attraction. “Mission: SPACE was developed with the help of NASA. The attraction is meant to simulate astronaut training for a human mission to Mars aboard the X-2 Deep Space Shuttle in 2036, the seventy-fifth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man in space.”

“I used to give tours here at Walt Disney World, remember?” Kiran stopped him.

“Actually I forgot that,” Hawk admitted.

“That’s how we met.”

“Yes, it is…but you set the whole thing up.”

“Just because I wanted to get close to you.” She tucked her arm inside of his and waited for him to use his kingdom key to open the doors.

“No, it was just because you wanted to get your hands on the kingdom key,” he corrected her, tucking the key out of her reach as they walked inside the attraction.

“It should be clear to you by now that the kingdom key was just a start. What we all want now is much bigger than your silly ol’ key.” She hugged his arm tightly. “So why don’t you just go ahead and find me what we’re looking for, right now?”

Now inside the queue area for the attraction, he was reminded again of how much attention the Imagineers had given to storytelling. They advanced along the switchback queue lines, where guests would get training for the ultimate space mission. They moved through the Simulation Lab, which resembled a warehouse-like training area that might be found at the Kennedy Space Center. They walked past a huge rotating wheel with chambers used for simulating gravity for trainees. Hawk studied it carefully then kept moving. Around them were fascinating visuals; a real Lunar Rover on loan from the Smithsonian was suspended above them. Long moments passed as he studied it, trying to see if there was anything that might trigger an idea as to how the clue fit. Nothing stood out. He and Kiran moved on and came to the Command Room; although decorated appropriately, this is where cast members sit behind a glass wall and multiple control panels to monitor what is happening with guests on the ride. On the wall are plaques commemorating outstanding moments in space travel: First Man in Space, First Man on the Moon, and eventually the fictitious creations of the Imagineers…First Family in Space and First Deep Space Mission. Hawk stopped and then turned back to the Command Room.

“Let’s go in there,” he directed Kiran.

The two made their way out of the guest lines and into the cast member area. They found the door, which Hawk unlocked with the kingdom key, and stepped inside. Inside the command hub, Hawk felt like he was standing inside a NASA command center. He leaned forward and looked closely at the workstation in front of him. He turned his head and looked closer, viewing the panel from a distorted angle. Suddenly he moved forward and took a seat in one of the command chairs.

Kiran hurried to sit next to him. “What did you figure out?”

“I’m not sure. It’s just a hunch.” He moved his hand to the keypad with the digital readout above it. Tucked into the console of the command station, it looked futuristic, but Hawk knew it was functional as they used it each day to run the attraction.

“Remember the clue, ‘ELSIE is worth 31573’?” Hawk punched those numbers into the keypad. As he touched each number, it glowed in red on the console readout.

“Yes, I remember,” Kiran watched the numbers now on display in front of them.

Hawk was calculating exactly what to say next. Kiran had inserted herself into his quest and at this point seemed to hold some information he was going to need. The MagicBand was still on her wrist, she had threatened the third Imagineer, and he was still bothered by just how much she had been able to piece together the bigger picture of why he was now Walt and Roy’s plan for the future of Disney. Since he had underestimated her years ago, he would not make the same mistakes again, but he hoped he could manage to outwit her when the moment was right. He sighed as he continued.

“Turn your head sideways and try to read the numbers upside down.”

Kiran did and as she did a smile broke out across her face.

“You see it?” Hawk asked.

“I do,” she said excitedly. Upside down, the numbers spelled
ELSIE
.

“Right.” Hawk was now thinking quickly. “But he is worth 197 more,’ according to the clue. Add 197 to 31573.”

They arrived at the answer simultaneously.

“It’s 31770,” Kiran said over his shoulder.

He cleared the readout glowing above them and typed in the new numbers. This time when he looked at the numbers upside down, they spelled out
OLLIE
.

“But we figured out the name Ollie. Why do we need to do this?” Kiran asked.

“There has to be a reason…let’s try this…” Hawk punched
31573
into the keypad, then he hit the space bar and typed in
31770
. Once he did, he tilted his head to try to get an upside-down perspective and read the words
OLLIE ELSIE
. He hit the return key. “See if that does anything.”

No sooner had he uttered the words, than the control room was plunged into darkness. Gradually, his eyes adjusted, and he could perceive dim light coming through the glass window. Shadows filled the command center around them, and all of the screens flashed to life. The image of a man appeared in black-and-white on all of them. It was Walt Disney.

CHAPTER FORTY - THREE

One Day Ago
6:00
A.M.

T
he screens were filled with the image of Walt Disney, holding a model rocket ship in his hand and speaking of space travel. Hawk recognized the footage. Although he didn’t remember all the details, he knew the television shows Disney had produced about space had been revolutionary. In many ways, Walt’s use of the medium of television had been very influential in gearing up the American public about the bright prospects and future of space travel.

Each screen in the room was playing the same program, and their glow cast flickering light across the command center. Kiran watched one screen as Hawk watched another. The scene shifted from Walt to an animated spaceship traveling through the sky.

“Is this what you expected?” Kiran placed her hands on the workstation and leaned forward, looking across at Hawk.

“I don’t know what I expected.” Hawk leaned back in his chair. “I guess I’m never really sure what to expect. So I’ve learned to expect the unexpected.”

“Are we supposed to watch this for a clue?” Kiran focused on the screen again.

Hawk did not answer her right away. In his peripheral vision, he had caught some movement. Now as he turned his head toward it, he could see what Kiran had not. On the other side of the glass, peering in at them was an elderly gentleman dressed in rumpled clothes and looking like he had just been awakened.

“Maybe this is our clue,” Hawk stated flatly.

Kiran, still focused on the screen, replied, “That’s what I just asked, are we supposed to watch this for a clue?”

Kiran looked up with a start and stepped back from where she was standing to take a place behind Hawk’s chair. As they both watched, the elderly gentleman walked down the length of the glass window, staring at them, and then around the corner to enter the room through the door at the far end. He stepped inside, stood silently, then slowly eased himself into a chair near him. Still quiet, he leaned back and then gently rocked forward and back as though he were in a rocking chair. He reached up and scratched the side of his face, cleared his throat, and then pointed to the television screens playing throughout the command center.

Hawk delayed in looking away from the man. Who was this man and why was he here? Now? The man saw Hawk staring at him and once again pointed to the screen. There was something about him, something familiar, that reminded Hawk of Rales and Colmes. His mind wondered if perhaps this was the third Imagineer. But if Kiran was telling the truth, she had him locked away. But Kiran and the truth were not always on speaking terms. For the third time, the man pointed Hawk’s attention to the screen. This time Hawk tore himself away from his thoughts and back to what was playing in the Command Center.

Walt Disney was still speaking. “In our modern world, everywhere we look, we see the influence science has upon our daily lives. Discoveries that were miracles a few short years ago are accepted as commonplace today. Many of the things that seem impossible now will become realities tomorrow. One of man’s oldest dreams has been the desire for space travel—to travel to other worlds. Until recently, this seemed to be an impossibility, but great new discoveries have brought us to the threshold of a new frontier—the frontier of interplanetary space.”

The older gentleman who’d joined them the Command Room stopped rocking. He cleared his throat. “That was Walt Disney introducing the
Man in Space
television show. It was first shown in 1955. Walt had a long relationship with NASA, and his interest in space travel was plain to see in the three different television shows…
Man in Space
,
Man and the Moon
, and
Mars and Beyond
. Walt made these as accurate as possible. He and the crew worked with a German scientist, Wernher von Braun, who served as technical advisor on the programs. In reality, what was going on was that Walt was helping von Braun sell Americans on space exploration during a time when traveling to the moon was the stuff of science fiction. Von Braun was the man responsible for getting Americans into space in the first place. These TV specials were so popular, they even became a series of comic books. Pretty nifty, if you ask me.”

The man returned his attention to the show for several minutes. Then as if he had suddenly remembered that Hawk and Kiran were in the room, he turned back toward them, eyeing them warily.

“I was told to expect you.” He nodded toward Hawk. Then he looked directly at Kiran. “I don’t know who you are. I am guessing you’re an uninvited guest.”

“Now why would you say that?” Kiran’s voice had an icy tone.

“What I have to say and do is very important,” the man continued. “My instructions were very clear. Dr. Hawkes was expected. You, on the other hand, have somehow convinced him to let you be here. Not a good sign, if you ask me. You, little lady, are trouble.”

Hawk almost laughed out loud at the man’s insight. Yet, he was concerned. Kiran was unpredictable and dangerous…and he didn’t want to find out what lengths she would go to. He certainly didn’t want to get her anger directed toward this older gentleman, whom Hawk was wildly intrigued by.

“She’s with me.” Hawk leaned forward in his seat.

“Oh, I can see that.” The man glowered at Kiran. “But just because she is with you doesn’t mean you want her to be…or that she needs to be. At least, that is this old man’s opinion.”

Hawk could see Kiran doing a slow emotional burn as the old gentleman spoke. Still fighting the urge to grin, he tried to redirect the conversation.

“I’m Grayson Hawkes. My friends call me Hawk.” He rose to his feet and extended his hand.

The man took it, shook it, and spoke. “It is good to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you. Farren Rales, rest his soul, told me there would be a day when I needed to meet you. When you punched in the code to activate the television program, I was alerted that you were here, and so I came.”

Hawk was curious. “So the code was to alert you and not to start the television show?”

“It was to do both.” The man looked back at the screens and then to Hawk. “The show is why you’re here. You know Farren is a detail guy, and he sure could tell a story.” The man laughed. “So he set it up so the code would start the show and let me know.”

“Who are you?” Kiran’s voice was still cold.

“Who am I?” The old man glanced to her and back to Hawk. “You already know. My name is Ollie Elsie. I’ve worked for the Walt Disney Company for the last fifty years. Started out in California on Walt’s team. Now I work here, in Mission: SPACE. Over the years, I’ve seen it all, heard it all, know it all, and forgotten most of what I knew. The code you typed was my name.”

“I think we figured that out.” Kiran rolled her eyes.

“My, my, my…you sure are a pleasant thing.” He scowled. “I can sure see I was right about you. You’re here because Hawk ain’t got no choice.”

Kiran crossed her arms. “Listen, I’ve heard about all that—”

Hawk cut her off. “Ollie, Farren told you there was a day that you needed to meet me. I’m going to assume there is an important reason for that. What might that reason be?”

“Of course it’s important. I’m figuring it’s why Farren got killed.” Ollie paused, looked at them both. “I guess you’re in a bit of trouble as well. Heard about the shooting on the train, somebody shot up the Haunted Mansion, big explosion over at the Studios…there seems to be danger in your world, Hawk.” Ollie now looked directly at Kiran. “Sometimes danger comes wrapped in an attractive package, don’t it?”

“Like I said, she is with me, you don’t need to worry about her,” Hawk reassured. He was trying to sound convincing, but the reality was that he wasn’t sure what Kiran was going to do…ever. She was more than capable of hurting Ollie if it was to her advantage. Hawk was going to have to be the buffer between the two of them.

“Not worried about me, worried about you.” Ollie nodded at Hawk. “But she’s here. That’s your problem, not mine. I’m supposed to tell you a story.
You
’ll know what to do with it when I’m done. That’s what Farren said.”

Kiran sat in the chair nearest to her with a huff. Her arms were still crossed in anger and irritation. Hawk tried to read her to see if her hostility was genuine or just her trying to manipulate the situation. Or perhaps the irritation was because she had never gotten the chance to try to charm Ollie, like she so often did when given the opportunity. Her demeanor amused Hawk, and he wanted to cheer the man for throwing her off her game. Hawk turned back toward Ollie, the old man looked to the screens and then once again refocused on him.

“Back in the fifties, scientist Wernher von Braun was frustrated at how passive the United States was at developing a space rocket program.
Collier’s
magazine had between three and four million readers each week at the time. They offered von Braun a chance to write a series of articles. When Ward Kimball, who was one of Walt’s Nine Old Men, read these articles, he was busy developing the space shows for the
Disneyland
television series. Ward didn’t know a lot about space travel, so he contacted von Braun to be a consultant. He jumped at the idea because he knew that getting to Americans through television was the best way to generate even more interest in space.

The say forty-two million viewers saw the show you are watching now,
Man in Space
, when it premiered in March 1955. In June of 1955, they decided to rerun the show, and when they did, President Eisenhower requested a copy to show to the Pentagon. The very same month, President Eisenhower announced that the US would launch a small unmanned earth-circling satellite. Space was now something the government was going to reach into.”

“So Walt Disney was a major influence in changing the way people viewed space exploration,” Hawk summarized.

“Yes, most people think of Walt, and they think of cartoons, movies, and theme parks. What they miss is that Walt Disney the man was a pioneer, an innovator, a genius, and a man whose influence changed the world. Walt understood he had this kind of influence, even though he was just a midwestern farm boy at heart. People of influence from all over the world came to Walt and wanted his help, his advice, and his direction. They recognized how powerful he was.”

“I have a copy of a newspaper from 1965,” Hawk said. “It was how I knew to come see you. Is that important?”

“Ah, you are good…just as good as Farren said.” Ollie smiled. “Of course it is important and is part of the story I’m telling you. The films Walt made influenced a lot of people, even top NASA officials, and had a huge impact on the American space program. Some news articles suggested that the United States turn over the space program to Disney, since Walt was a man who clearly had a plan and a vision for what we should be doing in space.

“In the mid-sixties, around 1965, some ten years after
Man in Space
aired, von Braun was still frustrated by the US government’s lack of enthusiasm about putting a man on the moon. So he called on his friend, Walt Disney. In a letter, von Braun invited Walt Disney and other key Disney people to tour the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. In April 1965, Walt Disney, along with his brother, Roy, as well as several WED Enterprise personnel, took some time to visit the three chief space centers at Houston, Cape Kennedy, and Huntsville, Alabama.”

“So that explains the headline of the
Huntsville Times
,” Hawk interjected.

“Right.” Ollie snapped his fingers. He laughed as he seemed to capture a thought before he continued. “I know you know a lot about Walt Disney, but there is something you didn’t know. Walt took time out between his looking around to fly a couple of spacecraft simulators.”

Hawk let out a low whistle.

Ollie nodded. “It happened in Texas. Walt climbed aboard and flew at NASA’s manned spacecraft center at Houston. He was sixty-three and he ‘flew’ a Gemini simulator to a successful space docking. If that wasn’t enough, then he ‘landed’ on the moon in a lunar excursion module…right after two pilots had just overshot the green-dot target area on a simulated moon.”

“You’re right, I never knew that.” Hawk was amazed.

“Without any previous experience, Walt had learned to operate and ‘fire’ the retro-rockets for capsule control. NASA wasn’t real sure they wanted Walt in their simulators—after all, pilots were having trouble getting it right. They were trying to impress Walt. Instead, Walt impressed them.” Almost as an afterthought, he snapped his fingers again. “A few months later, Walt would get a chance to take off from an aircraft carrier at sea. A massive catapult fired his plane over the waves. Walt was very busy the last couple of years of his life. Like I said, he was more than an entertainment king, he was a genius, and people of influence knew it.”

Kiran tapped her fingers on the counter. “So, does that story let you know what you’re supposed to do next, Hawk?”

Hawk thought for a moment. Nothing came to mind. He turned back to Ollie. “I love those stories. I never knew any of that about Walt, but if that is what Farren wanted you to tell me, I must have missed something…because I’m not real sure what I’m supposed to do with that information.”