After Why..and before too.

PART I

Long ago I told this story on MySpace and in the local newspaper. A close friend and business associate harped for days on end (the month prior to S.S. Challenger's destruction) that the Challenger was going to blow up and that there wasn't any gold in Fort Knox. That, what gold was physically stored in Fort Knox was actually fools gold, fake. Put there for appearences to fool the spectators, the tourists. I took in everything he said as the rantings of an old man, (he was about 78 years old at that time), riled with the federal government. What I didn't know was that he had expert first-hand knowledge that I did not have. He was a Metalurgist PhD and I was just a Welding Quality Control Inspector who hired hime to be my Resident Engineer at the fab shop where I worked. I should have listened to him sooner about what he was ranting about. I was paying him $300 a day to help us get our A.S.M.E. Code stamps. Up to that point we were just business associates.

And then, S.S. Challenger blew up at launch. Up to this particular date I had religiously stood outside, day or night, rain or shine, to watch shuttle launches. The S.S. Challenger launch was the first shuttle launch I did not step outside to watch. The launches were becoming passe' to me and besides, I had work to do.

It is at this point our friendship began. I approached him with an apology for not believing his warnings about the shuttle and asked him to please explain to me what caused it to blow up.  In the back of my mind I told myself, "If he's right about the shuttle's demise he must be right about no gold in Fort Knox, too!"

As, and after, he explained the cause of the shuttle's destrucion I understood why there was no gold in Fort Knox. It took all the gold in Fort Knox to fix the Hydrogen Chambers of all three redesigned shuttles.

He also,imparted to me the following fact... If another shuttle blows up the federal government wpuld become insolvent...bankrupt. Why? Because the gold would be irreplacibly vaporized and the military guards would continue to go through the motions of guarding the fools gold in Fort Knox.

PART II later.