Think back to the situation in  The Beginning of the Circle.  What came out of those first meetings? We can easily imagine many of the programs that would inevitably have been implemented, once a cover-up was deemed necessary. Let’s consider a few of them.

Despite the General’s initial assumption, a “civilian” space program would have been started as soon as possible. The Prime Directive of an effective cover-up is misdirection. By offering a carefully contrived presentation of research and exploration for the public, all the real research could be more easily concealed. Even most of the people employed in the space-related industries would be fooled. The inevitable suspicions about “secret” projects would still be based on the false assumption that those were buried in the public missions, an extra little experiment here, an additional piece of equipment there. Everyone would wink and nod  and presume that all was well. Meanwhile, an entirely different agenda could proceed in secret. 

	Heaven only knows what they've really been doing with all that money.

While the Shuttle program struggled into orbit with WWII- derived technology, in the Black projects they were going to the Moon and…other places. So the General was partially correct- the public was not to be allowed to go to such places, lest they found out what had been going on for so long. That is why there are always such profound consequences to Lies…once told, they must be defended at an ever-higher cost, and they breed like bunnies.  

	A view of  a big crater on one of the moons of Saturn, Phoebe, from the Cassini probe. In the interest of full disclosure, I  need to mention that the little area of open space at top right was matted out- on the original it appears to have been masked out. That is not unusual for astronomy photos. So I cleared it as well in the interest of a cleaner background. Yes, it is a confusing scene, even by Old Culture standards.
	Here is a closer look. Note the Princess on the cheek of the other face. Click on the image to see that area at full resolution, such as it is- the Princess becomes very hard to find.

The next part of the equation was the shift of focus. The military perspective is useful for dealing with conflict, or avoidance of conflict. Since the first reaction had been a classic Response to Threat, that perspective worked for a while. But it became increasingly clear that a seemingly never-ending Cover Up was more of a psychological battle. There was no “enemy” to fight, not really. The mind manipulators took over. By infiltrating every type of public media and planting carefully designed information wherever it was needed, the Will of the People was subverted. The Old Culture, the Builders, had colonized the entire Solar System and physically crafted much of it to their liking. To keep that truth hidden from the modern populace, the same sort of reinvention was done on a virtual level. A contrived and largely incorrect model of the Solar System, and of History,  was promoted, and vigorously defended. It was perfectly all right for people to debate things like Creation vs. Evolution, since neither were accurate models.  Every type of power structure in place anywhere in the world benefits from the tailored management of the Historical Record, so this modern addition to the Editor’s List was easy to sell. The negotiations brought new players to the table, but they were the movers and shakers who had their own reasons to support the deceit. Any who did not, were given some. It was ultimately just Realpolitik as usual.. In an attempt to keep this presentation as succinct as possible, that is about all I’ll say on that topic here. There are multitudes of sources available elsewhere, books and websites and more, that explore the political details.

Artificial structures can be seen on the Moon, from Earth, with even a modest telescope. OK, I say that too much- I am sure there are immodest  telescopes as well, brazen hussy Casselgrains and neurotic Newtonian reflectors gazing up at Hubble with serious mirror envy. If it comes up again, I'll say "small".  A small telescope is 8-10 inches. 12 inches or more, and you have something.  OK, now I feel neurotic. Ahem. Therefore, anyway, Astronomers (with big telescopes) are discouraged-by-distraction from looking at the Moon too much. Grants are awarded to measure red shift in deep space or catalog far-off galaxies rather than observing our neighboring satellite. During the  Apollo  missions, some of the rocket hardware was intentionally sent crashing back to the lunar surface to facilitate seismic measurements. According to the  planted sensors, the Moon  rang like “a bell” for over an hour. Like a hollow metal ball. Oh, well.  

	The crater Plato taken with a 15 inch telescope by unknown amateur member of Kopernick Society (please contact me, I'll credit you). The reason you can't easily see all that stuff most of the time is just the lighting- think about it. How often do you look at the Moon except when it's full? And then it's too bright. So you have to stretch the contrast range, which is all I did.
	For more Moon images, use this Secret Link
	Venus went from a “possibly Earthlike planet” to an acid-shrouded Inferno, and ceased to be of much interest…but the Soviets stubbornly continued to parachute numerous tractor-probes down through the acid clouds and 300 mph winds to the 800° F surface. Whatever.  Mars. I’ll just say that in an honest world, there would be no question as to whether robot probes or human observers should be sent there. It’s no contest at all, and this is one of the fundamental facts that those behind the cover-up know all too well. You see, our predecessors left us something, but unfortunately, machines can’t see it. Well, they can see it, but not read it. This brings us to the next part of our tale.