Foreign Contact
by
Diane Doyle
In 1986, I was working on a project using ADABAS, the database manufactured by Software AG. I was slated to go to the annual
Software AG conference that was being held at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. By a serendipitous coincidence, the
California Angels, the major league baseball team there, was playing a home stand at that time. Therefore, I decided after the
conference was over, I would spend a couple of extra days in Anaheim. I would attend at least one baseball game, plus I would go to
Disneyland.
Our department’s Administrative Assistant helped me get tickets. The Security personnel gave me the same reminder that we generally
would hear periodically – foreigners use technical conferences to target personnel working in the high tech industry, especially persons
like myself who also possessed a Security Clearance. The idea was for foreigners to become friendly with persons in the high tech
industry in order to learn as much information about the United States as possible. At that particular time, the Soviet Union had still not
broken up, so the Russians were still considered the “enemy”. Russians were especially on the lookout for contacts that could
voluntarily pass them information. The idea of Russians attending conferences where Americans would be present was done on the
theory that it was more effective to catch flies with honey than with vinegar – an American would be more likely to reveal sensitive
information to a Russian whom they considered as a friend than to a torturer trying to interrogate them.
As planned, I attended the conference. I learned much information about the latest products that Software AG was hawking. I met
numerous people from all over the country and traded business cards with them. It was obviously a great site for networking with other
professionals. Enough of the other guests had also come from the Washington, D.C. area, like me, which would make staying in touch
with them much easier.
The conference was over on Friday afternoon. That evening, I attended the Angels’ baseball game -- they were playing the New York
Yankees. The transportation logistics of getting to the stadium were not too difficult since the stadium was only a mile or 2 from the
Disneyland Hotel. Moreover, there was a bus service that stopped at each of the main hotels in Anaheim to take them to most of the
desired destinations, including Anaheim Stadium. Hence, I took advantage of the bus service and headed towards the game, picked up
my ticket from the “Will Call” window, and proceeded to my seat.
A few minutes later, I decided to go to one of the nearby refreshment stands to purchase myself a Diet Coke and a bag of peanuts. It
had generally been my experience that the vendors who go to the stands to sell items at baseball games never seem to bring up Diet
Cokes. I have always had to go to the refreshment stand to buy it.
While standing in line, I did a double take. Only 3 places ahead of me was a slight, dark-haired man who I recognized as the Star Trek
actor, Walter Koenig. As a veteran attendee of Star Trek conventions, I had met several actors from the show over the years. As a
resident of the Los Angeles/Hollywood area and known to be a Yankee fan, Koenig’s presence at this particular game was not totally
illogical. Hollywood was only hour and a half or so from Anaheim; although the entire area was infamous for traffic jams.
I called out his name but got no response. I called his name again – this time, both first and last name, and, once again, got no
response. Generally, when I saw him at conventions, he would say hello. If he were upset with me from an earlier meeting, I would
have expected him to answer in an annoyed tone of voice but I was not even getting that. He was either deliberately ignoring me or he
was not Walter Koenig. If he weren’t Walter, he looked enough like him to be his twin brother – nobody else had the same magnetic
brown eyes or walked in the same manner.
I settled back in my seat and tried to concentrate on the game, with more difficulty than usual. Instead, my mind kept wandering as to
why Walter Koenig would deliberately ignore me. Was it because we were at a baseball game and not a Star Trek convention?
The game ended, with the Angels winning 5-2. Since I was a fan of the Baltimore Orioles, I cheered for the Angels and was happy with
the results. Being a fan of both the Yankees and Orioles was generally impossible, except for true haters of the Boston Red Sox.
I left the game, fighting the crowds to leave the stadium. As I walked out of the stadium, the crowd seemed less dense. I then heard a
voice from immediately behind me, “Listen.”
I turned around. It was Walter, or his doppelganger. “Yes”
The reply was spoken with a thick Russian accent, as opposed to Walter’s normal New York influenced accent. His facial expression
betrayed confusion. “Everyone keeps calling me Walter. Who is Walter?”
I was shocked. Once I regained my composure, I replied, “Well, Walter Koenig is an actor in a science fiction series called ‘Star Trek’.
You look just like him.”
“Oh really! I thought I was unique.”
“Funny thing. Walter is actually a Yankee fan. It would not be that unusual to run into him at a baseball game.”
Then he furrowed his brow and hesitated, “Ah, the Yankees! The New York Yankees! They have been one of the most consistently
successful teams in the history of American professional baseball.”
I thought sourly about the fact that, throughout the 20th century, the Yankees had won more World Championships than any other
team.
Then I changed the subject, “If you’re not Walter Koenig, then who are you?”
“The name’s Chekov. Pavel Andreievich. I was born in Russia.”
Once again, I stared at him in shock. Not only did he not admit to being Walter Koenig but he claimed to be the very person that Walter
was most famous for playing – the Russian navigator/Security Chief on Star Trek, Pavel Chekov. Had Gene Roddenberry, the creator
of Star Trek, based Chekov on a real individual?
We talked for a minute before he admitted sheepishly, “Perhaps I shouldn’t be talking to you? Except that I was dying of curiosity as to
who Walter Koenig was since so many people have addressed me by that name recently.”
“Perhaps I shouldn’t be talking to you either since you’re Russian.” I countered.
“That’s right! The Cold War between the Americans and Soviet Union is still going on. We’re still officially your enemy.”
“Yes, officially you are.”
Then he got closer to me and said conspiratorially, “Let me let you onto a little secret. I don’t think the Soviet Union is going to last
much longer. It will dissolve in less than five years. Just wait.”
I had recalled reading that there were many weaknesses in the Russian infrastructure. The Soviet communist system was certainly less
efficient than the American capitalistic system. But I was not under the impression that the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse as
my companion was suggesting.
He continued, “Mikhail Gorbachev is in power. You may recall that he has initiated some reforms in the Soviet Union, like glasnost and
perestroika. These reforms will cause communism to collapse in less than 5 years. Gorbachev will dissolve the Soviet Union and
propose the formation of a confederation of independent states, which will give most of the republics their independence but bind them
together in a loose, primarily economical federation. Most of the republics will join this confederation. And, furthermore, communism is
going to collapse in all the other Eastern European countries in the same time as well.”
I stared at him incredulously, “The End of Communism?”
“The End of Communism in Eastern Europe and Western Asia,” he nodded, emphatically. “China and Cuba will still remain Communist.”
I recalled that nearly every Slavic country, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria; etc. had been under Communist rule since
just after World War II and were all members of the Warsaw Pact. Nearly all of the other Eastern European countries, such as Hungary
and Romania, were also Communist.
As we finally departed company, I reflected on the events of that evening. I ran into a man who resembled the actor, Walter Koenig. He
claimed to have never heard of Walter was. Moreover, he had the same name as the character that Koenig played in a science fiction
show set in the future. And, here he was, predicting the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union and its satellites. As Mr. Spock would
say, that was “fascinating”.
The next day, I went to Disneyland. I rode on many of the rides in the Magic Kingdom. Riding on many of the rides there reminded me
of all the Fairy tales I had enjoyed as a child, including “Sleeping Beauty”, “Cinderella”, “Alice in Wonderland”; etc. After that, I
proceeded to “Tomorrowland”. While I was generally not a big fan of wild roller coasters, I still wished to go to Space Mountain. The
science fiction like theme of space travel appealed to me. Plus, as roller coasters go, the coaster in Space Mountain is a relatively
tame one – the scariest part being that the coaster was a fast ride in a pitch dark setting; i.e. one that simulated outer space travel.
After emerging from Space Mountain, who should I see but the Walter Koenig look-alike who claimed he was Pavel Chekov. Or should I
say, I ran into the real McCoy, or, actually, the real Chekov.
The Russian accented voice betrayed that it was Chekov as opposed to Koenig. “Weren’t you at the baseball game yesterday?”
“Yes,” I admitted. “Today is my day to go to Disneyland. Tomorrow I go back home.”
“What a coincidence! Ever since I was a child, I had always wanted to go to Disneyland. Now that I’m in the area, I decided to go.”
We spent the next hour together, comparing our experiences in Anaheim, including Disneyland. He could not resist pointing out how
the music of “Sleeping Beauty” used in the animated movie had been composed by a Russian, Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky.
The next day, I flew back to my home in the Northern Virginia area. Later that week, my younger sister, who lived in San Francisco,
called up and asked how my trip to the software conference was. She also reported hearing in the local news there that a Soviet spy
and an accomplice had snuck onto a nuclear vessel named “Enterprise” in Alameda and that this spy had jumped off the ship when
being questioned by security and had gotten seriously injured. I found myself looking for that incident in the paper the following day.
The name of the injured Soviet spy was – Pavel Chekov.
As required by regulations, I reported my experiences to our company’s Security Office. I had an interesting, if not quite believable,
story to tell.
The years passed. By 1991, the Soviet Union had dissolved. Some of the Soviet republics had declared their independence and
broke away. The other Eastern European nations also had overthrown Communism. The predictions of the man who claimed to be
Pavel Chekov had come true. Career wise, I eventually switched to working with Oracle products instead of Software AG products.
Oracle’s dominance in the database field had become much more pronounced, leaving most of its competition as minor players, at best.