While Europe is getting repaired by the huge American investments of the Marshall Plan, minor communist revolts and uprisings take place all over the world, supported by the USSR and various socialist movements from the West.

To combat this, the UN Security Council convened for a secret meeting, then constructed and implemented their Angel Protocol, basically a covert operation copied after the Archangels Legion. Deniable assets, used to hunt down communist assets all over the world.

In public, the meeting resulted in the creation of Security Treaty Organization, which would include most of Europe and North America, as well as Japan and Korea.

Boldly and charismatically, King Carol also invited Venezuela and Brazil to the treaty, then unveiled his own project for a safe sky. First, communication and surveillance satellites in Earth's orbit, followed by manned space-stations and later fortified asteroids and spaceships.

"This seems a bit far-fetched...King Carol." President Roosevelt muttered in a tired voice. He didn't have long to live, but still forged on.

"Which part?" the Mad King asked, while tugging on his mustache, in a curious voice.

A wild-haired man whispered something into the President's ear, making him frown. Einstein wasn't only a nuclear scientist.

"It seems that rockets could indeed carry satellites into our planet's orbit. As for the rest..." the American President mused in a lost voice.

"So it is true! You already launched a rocket into space, King Carol?" Churchill growled with a hoarse voice.

"Yesterday, yes. Next week we are planning to launch a few hamsters as well. Low gravity may impede natural organ functions, so mammal tests are required." the Mad King explained with a careless shrug.

The Security Council exploded in praise and outrage, sometimes both at once.

"Wernher Von Braun and Hermann_Oberth didn't die on that train then. You hid them!" De Gaulle exploded in outrage.

"The reports only said they were believed to be dead and evaporated. I was quite glad to find both of them alive and well. Of course I hid them, else some communists kill them or something." King Carol answered with a cool voice, oozing of victory.

The Oberth-effect, or the gravitational slingshot, was already used for calculating future planetary fly-byes by probes and later satellites.

"So this is why the Tobago Island was transformed into a military airbase. You are launching rockets into orbit..." President Roosevelt spoke in a soft voice.

"Something about planetary rotation being better... Surely, Mister Einstein can explain it better." the Mad King offered with a wink.

A hundred eyes locked on the poor scientist, who nodded shyly. "That is correct. Escape velocity is smaller at the Ecuator, plus the planet's rotation aids a ship to...nevermind. It seems the details are classified." the man muttered with dismay as the President glared at him.

"Anyways, since we are allied and all, every country in the treaty will be invited to send astronauts into space, as soon as human spaceflight is feasible. Of course, it all depends on participation fees and such, but America and Britain are quite rich, right?" the Romanian King proposed with a gentle smile, making every diplomat present grind their teeth with envy or hate.

This was extortion, pure and simple! Not only that, but declining to join would deprive said country of the prestige of having astronauts in space. On the global scale, prestige was a powerful commodity.

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"France will be honored to participate! We have hundreds of fighter pilots with excellent physical condition, and advance science of our own!" De Gaulle spoke in a hurry.

Roosevelt exchanged a glance with Churchill, then sighed. "Fine. Every Treaty member will send at least one astronaut, in the order of their participation fee. How would they land back?"

King Carol smiled. "There are three options for re-entry: by parachute, by gliding and on retro-thrusters. Parachutes are feasible even now, the other options are more expensive and dangerous. However, for the Moon landings, only the last option is feasible, as the lander needs to fly back to the mothership and return to Earth."

Einstein stood up, eyes wild on his face. "Moon landings?" he asked with extreme interest.

"Not for a decade, Mister Einstein. I was told regular stainless-steel ships are not sufficient for crossing the radiation belts. Science is still young or something." King Carol mused with a longing voice.

The Security Council exploded once more in vociferous outrage.

Much later, after the blue banner of the Treaty was voted and approved, Einstein approached King Carol in private.

"King Carol...I am not dreaming, right?" he asked a bit hesitant.

"That is a very serious question, Mister Einstein. Are you real, or is this all just a dream? A sufficiently advanced simulation could project an entire holographic universe for a brain in a jar, and we'd never know." The Mad King answered in a dreamy voice.

Einstein shuddered for a second. "You wouldn't even need a jar."

"Exactly. I am told there is an asteroid out there made entirely of platinum. Something about light being a different color when reflected back." the King said with a completely unscientific tone.

"Spectroscopy. The analysis of reflected spectrum..." the genial scientist answered with a sad voice.

"Indeed. I read your early works, you know? Lightspeed...is it truly a barrier, or something we imagine? If we compressed the universe into a ball, it would be the size of Earth, with its mass hidden under an event horizon. But we could still walk on this surface, still at 1 G. We wouldn't even notice, although time would pass trillions of times slower." the Mad King mused then drank from a long champagne glass.

Something lit up in Einstein's eyes, and he looked at the Mad King with new eyes. "There is no science to prove your theory, King Carol."

"And your own science doesn't even measure lightspeed, only its reflection. Light might travel as fast one way and instantly back to your recorder, and you'd never even know. Not that it does, mind you. Light might have a speed limit, but not everything is light." the Mad King mused deep in his glass.

"If something could move faster than light, then time travel...paradoxes." Einstein warned the King with an easy voice.

King Carol sighed. "Our universe is expanding. Much slower now, but still faster than light. But in the beginning, it was a billion times faster than light. Space itself inflated from a particle size to a galaxy size in a millisecond. And this can be proven with science. Just measure the sky at the right frequency."

Much later, Einstein and his team proved the Big Bang Theory on the same day as the Mad King became the first man in space.

Sadly, the man never returned to Earth, due to a malfunction to the guidance system.

Today, the entire Romanian Empire call him the Grey Wolf. The rest of the world calls him the Mad King, but only in a whisper. He might come back one day.