For one year they were co-hosts of the TV documentary series Ancient Civilization Mysteries: Arnold Fassbinder the science fiction writer and archaeologist, and Peter Kraus the ancient alien theorist. It was Fassbinder who led the charmed life and Kraus who seemed destined to never achieve the fame and wealth he struggled so hard for...until he purchased a hunk of ancient desert glass that came with a promise of good luck. Maybe it wasn’t good luck as much as it was an advanced Russian military satellite discovering a bit of radioactivity in an uninhabited portion of the Sahara desert. An ancient spaceship or weapon? The Russian military saw a possibleopportunity to leapfrog Western weapons technology but didn’t want the world watching as they dug it out of the desert. Russian eyes converged on Peter Kraus who was the author of a highly speculative book titled Ancient Spaceship Bases. What better camouflage than a TV documentary featuring an American searching for an ancient spaceship. The money had Kraus saying yes to the project but he needed to find an archeologist who wasn’t afraid to be associated with the project and the only choice was Arnold Fassbinder.
After three months spent in the desert, neither Fassbinder nor Kraus ever saw what was uncovered. They were held captive by a squad of Russian soldiers while heavy lift helicopters wrestled the object from the ground to a waiting giant Antonov freight plane that would take it to Russia for further study. That plane disappeared over the Black Sea although Russian media didn’t report a crash. Everyone involved in the excavation was paid but the TV documentary was never made. And strangest of all, Fassbinder and Kraus became friends.