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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

FACILITY

BENCH TRIAL ELEVEN — FORWARD DISPLACEMENT

9 NOVEMBER 1955

PERSONNEL PRESENT:

Dr. H. Lorenz, principal technical officer, presiding Dr. , instrumentation Dr. , materials , senior technical assistant W. Seaton, Director , recording

The trial was conducted at the facility upon the above date. The trial was the first conducted under the dispensation established by the directive of 24 October 1955 and the first under the present cryptonym. The trial was conducted upon a configuration of the apparatus modified by Dr. Lorenz to permit reversal of the displacement vector. The test article was a steel sphere of one inch diameter of the type employed in the early trials of the preliminary phase. Temporal displacement was set at a nominal value of seven days, with the vector set in the forward direction. The trial is numbered in continuation of the sequence of the preliminary phase.

The following is prepared from the wire recording and from the notes of the undersigned.

LORENZ: Stations, gentlemen. We make a small piece of history today. Or — we shall see what we make. , the coupling.

: The coupling holds, Herr Doktor.

LORENZ: I modified it on Saturday with my own hands, while you were no doubt at your dinners. Reversal occurs at the third stage. A simple arrangement once you see it — though perhaps only our instrumentation man would appreciate it. Still loyal to us, eh, ?

: The coupling holds, Herr Doktor.

LORENZ: He has only the one line, but it is true. — instrumentation.

DR. (instrumentation): Chronometers running. Plates loaded. I should observe that our previous trials provide no reference for what the plates may show in this configuration.

LORENZ: Then we shall make a reference. That is what we are here for. , materials.

DR. (materials): The sphere is placed. The field is at standby.

LORENZ: Mr. Seaton — Director, I should say. I keep forgetting. You are content?

MR. SEATON: I am content, Doctor. Proceed.

LORENZ: With pleasure. , mark the time. The forward sequence. First stage. … Stable. Second stage. … Stable. Third stage — reversal. , the coupling at reversal?

: Warm. Within the figure.

LORENZ: It holds through reversal. Mr. Seaton, that is a small milestone: a coupling that will go in either direction. Fourth stage. Fifth stage. , the field?

DR. (materials): The field is formed. The sphere is within. The index is — hm.

LORENZ: The index is hm?

DR. (materials): At the predicted value, but the field structure is different. I cannot characterize it properly with this instrumentation.

LORENZ: Different how, ?

DR. (materials): Cleaner.

LORENZ: Cleaner.

DR. (materials): The harmonics are absent. In the rearward configuration there is always a residue, a noise upon the field. Now there is none. I do not know how else to describe it.

LORENZ: Note that, . Clean field.

(recording officer): Noted, sir.

LORENZ: Sixth stage. We are at the threshold. , mark.

(recording officer): Marked, sir.

LORENZ: Initiate.

[The recording captures a sound which the undersigned characterizes as quieter than the equivalent sound at rearward initiation, of approximately one second’s duration. The chamber is then silent.]

DR. (materials): The sphere has gone.

LORENZ: Good. We count. The four seconds.

[A pause. The recording captures Dr. Lorenz counting under his breath.]

DR. (materials): Recovered. The sphere is recovered.

LORENZ: Hand it across. , the bench.

DR. (materials): A moment. Permit me — the sphere is — Herr Doktor, the sphere is not as it went.

LORENZ: Not as it went?

DR. (materials): It is — Mr. Seaton, you may wish to come and see this.

[The recording captures Mr. Seaton crossing the chamber. A pause.]

MR. SEATON: What am I looking at, Doctor.

DR. (materials): The serial mark is ours — here, , punched on Saturday. It is the same sphere, but the surface has changed.

MR. SEATON: Explain.

DR. (materials): There were fine grooves from the lathe. I checked them with the comparator this morning: within tolerance, but quite visible. Now —

MR. SEATON: Now what.

DR. (materials): They are gone. The surface is — perfect. I have never seen such a finish, and I would not know how to produce it.

[A silence in the chamber.]

LORENZ: Let me see. [A pause.] Hm.

MR. SEATON: Doctor.

LORENZ: Hold this, Mr. Seaton. Roll it between your fingers. What do you feel.

MR. SEATON: I feel — nothing. It is smooth.

LORENZ: Smoother than anything in this building. Beyond even , the finest hand at the lathe in the Eastern United States. Am I right?

: I could not produce that, Herr Doktor.

LORENZ: And yet here it is. The same sphere. Improved.

DR. (materials): Herr Doktor — the mass. May I weigh it?

LORENZ: By all means.

[The recording captures the sphere being placed upon the balance. A pause.]

DR. (materials): The mass is — unchanged. Within the tolerance of the balance.

LORENZ: Rearward, we observe mass loss. Forward, a finer finish without any change in mass. Mr. Seaton, the effects appear to be inversions of one another.

MR. SEATON: How do you mean.

LORENZ: Rearward: deterioration. Forward: refinement. Perhaps the same process with its sign reversed. Whether it is the inhabitants’ work or a property of the manifold itself, we cannot yet say.

DR. (instrumentation): Herr Doktor.

LORENZ: ?

DR. (instrumentation): The plates. I have just looked. There is no shadow upon the plates of the present trial. None whatever.

LORENZ: No shadow.

DR. (instrumentation): None. The plates agree with the field readings.

LORENZ: Interesting. Mr. Seaton, do you understand what this may mean?

MR. SEATON: Tell me what we are seeing, Doctor.

LORENZ: Perhaps the manifold is two places. Or one place with two regions. The shadow, the deterioration of the oak, the lost vessel, the September fires — all were rearward. Forward may be somewhere the inhabitants do not go, or where they behave differently. We may have spent all this time examining only one half.

MR. SEATON: And the other half.

LORENZ: The other half polishes our steel. I cannot tell you more than that yet. I shall need further trials.

MR. SEATON: Forward trials.

LORENZ: At various magnitudes, with a range of articles.

[A pause.]

MR. SEATON: Doctor. Is the forward direction useful to us.

LORENZ: Useful, Mr. Seaton?

MR. SEATON: Does it have an application to the situation we discussed in September?

LORENZ: Ah. On the evidence of this trial, I do not see one. The agency appears to inhabit the rearward region. Forward would not be where we would meet them.

MR. SEATON: Then it is not the priority.

LORENZ: Mr. Seaton, this may be the most interesting phenomenon the program has encountered. Its application is another matter —

MR. SEATON: We have finite resources and an enemy in the rearward direction. I cannot divert effort without knowing what it buys us.

LORENZ: I see your point.

MR. SEATON: I am not closing the matter. I am suggesting we proceed with rearward work as the priority and accommodate forward investigation as time permits.

LORENZ: Very well. At a measured pace, alongside the principal work. The forward trials need not require great resources.

MR. SEATON: Good. Continue.

LORENZ: , log the trial. Bench Trial Eleven. Forward displacement, seven days, single article, refinement observed without mass change, no shadow, clean field. We shall do a similar trial at thirty days on — Monday next, ?

: Monday next is fine, Herr Doktor.

LORENZ: Good. Mr. Seaton, are you content?

MR. SEATON: I am content, Doctor.

LORENZ: Then we are done for the morning.

[The recording is discontinued upon the instruction of the principal technical officer.]

These notes have been prepared and entered upon the program record. Distribution as the control markings.

Recording Officer

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