“Not very deep, I’m afraid.”
“Then I’ll explain as best I can in layman’s terms. The Unified Field Theory has as its basis the fact that the universe is constructed, made up, of four fields: gravity, electromagnetic waves, a strong force, and a weak force. The strong force binds particles known as quarks together to form protons and electrons. The weak force rules the subatomic world and causes radioactive decay. Electromagnetism holds together atoms, molecules, all objects in general. And gravity is the feeblest of the four but the most pervasive, its effects being felt and influenced by all forms of matter and energy. Einstein’s work in Unified Fields set up the possibility that all four fields were governed by the same rule, that in fact this one rule governed the entire universe.”
“You’re losing me, Professor.”
“I’m coming to the primary point now. If fields are in fact unified, tied implicitly together by nature, Einstein went on to speculate that matter was actually a product of energy, startling a scientific community that had always accepted them as two separate entities. This has more recently been proposed as part of the Inflationary Universe Theory — more confirmation of what Einstein suspected all along. But I’m getting off the track. Einstein’s next contention was that physical matter, that which we can see and touch, is actually only a local phenomenon controlled by gravity. The ramifications of this are staggering, Mr. Bane.”
“Why?”
Von Goss’s stare became distant and withdrawn. His eyes glanced furtively at his covered hand. “Because simply put the theory postulated that the same rules that apply for energy waves do likewise for tangible matter. And, since electromagnetism holds an object together, if you could demagnetize it the object would … no longer exist in a physical plane and could consequently be manipulated in the same ways energy can.”
“Jake Del Gennio’s disappearing 727 …”
Von Goss nodded slowly. “Consider, Mr. Bane, how easily we can control the movement of sound, light, and electronic waves. Then imagine that you could similarly control the motions of matter and objects by applying a similar set of rules as set forth by the Unified Field Theory. For Einstein everything jelled during the Philadelphia Experiment.”
Bane felt a rising in his stomach. His lips quivered slightly.
“The term is familiar to you?” Von Goss wondered.
“It turned up in my research as the link which brought you, Metzencroy and Einstein together,” Bane said, sensing the crucial answers were soon in coming now.
“Indeed, and then it served to drive us all apart: Einstein into isolation, Metzencroy to COBRA, and me …”—Von Goss held his eyes on his lifeless hand—“… into my own private hell.”
“So all evidence of the experiment ever having taken place was wiped off the books.”
“More than that, out of it all rumors began to spread that Einstein had burned his notes. No, he was far too clever for that. Instead, he altered his notes and equations to purposely throw others off and lead them down fruitless, and thus safe, avenues. I didn’t understand why at the time and all these years it’s remained a mystery to me … until I received Metzencroy’s final correspondence. Apparently he stumbled upon the same information Einstein discovered during the Philadelphia Experiment but never made us privy to.”
“What was the Philadelphia Experiment?”
Von Goss took a deep breath. “The degeneration of a destroyer escort ship called the Eldridge. We made it disappear.”
“Like the 727 ten days ago …”
“Now you’re on the right track but our methods more than forty years ago — the experiment took place in 1943—were much cruder. Following his theories on the connections between matter and energy, Einstein found a way to drastically increase magnetic resonance, thereby transferring matter back to its base form as energy in keeping with the principles of Unified Fields. This is all given added substance today by the proven existence of tachyons which apparently form as base energy in the atom, then immediately disappear as energy, or gravity particles, again. In any case, drastically increasing the magnetic resonance in 1943 allowed us to create pulsating energy fields that warped space into which our object was sent. Simply stated, we demagnetized the Eldridge and transported it into another dimension.”
Bane thought briefly. He was sweating now, only partly due to the fire’s heat. “Something obviously went wrong.”
“Oh, quite a few things actually, not the least of which was the effect the experiment had on the crew. A few went totally crazy and within a year all had been discharged for being mentally unfit. The symptoms were often immediate and drastic.”
Bane’s flesh tingled. “Like those experienced by the passengers on the 727.”
“And a cover-up resulted in both cases; by the Navy in 1943 and by COBRA ten days ago. With good reason, I might add. The world wasn’t ready for the results in either case.” Von Goss hesitated. “Einstein was present at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on the day of the experiment, Mr. Bane. He monitored all the controls and gauges and studied all aftereffects.”
“Including the crew?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t their erratic behavior that led him to change his notes. It was something else, something he uncovered while reviewing the dematerialization segment of the experiment, something that wasn’t clear to me until I read Metzencroy’s report. Behind all this, Mr. Bane, was the wonder of invisibility. What if we could dematerialize our ships from both sight and radar? They could be right on top of the enemy and the enemy wouldn’t know it. The prospects were awesome. But Einstein wasn’t about to proceed with the experiment and the Navy didn’t argue much in view of what happened to the men exposed to the Vortex fields on the Eldridge. It was deep-sixed, buried forever. Einstein took himself out of scientific research and turned to academia, claiming he lacked the mathematics needed to complete the Unified Field Theory when in reality nothing could be further from the truth.”
“And now it has been completed for him.”
Von Goss’s face became drawn. His voice grew bitter. “It wasn’t enough for Metzencroy and myself to follow our mentor’s lead. We broke away from him and set about continuing work on the principles of the Philadelphia Experiment and the prospects of invisibility on our own.” An intense pause. “Now Metzencroy had paid with his life and I with my …” Von Goss held his eyes on the dead hand resting in his lap. “I learned my lesson. Metzencroy did not until it was too late.”
“He continued with Einstein’s experiments,” Bane concluded.
“And expanded on them. Forty-two years ago, in the preatomic age, Einstein lacked the ability to check his most advanced, drawing board equations for accuracy. Something was missing.”
“Computers…”
“Exactly. And with the giant mechanical brains available to COBRA, all limitations were removed. All the barriers that had been in Einstein’s way were chopped down. Still, it took Metzencroy twenty years to even approach the level our mentor was at when he died — a testament to Einstein’s incredible genius. What he lacked in brilliance, though, Metzencroy more than made up in technology. We have machines now, Mr. Bane, capable of exerting unbelievable concentrations of energy and electromagnetics. These machines allowed Metzencroy to eventually go Einstein one better: he took the master’s energy-matter thesis and actually discovered a way, a formula, by which to apply the rules of one to the other.”
“More invisibility?”
“And far beyond. Again I’ll try to be brief and untechnical. An object causes space to bend, Mr. Bane, to buckle in accordance with its shape and mass, thus accounting for the presence of gravity. What Metzencroy discovered was a means of electro-magnetically distorting gravity. Remember now that gravity according to Einstein was the ultimate force in the universe. Metzencroy’s electromagnetic change in gravity allowed him to change space locally in the path of an object, to fold space back on itself so that the object was transposed onto the other side … in another dimension.