ELECTRIC FLYING MACHINES: Thomas Townsend Brown
Once this experiment had proven its usefulness, then other selected portions of the space distorting effect would be used. More dramatic and complete destructions could therefore be deployed with each successive research success. Wonderful destructions. This first phase could not be designated by any explicit terminology. The “blackout effect” was itself a priority. The working title of this first project would necessarily be an elusive one. The removal of light being their goal, an oppositional term, one describing vivid color, would be used. The now infamous “Project Rainbow” was initiated.
The obvious preeminence of Dr. Brown’s work on electrogravitic effects, together with his working knowledge of “space warps” made him the most reasonable advisor in the NRL’s newly proposed “Project Rainbow”. This period of Dr. Brown’s biography remains shrouded in silence. By this time he had achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander. His presence during the early phases of the now infamous experiment have been confirmed. Thereafter, he seemingly vanished from the team. Why this occurred had everything to do with the nature of the man himself.
Brown was willing to speed the war effort, saving lives and bringing a swift conclusion to all the horrible suffering. After carefully considering all the experimental evidence, it was agreed that a sustained “black out”, capable of suffusing a region of ground, could be achieved. But others would have to design the main parts of the apparatus. His mind firmly against the deployment of spacewarp technology as weapons, Dr. Brown would only provide the initial components for a cloaking device. Already his heart and mind were striving with him to depart from the work. Something in the official treatment of his analysis troubled him deeply. What were they really after? A weapon? Or were they really only interested, as he was, in the wonder of an invisibility apparatus? A new facility was established toward these ends. The weld site apparatus was modified for experimental research now. Heavy-duty switches, arc-discharge chambers, and precise control components were developed.
By carefully monitoring the arc discharges, with precise attention on intensity and discharge “speed”, the effect could theoretically be safely maintained. But capacitor fired arcs proved to be unstable and intermittent in operation. Therefore, judging from the thesis, which Dr. Brown proposed, special generators would be needed to sustain the effects at highly controllable levels. The continuous generation of the warp was now sought.
A rotating high voltage machine could be mechanically governed, its momentum regulating the necessary high voltage for sustained periods of time. It was also recognized that, since a unidirectional electrical impulse produced the warp, then a reversed impulse could disrupt the warp. The suppression of any possible “runaway” reactions could be immediately switched and reversed on this principle. So, with these safety factors at their disposal, the research team strove into the unknown.
The pressure to achieve the goals of this project were unbearable. More important were the rapid calculations and visionary penetrations with which Dr. Brown viewed the true purpose of the Project. How far would the military go with this new power, which they were about to unleash? On whom would these most dreadful forces be unleashed? Had he played his part as a puppet in a much larger theater where only the malevolent were entertained? Suddenly he knew what they were going to do with the technology, and where the final outcome would lead. This Project, this Rainbow quest was not going to end with mere “protective” technology. The very term now came through to his conscience like a mocking lie. He knew what the next phase of research would demand. He could not give it. He would not participate. It would have to stop here and now.
In his tortured thoughts he saw the empty cities, emptied in a black flash. He saw the twisted, distorted faces when torment was summoned; the black flash slowly pulling them apart. He heard the cries, the screams of innocents enveloped in the black and not appearing once the inky blackness passed. He could not easily withdraw from the experiments now, though moral obligation impelled that movement. Any such declarations would be declared acts of cowardice, or even of treason. He was an officer with officer’s duties and oaths to uphold. The war was on, and he was helping his own nation develop a power more loathsome and morally abhorrent than the atomic bomb itself. He had to leave now or forever live with his conscience. What was he to do? What we know of Dr. Brown’s “official” disposition after this time period was that he was in a state of “complete nervous collapse”. The extremity of his condition forced him out of the research project. His position in the Project now permanently “retired”, his classification level “demoted”, Dr. brown returned home to rest and wait out the time. There are those who accept the story of his “complete nervous collapse” without question. There are those who speculate on the true nature of his withdrawal. Had he sacrificed his own rank and prestige in order to block progress on a most horrid application of his technology? Was his “condition” the only logical recourse left to him in order to be prematurely “retired”? Had he obtained his purpose in this coverture?
RAINBOWS
His own integrity and moral fiber were intact, an admirable reward for so dubious a military venture. The decision made, his future would not be an easy one. It would be almost impossible to obtain work as a Naval consultant ever again. Credibility not harmed, he would have a difficult time with the outside engineering community if it was learned that he “failed under pressure”. Furthermore, if the NRL wished to “pursue” him as they had done in the past with their other “defectors”, he would stand no chance at all. Would they reach around him with a “ring of power”, making him invisible?
Loved, respected, and highly appraised by all of his superiors and associates, the outcome was not nearly as bad as he feared it would be. He was treated with genuine kindness and respect. By now he was thinking about the NRL and what they were about to do. His departure did not stop the Project. They continued without him. New experts were brought in. Technicians and designers acquired the various Project tasks assigned them. Lacking the intuitive insight, which comes with inspiration, their assessments did not match those of Dr. Brown.