Chapter 2: The Airframe Arrives

Steve reported to me that he had found a warehouse on North Vine Street, about a mile from the University, for a nominal rent. It appeared that in view of the currently depressed economic climate, the owners were delighted that we would be occupying and maintaining the building. There were several loading bays and a number of separate offices. It also had the advantage of being close to the railroad tracks.

Steve had approached the military contact that James had given him. Because we would be 'testing' their new nuclear power supply, they were very happy to provide security staff, and even any additional staff we might need.

Steve had purchased a suitable Piaggio P180 cargo airframe at the give-away price of $17,500. The body had had been stripped of all the wings, the canards, and the tail assembly but was complete with undercarriage. The cockpit seats together with six of the passengers seats also remained in the airframe. It would be arriving on Thursday the following week. Steve told us the airframe would fit into one of the loading bays. It could make access easier.

On the purely business front, Steve told us that he had formed us into a Corporation, 'JBS Research'.

At what was now to become a regular weekly meeting at the Magnuson, Steve asked James, "How are you going to test the effectiveness of your drive?"

"I'm not really sure. Up till now, I have been using a pair of balance scales from the sports department. I use them to measure the lift when I turn on the drive. It's not an ideal arrangement as they need them back from time to time. They can't measure the lift if it exceeds the weight of the drive. I have turned up the drive too high, once or twice, and it tried to take off on its own."

"I think you'll like what we've got then at the new place. There's a large set of electronic scales built into the floor inside one of the loading bays. It had been used for weighing lorries before they left the building. It is a new model in which you can set the zero to whatever you want. Say you set the zero to 100,000 lbs. Tie your machine to the platform and you can measure its lifting potential."

"That's great. The experiment, as far as the College is concerned, is a failure. I even used some of my own money to build it. Last week, I asked if I could purchase the equipment that the College contributed, as I wanted to continue working on the experiment at home. They graciously donated the parts so I could continue. They only required that I thank them in any paper I might write about it."

"Have you thought about controlling the craft?" I asked. "Does your drive work in only one direction?"

"Yes, Bill, but the drive is mostly empty space. We can build it with three pairs of drives all at right angles to each other in the same space occupied by one drive. Each pair of drives allows you to drive in both directions along one axis. Say, for example, you have one drive to move you to the left, and you have another to move you to the right. You only need one drive of each pair to move in any direction. Three controls could be made to operate only one drive in each pair."

"How about turning the craft?" asked Steve.

"That's a simple problem," I said. "We use gyroscopes! Suppose you are standing on a platform that can rotate and put a flywheel at the center. Turn the flywheel one way and you and the platform turn the other way. Three gyroscopes can be used to keep you pointing in any desired direction."

"You make it sound almost too easy."

"It is, or almost so," replied James. "The big trick is in how you warp space-time. The rest is just a series of minor problems."

The following week saw all of James' gear moved to our new workshop. The Marines had supplied us with a young first lieutenant, Charles Groves, a lab assistant, Staff Sergeant Susan Chalmers, Corporal Benson - an electronics technician, and four mechanics who doubled up as armed guards.

On the Thursday, the airframe had arrived and had been installed into one of the spare bays. The wings together with the canards, tail, and elevators had been removed but not the delta fins. That made me wonder how airtight the body would be. Inside the flight deck had been mostly stripped although Steve told us the strippers had left the undercarriage operating system intact. It was now open to the main cabin.

I took over the job of preparing the body while James, with Susan's help, would concentrate on developing the drive. As far as James and I were concerned, we were still working at the College; but, we spent every hour we could spare at the workshop. Susan suggested that we could use some of the offices as temporary living quarters. This gave our staff somewhere to stay and saved us traveling time.

One afternoon, when James and I arrived at the workshop, we were greeted by an enthusiastic Susan.

"Come and look at this."

She dragged us into what had been the loading dock and now housed the prototype drive fixed down to the scales there. Susan went to the drive and switched it on. The scales registered a lift of 34,500 lb.