What Goes Up...

By Dr. John Stover

Did Einstein make a mistake? Some smart people think so and it may be the reason for our inability to explain gravity. What Goes Up… is the story of five people who find a way to distort gravity. They use this knowledge to build a small ship – that essentially “falls” in the direction they wish to travel. After many adventures, they prepare to go public and serious trouble starts. It is a “leveling technology” and is not appreciated by powerful governments and companies.   The story is told anomalously by “Alan” who, staying in hiding, asks John Stover to “author” his account of the discovery, their adventures and Alan’s escape from a government crackdown – to write the book. It goes from lab room to boardroom, around the globe and even into space. Whether you enjoy the science or not, you will find their adventures in Gossamer Wings, the very realistic struggles with small company politics and the final conflict with a government crackdown to be both exciting and thought provoking.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hillcrest Media Group
• Release date: Apr 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781634134361

Book preview

Experiments

John’s Introduction

I have to offer some brief remarks as a means of introducing this rather amazing document, for I am the author in name only. My major contributions have been to check various events, whenever possible, and add chapter-closing comments where I could contribute personal knowledge. I also moved a couple of long technical discussions to end of the book appendices to keep the story moving. Finally, I cleaned up the grammar in cases where I was positive that the meaning would not be changed. Other than the fact that my name is briefly mentioned in the events described in the following pages, and that I have had some interest in the notion that Einstein made a serious error in his early work that has hindered our understanding of gravity, I am surprised that I was chosen to receive and author the text, because I am quite sure I do not know the true author personally. It came on disk as a Word document, as a printed copy and included the photo which is on the cover. The note that came with the material appears below.

Dear Dr. Stover,

Although we have never been introduced, I heard you speak in Denver several years ago, and I hope that I can rely on you to help me. I have spent the last thirty plus months in the middle of an incredible adventure, much of which is recorded in the enclosed document. The first half of this period was spent developing an incredible invention with my four co-inventors. It was our intention to reveal our result publicly and make it available worldwide to governments and industry. Unfortunately the situation got completely out of hand. Most of our notes and all of our hardware have been destroyed. I am in hiding, separated from and completely out of touch with my team members, afraid to go public with any of our results, or even use my real name. I have written up our story, as a novel, in hopes that public awareness might change my situation. The novel and the enclosed photo are yours. Because I am worried about threats to my team members, I have changed all of their names and concealed the location where we worked. This letter is my permission to use any of this material in any manner you see fit. If it is published, you may claim complete title to the work. I am more concerned that the story be told than I am with benefiting financially from its publication. I only ask that you wait at least six months before initiating publication, to give me (or hopefully the team) a chance to solve our current problems. If successful, I will get back in touch. If I do not, it means that I consider it unsafe, or have been killed. For your own safety keep the document to yourself, or within a very close circle of friends, until publication as there are people who do not want the story to be told.

I have memorized the following number sequence [XXXXX] and plan to use it to identify myself if we are ever able to meet, so please keep it a secret. I am sorry for this awkward approach, and that I cannot offer a longer explanation, or even identify myself. I will just have to rely on the story speaking for itself.

Alan

It has now been much longer than six months since I received the draft because events in my own life made it difficult to do even minor work on this project. There has been no further contact from Alan. A few years ago I tried to publish the work as a novel and failed to even get an agent willing to take it. Now that self- publishing is readily available I am trying again. I used a reproduction of the photo he sent for the front cover. It is mentioned briefly in Chapter 14.

The various well-known historical figures referred to in the book (like Einstein) are of course real. Others, such as Dr. Petr Beckmann (whom I met on several occasions before his death) and all the referenced authors (like Kyle Klicker) are also real. For the moment, the main characters must be treated as fictional characters in a fictional account because their real names have not been used. Readers must make up their own minds as to how much of the story might be true.

Whether the events are exactly true or not seems of less importance than the background ideas—which unfortunately cannot be directly verified either. Finding the missing keys to Alan’s technology will result in scientific (and business) opportunities of unimaginable value: new (or at least different) sources of economical energy, transportation systems that defy gravity, and the cost and complexity of near-earth space exploration reduced to the point where even backyard amateurs could participate. I can understand why my unknown correspondent wants the information published. I can also see that there are individuals and organizations (businesses, universities, and governments) that would be hurt by the resulting changes . . . but I am getting ahead of myself. Read the story, starting with Alan’s Introduction, and reach your own conclusions.

John C. Stover

Alan’s Introduction

I am starting this story with the afternoon that I met Cliff. That meeting led directly to our first experiments and the amazing results that started us on an incredible adventure. Unfortunately, our group records and my personal journal were destroyed along with our invention, during the most trying day of my life. As a result, I put our story into novel form and am hoping to find a way to get it published without revealing my true identity, or those of my co-workers.

First, let me tell you a little about myself. At the time my story starts, I was chief engineer at Light Work, Inc. (not its real name), single, and thirty-something. My background is in electrical engineering, but I have always had an interest in some of the more unconventional (OK, absolutely weird) approaches to science, religion, and so on. But at the time I was completely absorbed in my job at LWI. I was doing what I loved and working for a great guy. Except for a little better social life, I couldn’t have asked for much more.

On the unconventional science end of things, my experience has been that although expectations and promises are always high, the results of most unconventional experiments have always been near zero. As an engineer, I know that the conventional methods developed over the last couple of centuries have produced real results, such as cars, radios, a trip to the moon, and all the other wonderful things in between that we take for granted (like flush toilets). But despite all the hoopla from the free energy gang, I have never seen them produce anything of lasting value—except, perhaps, entertainment. As a result, I believe any creative progress in these areas will be made by scientists willing to use conventional tools and techniques in slightly unconventional ways, rather than from new age approaches based on ESP, crystals, or communication from space. Unfortunately, it is not always easy (or politically smart) to filter out the few pieces of good work from the stuff that has no hope of ever working. Thus, virtually no papers questioning the basic tenets of established science ever make it into the traditional scientific journals. At best they sneak in the back door by presenting data and leaving the underlying ideas (the real creativity) to be discovered later. This is true even in areas where science has failed us.

One glaring area of failure is in the explanation of gravity. We don’t have one. We have electromagnetic theories that we use to accurately explain and use radio waves, light, and X-rays, which are all part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The proof is in your cell phone and your TV. In the case of gravity, we really haven’t progressed much past the story of the apple hitting Isaac on the head. Our ability to predict the orbits of the planets, or find the speed (and weight) of a falling object, or calculate how to dock a shuttle with an orbiting satellite is based on experience (reduced to empirical equations) and is not derived from our understanding of the source of the gravity force. Despite the best efforts of some very smart, hard-working people, we have failed at producing a unified field theory that ties together gravity and electromagnetics. I believe this failure is due to an error, or an omission, made during the last hundred years of conventional science. It’s going to take more than a well-written theory to get those errors corrected. It is too late to easily attack Maxwell, Hertz, or Einstein. If the mistake lies with them, or with their accepted contemporaries, convincing the scientific community of this mistake is going to take a clear demonstration that bypasses the peer review filter used to maintain quality in scientific journals.

Our work could have changed that. We found a way to overcome the force of gravity—a way that doesn’t require flapping wings, or jet engines, or rockets. A way that somehow nullifies, cancels, or reverses gravity. Conventional science can’t explain what we did. Our ship, Gossamer Wings, was destroyed a few days before our planned public demonstration. That demonstration would have forced the establishment to openly look for the mistake that must be hidden in our accepted version of electromagnetic theory. Now, I can only hope that this book will get wide enough distribution to give us a second chance.

You see, it’s not over yet. I think there is a good chance that Cliff is still alive, and if this book produces enough publicity, then he and I will find each other again. That’s when the party begins. But I’m getting ahead. You need to start at the beginning, when I met Cliff, since he was the key to a lot of what followed. You also need to understand what happened at LWI, because that played a key role in how things came to such a difficult end for us.

Best regards,

Alan

1 Early Conversations

I was sitting at my desk on a Friday morning, working on a spreadsheet defining requirements for an instrumentation job we were preparing to bid, when Brad knocked. Without waiting for an answer, he let himself into my office.

Hey, guy, how about lunch? I think I’ve got some entertainment lined up.

I let him wait for a few seconds as I finished typing an equation into a cell. I’d had the door closed because I’d wanted to concentrate on that job. Getting it finished that day meant being free from work over the weekend, and lunch with Brad was likely to make that impossible. I turned and saw him peering down at me with a grin on his face. The owlish look created by his oversized glasses and a face framed with unkempt brown hair was in contrast to his trim muscular frame. We spent a lot of time together skiing and rock climbing, and normally I wouldn’t have thought twice about his invitation.

What kind of entertainment? I really need to finish this today to have a free weekend, and Rich wanted to see me this afternoon.

Brad rolled his eyes. He treated schedules with minimal respect. Drop-dead dates were something else. He could be counted on to pull consecutive overnighters when needed, as he proved at the end of almost every project. So far no one (myself included) had been able to get him to see the relationship between these two extremes.

I’m joining someone I met last weekend skiing. He’s into some kind of alternative energy, or something, and he’s looking for people to talk to about the latest stuff. I told him you knew something about that, and he’s hoping to meet you. We can do it later, if you’d rather.

OK, give me five minutes to finish this section, and I’ll come by your office, I replied. He had known just how to hook me. Maybe I could work tonight and still have a free weekend. It wasn’t as if my social calendar was full. As Brad left the office, I couldn’t help but read the message on the back of his T-shirt: I have not yet begun to procrastinate. Shaking my head, I went back to work.

A couple minutes later I stepped outside the office with my jacket and immediately came under the scrutiny of Kathy, our secretary, who covered administrative support and filled the much needed role of (a young) mother hen.

Not working through lunch? Where’s the dedication? Getting ready for a heavy bachelor weekend? It’s about time you got with the social scene – you’re not getting any younger chief. Kathy delivered this with a devastating smile flashing over her trim figure, and I immediately became tongue-tied. She was a few years younger than me, and was always ready for some playful banter. I am a little nervous around attractive women, and Kathy always seemed to have the edge in our exchanges. The fact that she knew my social life was rather empty (in part due to my long hours at work) made me an easy target.

The best I could do was mumble, Engineer need food now, and smile back. I spotted Brad and headed for the door. I guess because of Kathy’s comments, I checked out my reflection in the floor to ceiling windows as we left. Brown eyes under a conservative blond haircut stared back at me, and although I knew my stomach had been getting a little soft, as work hours replaced time for skiing and climbing, there was no sign of a bulge at my waist. I compared myself to Brad, taller and more casually dressed and thought I looked all right. I dismissed Kathy’s comments, and enjoyed casual conversation with Brad and the beautiful weather.

Fifteen minutes later we were walking into The Pub, a modestly priced lunch spot for everyone from business people to local college students. After finding a place to sit, we put the waitress off with a coffee order while we waited for Brad’s friend. After ten minutes, I figured he was a no-show and was wishing I had worked through lunch. We ordered cokes and burgers and then in about sixty seconds were joined by a wiry, intense man dressed like a cross between a graduate student and a ski bum. Faded Levi’s and a turtleneck under a flannel shirt were topped off with wire rims and the need for a haircut and shave. He had light brown hair, a prominent nose over a mustache, and clear blue eyes all carried on a marathon runner frame exceeding six feet by a few inches. After introductions (I’m Cliff, firm grip, piercing stare), he added a veggie burger and spiced tea to the lunch order, then got us right down to business.

I understand that you might be willing to fund an experiment in Galilean Electrodynamics.

After getting my jaw back in place, I gave Brad a hard look, but he had found something of intense interest in his napkin. I looked back at Cliff. I guess I’d like to hear a little more about what you have in mind. I honestly didn’t realize that you thought I was a source of funding. I’m an engineer—not a venture capitalist.

Now it was Cliff’s turn to look at Brad. Finally, after some silence, Brad finally got his napkin appropriately squared with the table edge and confessed. Look, guys, you’re just going to have to trust me on this. You two will enjoy talking once you get started, and I want to listen. Besides, lunch has already been ordered. Then after a slight hesitation, he added, And I’m buying.

After a brief pause, I said, And they claim there is no such thing as a free lunch. I looked at Cliff briefly, and then continued. I had better explain a little bit about LWI. We do conventional engineering to produce real products. Our research is strictly conventional. We don’t even touch on – well, to put it politely – stretching the boundaries of physics. Brad knows I have had some interest in – unusual areas. I attended a couple of conferences using my own funds, but I’ve never done any lab work on my own and neither I nor LWI have any funding for experiments. He seemed a little surprised, but was still interested, so I plowed on. Our one big contract is with Oak Ridge National Labs in Tennessee. We’re working on high speed connections, using optical data lines that will allow them to instantly monitor the situation in a large manufacturing facility. It requires a full combination of optics, electronics, software and, nodding at Brad, mechanical design. It’s a government funded project, but it has a lot of commercial applications. Companies like Ford, Goodyear, or even Post could have almost immediate information on their manufacturing plants, even in different locations. It will help with everything - ordering parts, cutting production of scrap products and improving the accuracy of deliveries. I gave him a few more details on our work at LWI and then finished by asking, What are you interested in doing?

He sort of hesitated, and then replied, I’m interested in – well – gravity effects, and then continued by changing the subject. I’ve attended some conferences too, but I’m not sure I got my money’s worth. The last one was a few years ago in Denver.

Oh, I replied, was that the International Symposium on New Energy?

Yeah, he said. "It was OK, but a lot of the speakers were flakes, and so was a lot of the audience. Remember the noon banquet? The speaker was that actor that starred in Gunsmoke and later as a cowboy cop in the big city."

You mean Dennis Weaver.

Yeah, during his talk he mentioned that one of the next papers was on a technique to let cars run on water. Ridiculous! But like sheep, everyone went to that presentation and the other session room was almost empty.

I remember that! I went to the empty room. Not a bad talk, but mostly speculative. On the other hand, nothing was promised either.

I was there too. That’s what got me turned on to Beckmann’s work and the field of Galilean electrodynamics. We looked at each other for a second, trying to remember. There hadn’t been fifteen people in the room. We had almost met then.

The speaker was that guy from Montana State University who worked on Hooper’s stuff earlier.

Yeah, it was Stover. He and a grad student did papers on Hooper at the first Tesla Meeting, uh, down in Colorado Springs, but this was the Denver meeting.

You were there! I stared at him but couldn’t place him in my memory. With his wild hair and athletic body, Cliff was a fairly distinctive individual, but then that conference had been almost a sideshow of unusual personalities and dress.

Yes, Cliff continued. The grad student was Kyle Klicker. He was probably there too. His thesis was later published as a book on motional fields. That stuff is important because it represents a measurable effect that is not explained by conventional field theory. Real experimental data is really important.

You are absolutely right, but we’re discussing a very small effect, if it’s there at all, I pointed out. People still argue over the validity of the measurements and the interpretation. Is that the kind of experiment you want to do? It’s not going to be easy. I was beginning to realize that Cliff was going to ask for lab space, and the last thing I wanted was an arrangement that gave Cliff long-term access to LWI. Even though I was starting to like the guy, I thought he was underestimating the difficulty of the work and I could not allow an arrangement that would impact LWI.

Well, no . . . I’ve got something else in mind. If it works, it won’t be a little effect – it will be very dramatic. I think I can make a solid demonstration that there is a basic misunderstanding about gravity. Just as important to me as money is some lab space. Is there any chance of getting some bench space at LWI?

I looked at my watch before answering and was surprised at how much time had passed. You are absolutely right – nobody understands gravity. The lab space may be possible, but I need to know a little more first. Unfortunately, we’ve got to continue this later. I have a meeting back at LWI in a few minutes – with the boss. He really likes us to be on time, so I need to run – literally.

So for the price of a couple lunches, Brad started our adventure and proved himself right. We had enjoyed lunch and the hour afterwards as well. On the way out, Cliff and I made arrangements to meet at the local ski area on Saturday afternoon.

#

Kathy was not at her desk as I slipped back into my office, so I avoided remarks on my long lunch hour. I was just in time for my meeting with Richard Walters, our CEO and board chairman. I saw him down the hallway talking with Kathy, and he pointed at my office indicating that was where he wanted to meet. Standing well over six feet tall, his large muscular frame was expanding a bit in retirement. His face was dominated by a hook nose and prominent chin framed with hair that was still black and thick on top. He was over twenty years my senior and a natural leader. Rich retired from the navy as an admiral, and although I knew a lot more about our technology, he quickly became my mentor in many other areas. I learned a lot from him about putting together engineering teams. (Get the very best people you can find, and make sure you pay them enough to be happy.) I found that his military training had provided him with an extraordinary ability to both judge and handle people, although I was less impressed with his small-business sense. Based on (what I hoped was) our mutual respect for each other’s capabilities, we had developed a very comfortable working relationship over the last two and a half years. I really liked working for and with him, and was looking forward to what I expected to be a dramatic business success in the next couple of years. Lately, Rich had been a little less involved with LWI and seemed to be spending more and more time with other activities—outside consulting, family projects, and travel for a couple of boards he had joined. He had recently made several hints about wanting to back off on his duties at the company. I had little enthusiasm for any move in that direction. The last thing we needed was a change in leadership rocking the corporate boat after just going profitable. I felt that our third founder, Henry Cook, would be a disaster as CEO, and I did not want the job, even if I could be convinced I could do it. So, when Rich came in and closed the door, I was not too surprised at the topic, but he floored me with his opening gambit.

Alan, we need to talk about the future of this company. I can’t give you any details, but I am seriously considering a change for Donna and me that could take us out of the state for long periods of time.

It had always been this way. The man had a real talent for coming up with a couple of opening sentences that put the rest of the room off balance, with nothing to hang on to but his agenda. To my great delight, I had seen him use this tactic many times with our investors in the early days of the company, but now that it was turned on me, it was a little less comfortable. I looked at him for several seconds, and after deciding that the best defense was a good offense, I reminded him that less than three years ago, he, Henry, and I had agreed to stay with the company for a minimum four-year period.

We’ve all still got more than a year left in our agreement, I countered, and we’ve just turned the corner. If we can get the new system into the machining center at Oak Ridge, then we’ll be in good shape, and you are the one that knows those folks best.

Henry can handle sales. Things are going fine.

But he’s just doing the paperwork. He’s an accountant, not a salesperson. The sales come because of your personal contacts and our unique technology, which Henry doesn’t even understand. Rich smoothed back the gray hair at his temples. I could see he was not buying my argument so I continued. Our chance at Oak Ridge is coming through your friends, and they want you involved, and, you promised our investors that you would stay involved. The man always insisted that we keep our word in every way. He had to respect this reasoning.

Rich regarded me for a moment, I will be involved. I can stay on as board chairman . . . at least for a while.

Now I was really worried. What was going on that would prevent him from staying on the board? His health? His wife’s health? What’s going on, Rich? You can be on our board from anyplace in the country—even out of the country.

He paused for a moment and then leaned forward across the desk and fixed me with a hawk like stare. All right, you deserve to know. But this doesn’t go anywhere—not to Henry, not to anyone, not yet. He waited for my nod and then straightened in his seat and continued, I’ve been asked to run for the United States Congress, but the real goal is the Senate two years later. I don’t know if it will work out. I haven’t committed to run, but I am really tempted. I know I can help. I watched those armed service committee bozos make a mess of things for years. And frankly, Donna would really love to get back to Washington, closer to the kids. Her health isn’t real strong.

Now it was my turn to pause. This was totally unexpected. In one barrage he had moved me from my righteous stronghold, built on the strength of our promises, to standing up against both the flag and motherhood. I knew apple pie couldn’t be far behind. Besides, it looked like he had his mind made up—or at least the outcome was likely to depend on factors outside my influence.

What about timing? We’re still almost eighteen months from the election. When would you have to leave? I figured maybe he could still stay on for most of the next year, which would give us time to find a replacement.

I’m not well known politically. It’s different coming from a military background. If I commit to do it, the governor will appoint me to a commission that will give me some exposure in the newspapers and put me in a position to meet key state politicians. I’m going to need their support. It means a lot of state travel and a lot less time here. I just wouldn’t be around to help out much.

OK. I can understand why you would have to cut ties with LWI, if you are elected, but what have you got in mind for here if you cut way back in the near future? I think you already know I’m not too eager to work for Henry, and I don’t want the CEO job, even if that choice were considered.

You won’t reconsider? You know I see you as the heir apparent.

Well, I like what I’m doing and who I’m doing it for.

Are you threatening to quit if I leave?

Not until my four years is up.

Another long pause. I’m going to have to think about this. You too. With that, he got up and left.

I sat there with a sick feeling in my stomach. Maybe I shouldn’t have dug my heels in quite so fast. It was the most difficult conversation I had ever had with the man. I felt like I