The USS Eldridge sat silently as her crew heard the warning siren sound. Men went to railings, and others vanished belowdecks to witness one of the great scientific achievements in world history.
Again, the blare of the siren sounded. Once, twice, and finally a third time. Four men had gathered at the fantail and watched as the men and scientists lining the quay disappeared into other bunkers for protection. The men felt the generators far below in the engine spaces start up. The hair on their arms rose straight up. The hair under the caps also pushed against the resistance of being held in place. The current of air smelled of thick ozone. Electricity sparked against steel bulkheads and railings.
Above the Eldridge, the skies darkened as suddenly as if a curtain had been pulled down upon a stage. Rain started to fall, and the wind increased by thirty miles per hour.
“We have a very serious formation of rain clouds slamming the coastal areas. The center of the storm is calculated to be right there!” The technician was pointing out of the thick glass at the now bobbing USS Eldridge.
“You still think this is a natural phenomenon, Dr. Frankenstein?” Lee asked as he, too, pointed at the weather developing outside.
“Commence power pulse!”
An acknowledgment came back from the destroyer. Before anyone could protect themselves, a loud, eardrum-piercing scream sounded, which brought those standing to their knees in pain.
“Damn!” Donovan shouted, and even Admiral Stark yelped and covered his ears.
A pressure wave of air expanded outward from the now heavily rocking Eldridge. Rain started to slant as the wind speed increased to eighty-five miles per hour. Men were shouting out readings, trying desperately to be heard above the din. Bolts of lightning shot from the forward superstructure of the Eldridge. Men were tossed about as if the ship were in a heavy sea.
“Start the generators!” the professor yelled into the radio. Try as they might, they could not hear the response from the ship.
A bright, electric-blue circle of light surrounded the Eldridge and then went outward like the spokes of a wheel. The light slammed into the dock area so hard that sandbags were dislodged. Dust and dirt fell from the plywood ceiling, and men ducked as the light and pressure wave struck the thickened reinforced glass of the bunker. Lee tackled Donovan as the world went bright with white light as the glass exploded inward.
It was a man screaming words Lee couldn’t understand that made him move. Garrison helped Donovan to his feet as the scene quickly faded down to a dull light.
“My God, she’s gone!” a voice called out as rain soon found its way into the damaged bunker.
Men scrambled to their feet as technicians who had been terrified only a moment before were now pointing and shouting with glee. Lee looked at Harold Stark as he was assisted to the now empty window frame.
“You did it, Professor. She’s actually vanished!” Stark exclaimed.
Lee and Wild Bill watched as the harbor waters settled. There was a wide circle of white foam that filled the area where the Eldridge had lain at anchor. She was gone. Lee looked at Donovan and both men were speechless.
“Radar?”
“No contact!” came the reply filled with glee.
“Sonar?”
“All clear. Just the usual harbor floor clutter.”
The professor finally allowed Stark to turn him, and the two men shook hands. Other technicians joined in as the revelry was a charging tool for the men who had been frightened beyond measure only a minute before.
Lee slapped a console in front of him. The loud bang stopped the revelry as all eyes turned to the large man.
“Congratulations. Now do you have a way to get them back?”
The professor looked at Lee as if he were addressing a child of limited learning abilities.
“The generators will automatically shut down after a one-minute duration.”
Before anyone could comment, the weather once more turned ugly, and this time, it hit with a vengeance. More sandbags lining the bunker caved in, and these took several of the shore patrolmen down.
The electrical pulse shorted everything out. Lights, radar systems, sonar, all went down. Rain was horizontal as all was inundated with water from the hurricane-force winds that lashed the navy yard.
A tremendous pop sounded and made the men and women inside the bunker bend over. Most were nauseated beyond endurance, and most gave up their breakfasts.
Garrison Lee was first to raise his head up and see the outside world as the winds lashed the harbor. Waves washed over the empty dock areas, and many men were pulled back into the sea. Then he saw the impossible. The USS Eldridge reappeared.
The world had now opened a door that might not be able to be closed again.
“Recorder!” the professor yelled as the storm outside began to diminish in strength.
“Recorders are nonfunctional!”
“Then write this down,” the professor called out angrily as Harold Stark was looking beyond him at the most amazing sight he had ever seen in his life. “On this date, October 28, 1943, the United States destroyer escort USS Eldridge, DE-173, was successfully hidden from radar and visual detection. Mission, success!”
Everyone inside started clapping and cheering as they all proudly looked on. The Eldridge was steaming hot in the cold waters of the harbor. She was blanketed in a thickening fog that almost completely hid her from sight. Again, it was Garrison Lee who saw the first signs of trouble.
“What have you done?” he asked no one as his thick fingers grasped the broken window seal as the full image of the Eldridge came into clear view.
“My God. I guess this answers the question of Can we go too far?, doesn’t it, Slim?” Donovan said as he joined Garrison at the window. He turned and his eyes fixed on Admiral Stark.
Garrison examined the smoking, steaming hulk of the Eldridge and found he couldn’t breathe.
“Is this what you imagined your phase shift would look like, you maniacs?” Donovan asked angrily as he turned to the visibly shaken professor.
“Yes, sir. The bending of light by electromagnetic fields, rendering massive interference to any radar in the world, essentially blinding them, is now a fact, even if… if…” The words trailed off. His statement was like he was rendering it by rote without his usual enthusiasm.
“But something has obviously gone very wrong,” Lee said as if to finish the professor’s weak statement.
“No, no, no,” Stark said as he tried not to look at the smoldering Eldridge. “It went right, better than anyone could ever have imagined. It did vanish from every radar within three miles of the shipyard. You saw it yourself, Donovan. It just disappeared. Went away. It came back seventy-five seconds later. From my viewpoint, it was a rousing success that just may win this war for us.”
Donovan stepped forward but was stopped by two naval shore patrolmen before he could throttle the admiral.
“Look at that! You call that a success?”
Below, men were seen half in, half out of steel bulkheads. Sailors had died in agony as they had been exposed to the phase shift’s power, the exact same outcome Donovan and Lee had warned the navy of. Now it was there for all to see. All sailors abovedecks had been fried to death by men of their own nation.
As they watched, men were rushing aboard without regard to their own safety. Security, shipmates who had been left ashore for the testing, and other naval personnel crowded the decks as they rushed to help those men hideously killed by the power of the experiment.