Act 2

 



 “If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.”

Albert Einstein


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Derek's obituary stated that;
'His science was built on intuition, and his magic on experiment'.

Rather a poetic and somewhat misleading line, I say- being attributed, as it was, to someone I can only qualify as a dangerous and misguided lunatic.



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But not everyone felt that way before the accident.

The official statements at the time revolved around the concern of such a device finding its way into the hands of terrorists (which was a genuine worry, and possibly a real risk).

The communication channels hidden within the world power infratructure, however, buzzed with the possibilities of this contraption actually working.
Every country wanted to be the first (and preferably only) one to have it.

Even if it didn't actually work, the psychological advantage of even seeming to have such a mind-boggling capacity, would give any nation a strategic edge.

Which is what it's all about, when all is said and done....



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 Derek's last conversation-


His Mum-

 'What are you planning on doing today, dear?'


Derek-

'The impossible- what else?!'



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Finally, all these years later, key documents have been declassified, which show something of the process which lead to Derek's fame, madness and of course sad (and sudden!) demise.


A link to the frequently cited and notorious website which triggered Derek's final experiment is provide below (for academic purposes only)

http://www.west.net/~simon/InterdimensionalPhysics--TECHNOLOGY--PHENOMENA--IMPLICATIONS--1.html



Using that somewhat bewildering 'information', Derek set out to create the greatest invention in human history, with nothing more than an old TV set, a food blender,
a crystal he had apparently stolen from a space museum- and a lot of duct tape!

Plans for this dangerous and ineffective machine are shown below-





And of course, the surviving 'Crankshaft Box'.
A useless but nonetheless curious footnote in the Story of Science!