Trinity: The Best-Kept Secret

«Evidence of official lying about UFOs is not evidence of the reality of UFOs.» — la frase de principio del libro.

«Science has little to do with politics, advertising or religion.» — su regla de deslinde disciplinar.

«It doesn't start from belief and it isn't done by lobbying Congress or by gathering and amplifying rumors from other people: it begins with individual research on hard data and reproducible experiments.» — Cómo dice que empieza.

«Either witnesses were missing, testimony was dubious or second hand, or vital evidence simply could not be found» — el veto de Hynek sobre los casos de accidente, consignado en primera persona.

«there was nothing for a scientist to take to the lab, and secrecy wasn't the only reason, or even the main one.» — La razón que da Hynek para ese veto.

«that long-tortured, misused, misplaced word again: Evidence!» — la palabra que persigue todo el libro, en ironía tipográfica del propio autor.

«Evidence of what? What a funny word, “evidence,” I suddenly realized.» — La vuelve a interrogar cerca del final.

«I began a collection of artifacts that has expanded to some twenty-five items, mostly (but not always) of metallic composition, from four continents.» — declara su propia colección.

«But such a collection, like the one at “Wright-Pat”, doesn't prove anything by itself.» — Le quita valor probatorio en la misma frase.

«Paola, who sought to reconstruct the chain of custody over this gap of many years» — la cadena de custodia como problema declarado, adjudicado a la coautora.

«history of the object and the chain of custody, to get the story straight» — el mismo criterio, otra vez, ante la transcripción de las entrevistas.

«Chemical analysis has now confirmed that the bracket was not a high-technology item but was consistent with contemporary knowledge of metallic alloys.» — el resultado del análisis, consignado en contra de la expectativa del propio investigador.

«The only material evidence we did have in our custody was the bracket itself: neither the fibers nor the foil or the pyramid were forthcoming» — Qué NO se recuperó.

«What we simply fail to understand is the actual propulsion of the craft, for which we have no clear data.» — reconoce el hueco explicativo.

«We don't even understand what caused the collision with the tower that led to the actual crash.» — Lo extiende a la causa misma del choque.

«do reinforce the extraterrestrial hypothesis. But what does “extraterrestrial” mean, in our current, limited understanding of the structure of our cosmic environment?» — mantiene la hipótesis extraterrestre e inmediatamente interroga el término. No cierra.

«It should be strongly emphasized that proving that something is extraterrestrial is extremely difficult, even if one had a craft in hand» — el límite epistémico que asume, citando a Knuth, Reali y Powell (*Entropy*, 2019) y firmando el énfasis como «JV».

«Some of the statements by Reme Baca, for instance, were not clear to a scientist.» — consigna las contradicciones de sus propios testigos en vez de suavizarlas.

«There were contradictions in the testimonies, yet to be clarified.» — dicho sin atenuante.

«There is even an interesting dissonance between Reme and Jose on this point.» — nombra la disonancia entre los dos testigos sobre la naturaleza de las criaturas.

«Jose, however, insists on calling the creatures “men,”» — Consigna el lado de Jose de esa disonancia.

«it became obvious to us that everybody might be using obsolete hypotheses» — su crítica a las hipótesis exóticas por defecto.

«the naked truth is that very advanced technology is not necessarily esoteric» — el argumento con que la sostiene.

«So why are we posing as a principle that Alien vehicles must use horribly complex materials?» — La pregunta con que la cierra.

«continue our research, with no preconceived assumptions about extraterrestrials or contemporary theories of physics.» — su regla de avance declarada.

«we expect to publish those results in the scientific press, after proper peer review, in an effort to place the subject within the “official” scientific literature, where it has never been admitted.» — el destino que se propone para los análisis.

«The most obvious negative effect of the circus atmosphere created by clamoring voices on cable TV and web podcasts» — diagnostica el circuito mediático como causa de la retirada de testigos.

«Understandably, the academic community has seen through the charade and generally declined to get involved.» — su explicación de por qué la academia no entra.

«But without the depth of knowledge and the open debate tradition of the modern academic world, very little real progress will be accomplished in this field.» — Por qué eso le parece un problema.

«At Stanford University, Professor Sturrock has conducted and published analyses of the famous Ubatuba explosion of an unknown device in Brazil» — el precedente serio que invoca.

«If there was a genuine UFO crash in 1945, two years before Roswell, but only four weeks after the first atomic explosion, that was an extraordinary fact.» — el hecho del que parte todo el libro.

«Arnold's sighting is reliable and it triggered the media's fascination with the problem, but the 1945 case was more important.» — la consecuencia bibliográfica: las historias del fenómeno que arrancan en junio de 1947 quedan mal datadas.

«It represented a source of key questions one could no longer avoid.» — Las cuatro preguntas que ordenan el libro, la última de ellas «Where's the damn Evidence?».

«Those are questions that knowledgeable Italian journalist Paola Leopizzi Harris had started to ask before me, and even before Ron.» — adjudica la prioridad de la investigación a su coautora, sin ambigüedad.

«Formally trained in Italy as an educator, and a long-time, trusted research associate and translator for Dr. Hynek, she had been at the site before any other investigator.» — Consigna su afiliación.

«She is the only researcher who met both witnesses, and recorded their testimony.» — el dato que la hace insustituible en la cadena.

«As a researcher of ufology, I have been criticized for not taking an active enough interest in contact and “crashed saucer” cases, like Roswell.» — autocrítica declarada sobre su propio historial.

«The accusation is a valid one.» — La concede.

«with amused interest, relieved by occasional giggles when he spoke of his scientific prowess» — sobre cómo leyó a George Adamski, en verbo de decir y con distancia.

«All of us, as it turns out, were wrong about Scully, but that's another story.» — se corrige a sí mismo sobre Frank Scully.

«TRINITY: The Best-Kept Secret by Jacques F. Vallée & Paola Leopizzi Harris Copyright ©2021 by StarworksUSA, LLC and Documatica Research, LLC» — portadilla y créditos; el pie declara además «Kindle Edition».

«Cover and interior design by Maryann Sperry» — crédito de diseño.

«This book is warmly dedicated to the witnesses for their determination and their sharp observations» — la dedicatoria nombra a Jose Padilla, Remigio (Reme) Baca y Sabrina Padilla.

«Forget everything you've heard about the Roswell crash: It's a very significant story, obviously, but it came two years later» — voz de Ron Brinkley en el diálogo reconstruido del Owl Bar & Café, octubre de 2017. Suena a tesis del libro y no lo es.

«Because the Army covered up everything very well and the two witnesses of this particular crash were too scared to speak up.» — misma voz, misma conversación: por qué, según Brinkley, nadie lo investigó.

«These haunting figures are frequently compared with an immense praying mantis or human-sized insect.» — bloque citado de Jeffrey Kripal, no de los autores.

«The modern abduction visions thus replicate in precise and eerie detail, the thought of Frederic Myers: the same perfect insectoid form (Myers' imaginal stage), the same telepathic powers (Myers coined the term)» — continuación del mismo bloque de Kripal, con la resonancia entre Myers y la literatura de abducción.

«They had big bulgy eyes…you didn't even notice the nose because the eyes were so big.» — turno de Reme Baca, testigo. Voz del testigo, no de los autores.

«Everybody calls them Greys, I guess, but I haven't seen a grey, so I wouldn't know.» — turno de Reme a Paola Harris: el testigo declina adoptar el vocabulario del campo.

«I saw these pictures in my head…» — turno de Reme en 2010 sobre las visiones posteriores; añade «I got pictures, but I didn't know what they meant by then, and I still don't know».

«They looked under stress. They moved fast, as if they were able to will themselves from one position to another in an instant.» — turno de testigo citado de la documentación previa de Harris.

«They were never told, You might want to leave. You might not want to sell that cattle,» — turno de Reme Baca sobre los rancheros y la radiación de Trinity.

«a few people were probably overexposed, but they couldn't prove it and we couldn't prove it. So we just assumed we got away with it.» — declaración de Louis Hemplemann, Los Álamos, 1945, no revelada hasta 1986.

«My conjecture is that it was a field repair of a broken or otherwise nonfunctioning original piece.» — voz de un ingeniero senior de la NASA consultado por los autores, citado en bloque.

«The universe contains no anomalies, and the appearance of an anomaly is warning that our understanding is inadequate.» — epígrafe de la conclusión, atribuido a Wilbert Smith, 1961. Elección de los autores, no doctrina suya.

«Perhaps a large part of the activity that's classified as UFO activity—abduction and the whole host of this type—may very well not be due to extraterrestrial activity at all.» — segundo epígrafe de la conclusión, de Edgar Mitchell, astronauta del Apolo 14.

«In fact, I would say that many more people have more evidence supporting the reality of the flying saucers than for the reality of atom bombs.» — voz de Wilbert Smith en 1958, citado extensamente en la conclusión.

«Not the Air Force. Much higher than that.» — respuesta de Smith en el diálogo que la obra reproduce sobre a quién devolvió una pieza.

«but in the process everybody had missed the most significant case. It had quietly taken place here, precisely one month after the first nuclear explosion in history, as if in direct response to it. Nobody spoke about it for many years. It happened just a few miles from this diner. That’s where we’ve got to start» — voz de Ron Brinkley en el diálogo reconstruido del Owl Bar & Café: es él, no los autores, quien enuncia la prioridad del caso de 1945.

«Back in 1945, the scientists of Project Manhattan lived around here, in San Antonio, at the critical time for the assembly of the Bomb» — misma voz y misma conversación: Brinkley sitúa a los científicos del Proyecto Manhattan viviendo en San Antonio.

«If you were an American scientist yanked out of your university campus by the Army, or a Nobel prize-winning atomic physicist from Europe working hard to defeat Hitler, this was the only half-decent place for a meal» — cierre de ese turno de Brinkley sobre por qué el Owl Bar reunía a los físicos.

«This place is legendary. It changed the world.» — con esto cierra Brinkley su presentación del sitio, todavía dentro del diálogo reconstruido.

«The first test took place on July 16, 1945. It was a plutonium bomb, hanging from a tower at the place that became known, for future history books, as Ground Zero.» — turno de Brinkley: la cronología de las cuatro semanas la enuncia él, no los autores.

«Three weeks later, on August 5th, (August 6th in Japan), “Little Boy,” a novel but relatively simple uranium bomb, reduced Hiroshima and its inhabitants to fine radioactive dust.» — sigue el turno de Brinkley; el capítulo uno, ya en voz de los autores, fecha Nagasaki un día después que él.

«And just three days later, on August 8th, a plutonium bomb they called “Fat Man” in homage to Winston Churchill pulverized the giant military naval complex and the city of Nagasaki.» — misma voz, y aquí la atribución del nombre de la bomba a Churchill, que el libro no vuelve a sostener.

«The funny thing is, nobody has done any serious research about it. With a few exceptions, the folks who call themselves `ufologists’ have remained fixated on Roswell.» — turno de Brinkley con el reproche a la ufología por su fijación en Roswell; la queja es suya antes que de los autores.

«The scientific community was kept in the dark, as usual. There were good reasons for that.» — cierre del turno de Brinkley: dice que la comunidad científica quedó al margen y no explica cuáles eran esas buenas razones.

«“Early in July (1945),” writes Laura in her intensely-personal memoir Atoms in the Family (8), “men had started to disappear from the mesa and the word Trinity had floated with insistence in the air.”» — cita de las memorias de Laura Fermi, no voz de los autores; es la que trae la atmósfera previa a la prueba.

«They saw multi-colored orbs there, “not just lightning," Danny Many Horses told me: “The lights meant that Ussen, the Giver-of-Life, the Omnipotent God, was watching over them. He told them that hideous creatures would come down from the clouds if the tribes didn’t live in harmony. There were spirits in the moon, in the stars: The Apaches could hear their grumbling, high above the mountains.”» — voz de Danny Many Horses, artista y depositario de la tradición mescalera apache, en entrevista con Vallée: orbes multicolores, Ussen y criaturas que bajarían de las nubes si las tribus no viven en armonía. Es el único marco tradicional que el libro deja hablar, y los autores no lo aplican al caso.

«described by researcher Ryan Wood in his 2005 book Majic Eyes Only as “a traditional adobe house with a well in the front yard and a nice shiny pickup truck that (nine-year-old son) Jose was allowed to drive, since he was the only (young) male in the family not serving in the armed forces at the time.”» — cita de Ryan Wood, Majic Eyes Only, con la que abren el capítulo dos; la descripción de la casa Padilla es suya.

«the Mogollon, who lived in the high lands of New Mexico and Arizona; the Hohokam, farmers of the southern deserts, and the pueblo-dwelling Anasazi of the high mesas to the north," noted Reme in a memoir entitled Born on the Edge of Ground Zero» — cita de las memorias de Reme Baca, que el libro usa como fuente histórica además de como testimonio.

«Inez Padilla, Jose’s mother, had just seen her husband Faustino off to work,” recalls Reme Baca, “and Jose Padilla was drinking a cup of hot chocolate when the flash of the plutonium bomb, the sustained deadly sound and the heat wave came rolling over the landscape. Surprised, his mother peeked through a crack in the door at the flash of light. As a result, Inez sustained permanent loss of sight in that eye.”» — recuerdo de Reme Baca sobre la mañana de la prueba, con la ceguera de Inez Padilla; es testimonio referido, no dato verificado por los autores.

«Reme (correcting her): The path that the craft left. It doesn’t go just straight. It goes, and then it makes a right turn, like an “L”.» — turno de Reme Baca corrigiendo a la entrevistadora, que había dicho niveladora donde él dice nave; el libro conserva la corrección.

«So I was looking through the binoculars at these little creatures moving back and forth. Paola: Were they moving really fast? Reme: They were like, sliding. Paola: They were sliding… Reme: Not sliding, but more like willing themselves from one place to another. That type of sliding.» — turno de Reme sobre el modo de moverse de las criaturas; la fórmula de moverse por voluntad es suya, no de los autores.

«I’m seeing them and I’m feeling this crazy stuff, like I really feel sorry for them.» — turno de Reme sobre lo que sintió al verlos, reportado sin adjetivar por los autores.

«Surprised, she asks him to repeat that statement, and he confirms there were pictures, adding: “I didn’t know what the heck they were. I can remember what they are, I got pictures, but I didn’t know what they meant then, and I still don’t know. They must have known we were there.» — turno de Reme sobre las imágenes en la cabeza, con su declaración de no saber qué significaban ni entonces ni ahora.

«Well, the first thing we got to do is we got to get you home. We’ll look into this in the next day or so. It probably belongs to the government, and that’s probably it. We need to, maybe, stay away from there.» — palabras de Faustino Padilla dentro del recuerdo de Reme: la primera instrucción de silencio del caso viene de la familia, no del Ejército.

«Faustino emphasized it might endanger his job, since my dad worked for the government.» — turno de Reme con el motivo del silencio familiar, que es un empleo federal y no una amenaza militar.

«They had a change of attitude, a complete change of attitude. They were almost like different people.» — turno de Reme Baca sobre los adultos que entraron a la nave; es su percepción, y el libro no la interpreta aquí.

«We saw something like a broom (mark), or rake mark, but then again, it could be some animal, insect or snake that made those marks.» — turno de Reme sobre las huellas del terreno, con su propia duda incluida.