Lazar describes the extensive security protocols he encountered, including signing away constitutional rights, submitting to phone monitoring, and undergoing allergen testing for exotic materials. He recalls walking past a sleek, saucer-shaped craft he dubbed the "sport model," initially believing it to be an advanced American fighter due to a small American flag sticker on its hull. He later learned the facility housed nine craft of varying designs, all sharing identical reactor and propulsion systems, with his assignment focused solely on understanding the power and propulsion technology.
A surprise call from Stan Deyo in Perth, Australia, who claims his own recruitment by Teller into a related anti-gravity research program, adds an unexpected layer. Deyo describes a secretive organization operating since the 1950s on dozens of propulsion-related projects.
Key Moments
Signing away constitutional rights at S4: On his first trip to the S4 security building, Lazar describes signing 'all kinds of strange forms' that effectively signed away his constitutional rights, making the government 'judge, jury, and executioner' if he ever spoke about the project, alongside an order signed by President Reagan that he saw on the desk.
FBI shows up 30 minutes after a joking phone call: Lazar recounts that after he and Gene Huff joked around on the phone, agents arrived at his front door 30 minutes later carrying a typed transcript of the conversation with the questionable phrases highlighted, demonstrating how aggressively his line was being monitored under the agreement he had signed.
Allergen testing for exotic extraterrestrial materials: On his first day at S4 Lazar is sent to a medical office where a nurse draws a grid on his arm and pricks each square with different substances, telling him they're working with 'extremely exotic materials' they aren't familiar with and need to know whether he'll have a reaction. He is also given a wide-spectrum injection.
First sight of the sport-model disc with an American flag on it: On a later trip to S4 a hangar door is open and Lazar walks past the craft he later named the sport model - a 'very sleek, stereotypical flying saucer' with an American flag sticker on the side. He runs his hand along the cool metal skin until the security guard tells him to keep his hands at his sides, and at first assumes this must be a secret US fighter.
Three predecessors killed by the reactor and the discovery of element 115: Lazar reads notes left by the men he was hired to replace and learns that three scientists were killed when a reactor exploded as they tried to access it under load. He then walks through the analysis that identified the reactor's fuel as a stable super-heavy element, 115 - 223 grams of it inside the device - the predicted 'island of stability' element that Earth has never synthesized.