Bhattacharya: When and where did you enter the region?

Rexroth: 08:00 Mountain Zone time, at the Groom portal.

Bhattacharya: What did you encounter on entering The Plateau? Can you describe the scene?

Rexroth: After setting off up to the portal we arrived after a few minutes in a wide panorama, a huge region of grassland. To our left, which I suppose was north-northwest, was a shallow mountain range, starting a couple of miles away and stretching off into the distance. To the right, south-southeast, the plain continued until the horizon. I remember thinking the horizon seemed wider than it should be.

Bhattacharya: Did you encounter any secondary anomalies at this point?

Rexroth: No, the mountains seemed to be rising and falling like a gentle swell. It was cold and the air was as clear as you could ask for, no heat haze. The sun was fairly high for that time of day, consistent with it being summer.

Bhattacharya: Was there any sign of the markers left by the First Expedition?

Rexroth: No, not at that point, though Naidoo, the researcher, did spot something [pause] something unusual. There was this tree, in open ground. It was small and wind beaten. I… I'm not sure if I can…

Bhattacharya: [interrupting] I am fully cleared. This interview is confidential. It will not have any bearing on…

Rexroth: [cutting in] Ok, um, anyway, it was what was under the tree that was unusual. There were [pause] items; some used matches, ammo cartridges, a broken wind-up watch, some heavy footprints, boots I mean. They were fairly fresh prints. In one of the boot-prints was a disc, like a coin or a medal. It had these symbols on it, Russian communist symbols and an inscription saying "Latvas PSR."

Bhattacharya: What happened next?

Rexroth: After searching the surrounding area for signs of the Alpha Party we proceeded on foot along the intended path of the Alpha Party in two groups of three, separated by approximately 100 metres. Using a pedometer we put marker flags down every kilometre. After about two kilometres a second set of mountains began to clearly rise in the east. A herd of animals, unidentified quadrupeds could be seen grazing at the foot of the mountains. They scattered suddenly under some unknown influence. Dr Mattingly, who I was with, he had a camera and a pair of binoculars. he said he spotted two humanoid figures on horseback chasing the herd, following it into the foothills. He wanted to pursue the figures. I had operation command. I overruled him. The next four hours were uneventful though the mountains kept shifting. We encountered a shallow, fast-moving river. It dried out as we traversed it. Twice Dr Mattingly said he saw figures watching us from the mountains. No one else saw a thing.

Bhattacharya: What was the next event?

Rexroth: We had to regroup after four hours or so. I called everybody in for a rest. The temperature had risen quite considerably. Given the amount of daylight probably left we would be pushing our luck if headed much further into the plateau. So far our [pause]. Mattingly by this point was quite [pause] excited. He said he could see smoke rising and a village in the distance. The mountain ranges did seem to converge on each other 5-10 kilometres ahead in the direction we were travelling. The settlements couldn't have been far away. Some of the party agreed with him, they wanted to push on, they thought it might be the Alpha Party, but I overruled. We had a clear mission objective that was not being fulfilled. On making our way back we came across a pile of shredded material and bent metal. We had not encountered this before. Someone, I presume someone from the Alpha Party, had made a temporary shelter. There was a small patch of burned ground nearby. We searched outward and found sundry items, a digital watch, some freeze dried food, cartridges, more material, clothing this time, and so on. We also found two bodies. [Pause] They were in different locations. They were male. They had been largely eaten though some scraps [pause - sigh] of flesh remained. Both their faces appeared to have been burned away however. Dr Mattingly forgot about the human settlement. We were over the second body, He and I, trying to find some identifying data, he was taking pictures, when [pause] our party was attacked.

Bhattacharya: Attacked by who?

Rexroth: They were [long pause] they were very fast and quiet too. That was the thing. It was like they were silent. You know? The first thing I heard was one of the boys scream. [Pause] They came at us [pause] in a pincer movement. They went for the ones with weapons. I was lucky I suppose because I was crouched down so…

Bhattacharya: [interrupting] Attacked by what?

Rexroth: [without pause] Mine missed me. It got Dr Mattingly instead [tails off].

Bhattacharya: The creatures that attacked you, can you describe them?

Rexroth: They were feline in body and they way they moved, you know, but [pause] they had the head of a shark, teeth, eyes and the skin as well, all over. I only got a brief look but you know that glint shark skin has? [Pause] There were four of them, the creatures, I think. I had a pistol and a hunting knife to hand. Stupidly I had laid my backpack and rifle down. Now there was no time. I just went into; [pause] into survival mode. I tried to find some high ground and [pause] there was a small mountain growing nearby, thankfully. [Pause] I saw, over my shoulder, I saw Naidoo running. I could hear when they got him. Somehow I made it to this rock. I stayed there for the next few hours. I could hear them [pause] whatever they were, grunting and snorting. The grass was fairly long though. I couldn't see them.

Bhattacharya: What did you do? How did you get off the rock?

Rexroth: It was getting dark. The mountain had cut off the route back. I waited until the noises had died down. The grass also started receding. I got down and searched for my backpack. It didn't take long to find. It was open though a lot of stuff was strewn about. There were some supplies, food and medicine. I couldn't find the frame or the tarpaulin, though the sleeping bag was intact. The canteen was missing, which I figured was the big problem I'd have to face. I camped a little way up the mountain that night. The strange thing was, as the sun went down, I could finally see the village in the distance. There were little camp fires. It all looked very warm from where I was.

Bhattacharya: What happened, the next day?

Rexroth: The next day I tried to find a pass round the mountain. The next day was very short, by the way, only a few hours long, at least it felt like that to me. Over the other side the landscape had changed dramatically. It was now mostly rolling hills. I tried to navigate by compass but [pause] I was lost. I had no idea where I was going. I don't know. I'm not sure how much time I spent on The Plateau.

Bhattacharya: Did you see any other anything anomalous while you were there?

Rexroth: A few, very large birds, horses that looked like they had wings, a rat walking on its hind legs. I [pause] though I was [pause] I was very thirsty and delirious by the end. I tried to drink from a river, it was quite like the one we originally encountered, but it quickly turned into a canyon, with rapids. I had to find a way of climbing out. I kept seeing the people too, the ones Dr Mattingly saw. Some of them were on horseback. Some of them stood watching me from the hilltops. I mostly kept to the valleys.

Bhattacharya: Did you encounter any of them, the people, directly?

Rexroth: No, although the last night I had this vivid dream [pause] really vivid. This man came to me. It was a strong, moonlit night. He was dressed in what looked like furs. He was old [pause] wrinkly [pause] and his face was grey, like clay soil. He didn't look kind or cruel. He talked to me. I couldn't understand him but I think, I thought he was telling me I had to leave. I wanted to respond but couldn't. When I came to [pause] I was on a stretcher being [pause] well, you were there.

Pause.

Bhattacharya: Thank you Sergeant Rexroth. That will be all for now.

Man: [Uncrosses arms - renews] Sergeant Rexroth was 28 when he participated in the Rescue Mission. During the interview his bearing, which had been formal, almost excessively so, certainly professional, seemed to erode suddenly under the weight of memory. He was a professional soldier, a combat veteran from the 1991 Gulf War. I had the feeling that, despite the emotional leakage, he was holding something back. Not forgetting his strange assertion at the end of the interview either. I was not there. I could not have been. He said it in a manner which seemed to suggest he wanted me to confirm this 'fact'. I wanted to conduct further interviews but Rexroth left the US army shortly after, honourable discharge, and I was unable to make further contact.

This double disaster led to another shutdown. It was prolonged, I suspect, by the official rumour that the Nepalese Maoists were using The Plateau as a redoubt, not to mention the generally febrile atmosphere post 9-11. Expeditions, even short-term ones, were denied until 2006. The fact I and several others were hired in 2003 suggests there were plans to reopen The Plateau earlier. I don't know why the prohibition was kept, inertia, maybe conspiracy or perhaps it was something to with the pair of pterodactyls that were found nesting in the Santa Monica Mountains in February 2003 [pause]; see my more detailed, printed report for, um, further details.

I was one of the scientists who helped lobby for a reopening. Having put my career in  shaking down trees for bugs on hold for a mysterious, albeit well-paid project, if I was going to return I was not going to spend my days sitting in a glorified hide peering at weird things through a telescope [smiles]. I came back as part of a year-long mission in late-2006. I finally stepped out onto The Plateau, finally, collecting insect samples, as part of an international team of entomologists [smiles again - pause].

New slide:

Unlocking The Plateau

Man: Returning to The Plateau I had what was only an intuition, a hint at something that I wanted to follow up. Various groups working from various bases had gathered a fair amount of data on aspects of the region. Of course very little of it added up. How could such a desolate area support such a diversity of (often bizarre) life?

There was the beginning of a pattern however. Military missions, armed expeditions did not fare well, at least not compared to unarmed ones. Sgt Rexroth mentioned in the interview that he was looking for high ground and, it just so happened, a mountain grew behind him. One of the popular nicknames for The Plateau was/is "Dreamland." The Plateau certainly has a dream-like quality, challenging and outlandish. What if, I thought, what if the key understanding it was not taxonomy or geology but psychology?

It has been very difficult to find practical support for testing my contention. Getting hold of this notion required a paradigm shift among staff. Like most scientists we were always having to battle and scrap for more money, government grants, corporate investments and university funds etc; would there be scope (or money) for trained psychoanalysts on missions?

The interview with Rexroth was a one-off, my contribution to the lobbying to get The Plateau reopened. Nonetheless, once back at the research base I researched the basics of psychoanalysis and began to conduct interviews amongst various staff. I did this alongside my regular biological studies, my day job as it were. Transcripts of these interviews are included in my overall report to you. So far I have interviewed 19 members of staff, military and scientific, from two different bases, on 31 separate occasions. I have begun to collate instants, things that correlate with the Dreamland hypothesis, I saw that with all due awareness of the risk of conformation bias. [Pause] However I found, for example:

1.        A researcher with a morbid fear of spiders was confronted on a field trip by a four foot tall acromantula. She had to fend the beast off with a butterfly net. It was shot with a dart gun by another member of the party and, partially sedated, eventually driven away.

2.        Another scientist who had been a childhood asthma sufferer, believed to be cured, suffered a relapse after inhaling the pollen of an unknown flower. He was saved by an adrenaline shot.

3.        An anthropologist who was brought along on a later, long-term expedition, had what she claimed was a night time out-of-body experience, where she was whisked away by an unknown force to the village she was trying to contact. She conducted conversations in an unknown language with members, she presumed representatives, of the community, the precise details of which she could not recall on returning to her body.

In fact it was very much more common for anthropologists (or people who had dealings with remote communities in the course of their studies) to see and/or encounter the people living on The Plateau. I later discovered that Dr Mattingly was part of a team of biologists that, in the 1980s, stumbled upon an uncontacted tribe in Borneo. These are just examples.

Slide:

The third expedition

The harder, more quantitative science still went on and, in 2011 my team devised a method of remaining overnight on The Plateau. There are now three semi-permanent bases, built in sight of and within two kilometres of the Blue Mountain, Groom Range and East Himalayan portals. Provided visual contact with regular space is maintained then the environment inside is stable enough to support outposts. I myself have spent nearly 200 days living and working in the region since then. Much good work has been done.

Last slide:

Why my ambivalence?

Man: We have still to reach the settlements so many people have seen. We have thus far been unable.

On one of the last nights I spent on The Plateau I was with two other researchers, sleeping in our living quarters. We were awoken by shuffling sounds and grunting that sounded practically human. Whatever it was it was very close and it circled the cabin. When we eventually went out to check it was almost dawn. There were extensive scuff marks along the ground outside, several of whatever it was had been outside. There was also a piece of parchment attached to the outer wall of the cabin. It had been stuck there with a resin that had almost set. There was writing on the parchment, a short note in an unknown language, intense, scratched letters. We couldn't do anything with it except take it inside and store it. Despite the fact this was clearly an unprecedented form of contact it felt to each of us like bad news.

Back in regular space I applied for the document to be sent away and translated. I have friend at the University of London, a Professor McEnroe, who specialises in crypto-linguistics. I reckoned I could grease the wheel a little bit. To my surprise this was granted [pause] and now the results have come back.

The language is new, unheard of at least, yet probably quite old as it seems to be derived from Sanskrit, one of the oldest Indo-European languages. The translation Prof McEnroe provided was given without context. It runs thus [reads from crib sheet]:

You have entered the Dreamland
You have learned to come in peace
You are slow learners
But
The Dreamer is thankful
But
The Dreamer is getting sick now and wants you to leave
Please leave

Given how little we know about The Plateau/Dreamland, what we do know suggests to me we should be cautious in how we proceed.