The Gila Flats Test Base was a particle physics test facility owned by the United States government based in the Arizona desert. It was once the workplace of Dr. Jon Osterman during the late 1950s, as well as the site of the intrinsic field generator accident that turned Osterman into the omniscient superbeing Doctor Manhattan.
History[]
Professor Milton Glass led the experiments to understand and control atomic power. Hank Meadows participated until his death in 1958.
Jon Osterman was assigned there to replace Meadows upon graduating with his doctoral degree in atomic physics. Jon's work at the facility mostly concerned the study of the removal of intrinsic fields from solid objects using an intrinsic field subtractor, a powerful machine that utilizes radiation. While there, Osterman met his two closest friends, Wally Weaver and Janey Slater, who would later become his lover. Osterman worked there for only a short amount of time before an accident occurs that seemingly killed him: he was trapped in the chamber of the intrinsic field subtractor and obliterated when the locking program cannot be overridden and the door cannot be opened. Soon after, sightings of various ghostly bodily systems (circulatory, skeletal, muscular, nervous) are reported by the staff, leading to rumors of the base being haunted. One day, while Slater and Weaver still mourn the loss of their friend, Jon reveals himself reborn as a superhuman being with extraordinary powers.
Doorway
The base was later swept by a devastating fire and is officially shut down. As Doctor Manhattan, Osterman paid the site one last visit, finding a picture of himself and Slater amongst the ruins. He then teleported himself to Mars as part of his self-imposed exile.[1]
HBO Timeline[]
In December 25th, 2016 a Seventh Kavalry member named Mike was unexpectedly teleported to Gila Flats by Doctor Manhattan during White Night.[2]
Layout[]
The base housed a bar called The Bestiary. It had a glass case with photographs honoring the base's past members and the sign "At play amidst the strangeness and charm,"[1]
Trivia[]
- Gila Flats' slogan, Per Dolorem Ad Astra, is a Latin phrase which roughly translates to "Through Pain To The Stars". This would be a literal commentary on Doctor Manhattan's current situation.
- The phrase above the photographs in the frame of The Bestiary reads: “At play amidst the strangeness and charm.” The phrase is a pun on the charm-strange property pair of quarks. A quark is a type of subatomic particle and a major constituent of matter. There are six types of quarks which are coupled into three pairs. One of these pairs is the charm-strange pair, signified by this phrase.