Authors: Louis Arthur-Brown
The Teleporter.
[Pick the date]
Short Novel By Louis Arthur-Brown |
- Early Days
It was a beautiful day in central London, the sky was a dark blue with a very bright sun glistening the afternoon sky like a burning inferno. The glare and reflections from the high rises makes John squint on his way to work as he is walking down the road searching for his black metallic sunglasses in his laptop bag. The hustle and bustle of the city does not distract him from his priority mission of obtaining his sunglasses so he can look his best as he walks by the beauty salon. As he does his best to impress the very pretty girls, they all notice his vainness and think that it is actually quite cute, which he is yet to realise.
One girl, in particular always seems to stare and smile back, so John always makes sure he looks great as he passes the salon. Nothing ever happens further than a smile however, but he is compelled to cross the road every morning
, sometimes narrowly avoiding accidents, just so he can catch a glimpse of her and maybe pluck up the courage to say hello: which unfortunately never happens.
John, even though he is
relatively good looking, average height and average build male, needs to find a reason to talk to her; however no matter how hard he searches, he cannot find one ‘good enough’. John has no shortage of female friends which results in him having a cutting edge over most men because he understands women’s actions better. He has used this knowledge to his advantage and been very successful with it in the past; but as soon as he
likes
a girl, he goes to putty and forgets every piece of advice every given to him, therefore rendering him useless.
John is 25
, and works for a company called Future Technology Research plc (or FTR for short) which is a company on the verge of the biggest breakthrough in technology ever. The pioneering ideas of the efforts of one team, comprising of John and three other members, all of which are very talented young individuals are key to the company’s success. This does not necessarily mean they all privately educated and from wealthy backgrounds: in fact only two of the team members are. Paul who is 28, and has a Phd in physics, and Alex who is, 24, who has a master’s degree in chemistry. The other female member, Catherine, 26, is a special kind of intelligent. She can see things and understand things and pick up things quicker than most people- and she has her fair share of qualifications and achievements to show this also. John on the other hand just seems like a normal guy. He is technically minded and has an appreciation for a seemingly unlimited amount of knowledge from every subject, and because of this, he was chosen to join the ‘elite 3’ which at the time was Paul, Cat and Alex.
So the ‘elite 3’ as they were known, a
bout three months ago successfully broken the boundaries of physics by successfully transporting a grain of sand, 13 meters to the other side of the room using a method without visible track- also known as teleportation. They were marvels across the globe, every scientist and every physicist wanted a piece of the action. However the ‘elite 4’, last week, thanks to John and his radical suggestions, transported a dead mouse the same distance and it was fully intact the other side. This major breakthrough led FTR to be media marvels across the globe, drawing attention from every walk of life to the possibilities that could be achieved with teleportation.
Imagine food, water, medical supplies,
and building materials being able to be teleported in seconds halfway across the world, into the heart of a natural disaster which would be otherwise impossible to reach by conventional methods.
I
magine the time people could spend with their families, without having to commute hours and hours to and from work. Imagine how good this would be for the environment? Whilst not announcing but fully bearing in mind the massive military advantage that this would provide to counter- terrorism.
The advantages
of such a device did capture the world’s imagination and hearts. There was only one way FTR could go. Up. Absolutely nothing could stand in FTR’s way. Absolutely nothing.
The next day, the team are preparing an attempt to teleport a live hamster from one end of the room to the other
in the FTR main lab. The lab is predominantly white, with chrome finishing on all taps and handles which resembles a sterile hospital-like environment. The lab is a single room with divides between small clusters of desks, measuring about 40 meters by about 50 meters, and has an en-suite cloak room with a shower and a changing room. This huge room has one focal point at the far end, with glass safety glass patrolling its perimeter, which resembles something out of a 50’s science fiction movie.
The team are gathered around Paul
’s desk.
“Morning all”
John says.
“Morning” they reply, one by one.
“Big day ahead guys, I want us all focused and ready for today’s challenge- I need attention to detail to everything. Even if it doesn’t appear relevant, I need to know it” says Paul.
Alex begins “Outside temperature is 32 Degrees, inside temperature is 22 Degrees, with a humidity factor of …”
“Do we really need to know that?” John interrupts in a sarcastic tone.
“YES… As I said in my previous statement John, I need to know everything” Paul says masterfully.
“Ok, I have superman underwear on, and I have an itch on my left cheek” John says for a laugh.
“hah-hah” Alex giggles
Cat tries to keep her composure and keeps the laughter in whilst Paul shakes his head with a smile.
“Right ok, with that cleared up, could you record the weight of the hamster for me before and after” Alex says to John.
“Of course” John replies, with a little wink and a cheeky smile- being the ladies’ man which he is.
“126 grams… each testicle… Damn! L
ook at the balls on that thing!” John expects a sarcastic reply or to be told off but when he slowly turns around he is greeted by the piercing look as if to say ‘Grow up and shut up’ from Paul to which he realises he needs to tone down the banter.
John records the weight and mass of the hamster whilst the others are preparing the machine.
A few minutes later-
“Ok, machine will reach transportation capability in 5…” A few seconds later “It is ready, in your own time. But don’t take too long” Alex winks and says to John in a slightly sexy voice.
John then says nothing but lets out a cheeky smile as he can sense that Alex may have recently taken a liking to him. John then takes a minute to admire Alex’s perfect hourglass figure, and glances her up and down with a laddish smirk when his gaze is broken.
“JOHN, HAMPSTER… IN… MACHINE…. NOW!!!” Paul shouts “Do you have any idea how much this thing costs to run per minute!?”
As the machine is spooling is makes a high pitched electric motor sound, mixed with the droning noise of the
bare metal receiver arms as they begin to spin overhead. The machine itself comprises of a base pad which is about 2 meters in diameter which then has an identical pad above, with a 2.5 meter gap for the ‘transportee’. There are arms which spool above until the final sequence is initiated which then descend fairly rapidly to the floor and back up again, in which time the subject would have ‘disappeared’.
The whole concept is based on the idea of creating a temporary void in the universe, basically folding it in half and putting a hole through it
, so that mass can travel great distances in an instant. The Teleporter machine the Elite 4 made is based on this concept but over a tiny area and creating multiple miniature folds based on the Greek formula
Pi
, in which it makes the actual pads the datum’s of the fold point. The actual transit depth after the machine manipulates the universe is technically zero but John’s idea was to think logically and that it was in fact 7.5m (with an area of 13m + 1 meter either side from the centres of both pads, and then halved). The team found that if they were to find the area and multiply it by itself, they could use this machine to teleport in between the pads using the power harnessed from a single Tachyon particle, a Neutrino to be precise, which was discovered to exceed the speed of light in 2011. These Tachyon particles aren’t cheap, costing approx. £1m per particle to synthesise and stabilise for 60 seconds. Money is no object however when you have 90% of the world backing your research!
The Particle is
then given energy: the distance is directly proportional to the amount of energy administered. Through some killer mathematics and a lot of trial and error, Paul eventually managed to work out how much is needed to go a set distance.
John then
gently places the hamster in the centre of the pad and retires to join the others behind a transparent protective screen as he runs off shouting “Good luck buddy, you’re about to go further than any human ever has been!”
Cat
then initialises the Tachyon particle and gives the honours to Paul, who then gives the honours to John. John’s chivalry and wit allowed him to pass the honours onto Alex who was very pleased and excited to push the button.
*
WHOOSH*
The
cyan light the teleporter emitted was both magnificent and beautiful but lasted the best part of 4, maybe 5 seconds. Every loose object in the room rattled and the air pressure in the local area fluctuated enough to open any unlocked window or door, causing slight light headedness for everyone in close proximity; again only lasting a couple of seconds. The feeling is inexplicable, unlike anything in the world; it makes your hairs on your neck stand on end whilst sending a shiver down your spine. The teleporter sounds like a short burst of mega high voltage electricity but was strangely defining- it would leave your ears ringing for a few minutes if you were standing very close by. The hamster instantly vanishes but only to appear, as expected, on the receiver pad.
The world waits
both in anticipation and in silence. People watch the news coverage of the event unfold live online, through terrestrial broadcasting, in bars and even in places like the big apple on the streets. The world falls silent for the biggest scientific discovery in the history of mankind.
The team
all rush over to the other pad where the little grey hamster in in fact present. However it is lying there, motionless with its tiny grey hairs flailing in the wind which is coming from the now open windows.
“
Squeak”! Says the hamster as it re- gains consciousness after what felt like a lifetime.
“YEAHHHHHH” “WOOOOOOO” – The elite 4 then celebrate, even Paul is cheering and jumping for joy, to which Cat is very surprised and stands there with her arms folded; and a giant smile almost from ear to ear which Paul then notices, and regains his composure.
The cheering on television, in the streets (and in most betting shops) is defining.
After the team regains composure-
“
Sooo, are we going to name it now?” asks Cat in a very excited tone
“How about LITTLE-
FURRY-LEGEND, WAHOOOOO” says John in over excitement
“No I want to call it ‘squeaky’” Says Alex in a cute voice
“
It’s going to be called Columbus, after Christopher Columbus, for obvious reasons” Says Paul in a boring tone
“
Ahhhhhh” the rest of the team deflate their excitement slightly.
“
Now we analyse the results, let us not lose focus, let us instead use this to propel our research further! Next week, we try Teleporting a live monkey- but only after that report is done on the hamster. Paul thinks for a second “I know- John, you do the report. Have it on my desk by Monday for the mid-week for review and the end of the week presentation to the board”.
John realises that his social weekend that he had planned in the last five seconds had just been ruined and hesitantly replies “… ok…” and after admiring Alex’s figure once more he then continues “… but if there was two of us- one to analyse and other to type… and then we can swap when we get tired…”
Then he cheekily mutters under his breath so Alex can hear “Not that I ever get tired that is”
He then he continues once more “ …that way we can guarantee to get it to you on… Sunday?”
Paul then thinks and agrees with John before leaving the lab, whilst Alex blushes slightly at his over confidence.
John then turns to Alex
“So, do you want to, maybe...” Alex realises she can have a little fun here, then smiles and begins to approach John. John then starts hesitating as his confidence starts to crumble, so he stutters slightly “err, maybe, umm, yeah maybe h, h, help me with the report?” John then avoids eye contact as he is trying to salvage what he has left of his confidence.
She then gets close to his ear and whispers in a very seductive tone “Maybe you could come over to mine, tonight, we’ll get some food and look at the possibility of maybe starting the report, whilst trying our very hardest not to get drunk?”.
“YES, *clears throat* I mean, yes, that sounds adequate. What
ti…” “Half six. Here’s my address” Alex interrupts then hands him a pre written note to which John realises that she must have been planning something as she had prepared the note in advance.
Alex walks off, and John sports a massive smile as he casually
begins collecting the rest of the results.