The Accident- 1/2

Now that we are acquainted and after a brief on teleportation technology and my colleagues, it's time I tell the story of my arrival. This is part one of two.

Ben's Work

Ben has worked on many things both theoretical and experimental since his revolutionary theory on dimensional interaction at the sub-atomic level, more than twenty years ago. Had he been any other scientist, his theories and inventions since would have been heralded as great triumphs in science and would have earned him a formidable reputation among his peers.

Instead, he has been largely regarded as a "has been" by the scientific community, and even his work on refining his original theory has been interpreted by many in the community as a hopeless attempt at returning to his days of glory. That is not to say he does not have respected proponents, but they are not in the majority.

Ben is for the most part heedless of such political preoccupations, though, and has since made steady progress on various scientific fronts. I know he has developed a new theory involving teleportation and about a year ago he enlisted Marie's engineering expertise in order to actually build a new machine which would demonstrate the underlying principles of his new theory.

The Invitation

Finally, the time had come. Ben had invited us to witness the very first demonstration of the new machine in operation. Ben was careful to keep it under wraps, going as far as keeping the lab's force field around it at night to keep curious students and colleagues away. Only Marie had been privy to the details of the machine, though she was sworn to secrecy by Ben.

Aaron and I made our way to Ben's lab together. It was a fairly routine afternoon. Terry was helping Ben setup some equipment, and José was checking over his appointments while he waited for things to start. Marie was there, of course, making some apparent last-minute adjustments with Ben.

Ben's Laboratory

We waited outside the work area, sitting on the bench on the right, just outside Ben's office while we watched him and Marie work on this mysterious machine located upon the circular center platform while Terry fetched some equipment for them from the storage room on the left. The machine was situated on the innermost ring of the platform and was covered part way so that Aaron, José and I couldn't see it.

The center platform has forcefield emitters located around it, making it possible to contain an experiment or secure any dangerous materials inside. Erecting the forcefield around it effectively cuts off direct access to the rear of the laboratory, since the storage room on the left and Ben's office on the right block passage to the rear when the it is active. Another forcefield can be setup around the innermost ring of the platform if necessary.

The former is a high-energy forcefield that can contain great amounts of energy. The latter is a significantly weaker forcefield. The rear half of the room can still be accessed by going through either of these rooms, but not directly.

Of course, the forcefields were inactive, and we were growing curious as to what lay hidden before us. A few minutes later, things settled down and Terry came down from the platform.

The Announcement

Marie and Ben stood before us with what were clearly looks of excitement on their faces. Ben gave us a preamble he had surely been practicing for some time now and Marie interjected with her own explanations and examples in between.

Ben's new theory contemplates teleportation in a whole new way. It would circumvent most major restrictions in teleportation technology, making it possible to teleport to places where traditional teleportation technology is unable to due to interference or distance, it would allow for world-to-world teleportation (reducing a potentially long trips to practically no time) and make costly, high-maintence teleportation grids entirely obsolete.

Essentially, Ben's theory and the machine he and Marie created would be the most revolutionary events in teleportation history since the very advent of teleportation. If they worked, of course.

Ben uncovered the machine. It did not look like a traditional teleporter. Instead of the familiar conversion and scanning units, there were three square emitters, two at the bottom, one at the top, making a sort of invisible triangle. These, Ben explained, were used to create a conduit here with an end in a completely different, otherwise unconnected location, without the need for a receiving station.

To be concluded next week...