Teleport This Read Free Page B

understand that,” said Simon. “We just need to take certain precautions.”
    Now teleportation is in fact a fairly safe way of traveling. It allows practically instantaneous travel all over the universe, provided you have a reservation. Here’s how it works; think of an open map with a starting point, a destination and some distance in-between. Now fold up the map so the start and finish points are on top of each other, say the magic word and presto, you’re there. Now in reality, instead of a magic word there’s a space-time generator that takes the pristine logic of our universe, pours it into a meat grinder and combines points A and B while you pass through. Easy for you and me, tough on the universe. Fortunately the universe has been around for a while and it can take the abuse.
    So a few weeks later, when the teleport station was completed and a few basic tests had been run, Simon brought home a guinea pig. A note was affixed to the guinea pig’s collar, power was applied and the guinea pig vanished. A few minutes later, it reappeared.
    The original note had read, “Testing the apparatus, please return the animal to us as an indication of a successful transfer.”
    The return note on the guinea pig simply read, “Come on in, the water’s fine.” 
    “Now I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse,” Gilbert said about the return message.
    “I think it’s a very calculated response, just the right amount of nonchalance to put us at ease,” said Simon.
    “So you think it’s some kind of trap?”
    “No, I just think that every step of this is part of a well thought out plan. On their side, I mean.”
    “How’s the guinea pig?” asked Gilbert.
    “Seems fine,” said Simon. “No physical or mental side effects. He doesn’t even seem to have noticed that anything out of the ordinary has happened.”
    “Good for him,” said Gilbert. “I, on the other hand, could use some reassurance.” The boys poured themselves some reassurance and continued their conversation. “Look, we’ve reached that big fork in the road, we have to decide whether we continue on our own or make a call,” Gilbert said, trying his hardest to sound like the voice of reason, but failing miserably. No scientist ever wants to turn over his work to someone else.
    Simon thought about it and responded, “Let’s be honest with ourselves, not only do we have the intelligence to continue on, we’ve spent the last ten years of our lives analyzing each episode of Star Trek and Doctor Who and every other sci-fi show in preparation for just this opportunity. We can’t wimp out now. It’s fate. Or maybe destiny, I can’t keep those two straight.”
    “You mean fate,” said Gilbert. “People don’t have a choice with fate. You can choose your destiny. I’m starting to think it was all just dumb luck and now we’re tangled up in it.”
    “Synchronicity, man,” said Simon. “That’s what it’s all about.”
    “Call it whatever you want, it doesn’t matter, we’re screwed.”
    “So we’re going?”
    “One of us,” said Gilbert. “The other stays put as backup.”
    “Okay, who goes?” asked Simon.
    “There’s only one way to decide, since we’re riding the fate train.” So after Gilbert won the coin toss, cut the high card and threw box cars, Simon agreed that he should be the one to go.
    “Can’t argue with fate,” he said.
    “No, you can’t,” said Gilbert, not wanting to correct Simon since it must have been destiny that gave him the foresight to carry that two-headed coin, stack the deck and palm the loaded dice.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    3.
     
    It was a short time later that Gilbert stepped onto the teleport, nodded to Simon and said, “Energize.”
    Gilbert disappeared in a quick fizzle leaving Simon to wonder if he had just sent his friend on the trip of a lifetime or killed him dead. Simon thought about it a moment longer and decided either way, he sent his friend off on a trip of a