Transmat World: Chapter 6, Episode 2
Transmat headquarters; Wednesday, October 6, 2145 A.D.
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He should be at Transmat headquarters, but he wasn’t. Everything seemed real, much more so than a vivid dream. It was impossible. Vince was in his younger body. He had his current thought processes but could not control the body. It was a scene from his past. They were at the house in California. His dad came into his bedroom just as the pig creature in Galaxy Quest teleports up from the planet’s surface. It turned inside out and exploded, catching Hank with his mouth open about to say something.
What bad timing, thought Vince.
It sets Hank off on yet another diatribe of how ridiculous the portrayal of teleportation devices is in the 3D feeds and movies.
“Air, water, trash, food, that’s what they’ll be moving, not pig creatures. And who would get into anything that might do that to them? It’s nonsense.”
Twelve-hour days trying to perfect a teleportation device have obviously affected his sense of humor regarding the comedic media portrayal of such contrivances.
“You know, Dad, I only spend half my spare time up here watching archived and indexed scenes from movies and old TV shows involving teleportation. The other half I’m masturbating.”
Hank laughed. “I’m being a didactic old fart, aren’t I? Since you brought it up, as a parent, I’m obligated to inform you it can cause hair growth on your palms and make you go blind. Crap, now I forgot what I came up here to tell you.”
Hank left the room and Vince tried to yell after him “Wait!” but could not, because that never happened.
After blinking from the slight puff of air that signals an exchange of immediate atmosphere, Vince’s vision settled on a bustle of moving figures in the office. The air was a jumble of rectangular, 3D holographic viewing boxes, some interfering with others causing odd, standing-wave patterns that begged to be ogled until hypnosis occurred. A large holo dominated one wall, “We make anything go anywhere — instantly!” It was the Transmat, Inc. company motto.
Vince had just experienced his first Transmat-induced memory recall. A “trashback” is what R&D labeled it. The rumors were true. It was like being there, reliving a past event in every detail. He was just standing in the booth, and everyone was staring. His finger is a blur as he punches in the first destination that comes to mind and a Central Park vista appears. Nothing. He hits the code for his original destination.
“Well, the whole ‘transporter’ thing has been overdone and … actually, it is a matter transmitter so something like ‘Mat-trans,’” says Hank
“Dad, that sounds terrible. How about if we just transpose that and make it ‘Transmat’?” asks Vince.
“Transmat,” says Hank, trying out the sound.
“Yeah, Transmat,” says Vince.
“That’s right, Boss. You’re standing in a Transmat. At the Cave. Again. Just after you were here a few seconds ago,” said Mark Herrington, Transmat’s vice president in charge of research and development.
“Sorry, Mark, what’s new?” said Vince.
“You have a look. What is it?” countered Mark.
“The young, rich, handsome, and witty look?”
“Yes, except for those last two and the 100-yard stare,” said Mark. He could say anything to his boss, even though Vince was the only thing between him and a bread line. Mark figured it was one of the reasons he kept his job.
“Two Transmat-induced memory recalls in the last sixty seconds,” said Vince.
“Holy shit, this happening is a big break for us, Vince. Two trashbacks! First chance you get, go to the research department and give them details. According to our preliminary findings, they come in groups. They seem to focus on individuals for a period of time, then move on. They are still rare but increasing in frequency. As far as we can tell they’re temporary and harmless. We don’t know what causes them. News blogs haven’t gotten wind of it yet. The few people we’ve interviewed say they enjoyed them because they’re so vivid. Of course, some people have really bad … I’m prattling, aren’t I?”
“Maybe. Should we shut down all Transmats until we find out what’s going on?”
“Already blamed for wrecking the economy, unjustly I might add, you want to take away its last hope?”
Vince thought of the tent cities surrounding major metropolitan areas.
“Are we sure they’re not dangerous? It reminds me of some old vids where bad things happen with teleportation devices.”
“I’ve been assured by our top theoretical phycisists. These things are rare and there are no short-term effects. They think it may not even originate within the Transmat system but is simply the effect of an outside influence like solar flares.”
“That’s good. Long term effects?”
“It hasn’t been going on long enough to analyze long term effects.”
“I see. What else is new?”
“Updates on Enrique Ramirez.”
“Rigs up an antique space suit with Transmats and starts flying to the Moon. I like this guy.”
“We’ve got Lunacy One ready in orbit in case he gets in real trouble. We estimate if he keeps accelerating to midpoint he’ll reach the moon in about a day.”
“It was just a matter of time,” mused Vince, “If it hadn’t been Mr. Ramirez in a space suit, it would have been somebody else in a home-made spaceship made of beer cans trying to take his family on vacation to Mars. I hope like hell his suit holds up. Tell Lunacy One to break Earth orbit and approach to within a mile or two and be ready to take him into the cargo bay if he gets in trouble. Otherwise, they are to observe only. Warn him as he approaches midpoint he needs to turn around and start deceleration. I need to know two hours before he lands.”
“Sure. Why’s that?”
“We’re going to be there. The whole thing has kind of heroic ring to it, especially if he makes it. I’m going to offer him a deal for rights on the story and the suit. I will put it in the Vince Miller Space Travel Museum.”
“Boss, there is no Vince Miller Space Travel Museum.”
“That’s where you come in, Mark. I want you to handle the details on that. We’ll include a lot of Transmat information to go along with the main exhibit. It will be great publicity and a possible tax break. Ask legal.”
“I’ll get right on it,”
“Oh, issue a condemnation of his use of air as propellant. If everyone and their cat use air to squirt themselves around the solar system we’ll all be in big trouble eventually. The proper thing is to use heated carbon dioxide. Have someone send extra vacuum suits from the asteroid mine to our offices at the moon base.”
He wanted to keep his reputation for environmental concerns spotless. It was one of the few positive public images he had left. Lunacy One used Class one Transmat thrusters supplied with carbon dioxide solar-heated to 900° Fahrenheit. Vance believed it was the green thing to do. Several countries subscribed to Transmat for heated carbon dioxide to power their spaceship fleets, so it was smart business as well.
