Carley Ch. 11 - Alternate Version

"There's one very big problem with the both the transportation and industrial aspects, though," I continued. "Millions of people make their living in the transportation business. If we flood the market with a cheap, fast, easy transportation alternative, those people would be out of work, their companies would fail and the economic fallout would be catastrophic. The same thing goes for all the other industries that would be wrecked if our process was dumped on the market without any consideration for the results. We might all get rich, but we'd do it at the expense of tens of millions of ruined lives. That's not going to happen." I stepped forward to the edge of the platform. "If you want to license this process, you're going to have to agree to introduce it slowly. Not only that, but you're going to have to make sure the public knows that it'll be introduced slowly and why. You're going to have to agree to sell the rights for manufacturing and installing the booths to the companies that will be damaged the most. Using this process is going to be hugely profitable and it's only right that those companies get a chance to stay in business and continue to employ their people. If that means you'll have to wait thirty years to get the full benefit of this process, that's just tough. We're going to ease this into the market and we're going to minimize it's negative effects as much as possible." I pause and shook my head. "Frankly, I expect that it won't take very long at all for people to realize the long-term implications of this invention. Airline stocks, automobile stocks, oil company stocks and many others are sure to drop. If any of you own these stocks and are thinking about selling them, I'd advise against it. We all live in countries with 'insider trading' laws. If you're smart, you'll keep your mouths shut about this, take your losses and stay out of prison."

I stepped back and handed the mic to Thor.

"You may ask how this device can be protected from reverse engineering. That's a serious problem and one to which we've given a lot of thought. No one wants the Chinese or anyone else to rip this process off, ignore our patent rights and start cranking out teleportation booths. No one wants a bunch of terrorists to install a booth in a rented apartment in London or New York or Delhi and send a ton of high explosives in from a couple of thousand miles away. Fortunately, we've designed the system so that it's impossible to use without going through a remote server. Also fortunately, the server doesn't have to be anywhere near the booths it's serving. Due to quantum factors, distance simply isn't an issue. If it was, we'd have the problem of guarding thousands or tens of thousands of servers scattered all over the world, making security a nightmare. We don't intend for this device to be used for crime or terror, so we'll retain the responsibility of securing the servers. Critical hardware won't be available outside the server facility. The facility won't be accessible through the Internet. Security must be airtight and that means that Jack and I will have the final say on security procedures. We intend to hire people who have made their living breaking into high-value, inaccessible areas and doing sabotage, such as former Navy SEALS, Delta Force operators and British Special Boat Service commandos. We'll have them try to break in, to test our security. There will be no negotiation on this issue. It'll be done our way or there's no deal."

Thor and I looked hard at the faces in our audience. They all reflected the gravity of the issue and no hands went up.

Thor nodded, satisfied with the reaction. "Each booth will have a digitally coded GPS location. If a booth is moved, the server won't recognize it and it'll be useless. The hardware and software built into a booth won't give anyone who steals one any useful information. The booths don't need much except communication circuitry and a connection to the clear coating inside the booth. Servers will do all the real work."

I took the mic. "And now we come to the fun part; money." I smiled. "The buy-in for this process is going to be five billion US dollars. In addition, we'll receive $2000 for each booth that's installed and 5% of the gross revenue generated. We'll have our own accountants and investigators checking the books and monitoring the installs." I smiled again. "Your contracts will contain ridiculously high penalties for trying to cheat us. This is going to bring in more money than any of us has seen before. Once the booths are installed, each use will cost your companies almost nothing. If you charge a penny for each teleport, virtually the entire fee will be profit. You could reasonably charge the equivalent of a US dollar or a Euro. There's no need to get greedy." I pointed to a line of folders along the front of the stage. "Your contracts are right here. Look them over and ask any questions you like. If we're still going at noon, we'll all take a lunch break, but be advised, we want an answer today. If you don't have the authority to make the decision, you'll have to call someone who does."

Thor stood beside me. "Any questions?" I asked. Every hand went up.

Eight years later, Carley and I were sitting in a spacious dining room at Thor's estate in the forest outside Helsinki with Thor and his wife Taava. Carley and I had just "ridden" the teleport chain from Orlando, north to Alaska, taken the newly completed chain across the Bering Strait and Siberia to St. Petersburg and then flicked around the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki. We'd had to "change planes" seven times, but the whole trip had taken just six hours. Four and a half hours had been spent walking to our next connection and waiting for "takeoff". It's funny how the old terms survived the fall of the airlines.

We'd badly misjudged public reaction to teleportation. As soon as people got it through their heads that their bodies weren't going to be ripped into a stream of sub-atomic particles and squirted through a wire, they not only accepted the new technology, they demanded it, right now! Despite our best efforts, some of the world's biggest, most important industries crashed and burned. Who's going to buy a car if it'll be useless in a few years? That attitude destroyed many a company. We did our best to compensate, setting up free training schools for folks whose jobs disappeared and giving them aid until they could find new jobs. It cost us billions and we saved a lot of families from bankruptcy, but we couldn't save them all. I doubt we saved even a third of them.

One industry that survived at a reduced level was the automobile industry. People still need cars and trucks, especially if they live in rural areas. Even in suburban areas, you need to drive to the grocery store and to shopping centers and restaurants. It's more convenient to drive than to drag your purchases into and out of a booth and then walk from the last booth to your home in the rain. You still want to visit your friends and get to the gym. Businesses need delivery vehicles and repairmen need something to haul their parts and equipment in. The golf cart industry boomed in suburban neighborhoods, with cleverly designed, closed carts that zip around on jogging paths and in bike lanes, powered by hydrogen teleported out of sea water. Sedan and sports car racing has become surprisingly popular. Large crowds flock to "track days" to push their otherwise idle cars around closed courses, often set up at abandoned airports, at high speeds. Still, the economic fallout was pretty grim. Train, bus and subway stations are now filled with our booths. Subways were "mined" for the steel in their rails. We did our best. You do what you can and you live with the consequences.

Some industries got a big boost. The critical fresh water shortage was easily solved with huge booths moored offshore flicking tens of millions of gallons of pure water to inland reservoirs every few seconds. Teleport chains move the water to wherever it's needed. Now, agriculture booms in areas where it used to be impossible to grow anything.

Thor raised his glass. "To the two of you. May you have many more anniversaries together." We clinked our glasses. Carley and I had been married for three years and were celebrating with a long trip around Scandinavia. We were meeting at Thor's estate because sitting in a restaurant surrounded by Thor's heavy security, mixed with our own is insanely awkward. Finland considers him a "national treasure". There have been eleven serious attempts at kidnapping or killing him and thousands of lesser threats. Being the only man on Earth who truly understands a priceless phenomena has its downsides.

Carley and I have similar problems. The day after our demonstration, Homeland Security grabbed all three of us, just as we'd expected. They weren't happy to let us go, but our security plans finally convinced them. Also, the fact that Thor was so highly regarded and so well connected politically and socially in Finland meant that they couldn't hold him without creating a serious international incident. Because of my work in the space program, I have a Top Secret clearance and a spotless reputation at NASA. Part of the deal we made was that they'd handle security of the servers and provide constant, close security for us. We've lost count of the number of bomb threats and actual attacks that have been thwarted over the years. The only bright spot is that Homeland Security has been alerted to virtually all the threats by people who were on our side. We have enormous fan clubs in every country. Win some, lose some.

One of the things we won was a Nobel Prize in physics. One of the things we lost was my house in Florida. A terrorist flew a stolen Piper Comanche carrying an IED into my bedroom, blowing the crap out of the house and burning it to the ground. According to the rambling video he left, I'd offended Allah or Mohammed or somebody. Carley and I were on an elk hunt in British Columbia at the time. We got two nice bulls. The attack wasn't a total surprise and all our irreplaceable stuff (except for my piano, damnit!) was stored in five big fireproof safes. My new place is on the grounds of Patrick Air Force Base. The government supplied the land and I paid for the house. It's a quick teleport from the house to a secure building across the base where our servers are located.

The three of us spend most of our time working to mitigate the social and economic effects of our invention. We've hired a lot of help, but it's still a full time job.

"Hey Jack," said Thor. "I've got a little project you might be interested in. You know the 'warp drive' that's used in Star Trek movies? Well, I think I know how to make a real one!"

Carley buried her face in her hands. "Oh crap!" she mumbled. "Here we go again!"

John Lisbeth

Viera, Florida

December 2015