Teleportation Research

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Below on this page is Part 3 of the science fiction story "The Prisoner of L2". In Part 2, Yōd already knew that the Connatic's daughter, Yurahs, was missing and presumed taken captive by space pirates. However, Yōd and the Editor are waiting for the public announcement of Yurahs' disappearance. 

While waiting, Yōd and the Editor discuss their first day at L2 and make plans for how to obtain information about the secret teleportation research project of the Whelm which is hidden in an asteroid mining facility. During her time inside the Asimov Reality Simulator with Azynov, Yōd has been learning how to efficiently make use of both the Bimanoid Interface version 2.0 and the developmental control nanites that she has in her body. 

The Mind Clone Network.

Yōd can use her nanites to alter her physical form and she is learning how to make use of the nanites to alter the behavior of other people. Yōd's mind is particularly well-versed in using the Bimanoid Interface version 2.0 because she had been constantly linked to the mind of her daughter since before Roxzel was born. Yōd believes that were she telepathically linked to the Editor by way of a shared orgasm trance then their three minds (Yōd's, her daughter's and the Editor's) might command enough telepathic power to allow them to search the memories of people working at the teleportation research center of L2.

Part 3 of The Prisoner of L2 (Part 1)(Part 2)

Yōd was relentlessly trying to seduce me into sharing an orgasm trance as a method of boosting our telepathic abilities. For the previous few years, she and I had been communicating telepathically while I was asleep and dreaming and I wanted to try that strategy there inside the Reality Simulator. It was mighty hard falling asleep under those conditions, particularly since I apparently had no real need to eat or sleep while I was inside the Simulator. Yōd kept telepathically sending me erotic suggestions, which I struggled to ignore.

We talked for hours about what Yōd and Azynov had already learned about the secret Whelm teleportation research project before I had arrived on Numenes. I commented, "I'm not sure what surprises me more, the fact that Bey knows nothing about the teleportation research facility here at L2 or that she is constantly monitored by the Whelm."

General Wylys.

Yōd had snuggled up beside me and she had a hand resting on my chest. Every few minutes her hand would move towards my genitals and I'd have to ask her to control herself. Yōd told me, "Azynov put it this way: a Whelm officer like Bey inside L2 is like a beacon, just asking for the attention of pirates who might try to infiltrate L2."

I suggested, "And Bey has the bad habit of reaching out and helping or doing favors for anyone at L2." I shoved Yōd's hand away from my crotch.

Yōd shifted so as to be flat on her back and she moved both of her hands to her own genitals. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore how she was giving herself pleasure. Only later would I learn that Yōd had been experimenting with oxypathin and that hormone had her in a state of continual sexual arousal. She told me, "Bey was quick to dive into a sexplay session with me, which was just what I needed after dealing with the lustful sexual advances of Captain Bolunz, Major Naquel and General Wylys."

Yōd had told me all about her brief visit to the new telepathy research station. I said, "I hope I get to meet General Wylys, she sounds like quite a gal."

"Oh, you'd lover her, but unless you could slip some nanites into her brain, she'd never respond to you sexually the way she did to me. When I took her inhibitions off-line, she got very friendly. Had she not been busy with an important meeting..."  Yōd casually placed a hand on my leg. "...working with her staff to get ready for the opening ceremony, she might have ravished me right there on Major Naquel's desk.

"You really enjoy using your nanites to take control of people, don't you?"

"It is a useful skill. However, each time I use my nanites to control someone, I think about the wisdom of not giving humans access to advanced technology. I can't imagine that Nyrtia would suddenly make teleportation available here in Alastor Cluster." Yōd swung a leg over mine and pressed the stiff glans of her clitoris against me.

I turned on my side, back to Yōd and warned her, "I'm not going to make love to you until we've tried our other options."

She complained, "You're so stubborn. You heard Azynov giving you the go-ahead to ravish me."

"Why doesn't he pop into this Simulation and provide you with an orgasm?"

"And while he did that, what would you do? Have a sexplay session with Bey and Elyas?" Yōd reached over and took hold of my penis.

I rolled off the bed and said, "Bey is cute, but I'm sure that Elyas would object to me making love to her." I took hold of my own semi-erect penis and said, "I can give myself an orgasm."

Yōd suggested, "Or you could make use of Bey's robot."

That household robot had appeared to be quite utilitarian. "Are you telling me that the household robots here in L2 are programed to function as sex bots?"

Helper robot at L2.

Yōd nodded and explained, "Here at L2, everyone has a helper robot, and yes, they each come equipped with two sets of genitals, one male, one female. Interchangeable parts."

I began thinking about the robot who had washed the dinner dishes in a new way. I checked the time and asked, "When is the announcement of Yurahs' disappearance going to be made?"

"It was made a short time ago. The news is now spreading through L2. I expect Bey to rush off to work soon." Just then I heard Bey run down the hallway outside the door of our bedroom. Yōd said, "There she goes."

I pulled on my pants, opened the door and stepped out in the hallway. Elyas was now coming down the hallway and he said, "Good morning."

I asked, "What's happening?"

"I'm not sure. I'm going to check the local news." I followed Elyas down to the first floor of the house and he turned on the news report. There was an image of the new mining facility and behind that big space station was a large piece of an asteroid.

Yōd came down the stairs, glanced at the news program and said, "What is that?"

The Pirates of Yrinna.

Elyas explained, "Yesterday after the opening ceremony, they brought in the first asteroid for processing by the new mining station."

The news reporters were speculating about the possibility that space pirates had arrived at L2 by concealing themselves in the asteroid. I asked, "Is that possible?"

"I don't see how." Elyas rubbed his chin and gazed at Yōd who was wearing only her seductive nighty. I could telepathically sense that Yōd was casually distracting Elyas with a steady stream of erotic suggestions sent into his mind. "These asteroid fragments are all lumps of iron-nickle. Out in the asteroid belt, a big asteroid is exploded into fragments. Only the metal rich parts are brought here, for extraction of the iridium and other rare elements. How could a pirate ship be hidden in a lump of iron?"

Half an hour later, we had learned nothing useful from the endless chatter of the L2 news team. Yurahs was missing and nobody seemed to be able to explain her disappearance. Yōd asked speculatively, "Teleportation?"

Elyas jerked his head and glared at Yōd as if he'd been struck. He said, "Maybe I should take you two to your hotel. I'd like to go into town and catch up on the rumor mill."

Yōd went back upstairs to dress. After watching Yōd's barely covered bottom go up the stairway, Elyas took my arm and said, "Take a look at this." He guided me into the flitter garage where two robots were assembling a third robot. "They've been working all night and are almost done. You and Yōd can take the new robot with you."

As single adults living at L2, both Bey and Elyas had their own personal robotic helper. Now those two robots were in the last stage of assembling another robot who would be able to assist Yōd and I with mundane tasks like carrying our luggage.

I asked, "How much does a robot cost?"

"There's no charge. Everyone living here at L2 has a helper robot. This is a community service. With the asteroid mine here and paying an endless stream of taxes, there is no shortage of public funds. L2 is one of the richest communities in the Cluster." Elyas pointed a control device at the newly assembled robot and it came to life. The machine said, "Robot NBS82734, ready for duty."

Elyas pointed at me and told the robot, "This is Eddy. Apply your efforts to meeting his needs and fulfilling his requests."

The robot took a step towards me and asked, "How may I serve you?"

I asked the machine, "Do you know where you are? Do you know the rooms in this house?"

The robot replied, "Of course. I know the floor plans of every station in L2."

"Then go upstairs to the guest bedroom and knock on the door. When you hear my wife, enter the room and get our two suitcases. Bring them here and load them into the flitter."

"Yes, sir." The robot turned and walked away. Elyas and I followed behind. Yōd was already coming down the stairs. The robot asked Yōd, "Are you Eddy's wife?"

Yōd glanced at me and we had a brief telepathic exchange then she told the robot, "Yes. Call me Yōd."

"I'll bring the two suitcases downstairs." The robot stood aside and waited for Yōd to come all the way down the stairway before it went to the upper floor. 

I told Yōd, "We now have a helper."

Yōd said, "How nice." She told Elyas, "Until I learned about L2, I had imagined that only special people like the Connatic have robotic servants."

Elyas said, "L2 is rather unique in this respect. We have plenty of money here, but limited space for people. There is always a labor shortage, so we make heavy use of robots for simple tasks and all the heavy lifting."

NBS82734 came back down the stairway, walked past us and took our bags to the garage. Elyas said, "I feel like a bad host to be kicking you two out in the middle of the night."

Yōd followed the robot into the garage while saying, "Don't feel bad. We thank you for your hospitality. We probably should have gone directly to our hotel yesterday and not imposed ourselves on you."

Reality Simulation

We got into the flitter. It was a tight fit with four passengers and the two suitcases. Elyas started up the flight systems and said, "I'm glad I got to hear your wild stories about Reality Simulation. I'm not really a fan of science fiction, but I'll be watching for your future novel about L2, Eddy."

I told Elyas, "I'll have to ask my agent about how to distribute novels here in Alastor Cluster. I've only ever dealt with the publishing process on Earth." Now as we moved towards the residential station that included our hotel, off in the distance I could see the looming bulk of the asteroid fragment that had recently been brought to L2. I asked, "How long will it take to reduce that asteroid to slag?"

Elyas was in one of the two front seats of the flitter and the robot was in back. Elyas looked back at NBS82734 and told the robot, "Answer Eddy's question."

The machine told me, "An asteroid fragment of this size should take about three months to be processed. However, that estimate is based on typical ore processing results at IPS1. IPS2 is new and might take a while to get up to full speed."

I told Elyas, "I can see that this robot will be very useful."

"Yes, new residents can learn about the L2 community quickly by questioning the robots. These helper robots are all linked by radio to a central computational center. You'll be impressed by the vast extent of their knowledge."

We flew into the hotel garage and NBS82734 quickly unloaded our suitcases and took them to the guest registration office. Elyas said, "The robot will get you checked in. I hope to see you two around. How long do you expect the be here at L2?"

simulation technology

Yōd replied, "We have no fixed schedule. It is quite pleasant here. This is a well-designed community and everyone is so friendly!" I could telepathically sense that Yōd was thinking about her sexplay session with Bey. "We might just stay for a little vacation." I could telepathically sense that Yōd was still sending erotic thoughts into Elyas' mind. "I hope you are not offended that Bey and I got caught up in some spicy sexplay yesterday at her office."

Elyas laughed, "Actually, that's the best evidence I have of the veracity of your crazy claim that we now are inside a simulation. Bey would never mix her police work with pleasure under normal circumstances. Even now, I can feel your telepathic suggestions impinging on my mind." He turned to me and said, "I hope it does not offend you, but I would not mind sharing some sexplay with your wife." He sat down in the pilot's seat. He seemed eager to go off about his business.

I shook Elyas' hand. "Thank you very much for the hospitality. Yōd and I are not really married... that's just a cover story. I like Yōd, but I've never had sex with her myself."

Yōd told Elyas, "When you have some spare time, or when you and Bey are both available, give me a call. I could go for a threesome with you two. Or it could be just you and me, as long as that would not make Bey jealous." Yōd held out her hand towards Elyas.

"Bey told me in exacting detail about your sexplay session yesterday. Bey is hoping for an encore performance." Elyas kissed Yōd's hand, closed the door of the flitter and then departed from the garage.  

Yōd and I went into the hotel lobby. NBS82734 was coming to find us. "All of your luggage is now up in your suite. There is a second robot there, unpacking your belongings."

I said, "Thank you, NBS." Not really knowing how to talk to the machine, I said, "I'm going to call you Fortran and the other robot will be Basic... names from my past."

Fortran gracefully accepted its new name. "Very well, sir. Allow me to show you the way to your suite."

Yōd said, "Not just now Forty, dear. Tell us how to obtain a flitter."

"The two flitters assigned for your use are now parked in the hotel garage."

I asked, "Is this another community service?"

Fortran led us into the garage while saying, "Yes, sir. Almost everyone moves from station to station in L2 by either personal flitter or the scheduled transport flights. It is mostly folks out drinking and partying who use the transport system. If your flitter detects alcohol on your breath, it will not let you use the flitter controls, not even in automatic mode. It would be dangerous to have impaired flyers moving among the stations, so drunks are restricted to the public transporters." Fortran pointed to two flitters in two adjacent parking bays. "A four-door and a two-door, both available for your use while you are visiting L2. When Yōd paid for your hotel suite, an upgrade to a four-door was included in the rental rate."

Yōd told Fortran, "Come with us, Forty." We got into the four-door flitter and Yōd sat in the pilot's seat. "Correct me if I do anything wrong, Forty. I watched Captain Bolunz do this yesterday and it seems simple enough." Soon Yōd had flown us out of the garage and we departed from the Brynkly Residential Station. However, Yōd was having trouble setting the autopilot. "I can't find the program code for travel to IPS1."

Fortran said, "That is not one of the public stations. Only miners have access to that flight program."

Yōd manually entered the transport code for IPS1 into the autopilot. Fortran asked, "How do you know that code?"

Yōd explained, "I did some research on L2 before coming here." Now up ahead of us, I could see the Iridium Processing Station steadily growing larger in the flitter's front view-port. Looming behind the station was a relatively small asteroid fragment, which I could only really see because it blocked out my view of the stars behind it.

A voice came through the data console of the flitter. "Please state your business. Your flitter is not authorized to visit this station."

Yōd said, "My name is Yōd Torus. I'm with my husband, Eddy. We have an appointment with CE Rahwel."

"Thank you. Park on the purple deck, in any of the bays with a flashing green light. Engineer Rahwel has been informed that you are tracking in."

I asked Yōd, "Did Azynov arrange for this visit?"

"Yes, he actually went back three months to initiate contacts with Chief Engineer Rahwel."

Fortran asked, "Who is Azynov?"

I told the machine, "Listen to me Fortran: please only speak when we ask you a question."

Yōd scolded me, "Don't be rude to the poor robot. He's only trying to help."

I commented, "With her voice, I'd say that Fortran is a she."

Yōd asked, "Forty, do you prefer to be called he or she?"

The robot replied, "I'm just an 'it' unless I'm ordered to adopt a particular social role for some special purpose such as sexplay. I can pretend to be either a man or a woman."

mining technology

We flew into the mining station's garage and the autopilot relinquished control to Yōd. She parked the flitter in one of the open bays on the purple deck. Emerging from the parking garage and entering into the adjacent lobby, Yōd and I were immediately met by Rahwel. "Welcome to IPS. Pardon me! I should say IPS1." Rahwel shook my hand and hugged Yōd. "I'm Rahwel and I recognize you both. Azynov sent me images of you three months ago. Nice to finally meet you Yōd, Eddy. You are up and about early!"

Rahwel was a curvaceous woman who had barely glanced at me and was holding Yōd's hand and leading us across the lobby. As we crossed the broad expanse of the lobby, I saw that there were many soldiers in Whelm uniform present, either standing at assigned guard posts or walking quickly through the lobby in small groups with determined and tense looks on their faces. It was also obvious that a soldier with a blaster rifle slung over his shoulder was following us. I asked Yōd telepathically: Do you really have to start in with your sexual telepathy tricks?

She replied: If I got any orgasms from you I'd be less inclined to go after women like Bey and Dyna. Yōd said, "What with the news, we couldn't sleep."

I could see in Yōd's mind that Rahwel's first name was Dyna. Dyna said, "Yes, all of L2 is in an uproar. I was questioned... apparently I'm a suspect in the disappearance of the Connatic's daughter. I'm told that I was with her only a half hour before she was abducted!"

I asked, "What? Yurahs was here?"

Dyna explained, "After the opening ceremony at IPS2, she came here for a visit. She's a materials scientist and wanted to see a set of functioning DREs. They still don't have the ore processing process operational at IPS2."

Yōd said, "Now I understand why there are so many soldiers swarming around this station."

Dyna glanced back at the guard who was following us. "Normally things are quite peaceful around here." Dyna led us through an archway and out onto an observation platform that had a spectacular view into the vast iridium processing facility. There were hundreds of small domes other structures all covered by one huge dome. For a minute she let us gaze upon the sprawling facility then said rather proudly, "With the DREs, we can process three megatons of raw ore each day."

Yōd turned her back on the railing. I could sense that she was having a serious fear reaction to the height and steep drop-off below the balcony that we stood on. Not being a fan of heights myself, I half turned to face Dyna. Yōd was gazing at Dyna's large breasts. "Very impressive."

I asked Dyna, "What is a DRE?"

"Sorry about the jargon, I thought you would know that!" 

"Remember, I'm from Earth. I know nothing about your space mining operations here in Alastor Cluster."

Dyna asked me, "Do you actually intend to write a novel about mining?"

I was impressed by Dyna's big protruding nipples where they jutted out against the fabric of her blouse. Clearly Yōd was successfully taking control of Dyna's thought processes. I replied, "I certainly intend to write a story about what Yōd and I discover here. I write science fiction... the asteroid mining will probably be a small part of the background for a story about space pirates."

"Ah, I understand." Dyna glanced at the guard. "Everyone is worried about space pirates." Dyna glared at me, seemingly angry that I had mentioned pirates. "I was going to warn you that only a few oddballs like myself are really interested in mining and ore processing. After the events of yesterday, we don't need any science fiction writers linking L2 to space pirates in some absurdly sensational way."

"But pirates are major issue here in the Cluster. You can't expect me to avoid that topic in my fiction." Yōd told me telepathically: Stop talking about pirates. You're upsetting Dyna and breaking up my control over her thought processes. I told Dyna, "I was trained as a biologist, so I have my own quirks and odd interests. Transportation is one. I was startled by the size of the asteroid that was brought over to IPS2 yesterday."

"That's about an average sized chunk. In the past, we've had significantly larger fragments here at this station. It is a rather random process when the intact asteroids are blasted into pieces, so fragment size varies."

Yōd asked, "Is there any upper limit to the size of fragments that are brought here to L2?"

"Oh, I suppose a really big chunk of iron would be a problem, but we've never reached that limit. I suppose the largest fragments are never considered for transport in from the belt. I don't really pay attention to that side of the process." Yōd had the front of her blouse unbuttoned and Dyna was enjoying the sight of Yōd graceful cleavage.

I repeated, "DRE?"

Dyna said, "Oh, yes." She glanced at me and giggled. "I got distracted. DRE stands for Dyna Rahwel Extractor. It is my claim to fame. The most efficient means of separating platinum from iridium. We need to meet exacting standards for purity. With my DREs, the whole process had been greatly sped up and the energy costs reduced."

Yōd was leaning against Dyna's body and now she reached out and brushed at Dyna's hair. "You seem quite young...  yet you are in charge of all this." She tipped her head sideways towards the processing facility.

Dyna pulled Yōd close to the edge of the balcony and pointed out into one part of the facility. "See that cluster of a dozen orange domes? They house the DREs. After I got them built and functioning efficiently, I was rewarded by being made Chief Engineer."

Yōd whispered to Dyna, "I don't like high places."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Dyna quickly guided Yōd away from the balcony and took us to an elevator which dropped us down about 40 levels. When we came out of the elevator car we walked down a short corridor and came to a glass wall that gave us a view into a big warehouse-like chamber. "There is the final goal of the ore processing. Those shipping crates contain the purified elements, mostly iridium. Yes, it is the iridium that pays the bills around here."

I was irritated by the way that Dyna continued to keep her arm around Yōd. Gazing through the window into that big warehouse, I could see about ten robots moving crates and possibly taking inventory. Just then, an alarm began to sound. A voice spoke over the station's warning system: "Red alert. All hands to defensive gun emplacements." The alarm continued to sound and the soldier who had been following us ran off quickly along the corridor.

Dyna finally took her arm off of Yōd and then she pulled a datpax out of her pocket and looked at its screen. A moment later she laughed and said, "This is silly."

Yōd moved close to Dyna and looked at the screen of the datpax. "What is it?"

Dyna put her arm around Yōd's shoulders. "Relax, my dear. There is an unidentified spacecraft out there, but it is tiny. It can't possibly be a threat to this station."

Yōd told me telepathically: That's Azynov's ship. He's creating a diversion. Yōd asked Dyna, "Can you take me to see the real shipment room?"

Dyna glanced out into the warehouse and stammered, "How do you know about..." Dyna looked at Yōd with dismay and uncertainty painted on her face.

Yōd explained, "I know that this station uses teleportation to send the purified iridium to Numenes. I'd like to see the teleportation room." At that moment, Dyna's eyes rolled up in their sockets and she collapsed. Yōd grabbed Dyna's limp body and eased her to the floor. Yōd told me: She's fighting my mind control. Give me a hand getting her back on her feet.

I put my arms around Dyna and hoisted her upright. Yōd said, "Give me a second to get her motor systems back online." Dyna's leg muscles stiffened and she began to support her own weight. The emergency alarm continued to sound and the robots in the warehouse continued to go about their work. Yōd told me, "Okay, let her go."

Dyna began walking rather awkwardly and I could see that her eyes were back to normal. She walked away from the row of windows and headed down the corridor. Yōd and I followed behind Dyna and she led us to where that corridor ended in a T intersection with a perpendicular intersecting corridor. Rather than turn right or left, Dyna placed a hand on the wall. The ceiling retracted and slid away to reveal the level above us. Suddenly, our artificial gravity weakened. Dyna jumped up to the next level. Yōd and I looked at each-other then we jumped. Without waiting for us, Dyna was going back down that upper corridor in the direction we had just come from. We followed along and then Dyna opened a door and led us into another room that was quite large, just like the warehouse that was now one level below us. However, in addition to some robots and crates, there were a several low platforms spread out at about a dozen locations around this room. Those platforms were the center of the robotic activity as they first placed a crate on a platform then a minute later returned to haul away the crate. I asked Yōd, "Teleportation?"

Yōd replied, "Yes, they are using teleportation to send the purified iridium to Numenes."

"Why didn't you tell me that they already have functional teleporters?"

"Azynov has been busy doing research and passing what he learns along to me. As he obtains useful information, he shares it with me." Yōd gestured towards the nearest teleportation pad and explained, "Each of these teleporters is tuned for one specific element. This kind of teleportation won't work for something as complex as a person."

"I see." Suddenly the story from the Writers Block made more sense. I thought about The French Notebook and how it had mentioned the 'tuning of teleportation equipment', but I had not understood what that meant. Now the emergency alarm stopped sounding. Yōd told me telepathically: I'm going to pull my nanites out of Dyna's brain.

Dyna's body started swaying from side to side. Her hand went to her head and then she turned, glanced briefly at me then told Yōd, "This use of teleportation is top secret. Yet somehow you knew..."

A Whelm officer came towards us and he was followed by two soldiers with blast rifles. He said, "You are under arrest."

Dyna said, "Let me explain, Captain..." Dyna fell silent and seemed to be trying to figure out how we had made our way to the teleportation chamber.

I later learned that his name was Captain Derskyt. He demanded, "Well?"

Dyna said, "There's something strange going on. Are we under attack? What happened to that pirate ship?"

Captain Derskyt shook his head. "It was very strange. Those little ships kept popping up all around us, but then they disappeared before our gunners could fire."

Yōd giggled.

Captain Derskyt looked at Yōd and asked, "What's funny?"

I could telepathically sense that Yōd was now working to befuddle Derskyt. Yōd moved right in front of the Captain and and pleaded theatrically, "Oh, Captain, please don't be harsh. I meant no harm." I had to chuckle when I saw that Yōd was using her medical nanites to force her body to generate tears.

Derskyt reached out and wiped a tear off of Yōd's cheek. "I'm not angry with you, my dear." He looked at Dyna and said, "You better have a good explanation for allowing these two to see what goes on in this room."

But Captain!" Dyna stammered, "You... you can't seriously suspect me... I'm under constant observation... how could I have any connection to space pirates or the disappearance of Yurahs?"

Derskyt said, "No, I don't think you a associated with pirates, but I don't understand your behavior. You are in big trouble." The Captain spoke to one of the soldiers, "Take the Torus couple to my office." I realized that the other soldier was the one who had previously been following Dyna. Dyna was taken in one direction by Derskyt and we were led away in the opposite dierection with a blast rifle at our backs. Now Yōd began exerting her seduction and mind control efforts against our guard.

After a five minute walk we were brought into a room where there was a little tram car. The soldier said, "Get in." Yōd and I sat together and the soldier got into the seat behind us. The tram took us through a tunnel for about a minute and then emerged in another part of the Station. The guard led us to an office that had "Captain Derskyt" on the door. When we stepped into the office, the soldier asked, "Can I get you anything?"

I turned and looked at the guard and could see her stiff nipples poking out against the blouse of her uniform. Yōd asked, "Tell me, if we are under arrest, what are the charges?"

The guard shrugged and said rather uncertainly, "I'm not sure... you were in a part of the station that I believe is only intended for use by robots and is off-limits for people... even Dyna."

Yōd had moved very close to the soldier. "What's you name?"

"Jayn."

Yōd casually rested a hand on Jayn's blast rifle, "It makes me uneasy to have soldiers pointing blaster at me."

The guard lowered the rifle and said, "Sorry about that."

Captain Derskyt came into his office and said, "That's all, Hensyn! Dismissed!"

Jayn hurried out of the room, closing the office door as she departed. Derskyt sat down behind his desk and gestured towards two chairs. Yōd and I sat down. The Captain told us, "We're going to have company in just a minute. Doc Chalmert wants to talk to you. We're also going to have to figure out what to do with you two now that you know about the teleporters."

Yōd said, "Captain, I knew about the teleporters before I-"

There was a knock at the door. Derskyt called out, "Come in!"

'Doc' Chalmert came in and sat down in the chair beside Yōd. She told Derskyt, "I watched the surveillance video while I flitted over here." Chalmert briefly turned her penetrating eyes on first Yōd then me. "What do you think is going on?"

Captain Derskyt rubbed he eyes and sighed. "We know these two are telepaths. They must be really good telepaths." He pointed at Yōd. "I can feel her inside my mind, pushing her thoughts into me."

Chalmert placed a hand on Yōd's arm and closed her eyes. "Her mind does not resonate with mine, but I can feel her pushing at me." Chalmert opened her eyes and told Yōd, "Allow me to introduce myself. I work at IPS2. We were very busy yesterday, so I missed you. I saw a report about your arrival in L2 and I wanted to meet you when you were visiting the General, but..." Chalmert shrugged. "I now seriously regret missing you. I'll try to make up for my error now." Chalmert told Captain Derskytm "Norberek is here."

Derskytm was rising from his chair when there was another knock on the door. Derskytm opened the door and said, "Come in, sir. Chalmert just got here."

Chalmert smiled at Norberek and said, "Hello, Hyryld!"

Hyryld Norberek bent down and kissed Chalmert on the cheek. "Long time no see." Norberek sat in the remaining chair near me and Captain Derskytm went back behind his desk. 

Derskytm remained standing and spoke to Norberek. "I'm sorry, sir, I have no excuses. This was a horrible breach of security. I don't really understand how it could have happened unless these two are more powerful telepaths than we suspected."

Norberek waved a hand casually at Derskytm. "Relax, Captain. This whole exercise was not your idea. In fact, now that I think about it, you objected the entire proposal and warned about the risks of running this stress test." Norberek asked Chalmert, "What's your assessment of their telepathic abilities?"

Captain Derskyt sat down again, seemingly relieved to not be blamed for the security lapse. Chalmert was looking back and forth between me and Yōd. "I might be wrong, Hyryld, but I don't think they are super powerful telepaths who could have made Dyna show them the teleportation equipment."

Norberek asked, "What else, then? Dyna is no traitor."

Chalmert folded her hands in her lap and smiled uncertainly at Yōd. "Would you like to tell us what is going on?"

Yōd replied, "Maybe we can make a deal for information exchange... but first we should have introductions." Yōd turned to Norberek and asked, "Who are you, sir?"

Captain Derskyt said, "This is Hyryld Norberek, Director of Research." Derskyt nodded towards Chalmert and said, "This is Doc Chalmert, Director of Research."

Chalmert giggled and told Yōd, "Call me Evy. I have a doctorate in psychiatry, but that's irrelevant."

Realities

Yōd said, "Correct me if I'm wrong. Dr. Norberek, you are head of the teleportation research project and you have a doctorate in engineering. And Evy is the director of the new genetics research project."

"That's correct. But who are you?" Evy asked, "Are you two really from Earth? I've visited Earth, and I did not hear people speaking on Earth with your kind of strange accent. And I've never felt mind patterns like yours... I'd almost say you must be aliens. I suppose we should process your genomes for analysis."

Yōd held up her hand, "Please, don't treat us like lab animals. I'll explain why we are here, but I doubt if you will believe the truth when you hear it."

Hyryld crossed his arms, chuckled and said, "Try me."

Yōd said, "First of all, I want you to understand that Eddy and I are from outside of this Simulation. When we complete our mission here, we'll depart. You need not worry that we can change anything about this Reality. The world you know, everything you've ever known is now only a simulation, a virtual world made active to help Eddy and I learn about our past. That's why we are here, so that Eddy and I can learn if Nyrtia altered the course of technological developments here in Alastor Cluster."

I saw that Hyryld was rubbing his chin and his eyes had rounded up. He was staring intently at Yōd and I wondered if Yōd was trying to control his mind. Evy asked, "Nyrtia?"

"R. Nyrtia." Yōd explained, "Nyrtia is a very sophisticated robot. Eddy and I are investigated the possibility that Nyrtia secretly boosted teleportation technology here." Yōd shook her head in wonder. "It must be true... how else can I explain the successful development of teleportation here at this station? Humans were systematically deprived of advanced technologies here in this Reality."

Evy said, "Slow down, girl. What do you mean when you say 'this Reality'?"

Yōd threw up her hands. "Forget I mentioned that." Yōd pointed at Hyryld and said, "Dr. Norberek, do you have something to say."

Hyryld Norberek replied, "This is quite strange. I do feel compelled to tell you..." He fell silent.

Evy asked Yōd, "Are you telepathically compelling Hyryld to tell you his secrets?"

Yōd explained, "I'm not that good a telepath. However, I think I'd be interested to hear what Dr. Norberek can tell me about the history of the teleportation research project."

Hyryld said, "Yes, all I know is ancient history. We've made no progress in teleportation technology during my lifetime. It is frustrating. But I must say, the history of teleportation technology and how it got to its current status is mysterious. This is a problem common to all top secret projects. Important information gets hidden, even from those who need it." Hyryld made an aside to Captain Derskyt, "Since the Battle of Yrinna, security has become a burden and is disrupting my ability to maintain the scientific staff."

Captain Derskyt said, "Sorry Doc, but we can't allow security risks to remain embedded in your project. It is my job to root out all the bad apples. If pirates infiltrated our secret military projects then the Whelm would loose its slim technological advantage over the space pirates. We can't let Alastrid civilization go down that dismal path..."

"You punch at shadows!" Hyryld waved a hand dismissively at the Captain and turned back to Yōd. "Tell me you lady, where did you meet Nyrtia, on Earth?"

Yōd spoke excitedly, "So you do know her?"

Hyryld held up his hand with the palm towards Yōd. "Please, just answer my question."

"Well, that's a tough one. I think I first heard about Nyrtia from Eddy. Back when we were on Earth. However, I only met her after I came to Alastor Cluster."

Hyryld asked, "You saw Nyrtia recently?"

"Not very recently. About a year ago."

"I see." Hyryld looked at Evy and said, "Nyrtia is part of the ancient lore here at the telepathy project. I've never actually believed these myths..."

"Yes, I recall the Nyrtia myth." Evy suggested, "Maybe there is a small element of truth in the old tales."

Hyryld told Yōd, "One version of the myths says that a mysterious woman named Nyrtia was the one who gave Frenchyhysur the idea of building a teleportation buffer."

I was not sure what Dr. Norberek had said. "Frenchyhysur?"

Evy said, "Dr. Frenchyhysur was the scientist who conceived of the first method building a high-capacity quantum computer. The Frenchyhysur memory bank gave everyone hope that practical teleportation might be achieved."

Hyryld added, "And if high resolution virtual realities were possible, I suppose they would need that kind of high-capacity memory also."

Yōd said, "It is true, Dr. Norberek, everything you are experiencing is a Simulation. And Nyrtia is an expert at making use of Reality Simulators. However, let's try to stay focused on teleportation technology."

Hyryld chuckled and waved his hand at Yōd. "Sorry, I just can't believe that we are in a simulation. I feel completely alive, totally normal. Anyhow, back to the facts, as best we know them..." He nodded to Evy. "Sadly, what we know of the origins of teleportation is clouded by dubious science lore and myth. The story goes that a strange woman named Nyrtia showed Frenchyhysur how to make a hierion memory bank. But that, in itself, did not solve the teleportation problem. It is the dream of many! They dream that if we could use a teleportation buffer to store the atomic pattern for a ton of iridium then we'd never again have to bring another asteroid here for processing. We could simply duplicate that one ton of iridium endlessly. However, the energy requirements for that would be enormous, so, dreamers aside, it remains most economical to keep mining the asteroids."

Yōd said, "I think I understand. When you teleport a ton of iridium to Numenes, there is energy that comes from the iridium sample itself."

"Exactly right! The transmitting teleportation terminal here converts the iridium into energy; hierions that are transmitted to Numenes. All that vast amount of energy is then recovered at a receiving teleportation terminal and used to reconstitute the iridium atoms on Numenes. Of course, because of entropy, the teleportation process is not 100% efficient. It actually costs us more energy to teleport iridium than it would cost to transport it by conventional space freighter, but teleportation is preferred by the Whelm because it is less susceptible to space pirate hijackings."

Yōd asked, "How long ago did Frenchyhysur live?"

"Over a thousand years ago. It is shameful. We've made no significant advances in teleportation since his time."

I suggested, "Maybe this explains what happened to Yurahs."

Everyone looked at me with puzzled expressions on their faces. Yōd asked me telepathically: What do you mean?

I asked Dr. Norberek, "Why isn't teleportation used to transport people?"

Norberek explained, "For energy efficiency, a teleporter has to be tuned to one particular element. And if even more than a few stray atoms of other elements are present as contaminants, the teleportation energy cost becomes exorbitant. Also, when we teleport iridium to Numenes, the atoms all get scrambled. That does not matter for a purified transport sample, but that sort of atomic mixing would be catastrophic for the viability of a living organism."

"You've never even tried to teleport an experimental animal?"

"I believe that back when teleportation was first developed, a few such experiments were performed. I don't know the details. However, I know that teleportation kills living things... even bacteria don't survive being teleported... they get disrupted at the molecular level." Norberek sighed and shook his head. "So you see, Yurahs could not have been teleported."

Yōd suggested, "Unless Nyrtia came back to Alastor Cluster and gave someone the next advance in teleportation technology."

Evy said, "And you saw Nyrtia only a year ago... here in the Cluster?"

In reply to Evy's question Yōd nodded, but I shook my head and said, "It really makes no sense. Even if someone has the ability to teleport humans, why would they only use that technology to kidnap Yurahs?"

Captain Derskyt suggested, "Well now, maybe it was assassination. Someone teleported Yurahs, killing her."

Dr. Norberek jumped to his feet. He took a datpax out of his pocket. We all watching him as he manipulated the datpax. After a minute he said, "This is terrible!"

Evy stood up and put a hand on Hyryld's shoulder. "What is it?"

Dr. Norberek put his datpax back in his pocket and sat down. "Yesterday, I had just shown Yurahs the new experimental J7 teleporter..." He fell silent and seemed to be reviewing the events of the previous day in his mind.

Evy nodded and said, "We have ten of the J7s at IPS2. Dr. Lestho is using them for the genome diversity archive project."

I asked, "Genome archive?"

Evy explained, "We are starting to get swamped in genome data. We can't sequence everything that we'd like to sequence until we develop better memory storage and data processing systems. Actually, the main limitation is on the processing side. We need faster quantum computation! That will come in the future, but for now we are archiving all available DNA samples."

"In teleportation buffers?"

"Yes. Our hope is that in the future we will be able to pull DNA out of the J7 buffer memory without any loss of the DNA atomic structure. For now, we can easily store DNA away using the J7s. Hopefully in the future, we'll solve the atom scramble problem and be able to access all the preserved DNA samples."

Dr. Norberek said, "But who knows how long we will have to wait before someone learns how to make big leaps in quantum computers? We have not been able to solve the atom scramble problem despite ten centuries of effort. Some claim it is a problem inherent in quantum uncertainty and will never be solved."

I telepathically told Yōd: Try to open up Norberek's mind. He's not telling us everything.

Yōd had spread her limited supply of nanites out between Evy, Hyryld and Captian Derskyt, trying to get cooperation from all three of them. Now she sent all of the nanites into Dr. Norberek's brain. She asked him, "What happened with your J7 teleporter yesterday?"

Norberek's lips trembled and for a minute he said nothing. Sweat began to roll off his brow. He took out a cloth and wiped his face. 

Yōd told me: He's resisting!

Finally, Norberek said, "I...  we were in my research lab with Yurahs. My whole research team was there, answering her questions. She's really quite astute! She was asking great questions. When the visit was over, she asked to go to the restroom. She'd been on the go for hours and..." Dr. Norberek shrugged. "She went off with her robot and never came back." Norberek's eyes filled up with tears. "The robot was questioned. It is as if Yurahs went to urinate and then disappeared."

Evy asked, "The robot saw nothing? Heard nothing?"

Hyryld nodded. "Yurahs was no more than ten feet away from the robot at any time, but the robot noticed nothing."

I was trying to think through the steps of the teleportation process. I said, "For the iridium teleporters, the crates were placed on platforms..."

Yōd asked, "Can a J7 teleporter work without a transmitter platform?"

Evy replied, "J7 teleporters are memory storage devices. There is no transmitter."

Yōd placed her hand on Hyryld's arm and asked, "What data did you access with your datpax?"

Hyryld again pulled the device out of his pocket. He looked at the display screen and rubbed his chin. "It is very strange. Just about the time that Yurahs disappeared, there was a surge of energy use by the J7 unit in my lab."

I said, "That's it."

Evy said, "That's not possible. Who would have..."

Captian Derskyt demanded, "Who could have activated the J7?"

Dr. Norberek told the Captain, "Anyone in my lab group. But there were a dozen of us standing there. We were talking about how wonderful it was to have met a member of the royal family."

Captian Derskyt said, "Someone on your team is a traitor. Probably a pirate infiltrator. We'll have to interrogate all of you, but I'll get to the bottom of this!"

Dr. Norberek objected, "I don't see how it could have been done. That J7 has no targeting system. It has never been used to teleport an object that is located outside of the lab. We have a little glass box where we place targets for our experiments..." Norberek's hands were shaking badly and he was sweating profusely.

Yōd told me: Norberek does not want to believe the truth! 

I asked, "Dr. Norberek, tell me, what is experimental about this J7? What exactly is the nature of your research?"

"We're trying to solve the atom scramble problem. We use microcircuits as our test targets. After they have been teleported they go into an analyzer that quickly counts the number of faults that have been created in the nano-scale transistors of the test chip. As I said, we've made no progress. If somehow the J7 was used on Yurahs..." Dr. Norberek threw his hands in the air.

Yōd asked, "What if Yurahs is still inside the teleportation buffer? How could you tell?"

"Holding a person in the buffer would take up a vast amount of memory... we could tell."

Hierion Domain (image info)

"Can you check on it?"

"It is a decryption problem. Our memory buffer circuits have a holographic nature. The actual data is located in the Hierion Domain, but we could probe the hierion memory modules. We'd be able to detect if something was in there!"

Captian Derskyt asked, "If the Connatic's daughter is in the buffer, could you bring her out?"

"Yes, but she'd be dead. Her atoms would get scrambled."

"Well, we better find out." Captian Derskyt muttered, "If Yurahs is in the buffer she's trapped, like a prisoner!"

Next: Part 4 of The Prisoner of L2.

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