The corridor was dark, clinical, she could tell it was clean, she could smell the disinfectant, but, at eleven fourty-five pm, the lights were out. There was a dim glow from the door she had been directed towards at reception and she slowly, almost hesitantly, made her way towards it. She paused a moment in the light that seeped through the crack of the door, after all, why had he stood her up? Was he really likely to want to see her now? But she needed the story. Her editor had dropped her onto perhaps the biggest scoop in, not the city, the world. Straight out of Uni. and onto this. It had taken a while for the importance of her situation to fully dawn on her but now, well she wasn't about to let one failed dinner arrangement put her off.
		The sound of her heels on the hard tiles made him aware of her. He leapt up. "I'm so glad you're here. Watch this. Here!" His enthusiasm overwhelmed her "Now you see this" He held up a small peanut. "I'll put it on here," He placed the nut on a large glass disc, about six foot in diameter. "you watching!" "Yes, yes I am" She stammered her reply, utter confusion had overtaken her.
		He pressed some keys on a console and seemed to suddenly forget she was there. The peanut looked rather pathetic against the relative vastness of the disc. He pressed another key and said "Go" under his breath. Latent anticipation seemed to build up within him. He just stared intently at the peanut.
		"C'mon.." The disc lit up and something seemed to rotate beneath it, it was hard to tell. All the machines in the room started to hum. "I can't see the nut, with all that light. What's happening?" "Sshh! Watch." The noise was louder. "C'mon over here" He pressed another key and then ran to the other end of the laboratory. "Watch this!"
		Another, identical, glass disc started to glow. Something beneath it, again, seemed to turn but it was hard to tell. The light was bright, the humming almost intrusive, oppressive. "It's too loud." She felt rather weak covering her ears, "I'll have to leave" she shouted, turning towards the door. "Wait!" He grabbed her arm tightly restraining her. "You must watch!" She was frightened, she was not the type to scare easily, but here she was. Was it the noise, the light, or his obsessiveness? "There, look!" He pointed to the middle of the disc. "I can't see anything." But then, suddenly she could. The light started to fade, the noise died, but in the centre of the disc, as in the centre of the other, was a peanut. He leapt back to the other end of the lab. and screamed with excitement. "Yes, yes, it works. It works! don't you see, look!"

		She looked over to where he pointed and noticed, or rather didn't notice, the peanut. She shivered. "It's gone." "You fool. It hasn't gone, its there, in front of you. Pick it up, eat it, it's real!" "No." She was frightened again. She could not quite get to grips with what she had seen. "Go on. Its only a peanut it won't bite." She hesitated still. He came over, picked up the nut, split it and gave half to her. "Look, I'll have half," he put the piece of nut in his mouth, chewed it and swallowed. "And you have the other." He stared intently at her, a penetrating stare that almost made you do what he wanted just to make him stop looking at you like that. "Alright." She quickly shoved the nut in her mouth and gulped it down. she coughed.
		"You should have chewed that. Would you like a glass of water?" "No thanks. I'm fine." "Sure."
		She shivered again, perhaps she wasn't cut out for this after all. University does not prepare you for life in this way. She had expected some sort of crackpot with another 'rabbit out of the hat' trick but this, well this was just too convincing.
		"Er. Doctor Lybna?" "Look I'll explain how it works." "Oh good. Are you Doctor Lybna?" She managed to force some complacency into her voice, "Of course I am, who did you expect to find? "Noone... well, you... Look, can we come down to Earth for a minute. What I just saw. Are you for real? I mean, its a pretty neat trick you've got going, I almost believed you for a minute there."
		"A minute," he laughed, " you do believe me. I can tell you do. You don't want to but you can't help it. Its infallible. You believe me because there is nothing to suggest what you just saw didn't happen, and that's because it did. That's good though, very good." He seemed to drift slightly into one of his dream-like states. "Why?" "What?" "Why is that good?" "Because, sweet-heart, if you're doing this story on me I want it done well, by someone who believes in me if possible. It has to be fair at least, and the more you believe in me, the fairer it will be. Look, let me show you." Doctor Lybna strolled back to his console. "Up until now scientists have been content with simply sending protons from one end of the lab. to the other," he was leaning over a computer, staring intently into the screen. "They didn't think you could transport complex matter because of the amount of information needed in order to rebuild the object exactly as it was.
		He turned to see if she was following. The fluorescent light glinted on her brown hair, he hadn't noticed that before, or her dark eyes, almost mysterious, hiding her soul. "You see, I don't transport matter, I transport information." "I see."

		"Do you? I found that instead of recording the location of every atom, every cell, organ, whatever; that would take eons to record let alone galaxies of room for the information to be stored. Every one had been looking too deep. Its fine for simple machines, it still works, but for the more complex organic matter its in the DNA." "Oh. I see" "I have found a way of recording all the information in the DNA, the blue-print for organic matter, it states exactly what an object should look, taste and behave like. I can transmit the information to the other computer and the object is made using the atoms at the other end." "Like a clone." "Exactly, except the energy holding the subject together is transported to be used to hold the new atoms together at the destination point. So the object is broken down into the basic atoms during the reading process so there can never be any copies."
		"I'm going to have to run an interview to get all this down." "How about dinner?" He looked at her with his intent stare, she knew she could not refuse him, besides, he had caught her fascination now. She was interested, not solely in the science he blurted out, but in the doctor himself. "How do I know you'll come, you stood me up once already you know." "Oh," He paused as if searching back for some forgotten file in his data-banks. "Kate, isn't it?" "Yes. You remember then." "My dear, you must forgive me. But understand my excitement, I only transported the first piece of organic matter this afternoon. Its all moving so quickly. I'm making, have made history. The implications of this are astonishing, it will revolutionise transport, space travel maybe time-travel; who knows." He was eulogising in a dream again. "The implications are, Doctor Lybna, that I may be stood up at a restaurant again tomorrow." "No, that won't happen, I want to share my story and you're the best way. I'll be there, same place at seven?" "Fine."
		She left, and the lab. went silent again. Doctor Lybna sat back in his chair and sighed. He had a long way to go but he had discovered the way and he had taken a massive step toward his goal.
		* * *
		The corridor was dark; long, damp and dark. She could smell the disinfectant on the walls. A janitor was mopping the floor and gave her a long, piercingly intent toothless grin as she passed. The door she was making for was slightly ajar and the sound of the party filtered out. She pushed the door open and stepped into the light. Doctor Lybna came towards her through the chaotic tangle of people. "Kate, I'm so glad you came. I've done it! Its real, come and join us before we leave." "Leave, what do you mean?" She swam in a state of total confusion, the room seemed to spin, but somehow there seemed now less chaos. "Here, have a drink." He thrust a long glass towards her "celebrate with us Kate, I've done it!" "I don't understand. Done what exactly?" "I've finished, we can go now." The room span but still there were fewer people than before and the shouting and cheering was definitely less.

		"What's happening?" Doctor Lybna suddenly embraced her and stared deeply, penetratively into her eyes. "You have such beautiful features Kate, come with us." Everyone had gone now. Just Kate and Doctor Lybna remained, the room quiet but for the hum of machines. "Come with us Kate." "Where?" "Come, I'll show you." He stared still fixedly into her eyes and led her to one end of the lab. She knew she could not refuse him, but at the same time felt uneasy. She felt powerless beneath his stare, what was he doing? What did he want? She found her voice again. "What are you doing?" She shouted this time at those black eyes filling her vision "Where are you taking me?" "Its alright Kate, we're going to a good place." His voice was calm, seductive. She struggled. He was pulling her towards one of those glass discs. But it was different, huge, thirty feet across. She realised how all the people had seemed to slip away, but to where? She screamed. She could not move. She was on the disc now. The machines began to hum more loudly. The disc began to glow. The noise, the light, it was too much. She screamed again. "Relax Kate, my dear, just feel it take you." The light got too bright, the noise too loud. She screamed.
		* * *
		The noise had stopped, the room was now dark. She sat up with a cold sweat clawing its way all over her. She hadn't closed the curtains, the street light lit up the room. She looked at her watch, she was still fully clothed. "Two am." Two cats were fighting outside. She went to the window. She couldn't see anything, just the usual dustbins at the bottom of the fire-escape. The moon was out but she couldn't see the stars for the light pollution from the city. The cats howled at each other. She closed the curtains and, returning to bed, undressed.
		* * *
		The restaurant was familiar to her now but somehow she felt as though she didn't belong. The room was full of couples; romantic meals shared by lovers. or business parties laughing politely to someone important's droll humour. The restaurant was big, but at the same time felt claustrophobic, all these people looking this way could see her, alone. The staff would recognise her as the poor pathetic waif who lost her date the last time. It was probably for the best though. After the dream last night Doctor Lybna suddenly left an uneasy feeling in her thoughts. She wanted to leave. "So sorry I'm late." The voice came from a very handsome figure that had been making his way through the shadows in a tuxedo. "I've just done the most amazing thing!" Doctor Lybna was suddenly forgiven. Out of his lab. coat with his wayward hair neatly groomed, a black tuxedo and blue eyes; not black. Things were looking up.

		"Look at my watch." he sat down and stretched across the table displaying his Rolex. "Yes, you're half an hour late." she said coolly. "No, well, yes I am, but my watch is still accurate. I put it through the transporter and it didn't miss a beat. Don't you see what this means?" "Only that I nearly didn't get my story again! I have deadlines you know." "No, look. This means that I can transport moving objects. If I can transport operating machines, I might be able to transport moving organic material; animals and stuff!" "That's quite something." She dropped the hard done by act. "I'll make sure I'm there for all the experiments. I don't want to miss any more. I'll bring video equipment and a camera. We'll get everything on visual record from now on. This'll get front page easy! But I must get this interview, I've come in too late on the show as it is!" Her excitement surprised her as she felt it begin to swell within her. "No, no, there's no time." "Sorry?" "Lucas's waiting, back at the lab." "I'm not following." "I knew you'd be excited so my assistant Lucas, Craig Lucas, is setting us up to transport a mouse." "Look, Doctor Lybna, this really is exciting and I do want to be there, but Man has waited thousands of years for this moment, I'm sure he can wait one more night while we eat, and I get a chance to catch up." He paused a moment in thought, then said, "You're right of course. We'll eat, and then go."
		* * *
		Her heart pounded as the moment approached. The mouse white and untainted, fragile, twitched its pink nose as it explored the glass disc. A sudden pang of guilt gripped her as she thought of the fate that might await the tiny creature. Pure innocence, caught in a battle for knowledge and vision. He had transported other organic material though. First the peanut, then other fruit; a pineapple, a bunch of bananas, all quite complex in their way and all resulting in a perfect transportation. He paused, hand hovering above the green button. The mouse twitched its nose, totally unaware of the Doctor's intentions. It scuttled about the disc. And then there was the watch. That had worked perfectly well, a moving piece of apparatus, still functioning and telling the correct time (give or take a few seconds for the transfer to occur).
		He could sense the anxiousness of his assistants, waiting. He glanced to the other end of the lab., at Lucas. His slight, bespectacled frame almost shaking with anticipation. The girl between them, poised with a video camera, watching. Both waiting for his move. She felt her excitement return. The mouse was in no danger. It would be fine, a little disorientated maybe, but there was no problem. He pressed the button, the process began. The mouse became agitated at the noise and light, it began circling the disc, running this way, and that. It made for the edge of the disc, Doctor Lybna ran to retrieve it. The mouse reached the edge, and vanished.

		The camera was rolling, she wasn't sure if the light was too bright for the film, would she get feedback from the sheer volume of the machines? She turned the lens to the second disc. It was glowing so bright, but gradually dimmer. A dark object lay at the edge of the disc, motionless. "Is it breathing?" Nobody moved. "Yes, yes it is, it is, its breathing, look!" The little body was panting, panting vigorously. "Why isn't it moving?" Doctor Lybna approached the disc. The mouse twitched, and the life seemed suddenly to almost jump back into it. The mouse leapt off the disc and scuttled about the laboratory floor. Lucas went after it. "Did you get that on film?" "I did, wasn't it amazing, I'll have to play it back in case it was too bright though." "Its alive. I can't believe it, I wonder how it feels, to have passed from one end of the lab. to the other, faster than a man could run, but without even moving." "Here he is look." Lucas returned with the mouse clasped tightly in his hands. "Is he alright?" Her heart pounded, she didn't want to see, just in case, but at the same time, "He's fine, look." Lucas opened his hands and the mouse looked up, beady-eyed at its captors. "Thank God." she sighed. "What's the film like?" "Seems O.K.. Listen it's getting late, I'm going to head off" Her heart still pounded with excitement at what she had just seen but sleep was beckoning. "Fine." "I'll come back tomorrow to get that interview\" "Right." He was staring into a computer screen in a dream-like daze. She didn't know if he had been listening but it didn't surprise her anymore. "Goodnight Craig." "See you Kate." She left the room annoyed that she had to walk herself to her car. After all, she was doing him a favour. There were other stories out there, other headlines she could break. She didn't have to deal with him. But she was gripped now. This story was big. Maybe it had been a test from the editor to see if she could make some Bozo's story look good, but Lybna was no crackpot, this was some story, her story, and her break.
		* * *
		Down the corridor came the sound of the machines. The noise was getting louder and the door at the end of the corridor was illuminated even above the lights of the corridor. She ran to see what was happening, she didn't want to miss any more than she had already. She switched the video camera on and opened the door. "What's happening?" She had to shout above the cocophone of the machines. "Kate!" Craig Lucas looked up and greeted her with a smile. "He's trying to send the mouse and his watch at the same time. Something about people and clothes he said." She moved to the destination disc and aiming the lense, waited. The noise reached its climax. She adjusted the lense. The disc started to glow. A dark object appeared in the centre of the disc. She focussed in on telephoto to ensure a detailed close-up,

		"Don't look Kate!" Lucas put his hand over the lens, but it was too late. She had got her close-up, the image had filled the eye-piece, and now it filled her head. She dropped the camera and ran from the scene. Doctor Lybna just stared. He had been making such good progress and now this, a major set back. You cannot transport man if you can't transport his clothes and equipment, maybe just his glasses, with him. Some serious recalabration would have to be done to get him moving forward again. Someone in the lab. was sick.
		* * *
		It was over a week before she could bring herself to visit the laboratory again. She hadn't even been to the office but had phoned in sick. She had tried to put the nightmares out of her mind but somehow that horrific sight kept penetrating her thoughts. That poor creature, it was still alive, gasping and squirming, right in her face when it arrived on the disc. She would have to go back though, she needed the story, this was her chance to make it, she could turn the world around with this story; with Doctor Lybna.
		* * *
		"Are you sure this is a good idea Doctor?" The voice crackled over the intercom. "This is it Lucas! We're going to make history today." The Doctor composed himself, his anxiousness penetrating his calm exterior. "But we haven't done anything over this kind of distance before, let alone people." The assistant's voice wavered slightly as his nerves got the better of him, "I can transport to you just as I can talk to you Lucas. The recalabration worked, we know that, so I'm on my way!" His voice was stern but perhaps more through anxiety than real antagonism. He straightened his tie, again, and stepped up onto the disc. "Oh Kate, thank God!" The voice came again over the intercom "Perhaps you can persuade him to cease this madness." The lab. seemed empty. Lucas sat in the chair that only before Doctor Lybna had occupied. He stared at the computer monitor but his slight frame did not have the presence of the absent Doctor. "What's happening?" "Lybna's lost his head, he's about to scatter his atoms about the cosmos!" "Lucas!" The Doctor's impatient voice thundered over the intercom, "Stop being so bloody paranoid and get ready. I will be scattered across America if you do not keep your head! Kate get your camera set up on the disc, you must get this on film," he paused, "whatever happens." "Where is he?" "Los Angeles, the mad fool" She staggered to a chair, stunned. Los Angeles. That was two thousand miles across America. Los Angeles to New York in seconds. If he did it, the thought was staggering. If he didn't. She didn't want to think about the consequences. "Are you sure about this Doctor?" Her voice was shaking as much as her hands "Yes, I am." His voice wasn't all that convincing but he had committed himself now and he wanted to know. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather send something inanimate first?"

		"The risks are the same." his stomach was churning, he felt sick. "Come on, let's get it over with." She knew he could not be dissuaded. He had admirable courage, but perhaps he had lost sight of what was really important. He was too engrossed in scientific discovery to realise what was going on around him, that people cared about him. Sure he would make, had made, a difference, but if this didn't work, what then? Could Craig Lucas continue his work, she certainly couldn't, she hadn't even got her interview with him. This would either be a major step forward or a colossal step back. She turned her lens to the disc.
		As he stood on the disc he suddenly wasn't sure if this would work at all. The computer was rigged to go on Lucas's command so, surely, if he was too far away, then the signal wouldn't get through in the first place and he would stay where he was. He tried to swallow the lump that had formed in his dry throat. He knew Lucas could press the button any time, and he hoped it would be soon. "C'mon Lucas!" He shouted "On three then." Lucas's voice was uneasy. "One..." The Doctor felt his head spin. "Two..." His stomach felt like lead. "Three." The disc began to glow. This was it, the making of Doctor Lybna, or his breaking. The noise began. It got louder. It seemed to get louder than it had ever done, unbearably loud. He could not look down to his feet because the light was too bright. He felt sick, really ill. He wanted it all to stop. He couldn't believe he was doing this, that the others hadn't tried harder to stop him. The noise was bursting his eardrums, the light tearing at his eyes. He feinted.
		* * *
		"Doctor Lybna." Lucas's voice crackled over the intercom, "Doctor Lybna can you hear me?" "Is he breathing?" "Yes, look!" "Doctor, wake-up." "I'm alright Lucas, I passed-out. It hasn't worked. I must have been too far away." "Doctor, you made it, wake up." "I didn't make it Lucas. What are you on about?" "Hold on I'll get the ECG." Lucas grabbed a trolley and dragged it to the limp figure that draped itself over the glass."All the life signs are there but he's not responding." "What happened to the mice and that that you transported?" The girl went to the disc. Where was that penetrating stare? What had happened to those powerful blue eyes? "They were a little dazed but conscious. I think something's gone wrong."

		"Lucas, Kate, I can hear you over the intercom, where are you? What's happening?" "His heart-beat has gone erratic!" "Oh my God!" She felt helpless, why didn't she stop him. He was dying. Why hadn't it worked? He flatlined. "Oh God lucas, do something!" "I'm trying, stand back." The electric shock thumped through the body. "What's happening guys," he panicked "I can't hear you anymore." He flatlined again. "He's fading. Stand back!" The electricity tore through the body once more, lifting it momentarily from the glass surface. "Help me!" He screamed "Where are you, I can't see!" The body lay lifeless on the disc. The room silent, but for the monotone of the ECG tolling the absence of one Doctor Mike Lybna. A girl sank to her knees and wept with utter dispair for a worthless death. A man turned and silently left the room.

		Click to return to the main site.

Like the story? Let me know