Fettered Progress

CHAPTER 1:          THE DISCOVERY

         Professor Jonathan Allister made the final, crucial adjustment to his device and then stepped back, taking a moment to marvel at what he had created.  Despite his many critics he was certain it would work. 

         The device looked much like a vastly oversized microscope, though with the lens proportionally farther away from the base than in a normal microscope and no hole on top for someone to look through.  Altogether it reached up about eight feet and was quite massive.  The base was circular, three feet in diameter, and appeared to be made of a clear plastic.  On the side where Professor Allister stood a monitor was built into the machine’s side right above a small keyboard that jutted out for easy access.

         This odd mechanism represented a decade’s worth of work.  The first five years had been spent solely on the mathematics, with the last five years focused on putting his theory into practical terms.

         His musings were interrupted by a silky voice.  “I still don’t know about this,” he heard, and turned towards the voice’s owner.

         He looked over at Jennifer, his lab assistant for the last six months and the owner of that voice.  “Why not?” he asked.  “You’ve reviewed the math and worked directly with me in the construction.  What leaves you uncertain?”

         Jennifer gazed back at him silently for a moment as she apparently worked to assemble her objection.  She had wavy chestnut hair cut to shoulder length and piercing green eyes.  At just under 5 feet tall she should seem like a small woman, but her bearing and demeanor projected such a self-confidence that people rarely thought of her as small for long.  She moved with a supple grace that drew more than her fair share of male eyes when she entered a room.  If he hadn’t valued their professional relationship so much he’d long since have made a play for her.

         Professor Allister had a hard time keeping lab assistants.  His computations were not only complex, they were largely based on his intuitive understanding of reality.  Therefore it was difficult for him to truly explain them to others.  Also, bringing his theories to fruition had been such a lengthy process most assistants resigned in search of better opportunities.

         Jennifer had been a godsend.  She had devoured his theories and grasped them with a fierce intelligence he’d never before encountered and then worked with him resolutely as he struggled to put theory into practice.

         Oddly, however, the closer they got to completion the more hesitant she’d become.

         She finally responded to the Professor’s question.  “It’s just that the computations are based on so many unverifiable factors, and if the energy disperses it could be catastrophic,” she finally said.

         The Professor adopted a half-smile and shook his head.  “We’ve accounted for that,” he said.  “We had to craft many of the components from scratch and we both ran the numbers half a dozen times.  Unless you have a specific adjustment in mind it’s time to run the test.”

         Jennifer paused, then dropped her shoulders in apparent defeat.  “No, nothing specific,” she said.

         With that she turned to the table behind her and picked up a small metal disk, perfectly round and uniform.  She placed it on the base of the machine and stepped back.  Professor Allister typed commands into the keyboard and a soft hum began to issue forth.

         The Professor watched in anticipation.  The device’s lens was emitting no visible light, but he knew it was scanning the disk down to the electron shells of the atoms that made it up.  The scanning technology was a critical component of the process, as anything that would impact the electrons would change their orbits, making it impossible to determine their precise location.  This scanning capability was one of the major breakthroughs in his work, and alone it would have provided massive improvements in human technology.

         However, the device moved beyond scanning and mapping the precise structure of the disk.  In a muted flash of light the disk disappeared, only to reappear virtually instantaneously at the other end of the room with a tiny whoosh of displaced air.

         As the device automatically powered down Jonathan let out a whoop of pure joy, pumping his fist and smiling broadly.  Call it teleportation or faster than light travel, this was a quantum advance in human capability.

         Savoring the moment, he looked at Jennifer.  She appeared proud but far from jubilant.  Turning into the full force of Jonathan’s victorious demeanor she spoke in a soft, controlled voice.

         “Congratulations,” she told him, “now we have to decide how best to deal with the ramifications . . . .”

         Too excited to allow her to finish her sentence, Jonathan broke in.  “The ramifications?  The first ramification is that we’re going to show the entire science department, including Professor Carlson, that I was right.  Then we’ll prove that the scientific journals that refused to publish my work that the ‘unverifiable conclusions’ were right on the money.  After that . . . .”

         Now it was Jennifer’s turn to break in.  “After that the technology will be widely available.  Your brilliant work is essentially out there already, and once people learn that your theories function it won’t be too hard for various companies, countries and other powers to duplicate at least significant portions of it, building devices with capabilities never seen before on this planet.”

         The Professor’s smile diminished only slightly.  “It’s my work.  They can’t take away the credit or profit off of it like that.”

         Jennifer shook her head, putting the full force of her attention on him.  “It’s not that simple.  If an insurgency got their hands on this they could teleport bombs into secure buildings, teleport out government officials, and do untold damage with the push of a button.  Countries could start a new arm’s race.  Paranoia over what other nations had developed could lead to preemptive strikes.  The potential for chaos and destruction is too great.”

         Virtually pleading now, she concluded her appeal.  “Please, you have to move cautiously on this.”

         Jonathan shook his head, getting frustrated with her arguments.  “Every major advance has had the potential for abuse, but the world keeps on turning.  We can’t let fear prevent us from advancing science.”

         He put on a stern expression.  “Jennifer, I appreciate everything you’ve done, but I really need you to support me on this.  Please arrange a demonstration for the entire science department, most especially our esteemed leader Professor Carlson.”

         Jennifer gave him a long look.  After a moment she responded.  “Alright,” she said softly.


CHAPTER 2:          THE DEMONSTRATION

         The following day, Professor Allister was almost running towards the auditorium in the science wing, scowling at Jennifer as she stood in front of the door leading into that auditorium.

         “You couldn’t have scheduled this a bit later, or given me some more notice?” he asked as he took a moment to compose himself.

         Looking at him calmly, Jennifer responded.  “Sorry, no.  I just learned a few minutes before your class started that this time was coming open for people and sent a message as soon as possible.  Waiting for another time when so many of the staff are available could delay things for weeks, particularly if you want Professor Carlson to be there.”

         Professor Allister nodded, glad that Jennifer seemed to have set her reservations aside.  He finished composing himself, and stepped inside the auditorium.  He bounded onto the stage, where Jennifer had personally supervised the transportation of the device, and gave it a quick glance to make sure it had weathered the move with no obvious problems.  He then turned to his audience with a broad smile.

         He faced a group that radiated various mixtures of skepticism and impatience.  He knew that in a matter of minutes he’d be fully vindicated and his place in the scientific community assured, so for once their attitudes didn’t bother him.

         After briefly running through his previously submitted work and the conclusions that had met with little support among those in his audience he placed the same metal disk used in the prior day’s test onto the base of the device.  With a bit of a flourish he entered the commands necessary to place the disk right in front of Professor Carlson, at a height of about 3 feet.  He relished the anticipated expression on Professor Carlson’s face at the sight and sound of that disk falling out of thin air right at the department head’s feet.

         As Professor Allister hit the last key, the device once again let out its soft hum.  The seconds ticked down and he looked expectantly at the disk.

         Which remained stubbornly right where he’d placed it.

         He ran through the set of commands again, with the same non-result as before.  He looked over the device once more, but could see no damage or other obvious problems.

         Time quickly ran out as he heard the sound of people getting to their feet.  He frantically looked out at the audience.  “No, wait, this worked yesterday.  If you could just give me a few minutes to open it up and see if something came loose. . . . “

         “The only thing that’s loose,” Professor Carlson said, as he began to move down the aisle towards the auditorium door, “is my past judgment in letting you waste so much time on these ridiculous theories.  Come to my office tomorrow morning at 9:00 A.M. so we can discuss your future at this institution.”

         Moments later only Professor Allister and Jennifer remained.  They each had unhappy, though very different, expressions.  The Professor was absolutely stunned, and clearly crushed, as his dreams lay in ashes on the ground.

         For her part, Jennifer looked at the Professor with sympathy in her eyes.  What she did not project was any sort of surprise at what had happened.




CHAPTER 3:          FOR OUR OWN GOOD

         When Professor Allister was able to shake himself from his reverie he looked over at his lab assistant.  “I don’t understand what could have happened” he said in a bleak voice.

         Her expression did not change.  “I truly regret that I must inform you that I disconnected the scanning mechanism from the activation circuitry and disabled the sensors designed to report such a failure.”

         The Professor, already barely recovering from one shock, could hardly process what she had said.  “You . . . sabotaged the device?” he asked in a numb voice.

         Pursing her lips Jennifer nodded.

         At that moment the Professor heard the very whoosh of displaced air he’d been anticipating minutes ago, the sound that had heralded yesterday’s successful experiment.  He turned his head, half-expecting the disk to have somehow successfully completed its journey, only to see a man standing at the end of the stage opposite Jennifer.

         The man was only barely taller than Jennifer herself, and shared many of her features.  His manner was also very similar to his lab assistant’s normal demeanor.

         “We truly are sorry,” he said, “but we simply couldn’t allow this.”

         Even though he was more confused than ever, one conclusion came to the forefront of the Professor’s thoughts.  “You have a teleporter even more advanced than what I built,” he said.

         The man nodded, but it was Jennifer who spoke.

         “We’ve had that technology for centuries,” she said, “which was how we recognized that your work could actually produce the necessary breakthrough.  Once we determined you might perfect the process Sondarian and I had to step in.”

         The man, Sondarian, spoke once again.  “Your species simply isn’t ready.  This technology would lead to chaos, destruction and could bring about the end of humanity.”

         Struggling to digest the events of the last few minutes the Professor suddenly had no doubt he was the only human in the room.  Looking back at Jennifer understanding began to blossom in dark, bitter fruit.  His voice was tinged with an edge at her betrayal as he spoke.  “You want to keep humanity from developing technology?  What, so we can’t challenge you someday in the future?”

         She shook her head.  “It’s not about preventing humanity from developing technology.  We’ve actually helped move certain developments forward.  It’s about helping your species survive and grow.  Sometimes, like now, that means delaying matters until humanity is ready to face the consequences that would stem from breakthroughs such as this.”

         Professor Allister shook his head, his emotions flickering across a wide spectrum.  “How can you say that humanity wouldn’t be able to handle this new technology?  What gives you the right?”

         Sondarian fielded those queries.  “We have a highly developed computer program that anticipates the consequences of social and technological developments.  Usually we only intervene in small, subtle ways, but sometimes it’s necessary to take more aggressive action.  We’ve seen all too many instances of species at your level of development destroying themselves.  Our people vowed to do its best to prevent that from happening again, and we take our vow very seriously.”

         Jennifer spoke up once more.  “I’ve really enjoyed my time among you.  My brother and I were chosen for this, in part, because we’re so much taller than most of the other members of our species.  It’s been interesting looking up, rather than down, during most of my conversations since coming to this planet.”  With that she gave out a half-giggle that, under other circumstances, Professor Allister would have found quite fetching.

         His mind still trying to grasp the reality and implications of this conversation, the Professor pressed on, despite having to fight the sensation of being caught in a dream.  “My theories are sound,” he said.  “This failure will certainly make it harder to get taken seriously, but I will get another chance.”

         “No,” Sondarian said, “you won’t.”

         With that the diminutive alien pulled out a small device that looked like a long, smooth and glossy black stone.  With his thumb he rotated a portion of it, establishing the setting of what was obviously a weapon, and pointed it at the Professor.

         The Professor instinctively recoiled, and turned to get off the stage, but Jennifer had a similar device in her hand, pointed straight at him.

          “This won’t hurt at all,” she said, “and if it’s any consolation, when humanity is ready for this technology we’ll make sure that your work is used as the basis for that advance, and you receive full credit for your efforts.”

         With true regret in her voice she spoke the last words the brilliant human would ever hear.  “Oh, and as your assistant I’ll draft your letter of resignation with as much tact and diplomacy as possible.”