shrink
proved beyond reasonable doubt that she was mentally competent and entering
into the process without ulterior motive. The third session did not run quite
so smoothly, as this time the focus was placed upon the implications of her
work rather than her mental faculties. This took them beyond the boundaries of
established science and into the realm of metaphysics, which is highly
subjective, to say the least.
‘Tell me again,’ began the psychiatrist,
a woman of greater age but significantly lesser intelligence than Emmy. ‘How is
it that you believe you can travel such vast distances in an astral state?’
‘I believe it simply because it is the
truth,’ Emmy replied.
The psychiatrist was unconvinced.
‘I do not doubt the experiments you were
engaged in were successful to a certain extent, but surely the ability to
travel from the Earth to the outer solar system is in direct contradiction with
the laws of physics.’
‘Maybe if you actually read the research,
you’d understand,’ suggested Emmy, who was already tiring of the conversation.
‘I want to hear it from you,’ replied the
psychiatrist.
Emmy rolled her eyes. They knew the
technology worked otherwise they would have no use for her. Yet they still
insisted on such tiresome bureaucracy. She wondered if this whole thing was a
deliberate set up for her to fail, which could later be used as evidence
against her on whatever bogus charges they could come up with.
‘The process is called quantum
tunnelling,’ said Emmy. ‘Particle physicists witness its occurrence quite
regularly. Usually it involves a single particle that appears to burrow through
solid matter. What actually happens is that the particle disappears on one side
of a wall and then reappears instantaneously on the other. It’s sometimes
referred to as a quantum leap, but thanks to a certain sci-fi program from the
nineteen nineties, the term has fallen out of favour.’
‘So it’s like a form of teleportation?’
‘Exactly – and thanks to the technology,
we can greatly amplify the effects. Hence, my consciousness was able to travel
from one side of the solar system to the other at the speed of thought.’
The psychiatrist was taking notes.
Judging by the length of the writing involved, they were analytical and
speculative, rather than just a shorthand version of what was being said. This
made sense as Emmy had no doubt the interview was being recorded.
‘So could the machine be used to teleport
a material body, like an actual person, for example?’
‘No – that’s impossible. One of the few
guarantees in science is that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. In any
closed system the net amount of energy within will always stay the same; the
books have to balance and all debts must be paid in full and on time. What
effectively happens is that the particle borrows energy in order to make the
jump, but then has to repay the debt as soon as it re-materialises.
Essentially, it sacrifices its remaining lifespan to do this. The only way that
teleportation would work is to have a means of replenishing the energy lost at
the point of re-emergence. If you want to physically cross space then you’d
need technology at both sides.’
‘But this doesn’t apply to astral
travelling?’
‘Energy by its very nature is more lucid
than matter. The cost of making the trip is not so great and the technology
that we used effectively paid the energy price in advance. If an imbalance did
occur then the cord would pull the traveller back instantly.’
‘The cord?’
‘Figuratively speaking,’ replied Emmy.
‘It doesn’t exist in a literal sense. It’s not like an astral traveller is
physically tethered by a rope. It comes down to another quantum process known
as entanglement. When two particles are entangled they’ll always mirror one
another no matter the separation between them. Even when light years apart; one
will instantly know if a change has occurred in the other.
proved beyond reasonable doubt that she was mentally competent and entering
into the process without ulterior motive. The third session did not run quite
so smoothly, as this time the focus was placed upon the implications of her
work rather than her mental faculties. This took them beyond the boundaries of
established science and into the realm of metaphysics, which is highly
subjective, to say the least.
‘Tell me again,’ began the psychiatrist,
a woman of greater age but significantly lesser intelligence than Emmy. ‘How is
it that you believe you can travel such vast distances in an astral state?’
‘I believe it simply because it is the
truth,’ Emmy replied.
The psychiatrist was unconvinced.
‘I do not doubt the experiments you were
engaged in were successful to a certain extent, but surely the ability to
travel from the Earth to the outer solar system is in direct contradiction with
the laws of physics.’
‘Maybe if you actually read the research,
you’d understand,’ suggested Emmy, who was already tiring of the conversation.
‘I want to hear it from you,’ replied the
psychiatrist.
Emmy rolled her eyes. They knew the
technology worked otherwise they would have no use for her. Yet they still
insisted on such tiresome bureaucracy. She wondered if this whole thing was a
deliberate set up for her to fail, which could later be used as evidence
against her on whatever bogus charges they could come up with.
‘The process is called quantum
tunnelling,’ said Emmy. ‘Particle physicists witness its occurrence quite
regularly. Usually it involves a single particle that appears to burrow through
solid matter. What actually happens is that the particle disappears on one side
of a wall and then reappears instantaneously on the other. It’s sometimes
referred to as a quantum leap, but thanks to a certain sci-fi program from the
nineteen nineties, the term has fallen out of favour.’
‘So it’s like a form of teleportation?’
‘Exactly – and thanks to the technology,
we can greatly amplify the effects. Hence, my consciousness was able to travel
from one side of the solar system to the other at the speed of thought.’
The psychiatrist was taking notes.
Judging by the length of the writing involved, they were analytical and
speculative, rather than just a shorthand version of what was being said. This
made sense as Emmy had no doubt the interview was being recorded.
‘So could the machine be used to teleport
a material body, like an actual person, for example?’
‘No – that’s impossible. One of the few
guarantees in science is that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. In any
closed system the net amount of energy within will always stay the same; the
books have to balance and all debts must be paid in full and on time. What
effectively happens is that the particle borrows energy in order to make the
jump, but then has to repay the debt as soon as it re-materialises.
Essentially, it sacrifices its remaining lifespan to do this. The only way that
teleportation would work is to have a means of replenishing the energy lost at
the point of re-emergence. If you want to physically cross space then you’d
need technology at both sides.’
‘But this doesn’t apply to astral
travelling?’
‘Energy by its very nature is more lucid
than matter. The cost of making the trip is not so great and the technology
that we used effectively paid the energy price in advance. If an imbalance did
occur then the cord would pull the traveller back instantly.’
‘The cord?’
‘Figuratively speaking,’ replied Emmy.
‘It doesn’t exist in a literal sense. It’s not like an astral traveller is
physically tethered by a rope. It comes down to another quantum process known
as entanglement. When two particles are entangled they’ll always mirror one
another no matter the separation between them. Even when light years apart; one
will instantly know if a change has occurred in the other.
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