Rock waited patiently. “We’ve been seeing stars. Roll and I have been seeing stars, it’s a little like that, but a lot more complex. And it feels like they are calling to me. I closed my eyes when that was happening and it was like the Journey Earth app. Kind of like that. It’s hard to explain. But I knew intuitively I could go somewhere else. It was like I was already there. I wasn’t actually there, not yet. It’s hard to explain.
“I was getting a headache. So, I let my mind wander a little. I couldn’t exactly see it, but I felt like I was at the football field at school. I imagined I was there. And then I was there. Just like that. In our room and then there. Grass under my bare feet. The sport stands, right there. I lost it for a minute, freaked a little, and I popped back home to our room. Right Roll? I was at school and then I was back. Well, what I mean is, you saw me disappear and then reappear, right?”
Roll nodded. “It was like Rock said. He was there, not there, back again. I tried the same thing as Rock, let my mind wander. I had been doing some online searching earlier. Can’t even remember what exactly. But I’m sitting there chilling, letting my mind wander. There was a pop up ad that, well, popped up when I was online. It was a catchy ad and kept popping into my thoughts, an ad about some big shopping mall somewhere. The advertisement gave detailed directions and those must have sunk in. I’m sure that’s what I was thinking about. Not many of those left. You know, not many shopping malls.
“I drifted in and out. Suddenly I was standing in a big parking lot, a shopping mall parking lot. I remember a sign, Mall of America. Whatever that is, I really was there. The wind was gusty. Storm clouds rolling in. There was some lightning. Heard thunder. Like Rock said, it was ... crazy. I popped back. Right Rock? I was there and then I was back.”
Rock shook his head yes.
Grandad was quiet for a minute, as he pulled up a map on his device. “The Mall of America is in Minnesota. I was there once. I wonder how many stores are still open. It’s something like 1,700 miles from here. At least. You went there and back, instantaneously?”
“Yes sir. A kid in the parking lot saw me and dropped his ice cream cone. He was pretty little. Hope he doesn’t have nightmares.”
Grandad kept staring at the map. “Quantum teleportation? Not sure what else it could be. Amazing.”
Rock nodded. “That’s what we’ve been thinking. Roll and I have been doing some studying along those lines. Quantum mechanics. Our quantum studies have been directed more toward quantum computing. Still, there is plenty of overlap with computing and teleportation. The math isn’t too bad.
“Scientists have been teleporting photons and atoms for a while now, even from Earth to satellites in space. That sort of thing. One of the first articles I read was from 2014, so it’s pretty old. But it was an IBM Research article. Yup, International Business Machine, IBM, one of the leaders in quantum computing back in the day. The article stated teleportation, even teleporting people, doesn’t violate any fundamental laws of physics.
“There are some engineering hurdles. But none of this is particularly new science. The article cited a 1993 group that had concluded ‘perfect’ teleportation was possible in principle. That was an encouraging assessment. Roll and I were concerned the teleportation process would destroy our original selves and merely create a facsimile. That would be a problem. A facsimile is not a perfect rendering of the original. The concept of ‘perfect’ teleportation involves the very important aspect of a one-to-one, exact duplication.”
Roll pointed his finger at Rock, it was an important point. “Yeah, I don’t know if we have souls. There could be something there. That same article even touched on the subject of souls and teleportation. Anyway, we seem to be the same ... us. Souls intact. If there are immaterial souls involved, I’m not sure how something like that is transferred, or how the Universe keeps track. But whether the soul comes along for the teleportation ride, or meets up with us on the far end of the journey, if we have a soul, it does stick around with us. I’m sure of that.
“I was less concerned about being renewed physically, even on a subatomic level. As long as the process involves an exact duplication! After all, people are in a constant state of change. Our bodies completely change out over time. Well most cells change over. Perhaps not all brain cells and such. But over the course of something like 7 to 10 years, almost nothing of our original material self is left, right Mia? We are renewed, duplicated. When we teleport, it just happens more quickly. Probably. That’s what we think anyway. The result of teleportation is a perfect copy. But it’s instantaneous rather than a 7-year process.”
Rock had a contemplative look. “Well, I don’t know anything about souls. But I do wonder about the availability of entangled particles. People are mostly made up of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. Right Liz? There are a few other trace elements too. For teleportation to work, it seems likely all the necessary elements would need to be available at the destination.
“And there needs to be entanglement. We’re not sure what would happen, for example, if we teleported into deep space. Space is a near-vacuum, though hydrogen is common enough. All the elements are out there. They are just scattered unless you are near a star system. By my way of
