My Fantastic Voyage

Just when I thought I was firmly living in the future, an incident occurs which drags me back into the past.  Allow me to explain.  On several occasions in this blog, I’ve extolled the virtues of British Matter Transport (BMT), a radical new system that affects all world travel.  Knowing how busy the London terminal can get, we purchased our BMT tickets early for this year’s trip to England.  Then an accident occurred that changed everything. 

The United States government was miffed when the British mastered the concept of matter transportation, and standardized it so quickly on a worldwide basis.  So they worked furiously to develop a system of their own to compete in this entirely new market.  As best I understand it, American scientists were working along different lines to their British counterparts.  Instead of trying to break down molecules, beam matter up into orbit, bounce it off satellites, and project it down for reassembly at the destination point, they tried to slip a person or object through another dimension (or parallel universe, if you prefer).  This method would have allowed them to shortcut the tricky process of matter disassembly and reassembly until they really understood it, which was necessary to comply with European Union (EU) regulations.

As with the space program, accidents occur during such rapid scientific development.  In this case, several of those working on the program were unexpectedly dragged into this strange, other dimension, and when they reappeared—in different locations across the world—the molecules of their bodies had been reassembled differently.  Reports are sketchy—at this point, they seem more akin rumor than substantiated fact—but one of these unexpected travelers now has rock-like skin, and another may spontaneously combust without warning, and without the flames consuming him!  While no one seems to have died, I think you’ll agree that these affected individuals, these unexpected travelers, may wish they had. 

As is always the case in such matters, fear often accompanies the fantastic.  Even though their system is based on entirely different principles, Brussels moved quickly to shut down all BMT stations all across the EU.  Thankfully, BMT worked out a deal with British Airlines, and stranded travelers such as my wife and myself got flights that will transport us to England without radically reordering our plans.  Nevertheless, it seems like such a shame.  At a time when we should be embracing the future, once more we’ve been relegated to the past, consigned to noisy, fossil fuel-guzzling monsters that take hours to travel vast distances instead of seconds. 

Despite all this, I’m looking forward to our upcoming flight.  After all, a airplane flight that takes hours still seems a little fantastic, when compared to yesterday's ocean voyage, which would have taken days or weeks instead.

Dragon Dave

To learn more about America's Matter Transportion efforts, read Fantastic Four Vol. 1: The Fantastic