Bears in Space pt1
Story by Rab on SoFurry
This is my first time both writing and uploading a story. Criticism is much appreciated and needed.
This will contain sex and this story is going somewhere. It is just going to take a while to get there. I also, preferable, want the details ironed out first. So part two might take awhile and dont expect regular uploads. A short, 1411 words.
Space flight has always been seen as the bridge to space. Hundreds of countries have spent billions of dollars on it. The idea of ships flying through space has been in the mainstream for so long that when teleporters were invented, no one thought it was needed to use them for space exploration. Yes, if only Sofia Alessia, the inventor of public teleportation, was alive to see the first test. It wasn't until ten years after she passed in her sleep did someone think of using it on another planet.
After Sofia's death in 2101, she was given her own spot in Chicago's museum of science. Nothing to grand, just some early prototypes and a fancy picture. It was one of the more popular exhibits of the museum, but many said that's because it was still 'new' compared to the rest of the museum. The museum was a popular field trip location for many of the schools both in and around the state of Illinois and as such many tours were given. It was on one of these trips that for the first time in over a hundred years that someone in Chicago said something smart.
James Ahmed walked backwards, leading a group of thirty, twenty six kids around 6th or 7th grade, and 4 adults. One of these adults, most likely a parent, was particularly annoying. She felt it was necessary to record everything but James thought it was less about saving memories and more about showing off her phone. It was a nice phone, a new Gala model, one that James would need to save around four months to buy. Letting go of his jealousy, they reached their destination.
“And here we have the Sofia Alessia exhibit" James said with the same enthusiasm he practiced with, after all, he'll need to touch up his acting for an upcoming role… if they ever called him back.
“Now how many of you have used a teleporter before". More than half of the kids' hands shot up. He pointed to a blond girl in a pink shirt and jeans.
“And where did you use the teleporter to go too".
“I used it to go from Rockford all the way to London to see my cousin". She said,
“Then you should be thanking Sofia Alessia, If it wasn't for her you would have to have taken an airplane". Many of the kids looked confused.
One of the chubber boys raised his hand, “What's an airplane"?
“Ah, it was the most popular form of transportation when it came to traveling the world. It was a long metal tube with wings on both sides. It would have taken you", James looked at the girl from before, “eleven hours to get from Rockford to London if you took a plane".
A wave of awe sweeped among the kids and one dense looking adult, and many hands shot up. James knew this was going to happen and quickly tried to get back on topic.
“Now I'm sure you all have many questions about airplanes now, however I believe that that's best left to the experts, unfortunately I'm not an expert on airplanes, but I am an expert on Sofia Alessia". He said a bit faster than he normally talks.
The hands fell and James breathed a sigh of relief. He knew what would happen if he didn't squash the 'airplane questions' quickly.
He went through the biography of Sofia Alessia, doing so many tours that he didn't need to look at his memo pad, knowing it all by heart.
“After years of failures, in 2082 she was able to make a successful gate and keep it open for long enough to send objects through unharmed. It wasn't until three years later that in 2085 that International Teleports were bought and installed, connecting the world." James finishing his speech and faced the group.
“Now, any questions?"
Many hands shot up and James pointed to a boy. “You in the blue shirt".
“Did the first teleporters look like the ones we have today?"
“No, they did not. In fact, you wouldn't be able to see them at all".
Now the entire group, adults included, looked confused.
“You see", James went on.
“The first teleporters only had one gate". Many looked shocked and it was an adult that spoke up,
“Then how did they work?" What James assumed, the teacher asked.
“Well, as we all know, a successful teleporter needs two gates, these two gates are connected to each other, sort of like the openings of a tunnel, running through a mountain, but instead of going through a mountain, the gates run through space, connecting the two." The group nodded their heads in agreement.
“Sofia Alessia first thought that teleporters only needed one real gate, one strong enough to keep both ends of the tunnel open. She was able to get the gate to open, but she ran into two BIG problems. The first was that the gate was very flimsy and would drop without warning" He then pointed to a glass case which seemed to contain a very short cane.
“See that walking cane" Everyone turned to see it.
“That's one of the 'testing canes, Sofia Alessia would stick them through the gates to make sure objects could pass through unharmed, and one time, the teleporter closed when the cane was halfway through". Everyone's head snapped back to Jame, who had a grin plastered on his face.
“The second problem was that Sofia had a hard time placing the other end of the teleporter. She once flooded her lab because the other end opened in the ocean." The group let out a chuckle at that.
“So, to answer your question, no, the first teleporter did not look like the ones we have today, any more question?"
Not as many hands went up this time, but some still did, “You, the girl in the zebra shirt".
“You said that the first teleporter didn't need two gates and that it could be placed anywhere?" The girl asked in a tone two high for James's liking.
“Yes, that's correct."
“Why didn't she just keep trying to get that to work?"
“Well yes, it would be cheaper to only build one gate. The potential damage of blindly opening gates over the world was a big factor."
“Then why didn't she try opening it on a different world?"
“What" James plainly asked, and the girl continued.
“Why didn't Mrs. Alessia try to open her teleporters on a different planet?"
James didn't have an answer to that, to his knowledge, no one did.
“I don't know". James slowly creeped out and quickly try to save face by getting a different question.
Normally a question like the girl asked would be forgotten, if it wasn't for mrs. Emilia. She wanted to flaunt her new promotion by buying a new phone and showing it off and recording her child was the best way to do it without making it obvious. Once she got home and started to go over the footage, her mind went back to the girl's question and pulled it up.
“Then why didn't she try opening it on a different world?" It was such a simple question, one that must be shared and so it was. She shared it with her husband, friends, co-workers, even strangers. She posted her twenty second video on every website she could think of, and after just three days it was more popular than the video of Sofia Alessia showing off the first successful Teleporter.
Everyone wanted to know if it was even possible. Many thought it was a good idea, after all, the spaceship idea hasn't taken off yet, and that has been going on for centuries at this point. Teleporter work, and if Sofia Alessia was able to open a 'loose' portal then maybe others could open a stable one. Many disagreed, saying it was too dangerous and unneeded. It didn't take a lot of digging to see that the ones saying this were tied up in spaceship money and thus they went ignored. It was the United Countries of North America that finally decided to be the first to fund this project and because of that it was the first to reap the rewards.
It took four years, ten months, two weeks and three days since they began, but they did it. On May 23rd, 2125, the first drone went through a stable, off world teleporter.