{"id":340,"date":"2016-05-03T18:35:03","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T18:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jick.net\/wordpress\/?p=340"},"modified":"2016-05-03T18:35:03","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T18:35:03","slug":"transported-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jick.ca\/?p=340","title":{"rendered":"Transported"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>Pain!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Searing, visceral, unendurable pain.\u00a0 Terrifying pain, and then an end to endurance&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I die.\u00a0 And yet I am still here.<\/p>\n<p>What is &#8220;here&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p>Think.\u00a0 What came before the pain?\u00a0 I was testing the new Transporter&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Oh my god, the Transporter must have malfunctioned!\u00a0 But none of the birds and dogs showed the slightest discomfort after Transporting.\u00a0 It was harmless&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Birdsong?\u00a0 Barking?\u00a0 Where are the sounds coming from?\u00a0 Where <em>am<\/em> I?\u00a0 Why can&#8217;t I see anything?\u00a0 Why can&#8217;t I <em>feel<\/em> anything?\u00a0 Wait.\u00a0 A tingling in my fingertips.\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 Now I can sense the weight of my arms, my legs&#8230; and a faint shading to the grayness, some parts darker and some lighter.<\/p>\n<p>Color!\u00a0 Suddenly I can see!\u00a0 It&#8217;s a sunset!\u00a0 No, a sunrise over a tropical sea.\u00a0 No, it&#8217;s a forest, an endless sea of Autumn leaves.\u00a0 No, a lush jungle full of orchids and&#8230;\u00a0 Stop!\u00a0 Close my eyes&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I have no eyes to close.\u00a0 I can feel my body, but when I raise my hand before my face, I see nothing.\u00a0 Is this all my imagination then?\u00a0 <em>With what am I imagining? <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">* * *<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Screams!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bloodcurdling, terrified, agonized screams.\u00a0 Familiar screams.<\/p>\n<p>Silence.\u00a0 No, a whimpering whisper: &#8220;Oh my god, the Transporter must have malfunctioned!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 75%;\">\n<del>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/del><br \/>\nI once underwent a medical procedure for which I was given some sort of drug that would, in the doctor&#8217;s words, &#8220;&#8230;keep me awake while ensuring that I would not remember the procedure.&#8221;\u00a0 For some reason this made me very apprehensive prior to the procedure, although, sure enough, I can remember nothing unpleasant now.\u00a0 Ever since then I have wondered how the <em>Star Trek<\/em> writers know that Transporters have no ill effects on the Transported.\u00a0 Sure, the guy that pops out the other side feels fine, but wasn&#8217;t the original just taken apart cell by molecule by atom by quark?\u00a0 And what if there really is a <em>soul<\/em> that survives our death?\u00a0 Wouldn&#8217;t this cause what Obi Wan Kenobe would call (sorry for the mixed metaphors) &#8220;a great disturbance in the Force&#8221;?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pain! Searing, visceral, unendurable pain.\u00a0 Terrifying pain, and then an end to endurance&#8230; I die.\u00a0 And yet I am still here. What is &#8220;here&#8221;? Think.\u00a0 What came before the pain?\u00a0 I was testing the new Transporter&#8230; Oh my god, the Transporter must have malfunctioned!\u00a0 But none of the birds and<a href=\"https:\/\/jick.ca\/?p=340\" class=\"read-more\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shortstories"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jick.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jick.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jick.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jick.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jick.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jick.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341,"href":"https:\/\/jick.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions\/341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jick.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jick.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jick.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}