Gordon: Our guest today is Samantha Pederson, the person who told us in Teleportal: Damage Control her harrowing account of tracking down the people who caused the Duncan Reid explosion. Welcome to So What Live, Ms. Pederson.
Pederson: Please call me Sam. Is it alright if I call you Gordon?
Gordon: Absolutely, Sam. I know you’ve been inundated with requests for interviews by the media. Thank you for letting us have this dialog with you.
Pederson: My pleasure, Gordon. Thank you for getting my story out to the public. It’s important that the world knows teleportals are a safe mode of transportation.
Gordon: Even between universes?
Pederson: Well, that has yet to be proved, but we hope to have it cleared up soon.
Gordon: Interesting. How are you going to do that?
Pederson: As you know, we’ve been working with the Alternates to develop a way to make a connection we can control in case something goes wrong. We believe we have a safe test mapped out and will be running it soon.
Gordon: And how do you propose to do that?
Pederson: The test will be in an isolated area. We and the Alternates will have small portals set up in domes that have been vacuumed out so that very few molecules from either universe can get through. Then once the interface has been opened, we’ll introduce small amounts of atmosphere from each universe until we get to surface air pressure. If at any time we get an unexpected reaction, we’ll shutdown the interface.
Gordon: What if you get a chain reaction and can’t shut down the interface?
Pederson: We’ll have two portals set up in orbit and another in each universe with a volume interface around the test module. The instant any unexpected energy shows up, the portals will teleport the whole experiment into space. And we’ll have a manned backup to trigger the portals if the automatic system fails.
Gordon: I thought the Alternates didn’t have space travel yet.
Pederson: They don’t. We’ll be pulling their module into our universe. Of course, this is all based on a hypothetical chain reaction. Sort of like putting the astronauts into quarantine when they came back from the moon. Better to be over protective than under protective.
Gordon: So when will this test take place?
Pederson: All I can say is soon. I’ll be adding it as an epilogue to the book.
Gordon: I don’t suppose you can tell us where the test will take place.
Pederson: ‘Fraid not. These days no matter what the issue someone will protest it if they know it’s happening. We’d have to put off the test.
Gordon: Well, Sam, thanks for being with us today. I for one am glad to know we’ll soon have a definitive answer on whether we’ll be able to visit the Alternate’s universe.
Pederson: Thanks for having me.
Footnote: This interview took place before the test was added as an epilogue.