How long before we build a transporter, like the one in Star Trek? Quantum mechanics has
it, that one entangled particle affects the behavior of another, even if they are on opposite
sides of the universe. How far behind can the invention of teleportation be? Unless,
the transporter, has already been invented.
In 1878, a newspaper from India reports the successful teleportation of animals. This
is during the age of man's greatest progress in electrical engineering. The light bulb,
the telephone, the phonograph.
The Bombay journal reports on, a transmission apparatus consisting of a large metal disk,
and a glass bell jar the size of a man. A dog was placed inside, "reduced into infinitesimal
atoms... transmitted... and reproduced, safe and sound, at the other end of the apparatus."
Still contentedly chewing a bone.
Only two years later, and five thousand miles away, William Cantelo was designing a water-cooled
machine gun. Cantelo was already a successsful inventor with several English patents. He
was the landlord of the Old Tower Inn, at the end of Bargate Street in Southampton,
England, where also he lived with his family.
Southampton, a busy harbor city, had so many wine cellars, that you could walk from one
side of town to the other, completely underground. In a tunnel, which started under the Old Tower
Inn, and continued under the Arundel Tower next door, Cantelo established his workshop.
"Never be idle," he would tell his children. "The devil makes work for idle hands." His
two sons were accustomed to such hearing advice. It came straight out of his book of maxims,
of which Cantelo was extremely fond, and which he carried always.
The very few townspeople that had seen Cantelo's workbench, reported metallic globes that made
a humming noise, and machines flashing with strange lights. Only his sons were invited
there to see the new automatic weapon, which in public he called, "the maxim gun". But
the public did hear the weapon during testing, mostly on Saturday afternoons, when the muffled
sound of rapid gunfire leaked from beneath Arundel Tower. And they could smell the acrid
sulfur of spent gunpowder.
For years, Cantelo had been locking himself, into his subterranean lab. He might not re-appear
for days... or for weeks. Where was he getting his food? Other than one small meal packed
by his wife. Where was he getting water? He was only one city block from the English Channel.
Any well water would be too salty
to drink.
Exisiting machine guns all required manual feeding of the ammunition, including the Nordenfelt
gun being used by Germany, the Gardner gun of Great Britain, and the Gatling gun used
in America during the war between the states. Any man who could improve on the machine gun,
could make a great deal of money selling it to the government. Any government. In 1880,
Cantelo announced to the newspapers, that he had developed the first automatic machine
gun. It used recoil to eject and chamber cartridges.
Then Cantelo told his family, he needed to take a "business holiday", about three months,
in order to peddle his new product. He took the gun with him. He just had to visit his
workshop once, before departing. A half a year later, when he still had not returned,
his sons broke into the lab door, which was bolted from the inside. But they found nothing.
Literally everything had been stripped from the workshop. All the inventions. All the
tools. All except for the workbench itself, stained and scarred, which would have been
too heavy for one man to move. Cantelo would never return.
Coincidentally, another inventor appeared in England, shortly after Cantelo's disappearance.
His said his name was Hiram S. Maxim, and claimed to be from U.S. He sold his newest
invention to the British government. A rapid-fire machine gun. Fully automatic, and water-cooled.
He made the news, along with engravings of his weapon, and of his portrait. When the
sons of William Cantelo saw these images in the newspaper, first they cried, "Our gun!"
Then they shouted. "Our father!" The resemblance was more than uncanny. He was staying in Waterloo,
the paper said.
The two young men loitered for seven days at Waterloo station, when they finally caught
sight of him. He was leaving the station. The conductor had already announced the departure
of the train. The boys were running up on Mr. Maxim, from behind. Together, they called
out, "Father!" The man turned, and said, "Boys! What can I do for you?" They answered, "Come
and see mother." But it was too late. Maxim had already swung back around, and boarded
the train, which was now moving out.
Returning home, the boys gave their mother the good news. Father was alive!
When they learned his location again, the Cantelo brothers had to journey to the upper-scale
region of Baldwyn's Park, because this American had taken up residency in London, in a large
house he purchased there. The first time they announced themselves at the front door, they
saw him leaving from the rear, in a two-wheeled horse-drawn cart. After that, he would never
have them admitted to the house.
Whenever Mr. Maxim ran into a resident of Southampton, he would often be hailed as Cantelo.
But he would always avoid any conversation.
The Royal Armory was shown a photograph of Cantelo, posing next to his machine gun. The
authorities confirmed, the weapon appeared the same as the Maxim gun.
When in the United States, Hiram S. Maxim had led a life which almost duplicated Cantelo's.
He was the same age. He was a successful inventor, with a string of American patents. A hair-curling
iron. A steam pump. A mousetrap. And he published a scientific paper, claiming to have developed
a technology, to be used for teleportation.
This information led the Cantelo brothers to believe their father had been living a
double life, teleporting himself backwards and forwards, between two continents.
After their last attempt to make contact, Mr. Maxim sent to the boys, a single letter.
He claimed that he was from America, and not the Isle of Wight. But how did Mr. Maxim know,
that William Cantelo was born on the Isle of Wight? Unless they were the same man. In
closing the letter, for the final time, he refused to see the family.
Mr. Maxim was credited with inventing the weapon. This American Hiram S. Maxim, remained
in England the rest of his life, and was buried there. He died in 1916. Funeral services were
held without the benefit of clergy, according to his will. This is also stated in the will
of Mr. Cantelo. But Cantelo's body has never been found.