Teleportation?

[Brenda]

How does the teleportation in the Pegasus and Tower books work? Are they moving in a straight line from one location to another, just too fast to see - or is it more like being transmitted? You are at one place, and then you are at another place? Why do they need to strap people down in carriers to transport them? Why does Rhyssa not seem surprised when Peter makes his mashed potatoes disappear?

[granath]

That's a very good question... Seems to me that short distances they disappear at one place and appear at another, but at longer distances and heavier masses, they're carried all the way, because the gestalt changes from one Tower to another at a midway point if at all possible. It's also impossible to 'port blind, i.e. without being able to visualize the place where the person or place will appear. 'Portations are fast, but they are not instantaneous, so the carriers are needed for the same reason that dragonriders need spacesuits to go to the Red Star, i.e. oxygen deprivation, or at least comfortable transport. Also, they have standardized carriers to make it easier for Towers to 'port them, they only need to know the appearance of the carrier and its mass, not its content in detail to 'port it successfully. I suspect that they use carriers even when they're not necessary for oxygen supply, for transfers on a planetary surface.

[AnnMarie]

To add to what Granath put so clearly...

I think teleportation takes place on another plane of existance... sort of like going Between. That's why it appears that things "vanish".

Maybe like a starship jumping into hyper or warp drive?

[Dux]

I also think it's something similar to going between or just plain going from here to there. It can't be straight line, just really fast, because then the transporter would be constantly crashing into things. If I remember correctly from Star Wars (hyperdrive), one of the reasons that the Falcon couldn't just escape the Empire quickly was that a course had to be plotted to avoid crashing into a planet.

[granath]

I agree Dux. Callisto Tower was down whenever it was in occlusion, i.e. with Jupiter between it and wherever it wanted to send, mainly Earth. So big masses do matter, although it seems to be like there's some sort of ratio between the distance to be 'ported and the location of the mass. Jupiter wouldn't bother the 'portation if it was located halfway between Earth and, say, Deneb, but because Callisto is so close to it, it apparently does.

[Mausey]

Another reason to use a carrier is just in case the landing is a bit rougher than intended. It gives the person inside a bit of a cushion.

[Just Bob]

In Pegasus in Space, Anne tries to explain the Talents in terms of quantum mechanics (without, in my opinion, a great deal of success). The teleporters do, however, frequently teleport through things, so it is not a matter of speed in a straight line. In To Ride Pegasus, everyone is very surprised when a child Talent teleports herself through a locked door.
I got the impression that the reason Callisto couldn't move things to Earth when Saturn was in the way was more because they lost communications contact than because the planet was an obstacle to teleportation. Also, I think the process whereby a 'receiving' Prime picked up the cargo halfway was more of an energy-saving process than a necessity.

[granath]

Obstacle to communication? I don't think so. Most messages were sent via telepathy, and when they weren't, the exceptions were noted. Such as when Reidinger congratulated the Rowan on giving birth to Jeran.

[Just Bob]

Hmm, good point. :ok:

[Larry O-G]

Teleporting is like going between in the Pern Dragon series and telekentic is moving in a stright line from one place to another. :2cent:

[Mitch]

Peter's levitation trick and general moving capabilities were different than actual teleportation. He was basically pushing himself away from the floor and going from one place to the next. He didn't teleport, especially at first, because he didn't know it was possible. And then when he learned it *was* possible ... well ... there wasn't really any reason to bounce all over the house like that when gliding along worked just as well and didn't freak everyone out.

So there's basically two sorts of energy here ... telekinetics, which is moving things from one spot to another (generally, the two spots in question were in close proximity with each other, like in the same room) without making them disappear.

And then there's teleportation ... whambo-jango, you're on another planet, thank you very much. Very fast, goes to the Tower equivalent of /between/ ... remember in Damia, when Rowan nearly loses that freighter? The captain of the freighter asked what they'd done with them ... not something you'd ask if you could see where you were and where you were going. And someone makes the comment that the ship would have been lost in limbo ... *goes running to check*

Okay ... here's some quotes:

(someone on the ship) "Gods above! In-again-out-again-gone-again Finnegan! What did you do with us!"

Isthia, in telepathic conversation with Jeff just after the incident:

What will you tell him?

The truth of course.

That his ship would have been lost in limbo for all time? I don't think that's something you want known.

So there you have it ... Teleportation *is* basically going /between/. But telekinetics is not.

[K'vin]

In Damia's Childre a message tube appear on the bridge for Captain Ashianti about no action to be taken against the unarmed Hiver Ship

[Bane]

I always thought the item (animate or inanimate, though animate would take more care) disappeared from one place, and then reappeared in another. For sort distances, it would be one trip. For longer distances (i.e., planet-planet) it would be from the cradle to a coordinate in space (which would explain being strapped. Being weightless and floating and then suddenly having weight and slamming down could be painful) where the receiver would "pick" the package up. It would then disappear and reappear in the receiving cradle.

That's my opinion.