Posted in Short Stories
I had posted this story as the first one I posted on my blog. However, I had to take it down and post a different one in its place because I entered it in TOS's short story contest (you couldn't enter your story if it was published somewhere else). No, I didn't win, or get honorable mention... but now I can post my story!
Professor Higgins and the Mystifying Digi-Tran
“But Dad, this will never work!” ten-year-old Alicia Higgins insisted for the tenth time.
“Of course it will, Alicia…” the Professor’s voice trailed off as he adjusted a knob on the strange looking machine. “Just look at all of my other inventions, my robots that can clean the entire house by me just pushing a button, the rehotterater to keep things hot – the refrigerator type thing, the flying bicycles, and best of all, this machine, the fabulous Digi-Tran! Why wouldn’t it work?”
“Well, I don’t know, but it just seems a little bit too strange. I mean, isn’t it impossible to go somewhere digitally? By the way, what exactly does ‘Digit-Tran’ mean?”
“Well, in answer to your first question,” Mr. Higgins responded, “yes, it was impossible to travel digitally, but now it is possible. ‘Digi-Tran’ is short for ‘Digital Transfer Method.’ Would you like to give it a try? I think it’s big enough for you.”
Alicia looked up at her father. She couldn’t tell if he was joking. She remembered a similar conversation last time, when he had wanted her to try out the flying bicycles. Alicia had wanted to try out the flying bicycles, too, so she got on one and did what her father said. But things didn’t go too well, due to Alicia’s lack of knowledge of how the machine worked. She ended up falling off while she was trying to land. It didn’t hurt, but after that she was a little hesitant to try it again. Finally, though, she had gotten up her courage, and now she was very good at riding them.
But…transferring yourself digitally is a whole different matter. Impossible. She would never, never, never try it. What if she got lost in cyber-space?…No, it wouldn’t be cyberspace…something else…anyway, she would never try it.
“Well, are you going to try it?” Professor Higgins looked at his hesitant daughter.
“Well, no. I mean maybe, maybe later, but certainly you don’t want to try me first thing. What if I get lost while I’m still in a million pieces?”
“Certainly not! I was just joking. Can you think of anything to try – just to prove that it actually works?”
Alicia glanced around her father’s workshop/lab. Then she spotted it. A plastic spoon. Knowing her father, Alicia decided that she shouldn’t take that spoon! He was probably doing an experiment with it. She dashed into the house and dashed out just as quickly with a different plastic spoon. Forgetting all about thinking that this strange machine could not possibly work, she showed the spoon to her father.
“Capital!” he responded as he took the spoon from her. Opening the door of the Digi-Tran, he carefully placed the spoon inside the box-shaped object. Then, after shutting the door, as father and daughter watched breathlessly, he typed in the Higgins’ e-mail address as the recipient. The Digi-Tran gave a loud BEEP followed by some words on the screen:
MISSION SUCCESSFUL—CONGRATULATIONS!
OBJECT HAS BEEN SENT SUCCESSFULLY!
“Um, Dad? You just sent that spoon to our e-mail address?!”
“Alicia, go check the e-mail, quick! I’ll go with you!” excitement was mounting in the professor’s voice. As Alicia sat down at the computer, she noticed a strange-looking contraption on the floor which was connected to the computer by cords and wires. Questioningly, she looked at her father, who gave her a mysterious grin. Alicia quickly clicked here and there, and then clicked on another icon. Several e-mails came in, one of which was an e-mail from “Digi-Tran.”
“That’s it!” Alicia and Mr. Higgins screamed at almost exactly the same time. Alicia opened the e-mail. It was blank, but had an attachment. She opened it, and all of the sudden the strange-looking box-shaped object on the floor started to make noise. A message popped up on the computer screen telling them not very politely to “Please wait.” Alicia almost opened the door on the machine too soon, but her father pulled her back just in time.
“Wait. If we open the door too soon it might not work correctly. We have to be patient.” After what seemed like an hour (which was only about one minute) the machine stopped whirring and making noise, and the message on the computer screen went away.
Professor Higgins’s hand shook as he opened the door on the machine. When he saw the spoon he almost fainted. Alicia did faint momentarily. Thankfully, right at that moment, Mrs. Higgins, who had just walked in the front door the moment before, caught her daughter before she landed on the professor.
“What’s going on here?” Mrs. Higgins shouted over the noise, when things had settled down enough for her to barely be heard.
“Dad’s new invention works! And we’re going to be the most famous people in the world!” Alicia shouted back!
“What invention?” Mrs. Higgins asked her husband. Then her mouth dropped open. “Don’t tell me that you actually tried out your idea of the-“ Mrs. Higgins paused, “-the ‘Digi-Tran’?”
“I sure did, honey. What you are seeing is the celebration of the successful test mission. Now, I’m going to try something bigger. Come with us, and I’ll show you my latest invention.”
As the family walked down the hall to Mr. Higgins workshop/lab, Alicia asked, “What are you going to try, Dad?”
“One of my cleaning robots…” They entered the workshop/lab, and Professor Higgins repeated his experiment, except this time he put one of the robots into the Digi-Tran. Again the same messages appeared on the screen.
Again they checked the e-mail. It was a success! The next day it was in the headlines of the town’s newspapers. The Higgins all took the day off and invited all their friends to their house to celebrate. Alicia gave in and was e-mailed through the entire system. In fact, everyone wanted to try it out, and everyone made it.
The next day, after everyone had left, Mrs. Higgins said to her husband, “Maybe you were right. How about we all help you invent new, wonderful things. I’ll be the first to volunteer. But first, I’ll need to learn how to use all of your inventions. How about a family bike ride on the flying bicycles?”
