Flying Blind
The concept is simple. Long range teleportation can be achieved using a spacecraft's de Broglie field generator to exploit the wave-particle duality principle. When activated, the vessel becomes a quantum object, which is effectively in two places at once. One instance of the ship remains at its original location, while another materialises at the desired destination. The jump is completed by a controlled collapse of the quantum waveform, causing the original ship to disappear, but physically remain in the new location. There's only one catch. The vessel can't be observed while it does this. By anyone - or anything - even the ship's own crew. If the vessel is observed by any person, animal, or electrical sensor, the waveform would collapse prematurely, and the ship would simply stay in place. If you want to teleport, the universe has to look the other way.
The concept is simple, thought Clara. "We'll enter the Phobos dark zone in five minutes," announced Munro to the rest of the bridge. The Osprey's current trajectory would send the spacecraft around the far side of Mars' largest moon. Behind Phobos, the ship's bulky, one-hundred-metre long hull would be obscured from any accidental observations made by Martian satellites. "The coordinates are locked and the de Broglie generator is primed" Clara reported, not looking up from her console screen. She scanned over the jump coordinates and orbital parameters a few more times. She couldn't screw this up. Clara had been on the bridge during a jump before, but this was her first time at the helm. Her mind was racing with all the things that could possibly go wrong.
“It’s time to make the announcement Lieutenant Lang,” Captain Adarkwa reminded Clara.
“Aye, Captain,” Clara took a deep breath in, and tapped her console. “Helm to all hands, attention all hands. We are preparing to jump, please cease all operations and go to a safe space. Prepare to close eyes on my mark.” Her mouth was dry, just like it had been before taking her final jump pilot certification exam. Oh fuck, Clara thought. What if the jump fails? What if I initiate the jump too late, and we pass out the other side of the dark zone? Clara imagined the Captain's furrowed brow as they gave the order to adjust course; Munro's eyes rolling as he reluctantly engaged the rocket motors. She felt a pit in her stomach thinking about disappointing Captain Adarkwa. They had been the one to recommend her for the jump pilot exam in the first place. And Clara didn't know if she could handle Munro bringing up this failure every time he wanted to agitate her. He didn’t need the ammunition.
The Osprey was nearing the dark zone, and the cratered surface of Phobos was beginning to take up most of the domed viewscreen walls. It felt like the moon’s immense, grey face could topple down on her, as Clara looked up at the screen image curving up into the ceiling. Her voice rang out of the ship's PA system once more. “Helm to all hands, attention all hands. Jump is imminent, close eyes and await my signal. Thank you.” Clara could feel her heart pounding in her chest now. She was going to fuck this up. She knew it. The Captain’s voice boomed behind her, “Bridge crew, are we clear to jump? Jankowski, report?”
“All systems green,” came the reply from the ops station.
"Foley?"
“Comms all clear, closing channels now.”
"Munro?"
“We’re pointing in the right direction, Captain,” smirked Munro at the nav console beside Clara. “We’ll enter the dark zone in less than a minute.”
Finally the Captain turned to the helm: “Lang? Are we ready?”
Clara tried to keep her voice steady as panic rose through her body, “Helm all clear.” Maybe they'll laugh me off the bridge, she considered. Clara could feel herself preemptively blushing, picturing their faces crack up as they all realise the mistake she was about to make. Maybe the Captain will receive a message at the last minute, and be told that I’d actually failed the certification exam, she thought. I should just say something now. I should just say that I can’t do this, and not suffer the embarrassment of spectacularly failing in front of the whole bridge. “Very well Lieutenant Lang,” Captain Adarkwa beamed with one of his broadest smiles, “bridge crew, cease operations and close eyes. See you on the other side Lang.” The lights on the bridge dimmed, and the crew sat back in their chairs, hands away from their consoles.
This was it; Clara was the only person aboard with their eyes open. With the Captain’s eyes closed, Clara alone was responsible for the whole ship and the thirty-nine lives on board. She made her final checks and disconnected the Osprey’s sensors. The viewscreen walls went blank at once, as if a room-sized bubble had just popped. The ship was gliding through space, and now Clara had no way of knowing what was in front of them. What if there's been a mistake with the jump scheduling? What if we collide with another ship attempting to jump at the same time? One hundred thousand tonnes of metal, travelling eight kilometres per second, dashed against another massive vessel coming in the other direction. Both crews oblivious to the impending impact as they hurtle towards each other. Eyes closed. Bodies atomised by the cloud of metal splashing apart around them. How long would it take for people to realise what had happened behind the moon’s cold face? Hours? Days? Would they see a river of twisted silver and gold shards orbiting Phobos from Mars? Clara readied her fingers on the button that would initiate the jump. It was now or never. She held her breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and pushed.
The de Broglie field generator pulled the Osprey across the aperture of space. The ship was nowhere; the ship was everywhere; the ship stayed in place; the ship arrived at its destination; all at once.
The helm console softly pinged; had it worked? Clara slowly opened her eyes. The darkened bridge looked the same as before. She switched the ship sensors back online. Phobos was gone. The navigation display indicated they were in orbit around Tau Ceti, a main-sequence star twelve lightyears away from their previous location - on course to intercept the third of five worlds in the planetary system. It had worked! Relief started to wash over Clara. She checked their heading again. The spacecraft was an hour away from orbital insertion around Tau Ceti d, well within the time tolerance for the delivery. Clara couldn't believe it, everything had gone according to pla-
"Can we open our eyes now, Lang?" Munro said curtly. Clara's eyes widened as she remembered her comrades sitting on the bridge, and throughout the ship. She quickly reached for the intercom on her console panel. "Uh, helm to all hands, jump has completed, please open eyes and return to your stations." She tapped the intercom mic off and exhaled.
"You can breathe again, Lieutenant!" said the Captain. Clara turned around, Captain Adarkwa was grinning proudly. "Congratulations on your first jump."
Even Munro looked pleased, she wondered what snarky comment he was going to make. His voice was quieter than usual, like what he was about to say was just for her, “Nice work Lang, just don’t keep us waiting next time.”
Clara wasn't ready to think about her long future career as a jump pilot yet, but she allowed herself a smile. "Thank you Captain. Munro, take the helm a sec. I need coffee."
- - - - -
Wave-particle duality is a real concept in quantum physics. During the famous “double-slit experiment”, electrons displayed characteristics of both waves and particles simultaneously. Single electron particles were fired through a pair of slits at a target. The pattern of electrons striking the target showed the electrons behaved like a wave, which could only be achieved if the single electrons had been in two places at once; passing through both slits at the same time. When the electron paths were observed using a measuring device, the electrons stopped behaving like a wave, and struck the target in a pattern consistent with particles. The very act of observing collapsed the wave function, and the electron only travelled through one slit at a time, rather than both slits at once.