As promised, Luc smuggled Viviane back to the research offices where she used to work as a graduate student researcher for Dr. Leandre Renard, genius and inventor of teleportation technology and back to her other love of math, physics and science. The endless maze of gray, uniform-looking cubicle offices, however, she could do without. Luc led Viviane over to Dr. Renard’s office. Even though the door to his office was open, Luc still knocked.

“Here Doc, I brought her back like you wanted.”

Viviane stepped out from behind Luc and into Dr. Renard’s office. Her beauty brought color to the drab office and to the tired face of Dr. Renard.

“Viviane! You’ve come back unharmed!” To Dr. Renard, it was as if Viviane glowed with a halo of light. “Evil is growing in the world, but there are things that I need to tell you.”

Dr. Renard turned to Luc. “Agent Luc, could you please leave us?”

Luc shot Viviane a suspicious eye asking for her permission to go or to stay.

Viviane understood that Luc wanted to protect her. “It’s OK, Luc. I’ve worked with Dr. Renard for a few years now and I know I have nothing to be afraid of.”

Luc was not so sure. “OK, but I’ll be right down these stairs if you need me, Viviane.”

Luc left and Dr. Renard closed the door after him.

Viviane sat down on a minimalist sofa with legs so thin it appeared to hover in air. Dr. Renard took the matching chair and pulled up closer to Viviane.

“Dr. Renard? You have something to tell me?”

“Yes, it’s about Anaelle and Marielle. I know why they’ve been kidnapped. The Order of One Justice, they know. They’ve seen the stolen data and my notebooks. I know what they’re after.”

“What is it?” asked Viviane.

Dr. Renard drew a breath, but hesitated to speak. “This is going to be difficult. Where do I start?”

“How about at the beginning?”

“Very well. Let me tell you about Anaelle and Marielle.”

Fifteen Years Ago

A fifteen years younger Leandre Renard and his wife, Elise, were at the hospital. Elise just gave birth to two baby girls. They were identical twins! Anaelle came first and then just a minute or two later, Marielle was born next. Elise looked worn out from the labor. Her eyes were heavy with weariness and her hair twisted into random locks. The two baby girls slept in a crib-cart next to the tired mother and a sleepy-eyed father. Elise looked upon and adored her children. She said to her husband, “Look, Leandre, we’re a family now.” It was the happiest day of their married lives.

Fourteen Years Ago

A year after their birth, Anaelle and Marielle were mere toddlers who walked very little while teetering. Although they were identical twins, they each explored the house in their own way. Anaelle hid under a chair while Marielle climbed up onto an end table and crept up so close to the edge that she might have fallen off! They were typical children and their days were filled with exploration and discovery. They just began to talk, too. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Then one day a few months before they turned three, an unspeakable tragedy occurred.

Thirteen Years Ago

Anaelle, just a few months shy of turning three years old, ran into the kitchen of the Renard home to find her mother Elise.

“Mommy! Marielle is sick. She went to sleep and I can’t wake her up.”

Although the words were innocent, Elise felt a wave of panic.

“Anaelle, where is Marielle? Take me to her now!”

Mother and daughter ran back to the girls’ bedroom. Elise saw Marielle lying face down on the floor. She did not flinch at the noise of her sister and mother running in. Elise did not want to believe what she was thinking as an icy cold fear gripped her heart.

“Oh no! Marielle!”

Elise rushed to turn Marielle over, but she remained limp. Elise was all nerves. She listened for a breath, but did not hear one. She frantically checked for a pulse on Marielle’s neck, but could not feel one. The worst of a mother’s fears came true. She had lost a child. Elise collapsed onto the lifeless body of Marielle and held her as if there would be no tomorrow.

Thirteen Years Ago

Underground at the National Laboratory was the research Transportal, powered by a portable nuclear generator on one side and flanked by cabinets full of quantum supercomputers on the other side. A thirteen years younger Dr. Leandre Renard and his wife, Elise, brought their daughter Anaelle and the lifeless body of their other daughter Marielle to the underground lab. It was late at night. An alien hum emanated from the background. Elise was uneasy.

“Leandre, this has never been done before. Will it really work?”

“Yes, it will! I’m sure of it!”

Elise picked up a sleepy-headed Anaelle who has stayed up way past her bedtime.

“Anaelle, I know it’s late and past your bedtime, but lie down here for a while, OK?”

Elise laid Anaelle inside the source chamber of the research Transportal where she flopped around a bit before becoming still. Elise was still uneasy.

“Are you sure we should be doing this? We’ve only achieved 99.9999% teleportation accuracy.”

“It’s enough!” insisted Leandre. “First, we will scan Anaelle’s information into the computer.”

Leandre tapped a few buttons on the control panel’s touch surface. The alien sound became louder as the Transportal energized. The lights in the laboratory dimmed and the quantum supercomputer’s lights flashed with excitement as everything powered up for the first phase of teleportation.

In the source chamber, a light beam passed over Anaelle’s body while the coils of the Transportal started glowing green with fluorescent color. Once the beam passed over Anaelle, the Transportal de-energized. The hum quieted down and the computer’s lights flashed slower.

Elise rushed over to Anaelle and removed her from the source chamber. She was fine. The scanning process had not harmed her.

“Now, we will entangle Marielle’s body with quantum particles.”

Elise lifted the deceased body of Marielle over the source chamber of the Transportal. Marielle’s skin color was ashen and her body was cool to the touch. Elise shivered as she held the cold body of Marielle and carried it over to the source chamber.

Once there, Elise lay the body of Marielle in the same position as Anaelle was lying in the source chamber. Once Elise was satisfied that the position was the same, she scrambled back away from the Transportal.

Leandre again tapped on the controls of the Transportal’s control console and once again, the Transportal energized to begin the process of teleportation. The hum grew louder. The glow of the coils returned. The lights dimmed. This time, however, Marielle’s body hovered inside a force field bottle while her body was bombarded with entangled particles. The form of her body faded in and out and became wavy in appearance. Within a minute, Marielle’s body was entirely consumed by entangled particles and she disappeared in a bright shower of flickering light which faded away leaving behind an empty source chamber.

“Entanglement is complete,” said Leandre. “Now, within the computer, we substitute Anaelle’s scanned information with Marielle’s and make adjustments to control the entropy.”

Leandre did what he said by tapping many keys on the control console. He tried to merge Anaelle’s information about her physical make up with Marielle’s entangled particles together.

“There! It’s done. Transmission may begin.” Leandre was triumphant.

Leandre tapped on a very large blinking icon on the control console’s surface. The icon was labeled with the words “Begin Transmission.” A warning flashed below the button: “Warning: Process is irreversible.”

As soon as Leandre tapped the blinking icon, the Transportal energized again. The electricity required for transmission and reconstitution was enormous.

In the target chamber, sparkling light exploded for a brief few seconds as the teleported body of Marielle appeared. On first sight, only the outline of Marielle’s body showed inside the chamber. Before long, more of Marielle appeared. Her form looked wavy and indistinct and she faded in and out while her body was reconstituted during decoherence. After a few minutes, the waviness disappeared and left a solid form hovering in its force field. As the Transportal de-energized, the body of Marielle floated down to the floor of the target chamber with gentleness and slowness. After complete de-energization, Leandre and Elise rushed over to the target chamber to see what emerged after teleportation. The icon on the control console flashed: “Teleportation complete.”

Elise was the first to reach out to the body of Marielle. The first thing Elise noticed was that the body was warm to the touch! And she noticed Marielle breathing as she felt the rise and fall of Marielle’s chest and lungs! Elise touched the face of Marielle and saw the eyelids flutter ever so slightly.

Marielle’s sleepy eyes opened and she looked up to see the face of her mother. Marielle squinted at the bright lights.

“Mom? Where are we?”

Elise was overjoyed to hear Marielle speak! Elise again collapsed onto the body of Marielle, but this time, her tears were ones of happiness. Marielle returned from the shadowy realm of death.

It was a miracle, a miracle of science and the human mind. And a miracle of God that luck was on their side, for the process of teleportation thirteen years ago was only 99.9999% accurate. Yet, it did NOT result in the death of a living organism after all.