What happens if you beam a person to the exact same space a person already is in?
- Thread starter Shat Happens
- Start date
Not to mention the fact that if history is being changed by the fact that the Enterprise has now come back and is not doing exactly what it did before, either:
1 - Captain Christopher was as a result never originally beamed out so beaming him back should kill him instantly.
and/or
2 - Since they are beaming in the version of Christopher that went through all the events that led to the point there now at, as you said he should remember everything in the alternate timeline going forward from the point they deemed him back.
If you really want to try and explain this logically; I would posit that Kirk & Co never rematerialized the version of Captain Christopher who went through the incident on the USS Enterprise; but they didn't want to tell him that is what they had planned because they believed if he knew that was going to be the case, he'd never step on to that transporter pad again.
Then why the xporter effect on the "original" Christopher (and the guard)? Why not just beam them into space? To say nothing of: What is going on with the "original" Enterprise?If you really want to try and explain this logically; I would posit that Kirk & Co never rematerialized the version of Captain Christopher who went through the incident on the USS Enterprise; but they didn't want to tell him that is what they had planned because they believed if he knew that was going to be the case, he'd never step on to that transporter pad again.
Technically speaking, unless there is a vacuum at the destination point, you are always beaming into a destination already occupied by matter. It might be gaseous matter, but it is still (if at anything like Earth surface pressures) 16 lbs/ft^2 of matter.
We know that the transporter must be able to add and subtract mass because of the incident in The Enemy Within. So, one solution is the transporter simply removes the matter (air, a little ground at your feet, solid rock, bulkheads, etc.) where a subject is beamed into. Since we hear lines about "how long can a person/matter stay in the transporter system?", then I conclude that removed matter is stored and later put back in when the person/matter is beamed back out. I feel that the Enterprise maintains an inventory of stored matter to replace matter that also goes "missing" during the transport where the transport grabs onto the subject's pattern, but then the subject is blown up before the beaming process is completed (Mudd's Women, The Doomsday Machine, Obsession). So, the transporter must be able to replace the missing matter with stored matter. Ship of Theseus discussion activated.
YMMV 
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Of course the funniest thing about the transporter is that it was a magical plot device of immediate convenience to a television program with budget concerns. Then they made a show. Then they got fans. Then the fans had LOTS of time to start exploring and extrapolating the possibilities and ramifications of the device.
It's all been down hill from there.
It's all been down hill from there.
Of course the funniest thing about the transporter is that it was a magical plot device of immediate convenience to a television program with budget concerns. Then they made a show. Then they got fans. Then the fans had LOTS of time to start exploring and extrapolating the possibilities and ramifications of the device.
It's all been down hill from there.
EDIT: Of all of the possible permutations of "What could the transporter be used for?" (copies, backups, altering a pattern in transit, is it really you, etc.) the end of Tomorrow is Yesterday is NOT a good one. Sorry Dorothy.
I was thinking “BrundleFly”, but…
I don't know what happens if you beam them to the same space they're already in, but the space next to that? It would make them mad. They'd be beside themselves.
Excellent!
"It would destroy such life in favor of its new matrix."
No? I wasn't sure that would Fly.
BrundleFly!!!
"You're a WIZARD (transporter)!"
I'm assuming that part of a transporter's function is to eliminate everything within the beam in area, since the air in the space they occupied would otherwise be inside the person being beamed, creating an internal air bubble, and a fatal aneurysm.
So, either the person on site would cease to exist, or the transporter's safety protocols would kick in.
Also, pretty sure the transporter pre-scans for an area with nothing in it. Otherwise, you'd get mixed with a wall, a rock, a hill, or any number of things you don't want to be mixed with.
So, either the person on site would cease to exist, or the transporter's safety protocols would kick in.
Also, pretty sure the transporter pre-scans for an area with nothing in it. Otherwise, you'd get mixed with a wall, a rock, a hill, or any number of things you don't want to be mixed with.
Didn't they usually have a beam down point on a planet where I assumed the beaming area would have no solid objects and then the beaming process would pre-vacuumise the area and shift any air particles above the landing party. So the landing party would arrive with a woosh.
So you couldn't beam into a crowded area.
OK what if someone walked into the area during the beaming down process? Maybe once the pre-process started a sort of force barrier went up.
So you couldn't beam into a crowded area.
OK what if someone walked into the area during the beaming down process? Maybe once the pre-process started a sort of force barrier went up.
I had an idea in prehistoric (pre-internet) times that transporter beams may also utilize a forcefield during the beaming process to help maintain the integrity of the object or person being transmitted. Amazingly. the old TNG Technical Manual would later feature something called an "annular containment beam" that was exactly what I was thinking of. This forcefield would basically be a shield around the the subject being transported and would be released only after the process was over. If we go with that, then it might be possible that if anyone happened to be standing at the exact same beam down coordinates, that person might be gently (or maybe roughly) pushed out of the way. In the case of Star Trek IV in which Gillian Taylor jumped into Kirk's transporter beam, this forcefield maybe even prevent objects from fusing together.
Perhaps fusion of two subjects via transporter only occurs when there's a malfunction or by intended action by an operator. Otherwise, if there's something in the way, the transporter's targeting scanners would likely pick it up immediately and the operator would select other coordinates in the vicinity, IMO.
Perhaps fusion of two subjects via transporter only occurs when there's a malfunction or by intended action by an operator. Otherwise, if there's something in the way, the transporter's targeting scanners would likely pick it up immediately and the operator would select other coordinates in the vicinity, IMO.
From the inside out.
Only if intentionally or via a malfunction, IMO. I think transporter chiefs are trained to avoid beaming people to coordinates where there's already someone there.
FEDERATION transporter chiefs.
Likely non-Federation as well. While transporters are susceptible to glitches like any other piece of technology, the percentage of fatal transporter mishaps is probably the smallest fraction possible. For all we know, millions of transporter trips are made each day without incident and maybe only a handful aren't successful. I'd even bet way more people have died in automobile accidents in just the last two years than those via transporter over the last two centuries.
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