"Ladies and gentlemen, let me present you the result of a life of research, the consecration of a genius, assuredly the 8th Wonder of the Modern World."

I heard some of the audience whispered that I was full of myself, egocentric and risible. I didn't mind, I would blow them all tonight, showing the result of decades of development and fine-tuning. My baby, I called it Scottie, was finally ready...

I spent a good part of my adult life trying to build what no one ever succeeded to. I started when I was a young lad, an exalted Jimmy wannabe. Within my circle of friend, as small as it was, being nerdy unappealing boys, my nickname was Neutron. For the bullies, I was more a failure, Jimmy Lemon they called me, as one after another my pseudo gadgets brought me laugher and embarrassment, as opposed as the fame I was looking for.

Chasing after one's dream is not an easy feat. I was at Caltech in the late 1990's when the first steps in quantum teleportation were taken. I found my way to the Teleportation Institute in the 2010's, and I worked on the project with the others, trying our best to advance the scientific knowledge so we could finally teleport physical objects. I left the institute when I realized we were not advancing as fast as I would have expected. I thought I would have more results if I kept by myself. I knew it.

The years passed and I finally succeeded some three decades later, almost four. Two years ago I managed to dematerialize a cat and rematerialize it few meters away. I intended to test on a rat lab first, but this cat came in unannounced, wandering in my lab, probably interested in the rats I kept for experiments. I had a stern conversation with my housekeeper regarding the cat and unwanted guest in my sanctuary, though the incident helped tremendously my research.

The men and women in front of me were impatient and excited. They were here for the show. I always wondered how people could only be amazed by a grandiose settings, glimmer and strass or explosion and deafening noise, while the real, amazing part shall have been the scientific feat. They were here for a spectacle, a show amounting to a circus performance.

I was about to reveal the secret of the matter transportation, and they were only looking for the whoa factor. Perhaps they were expecting a blunder...

In those decades of experimentation, trials and errors, I had met with some failure, I had to admit. The first one was with a physical object. An inanimate one. I started to transport small items first. I kept the little bundle of metal resulting from the teleportation. I wasn't able to remember what it originally was, but it didn't really matter. The little blob was a memento. Not one for a fluke, but one for a success. Whatever the glitch in the recombination, I had been able to transport matter... and it was all that matter...

Somehow, this mix-up helped me fine-tune the grid. I found after that that some matter are easier to teleport than others. Metal was ok, crystal could be a bit tricky. The most difficult, at the inanimate object stage of the experiment, were the vegetal fibres. Paper, drapes, anything made from fibres had taken me a lot of tweaking the machine. Nevertheless, I finally produced a solid teleportation protocol that had been the start base for the next step: transporting living matter.

The audience was doubtful, I could sense it. They expected a failure, I heard some of them debating over it. Either it would just not work at all, or it would malfunction. They had a fertile imagination. They were already anticipating a remake of "The Fly"...

Even though the first object I transferred ended up all mixed up, the following were fine however. When I came to teleport some life forms, plants, it was quite creative. I offered some of the recombined specimen to a friend specialised in botany. He was still trying to regain his credibility after publishing a research paper on insect-plants, an insect living of photosynthesis. This friend did not talk to me since the incident.

The plant teleportation was an ongoing project giving good results. However, I forgot the food chain element: where you found a plant, you found insects. Some would say it didn't presage well for the possibility of teleporting human beings. It wasn't such a failure in fact. The plant-insect episode set me in the right direction to focus on the multiple object teleportation protocol. There was a chance that the device I was dedicating my life to would be used for mass transportation. I wanted to be ready for that.

When I entered the tube, the room went silent. I could feel the excitation growing even more. Though, some remained doubtful and snickered at my theatrics. They would be convinced, I had no worries about it. This was the apogee of my carrier...

When I started the experimentation on living form, I tried to publish my research. I found no publication accepting the subject. So to say, there had been a strong rejection of the teleportation after the public failure. My former colleagues refused to acknowledge the warning I gave them, regarding the recombining protocol. It was ten years ago. They did what they had to, pressed by datelines and the oversized ego of their director. It had been their loss, and along with it the loss of the World. They blundered so badly, men died. And with the passing of people, the dream to, one day, being able to transport matter went to oblivion.

I thought continuing my research and building Scottie would show them where there error lied. I thought it would give them a new hope. However, they just ignored me and my results. The cat was still alive, the plant was just a small mistake that had been necessary to open the path to success. They shall have listen to me.

I tried to sell my invention, to commercialise it. The only people interested had been either the crazy type, those believing in the end of the World and the near coming of some extra-terrestrial God, or the sceptic type, living of people's credulity.

I devised the best way how to make a sonic boom with my genius. If my peers didn't want to recognize me, if no serious scientific publication would print my papers, the general public would welcome me. I went for mainstream. I sold my soul to the demon of entertainment.

"Ladies and gentleman, for the first time in Las Vegas, for the first time in the World, a man teleported himself. All Star-Trek fan rejoice, soon you will also be able to say it. 'Beam me up Scottie'."

The audience was entranced. They finally saw the result of my years of dedication. Sure, I would have preferred the public to be that of the Nobel jury, but it was the first step. I had to start somewhere anyway...

My carrier in the entertainment industry started soon after I had been rejected by the disgruntled scientific corps. My brilliance gave me quite an advantage to perform breath-taking shows full of technology and glitter. The nickname of my young days became my stage name, I was Jimmy Neutron, the one who would blow your mind with his gizmos. My signature, the whoa factor.

I had made quite a success with basic gadgets. My props were always the top in the world of the illusion and the magic. I suspected even my manager thought it was all about tricks and gimmicks. Science didn't really pay well, so I let them believe whatever they wanted.

I was living well, earning a lot so my lab was top notch technology. I could pursue my dream of science and quantum transportation. My only regret, I was still celibate. I missed somehow, somewhere in my journey, the coach of love. I would love to love, to have someone to go back to after a day of work, someone to share my successes and my failures with. I would love to have a woman I could hug, tight in my embrace, a woman's body to feel under my hands...

The show went on with the expected excitation and amazement. I was now entering the device accompanied by a lovely woman I picked in the public. She had been a bit scared, but I reassured her and we now were 'beamed' by Scottie. We exited in the other side of the scene, no apparent problem, the multiple teleportation worked well, when all of the sudden I heard the lady beside me screaming...

Lady Luck had been by my side all my life; she probably wanted to compensate for a difficult youth and the bullies she sent me at first. Recently, I dreamed of a woman I could embrace. Though, I never dreamed I would be able to feel the womanly curves under my hands so soon. Not as I was checking furiously what went wrong, patting myself...