Eszter Aletta Hevesi
In every city, regardless of whether it is small or large, there are several portals, generally on the two opposing sides of the settlement, at the ambulance stations, the country’s Parliament, the homes of powerful politicians, and in schools. Of course in major cities they are located in the banks and other important institutions.
But let’s talk about what a portal actually is. It can teleport people, cars and nearly everything, depending on the size of the portal (of course a portal in the bank won’t teleport a truck, just money and people). It helps city life immensely: the citizens don’t need to use the bus, trains or planes, because they can easily commute between cities, counties, even between countries, continents. The ambulance doesn’t need to take a relatively long road to save a person’s life; they use the portal and arrive in a maximum of 10 minutes after the call. I could list a thousand other benefits of this invention, but I think everybody can imagine how useful it really is.
The portal works in a complex way: the person walks into the black hole— which is noticeable from any distance—and types in the destination of his or her journey. If it is a reachable destination from the first teleportation, the system automatically shows it as an offer, but if it isn’t, then it shows the number and the name of the portal the person needs to go through along the way. After he/she chooses a destination, the portal breaks him/her into tiny particles, transfers him/her into the nearest quantum world, and sends him/her to the outportal of the chosen place, builds him/her up again, and extradites him/her to the given city/county/country/continent. To come back to the hometown, we need to take the same steps, because the outportals work as inportals too, depending on where we approach them from.
The portal was invented in 2084 by a woman named Elizabeth Safarg. She was a very intelligent, smart girl since birth, and everybody knew that she was destined for major things in the future. She worked on the portal absolutely alone and received numerous awards in the following years.
She agreed to have an interview with us, and we asked the most popular questions.
—Thank you, Elizabeth, for having us in your house and letting us ask some questions.
—Of course, it’s my pleasure.
—So first of all, congratulations on the awards you got this year, it is wonderful to see that a young talent’s breakthrough work is recognized, which is as it should be, because your invention is everywhere.
—Yes it means a lot for me to compete with my idols in the same field of technology that I have been interested in since middle school.
—How did you get the idea of the Portal?
—When I got into high school, I needed to commute to get anywhere. By commuting I mean at least one hour a day to get to school and back home in the afternoon. It was a big struggle for me, and I knew I was not alone. Unfortunately, my grandpa passed from a seizure because the ambulance could not arrive in time. At that exact moment I knew that a portal would be an amazing invention and would be used by everybody.
—My condolences for your grandpa. How did you start the process of working on the Portal?
—At first I didn’t tell anyone about my plan, because I worried that somebody would try to talk me out of it. I did a lot of research, read a lot of interviews of different inventors and physicists, and tried to make small steps forward after compiling all the information about anything that would help me make the first portal. After that, a long road of failures made me restart the whole process, but I didn’t lose my focus on the original idea.
—And approximately how many times did you need to go back and start over from scratch?
—At least a hundred times; don’t forget that I worked seven years on the first working Portal, which is not even the one that we use today. I had enough time to fail as many times as I wanted. But the 101st time, the Portal worked. I could go from my room to the backyard. Once the machine worked, the only thing I needed to do was experiment with both the distance and the capacity of the portal.
—When did you announce the Portal or even the plan of the portal to your parents?
—Of course when I lived in my parents house, I couldn’t keep it a secret for long; they figured it out pretty quickly but thought that I would give up. When I was very close to my first teleportation, they realized that it was not just a game anymore.
—If you didn’t get any support from anyone, how did you get the components for the Portal?
—I worked at the Component Store for a long time, and they gave me the ones that weren’t selling.
—How did you get the governments and the whole world to use it?
—When I had the final working Portal (which we use today), I took it to the Parliament of Inventions and asked whether they would like to use or try it out, and they said yes, even though they were skeptical. After a few months, they offered me a partnership and a dealership, the first one to be their partner in developing the Portal further, and the second one to sell it to them. I agreed and sold it to them. After two years it appeared in the main countries, and slowly but surely it expanded throughout the world.
—You are just twenty-six now; what are your plans for the future?
—I would like to start a company where I can work with young talents on their inventions and a charity too, to donate to countries that are not developed.
—These are remarkable plans. Thank you for your time and answers! We look forward to your new inventions.