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Great review of that classic. BTW, on the subject of soul loss during transport, The site STARDESTROYER On yahoo, pits the UFP aginst a resergent Empire, and the battle are rather intresting. Enterprise Vs. Impstar II and the like. In the Fiction, A Jedi fleeing the Empire, Seeing Fed Transporter Technology, decides that all feds are just energy greated clones of dead people. The Idea of "Souls slipping away from a body in an energy state" Is what the Site master worked his fiction with. Interesting! Check it out, guys.

I believe Stephen King wrote a story similar to the "lost soul" concept.  Story goes that a scientist had succeeded in creating a working teleporting device, but every time he sent something living through they dropped dead once they reached the other side.  While puzzling over that, he observes that when a living thing is sent through the teleporter unconscious they arrive at the other end no worse for wear.  Turns out that while the actual teleportation is instantaneous to the outiside viewer, the mind going through it percieves billions upon billions of years passing.  Put yourself in a isolation tank and you'll start hallucinating after an hour or so.  Now stretch that out to an inconceivable length of time.  Nope, no enlightened buddha-states for these folks, only gibbering insanity and Azathoth's piping.

But let's hear what Monty Python have to say on the subject:

"Harry: I've had a team working on this over and over the past few weeks, and what we've come up with can be reduced to two fundamental concepts...One... people are not wearing enough hats. Two...matter is energy; in the Universe there are many energy fields which we cannot normally percieve. Some energies have a spiritual source which acts upon a person's soul. However, this soul does not exist ab initio, as orthodox Christianity teaches; it has to be brought into existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this is rarely achieved owing to man's unique ability to be distracted from spiritual matters by everday trivia.

Max: What was that about hats again?"

Thanks also for posting a wav file of the "cat atoms" line-- That one had my dad and I in stitches when we saw the movie on TV a few months back!

Anything to keep this bunch happy.  Should I ever falter I fully expect another member of the pack to try and pull me down.  Then I'd be ripped to pieces by the other members.

Funny that one science fiction story comes up.  I remember another about a kid who wanted to see what happens during a transfer shunt (or whatever you want to slap on it for a moniker).  He holds his breath when they give him the sleeping gas.  Obviously there are problems upon arrival.

Andrew

That's the story I was thinking of.  If memory serves me right, it's "The Jaunt" by Stephen King.

Yeah, that's one that sticks with you.  "It's eternity in there."

Nathan
Longer than you think!

A great teleportation story I read in a sci-fi pulp 25 years ago was "The Last Leap" by Daniel F. Galouye.  The premise being that people are "energized" in a chamber and thus given the ability to basically think themselves (or "leap") from place to place.  "I want to be across the room," and *BANG* (big sound caused by creation of sudden vacuum/instantaneous air displacement) there you are!

The problem is, every human test subject gets a bit crazed after awhile and they all finally vanish, never to return.  So the main scientist subjects himself to the process to investigate, and it's fun for awhile (going to the park in a flash, visiting the library, whatever) but he begins to realize what's up.  He manages to beg for medication to numb his thought processes a bit, and is in the infirmary trying to stay mellow and keep his mind inactive, when a nurse walks in, sees him lying there looking bummed.  She throws open the drapes and says, "Oh professor, you shouldn't be in here...the *SUN* is so beautiful today!"

Need I say more?  His eyes bug out, he screams, and *BANG* he's gone...    

That's how I remember the story.  Would have made a great Twilight Zone.