Pat said:
Could the teleport system transport objects that contained NO organic matter whatsoever? For example, could one put a bracelet on Orac (fastened around its handle) and teleport it?
We never saw an example of it. There was a theory on the lyst some time ago (read: years) that you had to have some kind of living bio matter as the teleporter relied on the energy field that it has (funnily enough, IBM have been doing research on using the electrical field generated by the human body as a method of transmitting information - useful for payment systems in public transport or identification systems and such).
It's stated that the Aquitar project never worked on living matter, but the Liberator system didn't have this problem. If the Aquitar system SELDOM worked on non-living matter, could Liberator's system have this problem sorted as well?
Seems likely, given the above and what we saw of what happened on the show.
Another similar point. Assuming that the teleport system separated Moloch from his life-support system (an easy assumption since that's what happened!), why did it not separate Gan from the technology implanted in him? What distinguishes a life-support system (which is technologically based) from a limiter, a box of lock-picking tools, a gun (all technologically based) - or even clothing?
My guess is this: It seems likely that the teleport can distinguish between what is part of the surrounding environment and what is attached to the thing being transported. Gan's limiter is embedded in him and is not part of the environment around him. Moloch's life support system *was* the environment around him and therefore didn't get transported along with him. If it was somehow physically part of him, like Gan's limiter, it would have been teleported with him.
Same goes for clothes or things being carried and such. The teleporter has some way of distinguishing, due to proximity to the body or due to your bio-field extending partially around those items that they are part of what needs to be transported. That does beg the question of why more stones, gravel etc. didn't appear in the teleport bay - bearing in mind Sand.
Peter.