SF story idea

[kengr]

Ok, I first had this idea decades ago. Thought I'd bounce it off some of you folks to see what you can come up with for a few factors.

Basic idea: Someone discovers that they can teleport. It has limitations. He can go to any place he has been, no problem. Can't teleport into an occupied space. Can do stuff like teleport to the other side of a fence, or maybe into a room if he was looking thru the window. Can't use a pair of binoculars to look at a spot a long ways off and teleport there.

So. What *legal* ways can he make money with this, and note find up dead or with every government on earth trying to find a way to trap him and make him work for them?

I specified legal because the illegal ways in innumerable. Just consider the possibilities in burglary and smuggling alone.

Comments

[draxenn.livejournal.com]

I'd say fastest parcel delivery...
Or...legal break and enter..for people who lock themselves out of their car or homes.

[kengr]

I'd thought about the parcel delivery. The other fails the "not be targetted" requirement.

Heck, doing the parcel bit would be hard to do without revealing *how* it's done.

It's the "keep the fact that you can teleport secret" that['s the hard part.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

World's greatest escape artist. Since he can t-port to places he is familiar with, he scouts out the area while preparing for the show. You can chain him up, seal him in concrete, etc., etc., and *poof*, he walks back onto stage to the cheers of the audience.

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

If he can micro-teleport (say, a foot or so), I can see some possibilities in sports....

[(Anonymous)]

personal intracity rapid transit. Use restroom stalls as arrival/departure points. Be very useful on the legwork part of a private detective's job. the stall is unlikely to have somebody spotting you directly. With modern mindset of the majority of people, and great majority of "authorities", even if they see you leaving a place no one went into, they STILL won't believe it's teleportation. Not a direct moneymaker, but would help.

[mjchevalier.livejournal.com]

Paper route. Middle of the night, no one around.

There's always the possibility that you wouldn't take a job where teleportation would be an asset. Or where it would be just mildly useful. A butler for example. Always right there when you call for him, but it's not the primary duty of the job.