After a hearty meal with the Merry Men, Robin sat at the head of the table, digging away with a toothpick to remove a stubborn piece of meat. Friar Tuck sighed contentedly and Will Scarlett stretched out his arms. Aurora sat beside Little John, she had begun to accept her condition at this point, though invisible it had still given her a state of existence better then she had known before. And in spite of existing in an unseen state, it still gave her a normal life again as opposed to falling asleep for years at a time and unable to interact people.
Giles stood there in the doorway as he heard all the contented sighs, he smiled knowing he'd served up another masterpiece.
"That was a wonderful dinner Giles Thank you very much!" Aurora spoke up.
"Yes... you seem to outdo yourself every time my good man! We couldn't have had a better man prepare our dinner, thank you again!" Rocket Robin smiled as he finally dislodged the meat from his gums, and the Merry Men and Marion all offered their thanks.
"I've been thinking Aurora," Alan Adale spoke up, "You're invisible, but we can see the clothes you're wearing."
"Yes..."
"Right, to see an object in front of you it is the light reflected off the object in question." Robin nodded.
"I see what you mean." Maid Marion spoke up.
"Well in Aurora's case it must mean that the light is being bent around her, since we can still feel her and see the clothes on her." Alan pointed out.
"That is a very good point there Alan. Something must make the light not refract off her body, presumably speaking it must be bent around her." Friar Tuck rubbed his chin heavy in thought.
"Light reflects off her clothes but not her body..." Robin said thoughtfully.
"May I?" Will Scarlett motioned to her wrist band, (Aurora's headband nodded) as he felt her wrist, "I can actually feel her body's warmth.."
"Yeah.. she's warm, just not seen..." Little John quickly spoke up, to everyone's laughter, "I mean, I just, Um, well..." as he blushed.
"I know where you are going..." Aurora replied, "When we see something scientifically speaking, light reflected back off an object, so our optic nerves pick it up. Henceforth why we can't see in the dark -no available light to reflect off and illuminate the objects and area around us."
"That's right... you contributed to your father's theory of teleportation." Maid Marion pointed out as the headband nodded and Aurora smiled invisibly.
"Well I've got an idea," Alan Adale spoke up, "Why not use infrared light? The heat of her body should make her visible."
"You mean we could really see her?" Little John asked.
"Of course!" Robin slapped the table, "We should have thought of this before! Let's go lads! To the laboratory!" as they all got up.
Over into the laboratory, Alan typed away at the keys at the de-ionizer reconfiguring it to project infra red light at her.
"Okay lads, I think I've got it.." Alan sat up straight.
"Cross your fingers boys." Maid Marion said as she squeezed Robins hand and he squeezed back.
The room darkened as infra red light projected at Aurora and everyone gasped. No red light or heat source projected off her body. Her clothes still floated there showing blue indicating no heat source.
"WHAT?" Robin and all the Men questioned the obvious riddle in front of them.
"Is it working?" Aurora's wristbands raised for a moment, and seeing them still floating, she said disappointed, "..Oh..."
"POLARIZED light! Try that!" Robin smacked his fist into his palm and pointed to Aurora.
"Yes! Yes of course!" Alan replied and typed away at the readouts, "Get ready, alright, here it comes."
"We're waiting," all stood with bated breath at the light changing to a blue sheer. But the result remained the same, Aurora's clothes still floated under the blue light.
"What?" Robin motioned a hand to Aurora, "How is that possible? We should be able to see her. What's going on?"
"Aww, I still can't believe this, and I know something on light energy and theory." Aurora replied.
"It seems according to this readout, light passes completely through her!" Alan gasped.
"I don't know if that's possible!" Friar Tuck stood there normally not easily dumbfounded.
"Well you can't argue with what's in front of you.." Will pointed out.
"Very true." Friar replied.
"So she is trulyinvisible." Alan said.
"And I'm a scientific curiosity." Aurora pondered.
"Ain't noone studying my woman." and sensing how she was feeling, Little John walked up hugging her.
"Hm, now I'm thinking more towards the theory that she is trapped between two planes of existence." leaning against the counter and arms crossed, Robin closed his eyes heavy in thought.
"I don't know if I'm what you would call truly invisible," Aurora pointed out, "Because IFthat were true, light would not go into my eyes and I would therefore be blind."
"That's true!" Friar rubbed his nose at Aurora's thought.
"Yet she is here, we can all touch and feel her, and see whatever clothes she puts on." Robin scratched his head, "There is clearly a presence here, er I mean -you- Aurora. But light does pass through you, as if nothing is there to reflect or bounce light off you. That is strange. Again I return to my previous hypothesis of her being trapped between two worlds, or planes of existence. After all she would indeed be blind if she were truly invisible."
"Yes Robin you're right!", Will added, "If she were technically here but not visible to the naked eye, light should still be shown to be bent around her much like some spaceships cloaking devices. But this readout (he pointed to computer) indicates that light is not picked up by her body's molecules, that light does pass right throughher translating to a state of absolute invisibility!"
Robin nodded as the Merry Men agreed.
"I wonder if your ability to teleport has anything to do with your state of being as well." Robin mused, "I mean let's see, being here... and in another dimension, yet when you eat something it disappears altogether. If you were merely invisible, the digested food would technically be visible inside you but that fact that it disappears means your actual digestive system and thus your whole body is in another plane of existence. But since you seem to interact with everything in this reality, it only stands to reason that you're here as well. Your visible status means you must not be fully here. But... ah well, I'm getting a headache trying to figure this one out.." he rubbed his head and looked forward mournfully hating the cryptic enigma in front of him.
"You know what? I've said if before and I'll say it this time.. I really don't care! For me the biggest thing is being human and able to interact with all of you and anyone else!" Aurora squeezed Little John more, wanting to hold him tighter that moment.
"My lady I must apologize, well for all of us. This obviously is not going how we hoped and we had only the best intentions in mind for you. You must understand that..." Robin instantly replied, and red-faced at the realization their findings probably weren't helping Aurora's emotional state of mind.
"Indeed Aurora," Alan Adale rubbed his face clearly embarassed that his hypothesis and theory hadn't helped at all, "I wish I could have done more."
"Alan you, Robin, Friar, Will, Marion and especially my man here (Little John blushed at the mention) have grounded me more in the past 48 hours then I have been in the last several hundred years!" Aurora turned to all the Merry Men, "I will be forever grateful that I no longer exist in limbo as it were. So don't think that because you weren't able to return me to my original state of being, that you have failed in any way shape or form! You are allgentlemen and scholars!" she spoke with a stronger voice now.
Back on NOTT, the Sheriff and his guardsmen had been researching anything and everything they could get their hands on related to teleportation past and present, and developed theory of. By mid-day they had made much progress and were ready when Prince John walked in.
"I trust you have something to report by now..." Prince John tapped his foot with his arms crossed expectantly.
"Oh YES your excellency! A lot indeed!" the Sheriff turned to him with a big smile.
"Let's hear it."
"Well Sire, the man who pioneered space teleportation and the theories of, is a man named Professor Samuel Starr. He was progressing very well with teleporting fruit from one place to another.."
"I can think of a few GRAPEFRUITS I'd like to teleport into orbit." Prince John sniggered.
"Uh yes Sire..." the Sheriff's voice grew a little shanky but he then continued, "He'd even teleported a whole spaceship load of melons, from one planet to another. Then his daughter who had also worked with him on the theory, volunteered to be the first human her name was Aurora Starr. Her first test was a simple room to room, then house to house, and finally after successfully completing those, they had decided to try going from one planet to another."
"I see, and this is the man whose theories our machine was built from?" Prince John asked.
"Yes your excellency, but there was a problem.." the Sheriff explained.
"What was it?"
"We're not sure exactly, but for some unexplained reason, the machine overheated and... 'am I reading this right?' ah yes it exploded and imploded as well..."
"I take it that is also what happened to our machine." Prince John sat down thinking.
"So when Prof. Starr went to test out on his daughter the resulting explosion carried across several galaxies. And we know the results of that, Intergalactic law stepped in and banned the study of and use of teleportation throughout the universe."
"Hm I see," Prince John replied, "So what happened to his daughter then? She died?"
"She never rematerialized, so it would appear that way Sire." the Sheriff said.
"Do you think there is any way possible that she may survived the explosion?" Prince John asked.
"I see what you're saying, and that is a very intelligent observation Sire." the Sheriff smiled.
"I wonder if she existed in a half-life form... then somehow she found her way to New Sherwood Forest." Prince John pondered.
"And whatever happened, Rocket Robin has managed to bring her out into our existence!" the Sheriff exclaimed.
"And she for whatever reason she has teleportation powers! Incredible!" Prince John's head spun with the idea of having someone able to teleport through the galaxy.
"Lieutenant, search for her living relatives!" the Sheriff ordered.
Lt. Len Birman typed away at the controls. He didn't envy whomever they might turn out to be...
