Traveller Probo

Dr Neil Chow is a controversial figure in New Zealand academia. His proposition on the settlement of New Zealand significantly predate the popularly held theories of colonisation by waves of warlike Polynesian sailor / warriors in the 1400’s. He has argued of another wave some four hundred years earlier; about one thousand years ago.

Dr Chow’s papers have been lampooned and even, by some, mocked as a joke by sections of academia. So the acceptance of his research application by Transporter Corp took many by surprise. The decision thrust him from the dusty rooms and damp archaeological digs of local native history into the spotlight of international celebrity.

He is now an icon of national pride, making him one of the best known New Zealand historians of all time.

Ever since the Saxon Traveller project, every nation has wanted to use the Helguard Transporter to research their past. The initial English project was an enormous gamble for those involved, especially for those who championed the concept.

One London Times media analyst suggested that the Transporter appears to favour academic rebels. Despite the number of near fatalities in the controversial Battle of Giolgrave, Professor Adrian Taylor’s Saxon Traveller Project was considered a historical research success. The breathtaking quantity of footage, images and other useful data seems have made many of the risks worthwhile.

The original participants in Saxon Traveller have emerged as international heroes, thrusting the previously obscure field of historical research into the public limelight. Footage of everyday Saxon life has become fodder for ratings-winning television and an impressive, full-length motion picture.

One of the original Travellers, Michael Hunter, opted to remain as an on-site Saxon researcher, becoming an international hero and object of a sensible and educational reality TV show that has consistently topped international audience ratings. A Traveller project brings both knowledge and prestige which explains why most nations now compete for the use of the Helguard Transporter for their own research. Competition is brisk, as many nations hope to eclipse the British success.

Yet, with all of the diplomatic competition for the Transporter use, the consequences of its operation are still largely unknown. Though its use is tightly regulated by an international committee, some have called for its destruction, citing that the past was best left to remain in the past. But, like when Pandora’s Box was opened, the original research can never be reversed.

Transporter Corp became a reality when the interests of the owners of the device; (international security conglomerate Helguard Security, and the device’s inventors at Woomera Technologies), formed a management group with the newly created international guild of Historians; Historical Research International, and the United Nations. Wealthy nations are now obliged to pay fabulous sums to use the Transporter. The decision to charge large sums for the use of the device has been grossly unpopular with some nations, while others state that the Transporter should be used for the betterment of the international community and mankind. However, I suggest that the international community has been bettered, for those very funds now support UN administered humanitarian and environmental aid projects.

No matter how one looks at it, the US $5 billion or so demanded from each participating country has made a lot of difference to many formerly underprivileged communities. The decision to pay has even become popular with most citizens footing the bill, so politicians have had to swallow their angst and smile bravely for the cameras while they scuffle over which country will use the Transporter next.

For those nations that cannot justify or afford the multi-billion-dollar price tag, profits Transporter Corp gleans from royalties involving television, merchandise and movies are pooled into a scholarship. That means every six months, a lucky country can use the Transporter for their own research at no cost. Consequently, universities the world over have been swamped with students craving fame in what was once unkindly described by some critics as the academic anonymity of History. More enterprising universities have created new, practical historical research subjects, just in case their opportunity to travel back in Time should eventuate.

Hence Neil Chow’s brilliant work, his tenacity, and no doubt New Zealand’s role in training the original Traveller team, has permitted this small country of around five million residents to be the very first Traveller Scholarship recipient.

This will be a no-touch mission that will lack the extensive social interaction seen in Saxon Traveller. The process is breathtakingly simple. Aerial drones will search for any human presence. The Transporter has already been moved around the nation on a specially designed rig, where the average person would never guess that behind the bland features of a large, black prime-mover and trailer, that research was being conducted one-thousand years into the past.

Over fifty Transporter activations has collected botanical and entomological samples and accrued aerial footage before the final discovery that has proved Dr Chow’s controversial theories to be correct. A pile of empty sea shells found on the rocky shoreline of Mangere Harbour, near Auckland, indicated the presence of humans. Based on this image, a ten-day manned research project was aimed to learn more about these previously unknown inhabitants.

A military team is now engaged in New Zealand’s Traveller mission to examine precisely what Dr Chow has been looking for, further signs of human habitation by ancestors of the modern Maori.

We look forward to what will be truly remarkable findings.