I let out a gasp. Some city residents look my way and I force myself to find some composure. Of course I heard about it. Reporters had fallen over themselves; me included to solving the mystery of his disappearance. In fact it was my first ever assignment as a reporter. The great Professor Laudnam just upped and vanished one day and Advance Industries offered a substantial reward for any information that would lead to the safe recovery of their most valued employee.
I inch forward looking at him anew. Beneath the long wild locks and unkempt beard I can just make out the man he was before. I can’t believe I’m sat having coffee with Professor Laudnam. I force myself to sit still and slightly straighter. I must not get all giddy and act like a fan when I’m supposed to be a serious reporter. But knowing that he sought me out over the tons of other reporters is doing funny things for my self-confidence. Why me?
“What was so controversial about the invention that forced you to flee to the streets?”
He sighs again and leans forward lowering his voice, “We were working on a kind of teleportation device and the results were astounding. Really, really, promising when I started to hear talks of it being used for something other than its intended purpose. They wanted to experiment on humans which is absolutely preposterous. We are too large a matter for it to work. The strain to a human would be substantial.”

“Why invent it then?”
“Originally it was designed with medical purposes in mind. Think, if a patient needed an organ straight away but the only match was a hospital off grid, a machine such as we invented could transport the organ in seconds. No more lengthy waiting periods. So many lives would be saved.”
He sounds so passionate that I have to agree. It sounds like a fantastic creation. The Advance tubes would be amazing if that was there sole purpose.

“Okay so let me get this straight, you disagreed with their proposal, but then what? Why did you leave? And why hide in plain sight?”

“It was leave or face ‘accidental death'. They couldn't risk a scientist of my calibre leaking how atrocious the invention would be if used for the wrong means. They could have no negativity surrounding Advance. They are a multi-national corporation and they invested heavily in this design, if anything stopped it being brought to the market they'd crumble.”

“So what do the homeless going missing have to do with this?”

“Come on Faith, you're the reporter do the math. They need to test on humans, what humans are better to test on than unwanted homeless ones, most with no identities. They won't be missed Faith and any that are won't be investigated properly by the law. I think they're being abducted and subjected to testing; testing that will no doubt kill them.”