All four components of the Transporter.
The Transporter is an important device in Zero Time Dilemma which essentially acts as an atomic level 3D printer. It is also compared to a fax machine that can copy matter, even a complex living organism like a human, and send them backwards and forwards in time, space, and throughout multiple histories. However, the original matter or body will still remain, so it should be thought of as a duplicator, not necessarily a portal.
Unfortunately, it takes a massive amount of energy to do this and it takes 10 months to recharge after a single use. It is unknown if this is an original limitation of the device, or simply an alteration made by Zero (to allocate enough time for a certain pregnancy and birth).
There is one (or two if each input/output pod is considered a unit) located in the Transporter Room in Delta's underground shelter and it is used at various times in the story.
Appearance[]
Nucleus[]
The central computer for the transporter, resembling a tree root. It is the height of the Transporter Room and can both project alien numerals into the air and has a sensor to accept four of number cards to power on. When the Transporter is fully charged, the nucleus has a blue aura around it.
Input Pod[]
The input pod is a golden and white device with a green lid that raises up once a destination is selected. The inside of the input pod can comfortably hold two adults, despite the fact that only one can be transported at a time. In front of the input pod is a destination selector that displays a treeform timeline.
The object to be transported is placed within the input pod, which then reads its composition. That data is then sent through spacetime to the nucleus.
Output Pod[]
Output Pods are in the foreground.
The output pod is a chrysalis-like, white and yellow pod that has a door with a window. This door opens up when data is created again by the nucleus and material tank. The output pod also has a screen in front of it, though its exact purpose is unknown.
Data from the nucleus is sent to the output pod, where it is read. The object is then recreated inside.
Material Tank[]
Material Tanks are in the background.
The material tank is seen behind the output pod, and is a tall, white and orange container. It contains elements used for transportation, stored individually.
A selection of the elements within include: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, sodium, chlorine, iron, zinc, magnesium, fluorine, silicon, titanium, rubidium, strontium, bromine, lead, copper, aluminum, tin, cerium, cadmium, boron, iodine, molybdenum, barium, manganese, selenium, nickel, mercury, arsenic, lithium, cesium, silver, germanium, antimony, chromium, cobalt, and vanadium.
History[]
According to Delta, the Transporter was not made by man, but rather by an alien species. It is currently unknown how the device made it to Earth.
The transporter was first discovered during an 1888 German expedition to the South Pole, as they became lost and stumbled upon the Transporter. The device was carefully transported to their homeland and researched in secret, where they uncovered that it was capable of transporting things through spacetime.
After the Germans lost in World War II, American troops confiscated the transporter. They brought it to an American research facility and studied it until 2008, since sometime in 2009, Delta obtained it. Sometime between 2009 and 2028, the transporter was stored in the Underground Shelter.
Zero Time Dilemma[]
The transporter is used multiple times in multiple timelines during the Decision Game.
D-END 2[]
After Akane Kurashiki leaves the shelter, ending the Decision Game, Diana and Sigma are woken up to search the facility for Phi. Eventually, they stumble across the Transporter Room, where Zero II tells them the history of the machine and how to operate it.
After activating the nucleus, Sigma selects a point on the timeline to transport to, and the two of them use the Transporter, forcing it to begin recharging for 10 months. While a copy of Diana and Sigma are sent into the Q-END 2 timeline, their original bodies are still stuck in the D-END 2 timeline.
Diana and Sigma resting in the Input Pod after having sex.
For the next ten months, Diana, Sigma, and Gab live in the shelter together, and Sigma and Diana eventually have sex inside an input pod. Diana becomes pregnant, and on November 16th, 2029, she gives birth to fraternal twins, later named "Phi" and "Delta". When the machine is fully recharged, Diana and Sigma decide to transport Phi and Delta to April 16th, 1904, long before Zero II acquired the device.
Sometime during or after 1904, the German research team decides to send Phi into the future, sending her to some time in 2008.
Q-END 2[]
While the transporter is not explicitly used in Q-END 2, the transported Diana and Sigma explain to a SHIFTed Carlos, from the Ambidex timeline, how to activate the device. Carlos then SHIFTs into the Anthropic timeline, where he convinces his Junpei and Akane to transport to a different timeline.
C-END 1[]
Junpei and Akane waiting for Carlos in the Transporter Room.
Akane and Junpei end up transporting into the timeline that leads to Virtue's Last Reward, while their original bodies are blown up by a malfunctioning Transporter. Carlos then SHIFTed into First Come, First Served: C, specifically into the branch where he pushed the yellow button.
Once in that timeline, he again went to the Transporter Room, where he transported himself to 10 months before the Decision Game, waiting for 10 months to meet Akane and Junpei in the Virtue's Last Reward timeline.
CDQ-END 2[]
In CDQ-END 2, after the nine other players SHIFT into the timeline where the Decision Game was never played, Delta mentions that the Transporter was taken out of the shelter, loaded onto a truck and taken away.
The files state that Sean knows where the transporter is being stored, and they imply that Sean, Mira, and Eric head for the Transporter in hopes of using it send Mira back in time to stop herself from becoming the Heart Ripper and atone for her murderous crimes.
Trivia[]
- It is possible that Phi and Delta's genetics were altered by the Transporter, as they both have been shown to be powerful Espers and have both lived well into their 100s.
- This may be due to Diana and Sigma having sex in an input pod, though it may also be a side-effect of being transported. Neither theory has been confirmed.
- The Transporter is a controversial point of discussion in the Zero Escape fandom. Some fans found it to be an interesting concept, while others have called it a "deus ex machina."
- The Transporter also means that the Akane and Junpei in Virtue's Last Reward could be considered "clones" of their original selves, which some fans have considered off-putting.
- There are two unused lines of dialogue meant to be said by the Transporter before explosion: "Dei firev neeb sahega madelos noc. Dereg girt noisolp xe." They are different in English and Japanese as they are simply sentences read and written backwards.
- In Another Time END, when ? speaks to Clover and Alice, they mention that Akane told them of a way to send both the consciousnesses and bodies back to their time period. Given that Akane met with Delta before the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition, it is possible that she was planning to transport them back to the past.