The Ghost Camera — Robert Llewellyn

The Ghost Camera is a parable that resonates with society's very real anxieties about where our advances in technology might lead, or indeed destroy us. It realises the power of the individual in its protagonist Morris, an unexpected player in the future of mankind. During a lab experiment failure, a company accidentally create black holes that lead to alternate realities. While this sparks a storm of controversy from speculators about the future of humanity, Morris, the lab janitor nearing retirement, becomes the unlikeliest of heroes. Until then, Morris was perfectly happy with his lot, working at the Chipperau Fusioneering lab where instead of receiving money, he was paid in apparently worthless shares. Soon after, the company begins to attract attention. Its profile rises, as does its share price. The world, and in particular speculative investors, are increasingly interested in what Chipperau Fusioneering is up to. The initial attempt to build a micro-fusion reactor that would produce cheap, environmentally friendly energy is a failure. But they soon discover the tech they have built possesses an unimagined function – it can be adapted into an image-capture device – a tiny, momentary black hole – that reveals what appear to be alternative versions of our world. The device, dubbed the ‘Ghost Camera', polarises opinion, and battle between its supporters and detractors commences.