Space travel is by walking into a kiosk and dissolving. Then a copy of you is made in a kiosk at your destination

[AbuSyfy]

I have been looking for the title of a book that I read over 30 years ago.

The method of space travel is as follows- there is a network of kiosks dotted around the galaxy. They have a reservoir of organic material to rebuild bodies. If you want to travel from Planet A to Planet B, you walk into the kiosk, you punch in where you want to go, you dissolve and a copy of you is made at the destination.

It is illegal for two copies to exist, i.e. you must not allow two copies of yourself. This story is about as a result of a glitch, the protagonist knows that there is a copy of himself and the race is on between the two of them to kill the other. As they are copies of each other, they know exactly how the other thinks and a game of chase results. The authorities are after them too.

I just want to know the title and author as I would like my son to read the book. It was published before 1988 sometime, probably in the 1970's.

Any help would be most appreciated.

 

[Peter V]

Larry Niven had a number of works involving teleportation booths

 

[Alex The G and T]

Harry Harrison, too; but I can't seem to come up with a title for this one. I know I've read it. A long time ago...

 

[Danny McG]

There's a more recent series by Wil McCarthy that has the same theme.
The collapsium quartet, However when I was reading it I was thinking "I've read a story like this years earlier"

Your question has reminded me of that long forgotten book, was it maybe written by Lloyd Biggle Jr?

 

[PaulMmn]

There was a story in ANALOG magazine-- you had your brain 'backed up.' In event of a disaster, your body was re-grown and your latest backup was dumped into the body; you continued from that point on.

Female space architect was re-born, but it had been a long time between backups-- she knew she had designed several space archologies, because she had received awards for them. But she couldn't 'remember' them, because they were after her latest backup.

She also found that she was being murdered. Several times; several re-births, with backups taken fairly regularly, but detectives and her own investigations couldn't figure out who-- all the DNA at the crime scenes was hers.

Turns out she had been to the asteroid belt-- and they didn't follow the rules about only 1 copy (?)-- but there was another copy of herself, but male. But the DNA was the same, so it took forever to figure out what was going on. I don't remember the motive(s) for the murders. It might have been an 'only 1 copy' law, but I don't remember.

 

[Richiehead]

There was a story in ANALOG magazine-- you had your brain 'backed up.' In event of a disaster, your body was re-grown and your latest backup was dumped into the body; you continued from that point on.

Female space architect was re-born, but it had been a long time between backups-- she knew she had designed several space archologies, because she had received awards for them. But she couldn't 'remember' them, because they were after her latest backup.

She also found that she was being murdered. Several times; several re-births, with backups taken fairly regularly, but detectives and her own investigations couldn't figure out who-- all the DNA at the crime scenes was hers.

Turns out she had been to the asteroid belt-- and they didn't follow the rules about only 1 copy (?)-- but there was another copy of herself, but male. But the DNA was the same, so it took forever to figure out what was going on. I don't remember the motive(s) for the murders. It might have been an 'only 1 copy' law, but I don't remember.

This one is "The Phantom of Kansas" by John Varley. It's what I thought of initially, but I don't think it really fits the OPs description.
Full text here The Phantom of Kansas – Full Text – John Varley

 

[Piman25]

Your question has reminded me of that long forgotten book, was it maybe written by Lloyd Biggle Jr?

Are you referring to All The Colors of Darkness?

When the Universal Transmitting Company finally perfected a matter transmitter capable of sending a person instantly from terminals scattered throughout the United States to any major city in foreign countries, it seemed like man's ultimate conquest of time. Opening day in New York City was a tremendous success, with throngs of travelers crowding into the terminal. But on the second day of operations, two women failed to arrive at their destinations and could not be traced. The UTC called in private detective Jan Darzek. What Darzek discovers sends him on a trail of extraterrestrial adventure and gripping suspense...on which hinges the fate of all mankind!

 

[PaulMmn]

All The Colors of Darkness did not have tanks of organic material to re-build the transportees-- the technology just -shifted- you from where you were to where you are now.

Now... Way Station by Clifford Simak (another of my favorite books) did involve intergalactic transportation-- only you had to use one of the official way stations. Our Hero was in charge of one such station. When you arrived at the station, you appeared in the receiving booth, either just standing there, or floating in the liquid of your choice. When you left, the life force from your body was shipped to the next station, leaving the husk of your body behind. It was dissolved into holding tanks down in the basement. Nothing was said about what was used to build arriving passengers.

The issue of 2 copies of an individual did not pop up in this novel.

 

[Danny McG]

Another with a similar theme (but published a lot later than the OP suggests) is Ilium by Dan Simmons.

From Wikipedia:-
Dan Simmons's novel Illium has some of its cast living in the aftermath of The Singularity. Most transportation on Earth now involves "neutrino faxing" through faxnodes, which achieve instantaneous travel from any node to another by transmitting only the data of the traveler's composition from node to node, breaking down the original into raw matter, stored for the reconstruction of other travelers. Faxing is technically death and instant cloning at the other side, complete with memories

 

[Ravensquawk]

Augh! I know this story!

(I've actually made a bookmark folder called "I KNOW This Story!!")

Although they have a theme similar to "Shed Skin" by Robert Sawyer and "Double Indemnity" by Robert Sheckley, with "duplicates" of people, I know with a painful pang that these are not it.
You can rule those out. But you should still read them! They are at least as great!

(Personal aside: one of the unanswered stories I'm still seeking here may be written by one of "The Great Roberts" of Science Fiction, as I noticed the name coincidence.)

In my mind I can see the kiosk, like a phone booth, on the roof of a high building, as someone checks around, and enters it.

Checking out The Phantom of Kansas and it's not starting out with that fateful - and fatal - entry into "The Booth".

There is a similar story, perhaps this one, perhaps not, where every time someone "transports", they leave behind a living, sentient body, which must be killed. Horrible to read.

The search is on.

 

[Danny McG]

There is a similar story, perhaps this one, perhaps not, where every time someone "transports", they leave behind a living, sentient body, which must be killed.

That sounds like the James Patrick Kelly story Think like a dinosaur

 

[Dave]

It isn't definitely is not part of any Larry Niven story, and his transfer booths were more like telephone boxes.

All matter transfer stories I've read/ on watched on TV/in movies have relied upon matter -> energy-> matter (Larry Niven/Star Trek/ The Fly). This idea of "a reservoir of organic material to rebuild bodies" is something I've only read in Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon.

Not the same as the query but in the Altered Carbon series, Takeshi Kovacs has to work with a copy of his younger self after being set to kill each other. Only one of them was allowed to exist by law. We have had queries before where memory has conflated two books together.

 

[Danny McG]

One with the same type of story that I've just found on another site:
The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein

There's loads out there, we need some feedback from the OP

 

[Piman25]

All The Colors of Darkness did not have tanks of organic material to re-build the transportees-- the technology just -shifted- you from where you were to where you are now.

Now... Way Station by Clifford Simak (another of my favorite books) did involve intergalactic transportation-- only you had to use one of the official way stations. Our Hero was in charge of one such station. When you arrived at the station, you appeared in the receiving booth, either just standing there, or floating in the liquid of your choice. When you left, the life force from your body was shipped to the next station, leaving the husk of your body behind. It was dissolved into holding tanks down in the basement. Nothing was said about what was used to build arriving passengers.

The issue of 2 copies of an individual did not pop up in this novel.

You list two of my all time favorite authors and favorite books. Both of which I have read more times than I can count.
I was responding to Danny McGs comment on sounding like a Biggle story.
There are indeed many stories like this, and this one sounds very familiar. I am sure I have read it, just can't remember it.

 

[Piman25]

How about Farthest Star by Jack Williamson and Frederick Pohl?

 

[Ravensquawk]

Think like a dinosaur

It does! I didn't know that grisly theme was this common in SF.
Apparently not available online to find out if it's the one I was remembering, or, still a mystery, whether it's the one the OP was remembering.