The expand upon @Zeiss Ikon's answer and address the items mentioned in the question, the conversion and transportation issues you mention are addressed in Book 4:The Birth of Flux and Anchor in which some scientists are toying with an energy they discovered by creating a singularity point that they use to punch through to another universe. They eventually discover that they can surround things with this energy and then convert the objects to energy, transport it somewhere by shooting the energy pattern through the hole they open, then convert it back. The calculations were too complex for a human to handle so a computer possessing an artificial intelligence did all the legwork in this process.

Also, I don't remember which book(s) it happened in but one of the characters named Suzl has many different alterations done to her over the course of the series which result in her looking almost nothing like her original self, including a sex change.

To expand upon @Zeiss Ikon's answer and address the items mentioned in the question, the conversion and transportation issues you mention are addressed in Book 4:The Birth of Flux and Anchor in which some scientists are toying with an energy they discovered by creating a singularity point that they use to punch through to another universe. They eventually discover that they can surround things with this energy and then convert the objects to energy, transport it somewhere by shooting the energy pattern through the hole they open, then convert it back. The calculations were too complex for a human to handle so a computer possessing an artificial intelligence did all the legwork in this process.

Also, I don't remember which book(s) it happened in but one of the characters named Suzl has many different alterations done to her over the course of the series which result in her looking almost nothing like her original self, including a sex change.

The expand upon @Zeiss Ikon's answer and address the items mentioned in the question, the conversion and transportation issues you mention are addressed in Book 4:The Birth of Flux and Anchor in which some scientists are toying with an energy they discovered by creating a singularity point that they use to punch through to another universe. They eventually discover that they can surround things with this energy and then convert the objects to energy, transport it somewhere by shooting the energy pattern through the hole they open, then convert it back. The calculations were too complex for a human to handle so a computer possessing an artificial intelligence did all the legwork in this process.

Also, I don't remember which book(s) it happened in but one of the characters named Suzl has many different alterations done to her over the course of the series which result in her looking almost nothing like her original self.

The expand upon @Zeiss Ikon's answer and address the items mentioned in the question, the conversion and transportation issues you mention are addressed in Book 4:The Birth of Flux and Anchor in which some scientists are toying with an energy they discovered by creating a singularity point that they use to punch through to another universe. They eventually discover that they can surround things with this energy and then convert the objects to energy, transport it somewhere by shooting the energy pattern through the hole they open, then convert it back. The calculations were too complex for a human to handle so a computer possessing an artificial intelligence did all the legwork in this process.

Also, I don't remember which book(s) it happened in but one of the characters named Suzl has many different alterations done to her over the course of the series which result in her looking almost nothing like her original self, including a sex change.