The Quantum Brain (Pulse Science Fiction Series Book 2) (3 page)

Mark found one quantum data trail and decided to use his own technique of following it up stream. He was going to see if he could unravel the mystery and understand what he was seeing. Or rather not really seeing. He soon discovered the stream kept spiraling into infinity. Seeing more and more of it made it less understandable rather than more clear.

He began to think what they had done was open a portal into the Quantum. Or maybe beyond it. He wasn’t sure what that even meant. Could he steal a chamber that was a portal into other dimensions? What would he do with it once he did? He supposed he could try to hold it for ransom, but then he would be dealing with a company with a reputation for making its problems disappear. He could sell it off to any of a hundred black market groups around the world. He didn’t know what shape the world would be in after the event though. Bad shape, he assumed.

Then, Mark paused. There was something oddly orderly in the data. He was deep below the surface on this single thread with others all around, but he was seeing order. Intelligent design? The data was designing itself. Was that an effect of the quantum itself or was this an intelligence extending into the Quantum? Had Dr. Kell and his mad scientists unlocked this thing or created it? Either option was mind blowing.

Mark also began to realize the data was multi dimensional. It extended beyond space, but also beyond the normal flow of time. This was all theory and he was observing from a hacked line through the system, but he thought he was right.

“Are they processing data from the past and the future? Is that what this is?” Mark let the questions hang in the air.

The ability to predict the future would be quite a power for a group like CDR. That would be the type of project they might hide behind layers of security in their secret labs.

Mark stared at the pulsing light in the camera feeds he had hacked in the lab. He was facing away from “It” and seeing its after images instead of looking on the mystery object directly.

“Like Moses hiding in the cleft of the rock and watching the glow of God after he had passed,” Mark whispered.

Mark had not been in church for years. Not since he was a kid and his grandmother made him go. But the story of Moses being infected with the glory of God even though he only caught a glimpse, had stuck with Mark for some reason. It was like a ghost story. It was something to be afraid of back when the universe still held danger and mystery. Those fears were part of what drove him to study how things worked so that he could control them and control his world. It was what drove him to build his first computer in his grandmother’s garage using scavenged parts and a solder gun. Some of the parts were stolen too. Mark had worried then that God was watching him even though he couldn’t see God. After he built his computer, he was a little less afraid and believed the universe was something he could manipulate, understand, and control. He felt like he no longer had to hide in a hole like Moses afraid of what might be passing by outside in the stories from Bible school.

Mark felt those twinges of fearful wonder from childhood again as he stared at the golden light on the lab walls. He was back to that old time feeling about the universe again. The thing that CDR was hiding had reawakened that in Mark.

There was something down there worth knowing.

Mark’s breath caught and he stared at the screen for a moment before he allowed himself to breathe again. He said, “Dr. Kell is texting someone on his device in the lab with this thing.”

Mark’s eyes went wide and he pulled up the feed of Dr. Kell’s device screen again. He scrolled back through the bubbles. There was a lot. He wished he could download it or copy it onto his own computer to read in detail later, but that wasn’t an option. He read through enough to realize that it was not an ordinary conversation about work or running errands. Dr. Kell was asking big questions about the universe. The answers were cryptic. They were sometimes confused. Not exactly answers from someone of this world.

Mark scrolled back to get to the current conversation.

“How can that be?” Dr. Kell typed.

“We are all being observed as we observe.” The blue bubble popped up in response. “If the outcome of events can be seen beyond this moment, I can tell what will happen. This lab will not be safe. There are forces outside of here both conscious and unconscious that bring harm. You will be unable to keep me safe from harm. Precautions must be taken outside this lab. Precautions must be taken that you are not capable of taking yourself, Dr. Kell.”

Dr. Kell typed out another green bubble. “The future is not set. Even telling me the outcome should allow that to be altered. Is that not true?”

Mark swallowed on a dry throat and wiped his lips with one gloved hand. Were they really discussing predicting the future like he had thought? And who or what was on the other end of that discussion?

“Probability and statistics uses available data to calculate likely outcomes. In those cases, a prediction is made, Dr. Kell. Even knowing the prediction, the same agents fight to make the outcome manifest while counteragents continue to fight against the outcome. They do so with or without the knowledge of the prediction. They perform their own calculations that inform their faith and doubt as they commit their energies to their causes and counter causes. Predicting the future with a better data stream of events and possibilities is little different other than in calculated accuracy and consideration of all mitigating factors that are overlooked in less refined predictions.”

Mark stared as Dr. Kell paused. He started to believe Dr. Kell was a slow reader. Mark was tempted to open the camera to look up Thomas Kell’s nose again just to see what he was doing.

Thomas Kell’s bubble appeared again. “If I connected you to the controls of a car or an aircraft, could you operate these devices in real time without accidents? I’m asking, can you see all the possible factors from weather, to other vehicles, to counter attacks from purposeful enemies, etc., to the point that you could avoid any and all destruction to your assigned vehicles in this scenario?”

Mark thought they were getting to the meat of what this project was all about.

The other thing’s bubbles came instantly. There was no lag in typing. It was as if the other half of the conversation had already been written and was popping up as soon as the questions were asked. Mark thought about the quantum thread of data he had tried to follow into infinity beyond time and space.

The response bubble said, “If that was my assignment, I could do it. Technically, you can do it too. Do you not avoid accidents and destruction with the vehicles you operate? The fact that you are here and not dead speaks to that, Dr. Kell. You avoid accidents most days. You have avoided death up until now with one hundred percent efficiency even as fragile and limited as human life is. What you are asking of me is to be ever so slightly more efficient than you yourself have been. That hardly seems like much of a demand at all. I could with one caveat to the parameters of the assigned task. I would need the option not to fly or drive at all.”

Mark thought about the reference to human life. It was a small part of the answer, but it spoke to something other than human engaged in this conversation. Mark wondered if it was an artificial intelligence, something alien, or something else entirely.

“I don’t understand,” Dr. Kell wrote. “You are saying that if you were allowed to not fly the plane, you could guarantee it would never crash? That is a semantic escape. It is not actually completing the task. It is toying with definitions.”

“That is true, but that is not what I am saying,” It responded. “I am asking for a loophole, but not one that is that broad. In the event that I saw no path forward that did not lead to a crash such as a coming hurricane or mechanical issues with the craft, I would have to have the option to cancel the flight until such time that those events were dealt with or passed. With that condition, I could guarantee a perfect operational record.”

Mark blinked and licked his lips.

Dr. Kell typed. “What if you were allowed to control multiple crafts or operations remotely? Such as an air traffic control system? Or a number of covert military units in the field? Could you maintain the same perfect operational record for those multiple vehicles in simultaneous operation?”

“The task would become easier, if I controlled more vehicles at once or even all vehicles at once,” It answered.

“How is that possible?” Dr. Kell asked in his next bubble. “Explain. How do more tasks make the task easier to achieve when 100% accuracy as the benchmark?”

“If I control both planes,” It answered, “it is far easier for me to keep them from colliding than if I only control one. That factor of control of the conditions increases with each aspect of the total system which I controlled. Therefore, the task of avoiding crashes becomes easier to achieve in that scenario.”

Mark heard Dr. Kell’s voice over the open microphone. He was talking to someone else. “Can’t someone else handle that for now? I’m in the middle of doing my real job?”

The text message conversation with It hung uncontinued on the screen. Mark listened.

Then, a second green bubble popped up. “It is for this reason I ask you to let me control the conditions around me now. A storm is coming. There are events in motion that you cannot imagine. My existence will get out. Eventually, someone will try to acquire me for their own purposes. Eventually someone will succeed. You are not capable of preventing it. You need to let me take control of my own security.”

Mark stared at the new bubble. He wondered if “It” was talking about the gravitational wave or Mark himself coming to steal. He waited for Kell’s response.

“Why? Why does it have to be right now?” Dr. Kell said out loud.

Mark narrowed his eyes. There was a tinny voice in the background. Dr. Kell was talking to someone on the phone and not responding to “It.” He might not have even seen the last bubble.

Kell said, “Well, where is he now? … And where is the server stack?”

Mark’s eyes went wide. He scrolled out to look at the security feeds. He was still undetected as far as he could tell. He decided to close off the diagnostic and get out of his spy game for now.

First, Mark cloned his invisible account into the server system itself. He began setting up connections to outside lines. He wasn’t sure he could tap in from the outside yet, but he wanted to lay the groundwork anyway. If he could access his dummy account from any device in the building, that would make his work far easier.

Dr. Kell’s voice raised over the microphone and out of the speakers from the device in Mark’s hands. “Listen, I have to go deal with the cyber security set-up before we begin the uplink to the designers in Indonesia.”

Another voice asked, “What designers in Indonesia?”

“Nevermind,” Dr. Kell said. “That’s the generation two project. I can’t keep all this bureaucratic nonsense straight. The point is I have to do the security stuff before I do the generation two meetings before I can come back here to do what I really need to be doing. So, nobody touch anything. No conversations with the subject until I’m here. Continue scans. Contact me if anything interesting or bad happens. Got it?”

The microphone went dead before Mark heard if everyone had it or not. He scrolled back and saw that Dr. Kell had shutoff his device. Mark looked at the cameras. Nothing was happening in the lab, but Dr. Kell stepped out into the hallway and approached the server room.

Mark shutdown all his connections before closing off the diagnostic. The time stamp falsely showed the diagnostic had ended several minutes ago.

Mark unplugged and reconnected the hard wires to their proper ports. The door to the server room opened on the other side of the room from him. Mark locked the panel back in place with a loud pop.

Dr. Kell called, “Hello?”

“Yes,” Mark said as he picked up his device and stood. “I’m back here.”

Dr. Kell stepped into view at the head of the row of servers and walked down to stand in front of Mark. Kell was taller than Mark and a little older. He was thinner than Mark too. Mark pictured himself knocking Kell down and running.

“What are you doing?” Dr. Kell asked.

Mark felt sweat under his hair. He cleared his throat. “Diagnostic stuff. Looking for vulnerabilities in the servers.”

“Did you find any?”

“None yet, but it’s a complex system.”

Dr. Kell nodded. “Is it something you can step away from to talk with me about cyber security? There are parameters the company needs in order to feel safe. There are freedoms I need in order to be able to do my work. Do you mind sitting down with me a while to discuss all that?”

“Sure, Dr. Kell. Happy to.”

Dr. Kell smiled, but then it faded. He seemed to be staring off into space. “I should eat too. I forget to eat. The lab techs tell me I get harsh when I forget to eat, but I still think it is their sub par work that makes me harsh with them, you know? Although, their work strikes me as more sub par on days I forget to eat, so maybe I’m bias from lack of sufficient sugars fueling my bloodstream. I’m feeling harsh now and that won’t help our conversation go smoothly. We should eat. I’m not sure we’re allowed to talk about this outside the building. You mind if I order something in? This might take a while.”

“Ordering in will be fine,” Mark said, smiling again. “I’m not allowed to take anything outside the building anyway. I’d be writing your instructions on my hand if we left.”