quantus that unsettled him.
“If I get you to the other side of the Puppet
Belisarius had been ten years old when he’d
Axis, I’m a dead man,” Belisarius said. “This is
had enough control of his electroplaques to
no ordinar y con, and you’re no ordinar y
trigger savant. He’d continued to be a preco-
client. Politics and confidence schemes don’t
cious delight to the molecular biologists and
mix well. The cost of my own survival is fac-
psychologists, until he’d decided to leave at
tored into the price.”
sixteen. He hadn’t been back to the Garret in
Rudo’s eyes narrowed, showing lines where
twelve years. So he made comforting patterns
age had left marks. “Fine. What do you have in
of star points while waiting to arrive at Port
mind?”
Barcelona.
Belisarius drained his port.
Under the orange light of Epsilon Indi, Port
“The key is to distract the mark with some-
Barcelona was spacious, wealthy, and grow-
thing tempting and flashy, to make them think
ing, everything the Puppet Free City was not.
they’ve got you figured out. In the meantime,
He didn’t have time to take in the theaters or
your real movements go unnoticed.”
a concert, or to try the newest engineered
“Go on.”
steaks at Las Pampas. Instead, he rented a
“The f lash will take money,” he said. “I
small, self-piloting torch ship to carry him to
need to buy ships and real estate. I’m going to
the Garret.
need to bribe officials, and I’m going to have
The Anglo-Spanish Banks had been experi-
to advance some hefty retainers to some of
menting with the genetic improvement of
30
DEREK KÜNSKEN
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
humanity for centuries. The Homo quantus
zling at the interference patterns hidden in the
were their crowning achievement, a mag-
mix of wavelengths.
num opus of biological engineering and neur-
Quiet hugged the town. The Homo quan-
al manipulation, although Belisarius felt the
tus had not brought songbirds to the Garret,
achievement was built more of irony than of
but instead small, shy things that made few
anything truly useful.
sounds, nesting among bioluminescent trees
In fact, Belisarius doubted the Banks had
and vines. People and small robots moved
ever gotten a single economic or military ben-
about their business on slow steps in the faint
efit from the Homo quantus project. Instead
gravity. The footpaths of the Garret ran over
of humans who could predict economic out-
hills that rolled in gentle symmetries, their
comes or see novel military strategies, the
grasses barely bruised by light feet. An unex-
very nature of quantum perceptions created a
pected loneliness bit at him, a homesickness
species inclined to contemplating abstract in-
like he hadn’t felt in twelve years.
teracting probabilities. The Homo quantus
Belisarius attracted shy, curious stares. The
plumbed the nature of reality, but became
people he saw were not the ones living at the
mired in arcane ideas rather than concluding
edge of quantum perception, gnawing at the
anything of immediate benefit to humanity.
secrets of the cosmos. Those who could not
The Bank Generals and CEOs kept funding
enter the quantum fugue became the man-
the project, but the Homo quantus had be-
agers, the doctors, the geneticists and bacteri-
come a fringe R&D investment, and eventually
ologists working to bring the next generation
sought a home isolated from the bustle of pol-
of the project into the world. Depending on
itics, economics, and military theory. The pro-
the viewpoint, these were either the winners
ject relocated to a big asteroid around Epsilon
or the losers of the genetic engineering lot-
Indi, carving crystal gardens beneath its skin
tery.
and calling it the Garret.
The schools would be full of children right
He adjusted the views from his pilot couch,
now, perhaps done with physics and quantum
watching the asteroid grow into a great, shad-
logic for the day, but still drilling on precise
owed body. But instead of looming in the dark-
control of their electroplaques. The more ad-
ness, it became increasingly airy. Belisarius’
vanced students, having reached seven or
people had webbed the surface of the Garret
eight years old, would be having their first in-
with small, colored lights. Too small to see
duced savant experiences with special mag-
from afar, they resolved on approach into gen-
netic helmets. Children learned early to toggle
tle lines of greens and reds and blues, warm-
between birth-type self and savant self, so that
ing the icy view, inviting with the beauty of
later they would be less resistant to temporar-
mathematical designs and probability distribu-
ily extinguishing their identities in the fugue.
tions. They’d not lit the surface because the
Belisarius had been good at these tasks and
patterns communicated anything useful, or
had been proud as a child. Now this all
because the Garret had many visitors, but for
seemed cruel.
the simple reason that it was beautiful. His
The museum was a cluster of low buildings
people, designed to be the leading edge of
skirted by verandas overlooking glassy ponds
corporate or military strategy, instead laid
of slow koi f ish. It was a refuge in which to
lights over the surface of their world that even
cool brains too long exposed to the froth of in-
they could not see.
candescently collapsing probabilities. People
Homesickness bit unexpectedly. The pat-
in lounge chairs on the veranda draped ex-
terns were beautiful.
hausted stares onto the hills. They had sought
Belisarius left the ship, feeling nervous and
the muses.
feather-light. Automated customs and health
Cassandra Mejía did not work in the main
inspectors admitted him to the town of about
building of the museum, nor even in the near-
four thousand scientists in a bright nan-
est of the out-buildings. The main building was
otubule-reinforced cavern. Overhead lights
devoted to those seeking hints at where con-
glowed soft yellow, speckled with points and
sciousness ended. The out-buildings housed
clusters of blues, greens, and reds. The Homo
the researchers sharpening the range of Homo
quantus, even at a very young age, liked puz-
quantus perception and manipulation. Be-
THE QUANTUM MAGICIAN, PART I
31
ANALOG
yond those, at the very edges of the museum
he said. “I could have waited.”
campus, less important studies peered into
“Make the prodigal son wait?” she asked
the fabric of the Universe. At this fringe, Belis-
with a little more life. “They want you back,
arius and Cassandra had worked together as
Bel. The mayor came to ask me to convince
children and adolescents.
you to stay. She told me to ask if you’d marry
He didn’t recognize Cassandra right away.
me.”
He carried memories of a face close to his in
Belisarius’ stomach lurched. “Are you asking
the dark, stealing kisses, laughing with de-
me to marry you?” he teased.
light. Now she slumped in a chaise on the pa-
“You had your chance, Bel. You didn’t want
tio, staring vacantly onto the grassy waves.
it.”
Curls of black hair matted around a face
“I always wanted you. I just couldn’t be . . .
grown adult. Wrinkled, baggy clothes hid
this,” he said, waving his hand to take in the
many of the curves he remembered in the
museum.
teenager.
“So don’t,” she said. “Go back to wherever
Even so, she was beautiful. Sexual beauty
you live now. No one here wants to be part of
was not an ongoing concern for the Homo
your scams.”
quantus, but no one who was genetically en-
“I’m not here with a scam, Cassie. Not ex-
gineered came out with anything less than
actly.”
smooth symmetries. Dark eyes peered out, un-
She turned her eyes upon him. They felt
moving. Clear brown skin was f irm over
like a push.
rounded cheekbones. Lips parted in the gentle
“I have a job,” he said. “A big one. I need
breath of almost-sleep. His stomach tickled.
your help.”
He stepped onto the veranda in the soundless
“Just go away, Bel.”
habits of the Homo quantus and sat to face
“You don’t even know what I’m offering.”
her in a lounge chair .
“How could it matter? Nothing outside the
“They pulled me out of a long fugue early,”
Garret is relevant to our research.”
she said tonelessly, without taking her eyes
“That’s not true.”
from the gentle green. She might not yet have
She frowned distantly, not all here with
come down from the loss of self in the quan-
him. “What do you mean?”
tum fugue, and might still even be in savant.
“Come down,” he said.
Maybe she didn’t ever intend to come totally
“Come down?”
back to her base personality. If she was like
“Come out of savant. I want to talk to the
him, she ached to try to get back into the
real Cassandra.”
fugue.
She frowned. Her eyes focused on him with
“How long were you in?” he asked.
more intent. Her expression gave a feeling of
“Almost a week,” she said.
shrinking, of stepping away from a diffuse,
He’d never heard of fugues so long. Cassan-
false omniscience. He knew what it was to see
dra was one of the best, the f lower of the
so many patterns, so much geometry in the
Homo quantus project. She was the opposite
world, and then give it up.
of him in some ways; she had to fight to stay
“Why should I care what you want, Bel?”
in the fugue while he had to fight to leave it.
she asked with a more resonant timbre to her
A week would have expanded her percep-
voice, ref lecting someone newly and emo-
tions to a radius of seven light-days, enough to
tionally present.
encompass the four Axis Mundi wormholes in
“I’ve been hired to move something from
the inner system, and almost enough to per-
one side of the Puppet Axis to the other,” he
ceive the Puppet Axis. How far had she been
said.
intending to go? How would she have sorted
“I don’t want your money, and I don’t see
out the endless wash of superimposed quan-
how this affects my work.”
tum waves?
She didn’t say our work. No one else had
“Catheters and respirator and six doctors
worked on tesseract models of wormhole
and everything,” she continued. “You should
physics except the two of them.
have seen me before they cleaned me up.”
“I’m going to get access to the Puppet
“They didn’t need to pull you out for me,”
wormhole,” he said.
32
DEREK KÜNSKEN
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
“Legally?”
should talk to them.”
“I think we can manipulate it, Cassie.”
“You’re the one I want . ”
“The Puppet Axis was built by the forerun-
She locked eyes with him. “Don’t joke
ners to be stable, Bel. If it could be manipulat-
when experiments are at stake.”
ed, it wouldn’t be stable.”
“I’m not joking.”
“You and I looked at this a long time ago,”
“You didn’t move on?”
he said.
He shook his head. “I’ve met some women.
She looked at him indecisively.
I haven’t been in love again.”
“You’re Homo quantus,” she said f inally.
“You should have tried harder.”
“Manipulate it yourself.”
“Yeah, maybe,” he said.
“Do you really think I could match you?” he
“Why do you want to get between govern-
asked.
ments, Bel? You don’t need to be a criminal.
“Is that flattery or con job?”
Come home.”
“Honest f lattery. I want you on the team,
He shut off the holographic array.
and I’m offering something you’ll never f ind
“I can’t come home, Cassie.”
in the Garret.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
From his pocket, Belisarius pulled a finger-
“What’s wrong with me?” He hesitated,
sized wafer of silicate. As he held it between
wanting and not wanting to turn his anger on
them, it projected a hologram, an array with
the idyllic world that made him homesick. He
rows and rows of measurements and associat-
leaned close, whispering harshly. “They made
ed calculations.
me wrong, Cassie.”
She absorbed it, almost at a glance. Then,
“Who did?”
she frowned and sat straighter. “What is this?”
“The project. They messed up my instincts.
“I didn’t make these measurements,” he
The curiosity is as strong as my sense of self-
said.
preservation. I can drop into the fugue faster
She stared at the array disbelievingly.
than anyone, but I can’t get out. The quantum
“Whose are they? These observations mean
objectivity overwrites my orders. Only fever
we’re right, Bel.”
gets me out, and each time the objectivity
“If you’re in, I can tell you everything,
holds on a little longer. The next time I dive, it
Cassie. I need your help on this job. With the
won’t let me go until it’s too late, Cassie. I’ll
theory. With the math. With the engineering.
die.”
But everything we do for my client also feeds
His heart was thumping. He’d never told
you and I more experimental data.”
anyone this. She sat up, reached out for his
A breathless excitement crept into him, like
face, but hesitated and put her hands on her
he was fourteen again, creating a new theoret-
lap.
ical framework for wormhole physics with a
“Bel, they can f ix that. With the proper
girl he wanted to kiss.
spotters and equipment, they can manage
“Carajo,” she swore. The holographic light
this.”
reflected like a tiny cosmos in her eyes, with
All the anger he had against the Homo
its own patterns and inf inities between the
quantus project bubbled to the surface. He
stars. “How illegal is it?”
was trying to hold it back, but she wasn’t
“One government needs help doing some-
hearing him.
thing another government doesn’t want,” he
“I’m already managing it!” he whispered.
said.
“Every second, I’m fighting the instinct that’s
“Sounds like a way someone could get
telling me to do something that will hurt me.”
killed.”
“You don’t have to resist it. They can make
“Getting killed is not part of my plan.”
this work.”
She looked away, almost shyly.
He struggled for words. The space between
“There are new Homo quantus, Bel, f ive,
them, the experience and the perspective,
six years younger than us. They’re better than
was so vast. Her optimism for the project baf-
me. Smarter. Better mathematically. They can
fled him.
enter the fugue with almost no trouble at all.
“Why make it work, Cassie? To sit around
If you really want someone for the job, you
here, thinking about nothing that really
THE QUANTUM MAGICIAN, PART I
33
ANALOG
matters? The whole world is out there, and
Cassandra stared at him. “How dangerous is
we’ve cut ourselves off.”
Analog Science Fiction and Fact Page 9