by John Freitas
The Quantum Brain
Maximum Speed
The Quantum Brain
Maximum Speed
A novel
By
John Freitas
ISBN-13: 978-1517385392
© 2016 John Freitas. All rights reserved
Acknowledgment
To Veronica and Vincent, for their enthusiasm and feedback.
To Jay Wilburn, for his creative input and attention to detail.
“I didn’t believe in magic until I learned quantum mechanics.”
Dr. Thomas Kell – CDR Research scientist
1
Miles Decker sat on the other side of the lawyer from Dr. Thomas Kell. Miles was clean cut and older. His hair was mostly gray. Dr. Thomas Keller had spots of gray forming in his dark hair. He was tall, but thin. The lawyer had broad shoulders that looked like sharp edges in his suit. He was balding on top.
Decker had paid Thomas and the lawyer well for years. He continued to pay well even after the Pulse devastated the world which was no small feat. Thomas did not know the lawyer’s name and had only spoken to Decker in person a few times, but Thomas did not want to disappoint either one of them. If Conrad, Decker, and Rand Research Facility wasn’t paying after this hearing, then Thomas’s quantum programming skills would be tough to employ in a world focused mostly on clean up and rebuilding block and steel.
The room was dark except for the glow of pale safety lights around the edges and small spots on the dais desks in front of them. There were nine senators facing them from behind their name placards – five from the majority party counting the chairwoman from Texas and four from the minority party. A kid that looked like he could still be in college sat off to the side with his fingers poised over the small tilted keyboard of the stenotype. This would be the only record of the proceedings. There were no cameras and the rows of seats behind Decker’s table were dark and empty.
The stenotype wasn’t all that different in essence from what Thomas did. An outsider looking at the keys would see nonsense symbols, but the kid used them to shorthand a code that communicated what was going on in the shortest line of code possible. It was expediency and that was what Thomas was doing in programming artificial intelligence using quantum coding – the language of the universe. Maybe it was really the underpinning of the universe, Thomas thought – what was left after the universe was pulled apart around everyone.
The chairwoman’s slight drawl pulled Thomas out of his thoughts. “Miles Theodore Decker and Doctor Thomas Anthony Kell, we are calling this closed hearing back into session. You can consider yourselves still sworn in from the day before and the day before that. If you need a refresher on that oath, gentlemen, I can get a Bible and an officiant in here to reinoculate you both.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Miles Decker said into the microphone. Thomas didn’t understand the point of using it, if there was no recording. “We understand.”
“Dr. Kell?” she asked.
Thomas had not actually spoken a word of testimony in the two previous days, but he said, “No, I understand I’m under oath, Madam Chairwoman.”
“Just calling me Senator will do, Doctor,” she said. “Let’s not overcomplicate things. Since you are both clear that telling the truth will keep you out of jail better than lies, we’ll get started. The senator from Minnesota will start us off this afternoon.”
Thomas Kell wasn’t sure telling the truth would keep him out of jail at all, but he did not argue the point.
The chairwoman clicked off her microphone and the light went on in front of an older man down the dais. His voice shook a little and if he hadn’t been using the microphone, then he wouldn’t have been heard. He said, “Who is Mark Abraham Spencer?”
Miles Decker cleared his throat. “Mark Spencer was a contractor that attempted to rob our Chicago facility during the Pulse.”
“The Chicago research headquarters of Conrad, Decker, and Rand Research … or CDR, your company … of which you have a controlling share. Yes?”
“Yes, Senator.”
“Your father was the original Decker from the ‘D’ in CDR. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Miles Decker said.
“Back when your father and his partners were still running it, CDR used to build autopilot systems and the first generation of voice recognition software and hardware. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“And tractors?”
Miles stared for a moment and narrowed his eyes. “Can you repeat that, Senator? Did you say tractors?”
“Your father’s company, when it was still your father’s company, used to make tractor parts too. Is that correct, Mr. Decker?”
Miles said, “We … CDR made prototypes for automated threshers and harvesters. The company experimented with …” The lawyer leaned over to Miles Decker’s ear and Miles covered his microphone. He leaned back forward. “Yes, Senator. CDR used to make farming equipment.”
The Senator said, “My father worked a CDR thresher back when I was a young man. It was a good piece of equipment, as I recall. Safe. CDR made quality products back when your father was in charge, Mr. Decker.”
Miles leaned forward and said, “Thank you, Senator.”
“So, while you were in charge, a contractor named Mark Spencer broke into your vault and stole a billion dollar, top secret robot brain.”
“A Quantum Brain, first generation,” Miles said. The lawyer leaned in to whisper and then Miles added. “But he was caught soon after.”
“So, he succeeded in doing so, did he not?” the senator asked.
“For a time,” Decker said. “The FBI apprehended him with our assistance mere moments after the Pulse had passed.”
“You have the FBI at your beck and call, Mr. Decker?” the senator asked. “They had nothing else going on in Chicago after the Pulse than to retrieve your lost robot brain.”
The lawyer leaned over and whispered into Decker’s ear. Miles Decker said, “The Quantum Brain was a government contract project. It was top secret. Retrieving it from Spencer was a high priority and it was executed quickly at the direction of the FBI. We used all our resources to assist them.”
“And all the agents have testified that Spencer destroyed the Quantum Brain when he was captured.”
Thomas Kell’s throat went dry. Thomas tried to remember all the details of the lie he had been instructed to tell. He did not realize all the agents there that day in Mark Spencer’s apartment had been instructed to lie as well. He supposed they would have to be, if the lie was to work. Thomas did not want to know who in government had the power to get that many people to lie to senators.
“That is correct, Senator,” Decker said.
“The robots that are out in the public now are the second generation of these quantum brained robots. Is that right?” the senator asked.
“Yes, but the Quantum Brains do not have access to the quantum network. They are limited only to the processing power they need to serve as construction bots, security, or companions.”
“Companions mean the ones that take care of babies and such?”
Miles Decker said, “They serve families in a number of ways, Senator.”
“You are working on a third generation which will be the second version released to the public?”
“Yes, Senator.”
“These will have more processing power.”
“Each new generation of technology should improve on the previous generation,” Miles Decker said, “but we don’t have specs of the processing power at this time.”<
br />
“Will there be military applications, Mr. Decker?”
“We are still under contract with the United States Department of Defense, but we don’t know what those applications will be at this time.”
“When will the next generation be unleashed on the public?”
“We haven’t even begun field testing yet, Senator. I have no answer for you yet on that.”
The senator paused for a moment and then raised his eyes from his notes. “You witnessed the destruction of first Quantum Brain, Mr. Decker? You were there in the room when it was destroyed?”
Mile glanced over at the lawyer and back forward. “No, Senator, it was reported to me.”
“Reported by whom?”
The lawyer whispered in Decker’s ear and Miles Decker said, “The lead agent on the scene and my own project lead that used the tracking device in the Quantum Brain to track down Spencer with the FBI.”
“That project lead is Dr. Thomas Kell with us here now?”
“That is correct,” Decker said.
“I will direct my questions to him now then,” the senator said. “You witnessed the destruction of the Quantum Brain, Dr. Kell?”
Thomas cleared his throat and clicked on his microphone. “Yes, Senator.”
“And you are certain it is destroyed?”
“I saw him … I saw Mark Spencer step on it and we had no further signal after it was destroyed.”
“This high piece of sophisticated technology meant to handle the deadliest military assets was destroyed in a contractor’s apartment by placing his shoe on top of it?”
The lawyer leaned over and whispered into Thomas’s ear. “Don’t elaborate. Just give a direct answer.”
Thomas leaned forward. “Yes.”
“Are you one of the leads on the new AI initiative contracted to CDR Research even after your company allowed the first project to be stolen and crushed under a shoe?”
Thomas said, “Yes.”
“Was the second generation of brains and robots properly tested before they were shipped out?”
Thomas felt his throat tighten, but he managed to say, “Yes … Yes, Senator.”
“What steps are being taken to insure the new brains already in the field and the new batch in the lab now aren’t being stolen or won’t pose a deadly threat to our own people once they are out in the field with the military or in the domestic CDR robots I’m seeing all over the country?”
Miles Decker leaned up to his microphone. “I can answer your questions regarding our company’s safety protocols and the specifics of our designs, Senator.”
“I asked the scientist, Mr. Decker. I want his answers to my questions without your interruption, sir. Dr. Kell, your answer, please.”
Conrad folded his hands and sat back in his chair. The lawyer whispered frantically in Decker’s ear as Miles Decker looked away.
Thomas cleared his throat and said, “The safety protocols are specifically laid out in the legislation that has been passed in the last year, Senator. We introduce impurities into the quantum relays which set upper limits on the intelligence and power of the androids.”
“How are we sure these limits are working?”
“The eyes glow,” Thomas said.
“Is that a joke, Doctor?”
“No, sir … Senator, no, I mean, not a joke … it is an indicator that the limitations are working. The glow of the eyes keeps people from confusing the artificial androids with real people no matter how realistic the rest of the body design appears. The intensity of the glow in the eyes also shows how much processing power is at work. We can see that the impurities are keeping them in check, Senator.”
“What are the limits on their strength, Doctor?”
“I don’t understand, sir … Senator.”
“Are the androids allowed to be many times stronger than a normal human, Doctor?”
“Yes.”
The senators looked back and forth at one another.
“Do you think that is safe, Doctor?”
“Yes, Senator.”
“Elaborate, Doctor.”
Thomas looked at the lawyer, but the lawyer just shrugged.
Thomas sighed and said, “The controls are in thought and behavior programming, Senator. We need the androids to be stronger though.”
“Why, Doctor? Why not limit their physical strength just to be safe?”
“They are being used to rebuild, Senator. The androids are tools like a bulldozer or a crane. They are directed and operated by humans, but do tasks that we could not physically or safely do ourselves. Like drones or bomb defusing robots were used before the androids, they can go into places that pose danger without risking the life of a human. We are still rebuilding and clearing since the gravity Pulse destroyed buildings and property all across the globe, as you all know. The United States is well ahead of other nations because of our early adoption of androids. Other nations are contracting out our androids to help rebuild their cities now. We control the technology and the United States economy benefits from it as we lead in rebuilding the world.”
“Is there a danger in having the robots in other nations, Doctor?”
“They depend on the androids,” Thomas said, “and we control the androids.”
“They are used for other domestic tasks as well, yes? The ones that are called domestics or companions, I believe,” the senator said. “Child care, house upkeep, taking care of pets, nursing and assisted care and the like. Correct?”
“Yes.”
“Do we want super human robots performing those tasks?”
“If there is ever a time that a car needs to be lifted or they need to shield our loved ones with their mechanical bodies, we want them to have the strength to do so, Senator.”
The senator stared at his notes for a moment. “I yield back the remainder of my time.”
The Chairwoman said, “The Senator from Nevada.”
A woman on the other end of the dais said, “Dr. Kell, explain how Mark Spencer gained access to the security measures at the Chicago facility of CDR Research.”
The lawyer leaned in and whispered. “Stick to the story.”
Thomas sighed and cleared his throat as he prepared to answer.
2
“That old dog used my father’s name to get to me,” Miles said as the trio walked away.
“It’s over for now,” the lawyer said. “We did great. We’re clear of this. This was a good day, Miles. Take the win.”
Miles sniffed and flexed his jaw as they walked. “The D.O.D is pushing us to get generation three out to them while we have senators grilling us like criminals. I should leave those self-righteous blowhards to clean up their own neighborhoods and rebuild their own houses. That would show them.”
The lawyer patted Decker’s shoulder. “This is how big business works. Senators ask their questions and look like they’re being tough on you. Voters get satisfied, we donate to their campaigns, and they pass laws that help us do business and make money. This is how your father became wealthy and how you will become more wealthy. It’s the circle of life in this town.”
“I’d rather donate to the ones that don’t drag us through the mud,” Miles Decker said.
“That wouldn’t look good at all,” the lawyer said. “Perception is everything in politics and business. This was a good day. Trust me on this.”
The lawyer peeled off from them up another hallway as Miles Decker and Dr. Thomas Kell stepped out of the Congressional Offices facing the sunset. It still had a blazing glow that covered the sky in dozens of colors from debris that had not fully cleared the atmosphere. When the gravitational Pulse lifted everything not tied down in the Western Hemisphere, the big pieces fell back to the ground and the tiny particles lingered in the upper atmosphere like the ash from some massive eruption. This sunset was made from all the litter and top soil from North America.
Thomas thought back to the rainstorms for weeks following the Pulse. The flooding on top of all
the debris had nearly crippled the nation. They would never account for all the missing. Thomas still believed some bodies made it into space and never fell back to Earth. Or they burned up on reentry. If they hit the ground from a couple miles up, there would be nothing left to identify.
Some scientists were still worried about global cooling or an early Ice Age. Others were worried about diseases or vermin spreading new forms of plague across the globe. Famine was already striking some parts of the world, but Thomas was focused on building the androids that would clean up and rebuild.
He wasn’t sure if flying up in the air during the Pulse was worse than all the people crushed in the Eastern Hemisphere nations.
The crop failure and food shortages were still hurting even in the industrialized nations.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Decker asked.
Thomas blinked a few times. “Um, yes, sir. Stunning colors.”
“What? The sunset?” Decker asked. “No. I mean the rebuilding of the monuments.”
Thomas turned and followed Miles Decker’s line of sight over toward the Washington Monument in the distance. The angle of light from the sunset glistened off the gossamer support cables coming off of the stone spire in every direction. Enormous androids built up struts around the base and sides of the monument. These were not the ones that babysat people’s kids or walked their dogs, but CDR built the large construction droids too. They also had large screens in front that served as eyes glowing to indicate that they were not thinking too hard or too deeply. Smaller androids climbed up the outside sealing cracks with advanced polymer fillers.
“Yes, beautiful, sir.”
“We are rebuilding the world, like you said. You did well in there, Dr. Kell. You speak well for a scientist.”
Thomas cleared his throat. “Thank you, sir. We practiced the story for a long time.”
Miles Decker’s jaw was flexing again. “Yes, we certainly did.”
“How did we get all those FBI agents to lie, sir? Did it come from CDR or from the government?”