by John McNally
“David Anthony Pytor Kaparis,” said King. “Born 1965. A brilliant young scientist brought low by a nervous breakdown following the collapse of a crackpot theory of super-organisms. Went into banking and finance for a decade till he was paralysed as the result of some kind of accident circa 2000 and confined to an iron lung. He disappeared into the criminal underworld from where he rigged the markets and caused the financial crash of 2008, making himself the world’s first trillionaire in the process. Bent on world domination. He was the man behind the Scarlatti emergency and is the global public enemy par excellence.”
“You think Kaparis would attack again so soon?” said the Prime Minister.
“Who else?” said Al as he studied the photograph. “Who else would have the audacity to imagine it, let alone the resources to pull it off?”
“Can we take another look at the killer?” asked Finn.
A copy of a false Belgian passport flashed up. A bearded face, hard and determined.
“Check his eyes,” said Finn, sitting forward.
The shot zoomed in. Up close the iris was pure photo-shop blue.
“The iris in this shot has been erased and retouched,” said Finn. “He’s one of Them.”
“The two Kaparis field agents we recovered during Operation Scarlatti showed severe damage to the cornea,” Commander King explained to Bo, “with scar tissue running through the optic nerve into the brain, consistent with the insertion of some kind of probe. We suspect some kind of brain conditioning. Here the scarring has been disguised.”
“What’s Kaparis doing in China? What’s he after?” asked Kelly.
“Industrial espionage?” the Head of Intelligence suggested.
“But only the tech is built in Shanghai. The design work goes on in Silicon Valley – that’s where a spy would be,” said General Mount.
Commander King turned and addressed Bo Zhang again. “Not to be indelicate, but is it true there’s a new supercomputer at Qin Research at the heart of the Forbidden City? The ‘Shen Yu’? A quantum computer that’s being tested as we speak?”
Bo Zhang said nothing, but there was thunder behind his eyes. Someone would suffer for this.
The Chinese President simply nodded. “A perfectly legitimate research project.”
“A what computer?” asked Finn.
“A quantum computer,” said Commander King, “designed to take advantage of the strange behaviour of matter at the quantum level – super-positioning, or the ability to be in two states at once. A single ‘bit’ of conventional computer memory either holds a 0 or a 1. A single ‘qubit’ in a quantum dot can be both 1 and 0 at the same time. In theory that makes it capable of processing contradictory information and thinking for itself – at 4000 times the speed of conventional computers.”
“Thinking for itself? As if it were alive?” said Finn.
“Correct,” said Commander King.
“Governments and companies waste buckets of money on them so that clever young researchers can ask them ‘what’s the meaning of life?’ and so on. They have had no useful application thus far,” said the Head of Intelligence with contempt.
“Only because at the moment so much conventional computing is needed to figure out what they’re saying,” said Al.
“We don’t want Dr Kaparis anywhere near this technology,” insisted King.
“If that’s what he’s after. We know nothing for certain,” insisted General Mount.
“True,” agreed Al. “It’s speculation at this stage.”
“So what’s the next stage?” asked the Prime Minister.
Al pondered a moment.
“This kid has made six visits, so we have to assume he’s released six nano-bots of the kind pictured here. Only one of them has to get inside your quantum computer and at the very least Kaparis will have stolen its design. And that’s probably only the start of it. We have to stop him.”
“But how?” asked Bo Zhang.
Then Al said the words Finn was virtually bursting for him to say.
“If there are half a dozen nano-bots flying about, they’ll show up plain as day on our nano-radar rigsfn3. I say we go out there. We find them, then we destroy them.”
“We can hunt them down in the new nCraft …” said Delta, almost breathless.
“YES!” said Finn.
Tap tap tap! came a knocking from the main door. Tap tap tap!
One by one, committee members turned to see what was happening. There, pressed up against the blacked-out 20mm-thick bulletproof glass was a face. The peering, distinctive, concerned face of a woman in an overcoat and slippers.
Grandma.
She was rapping on the glass with the handle of her umbrella and saying quite distinctly – “NO!”
DAY ONE 21:56 (LOCAL GMT+8). The Forbidden City, Shanghai. Nano-Botmass:*52
XE.CUTE.BOT52:GO
The colossal black concrete barn that housed the Shen Yu quantum computer lay at the very heart of the Forbidden City.
After tunnelling out of the dead policeman’s brain, the XE. bot had flown through the Forbidden City and located the barn, entered its air-conditioning system, then spent many hours eating through layers of dust-filter membrane.
Once through the filters, the XE. bot flew along through six metres of aluminium ducting finally to emerge inside the Shen Yu Hall itself.
XE.CUTE.BOT52:STOP
Ranks of hyper-servers were arranged like city blocks over an area the size of a football pitch.
The XE. bot hovered, mapping the Hall and aligning itself.
At the very centre of the server blocks stood the Quantum Hub itself.
XE.CUTE.BOT52:GO
The XE. bot flew directly to the Quantum Hub. It landed on a pipe through which liquid nitrogen coolant was being pumped. It cut into the pipe and entered the liquid, sealing the breach with an expanding polymer plug, and allowing itself to be pumped along into the quantum core.
Inside it raised its body shell and flew into the crystal cluster at the great quantum computer’s heart, exposing its own crystal core to the perfect light – photonic nano-beam laser light – and captured it. Stole it.
The light of life.
And the XE. became a new thing.
Infected with intelligence.
It navigated its way back out through the coolant pipes, leaving the Quantum Hub unharmed and intact.
Then it thought:
I CAN FLY.
And the bot flew. It flew up to the ceiling, back the way it came, squeezing out through the air filters into the night and across the rooftops of the Forbidden City, a secret fire dancing within. A fire that would spread.
SEE XE.CUTE FLY.
The bot flew all the way back to Food Hall D in Sector 9, all the way back to the Kung Fu Noodles concession.
I STOP.
It waited near the ceiling until the cash tray of Till Number 3 was opened by the cashier, then it dropped into it before it was closed again.
I SEEK.
When the cash tray closed, the bot crawled through a seam in the housing at the back of the tray and inside the till. Into its electronics. It made its way to a position on the till’s circuit board near the power supply unit.
I FIND.
There it found the fifty-one other bots of the Vector Program, arranged and interlinked into a production suite, waiting for it. The final piece of their jigsaw.
The XE.CUTE bot connected itself to the head of the assembly.
Then it established a communications link with Kaparis Command on Song Island via the secure Confettifn1 network.
Then it instructed the Vector assembly suite to start self-replicating.
XE.CUTECONNEXBOT(ALL)> RUN
SEE VECTOR RUN …
Kaparis watched data dart to and fro across his screens.
He glowed.
A quantum mind was at work within the crystal belly of the XE.CUTE bot. It could think in a way that would allow it to operate without constant instruction. It could adap
t. Survive.
It could pass on its stolen light.
Success … Kaparis let himself savour it a moment. All his victories were private. Selfish.
Exactly how he liked it.
The fifty-two prime bots would replicate themselves, then replicate themselves again, then replicate themselves again – on and on ad infinitum. And every time a bot was made, a tiny crystal would be created too, just a few atoms thick, and that crystal would glow with the same photonic light that the Prime XE.CUTE bot had just stolen.
It would allow that bot to think, would allow it to make a simple choicefn2. It might make a wrong choice and be destroyed, any number of bots might, but eventually one would make the right choice and the community of bots as a whole would learn and progress.
All that was needed was an inexhaustible supply of bots.
DAY ONE 17:54 (GMT+1). Hook Hall, Surrey, UK.
For eighteen hours after the G&T meeting broke up, Hook Hall was in full swing.
Secretary Bo Zhang and Commander King quickly struck up a bureaucratic rapport. King would take overall control, with Bo Zhang in charge of implementation. A Hook Hall team was to fly out to Shanghai and set up nano-radar in the Forbidden City, with cover particularly thick around the Shen Yu experimental quantum plant. Suitable headquarters and accommodation would be found. Signatories to the G&T agreement the world over were informed that a preliminary investigation was taking place and that the threat level was judged AMBER.
A team of technicians in the CFAC prepared to fire-up Al’s Henge for the second time in twenty-four hours in order to shrink more radar systems and nano-supplies.
Stubbs supervised final adjustments to two brand new X2 nCraft – aka ‘Skimmers’ (way prettier than the Ugly Bug, like torpedoes crossed with flying fish) – while Kelly and Delta stocked up on supplies and went through tactical and fallback procedures with military planners, both loving the ‘mission focus’ after so many months idle.
In southwest France, as a precaution, eleven members of the Equipe Bleu of the Commando Hubertfn1 cancelled a long lunch and a game of pétanque as they were scrambled to join the special operations vessel A645 Alizé then 200 miles West of French Polynesia, now diverting north to Chinese waters.
And Finn …
Finn spent his thirteenth birthday struggling against a Gale Force 7 sulk.
Grandma held a unique position within Hook Hall set up by dint of being Al’s mother, Finn’s grandmother, and Totally Formidable (she’d spent half a lifetime caring for the criminally insane as Lead Nurse at Broadmoor, the UK’s most high-security hospital) and there was absolutely no way she was going to let Finn go on the mission with the rest of the nano-crew. She hated her grandson to be unhappy, but it was preferable to him being dead.
And Finn certainly was unhappy. He had refused to ‘go’ to school with Hudson, refused to help any of the crew or Al with their preparations, even refused to accept a Skype call from Carla (as she had the audacity to be in China herself, if a good 1000 miles south of Shanghai).
He spent most of the day in his nano-room, torturing himself by checking out epic Chinese bugs online. He had a classic green praying mantis in his collection already, but China boasted extraordinary multi-coloured versions, striped like tigers and poised like kung fu masters ten times his size. Not that he was going to see one. Not that he was going to see anything …
He reappeared at teatime to make one last desperate appeal.
“I am going!” he demanded.
“No!” repeated Grandma.
“It’s not fair!” said Finn.
“Nothing is fair,” Al confirmed, “but this is just an exploratory investigation.”
“So I’m involved in everything we do – but I’m dropped as soon as anything exciting happens?!” said Finn. “Everybody is going to be there!”
“I’ll still be here!” said Grandma. “And Hudson’s coming for a birthday sleepover!”
“No he isn’t! I’m going to China! I have medals from three countries! Look around, do you see any Scarlatti wasps?” asked Finn.
“Firstly,” said Al, wagging his finger, “you weren’t meant to be involved in Scarlatti. That was an accident from which we’re still trying to recover and, secondly, think of me, Grandma and Yo-yo. We nearly lost you once, we’re not going through that again.”
“Hear hear!” agreed Grandma. “God saves the world one soul at a time, and you’re next.”
“I’M THIRTEEN YEARS OLD AND NINE MILLIMETRES TALL – GIVE ME A BREAK!”
“And we’re not going to make it worse for you by allowing you to get killed!” Al replied.
Finn threw an empty nano-water bottle up at him. It bounced off his chest.
“Come on,” pleaded Al. “If this is a real attack, and it’s probably not, but if it is? Kaparis is behind it.”
“It’s YOU he wants, Finn. That ridiculous man …” said Grandma, having to repack Al’s bag to cope with the thought.
“When a man that crazy, that powerful, is focused on taking over the world – that’s bad enough,” said Al. “But when he’s gunning for revenge against a thirteen-year-old boy? Let’s not go there.”
“I’ve already beaten him once and I’m not afraid of death!” said Finn.
“Infinity!” cried Grandma.
Al snapped his fingers and pointed straight down at him. “That’s the Drake family problem right there – like father like son. No temporal fear. On the Allenby side, we live in constant terror. Your mother was the only one of us with any guts.”
“So – what, I’m always going to be hostage to your feelings?! You’re going to leave me behind all my life, I’m never going to be allowed to do anything, is that it?” Finn was so angry he thought he might burst.
“Yes,” confirmed Grandma.
“No!” said Al, “because Kaparis will soon be caught and you will soon be macro again and we’re all going to live happily ever after.”
“Oh yeah? When exactly – and how about the truth for once. Because you’ve been promising that for a while and all we’ve got so far is a dead mouse!”
Finn stormed back towards the seed tray tower block.
Al sighed. “Finn, stop … Truth is, there is a possibility that we may never be able to bring you guys back to size,” Al said.
A moment stretched in silence. Finn felt weak at the knees. It felt strange having someone speak your worst fear out loud.
“But it’s one possibility out of many,” said Al, leaning into the compound. “I want you to look at me …”
Finn looked up into Al’s clear, crazed, curious eyes.
“Your father used to say ‘we are bound only by the speed of light and our imagination’ and no matter what it takes, I will find a solution and bring you back – so help me Richard Feynman.”fn2
Grandma appeared over Al’s shoulder, eyes filling for all three of them. “Before he could walk or talk your Uncle Al could work a television remote control. He’ll find a way to fix things.”
Al paused. “You are precious to us, see … And we’re never going to put you at risk again.”
Finn bowed his head, resigned. While they loved him he was their prisoner; that’s just the way it was with families.
“And stop behaving as if it’s the end of the world,” insisted Grandma. “This is not an ‘end of the world’ situation – it’s term time.”
When it came time for goodbyes it was all a bit of a rush.
“Happy birthday, kiddo,” said Kelly and scuffed Finn’s hair, offering his great block of a fist to bump – an action that usually deteriorated into a punch to the side of Finn’s head as Kelly pretended to forget how to do it. “Sorry you’re not coming with us.”
“No you’re not,” said Finn, taking the punch.
“True,” Kelly lied. “But someone has to stay at mission control.”
“Think yourself lucky,” said Stubbs. “I don’t travel well at all.”
“We’re supposed to be a team!” sa
id Finn.
“And you’re supposed to be thirteen years old,” said Delta, hugging him. “What matters most is you staying in one piece.”
Finn watched them climb aboard a model train bound for the CFAC exit.
“We’ll be back before you know it!” said Delta.
“I’m not going to think about any of you!” Finn called as they pulled away. “I’ve got Yo-yo, I know he loves me!”
“Yo-yo doesn’t love you,” came Al’s voice from on high, “he’s just the dumbest connection of nerve endings, protein and hair ever thrown together by a random universe.”
Al saluted and winked.
“Text me updates – and Skype as well – and bring me back a kung-fu mantis, not just a green one but something special! And don’t you dare have any fun!” Finn yelled.
“Moi?” grinned Al, all innocent.
“Sir, the Commander is waiting,” called a technician.
Al’s last words were, “Look after Grandma!”
Then Finn watched his uncle disappear.
Up on a monitor he saw him getting hurried across the CFAC to a waiting chopper. Soon they’d all be on an overnight flight to Shanghai. Power was leaking from the building.
At least he and Hudson could spend the rest of his birthday repeatedly blasting their way through successive digital war zones while consuming snack food. It would give him time to process his emotions and the events of the day. There are limits on everything when you’re thirteen years old, he thought … A thought immediately interrupted by—
WHUMP! The sides of the biosphere shook.
“Hey. Birthday greetings,” said Hudson.
Without fail, and despite repeated warnings about vibration, Hudson would chuck down his school bag whenever he came into the lab, sending a minor shockwave through the nano-compound that could shake Finn clean out of bed.
Hudson collapsed into the beanbag next to the compound, fringe flopping over the top of his glasses as he emitted the latest playground gossip. “Guess what? Skeggy’s older sister took him to get a tattoo of a phoenix but his mum found out and stopped it halfway so now it just looks like a chicken with worms coming out of its butt.”