Quantum entangled a quan.., p.1
Quantum Entangled: A Quantum Series Mystery, page 1
Quantum Entangled
A Quantum Series Mystery
Douglas Phillips
Text and images Copyright © 2021 Douglas Phillips
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
www.douglasphillipsbooks.com
This is a work of fiction. References to actual places, buildings, government agencies, and corporations assist in setting a level of realism. However, all characters and events portrayed in the story are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
In Greek mythology, the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne provided inspiration for human arts and sciences. Sometimes goddesses, sometimes water nymphs, these delightful women were known as muses, a name still found in modern words: museum, amuse, and music.
This story is dedicated to Marlene, my muse.
CONTENTS
1Travelers
2Portal
3Wonderland
4Bot
5Missing
6Outside
7Giant
8Colonist
9Ancients
10Backdoor
11Reunion
12Entangled
13Stars
14Discovery
15Rhubarb
16Council
17Journey
18Wedge
19Homeward
Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1
Travelers
Daniel Rice jolted upright in bed, his heart pounding and dangerous visions still swirling through his head. He blinked. Except for a LED on a heat exchanger, the room was dark. A drainpipe outside the bedroom window dripped in time with his heartbeat. Several deep breaths did little to settle nerves rattled by the recurring nightmare – only a fully awake, logically scientific mind could do that. And coffee.
Daniel slipped out of bed, taking care not to wake Nala. His stealth was unsuccessful. She lifted her head from the pillow. “You okay?”
He rounded the bed and sat beside her, pushing gently on her shoulders. “I’m fine, go back to sleep.”
Physical coercion failed too. Her voice was groggy, but her concern showed through. “The desert island dream again?”
“Yeah.”
She wrapped arms around him, her embrace calming his heart. Still newlyweds by most standards, they’d sealed the deal only six months before. The dreams, or visions – or whatever they were – had started not long after that.
When described as “the desert island dream”, it didn’t sound that bad, but dying of thirst was an agonizing way to go. No doubt just a dream, but repetition made it seem more.
Specific repetition.
Each time, he sat on hot sand slumped against a palm tree. Overhead, sunlight filtered through purple fronds. His parched throat ached as he watched a handful of sand slip between his fingers. Steps away, small waves on a turquoise sea lapped against a sandy shore. Colors seemed important, odd because Daniel rarely remembered colors from any other dream.
“I’ll be okay,” he told Nala and retrieved a glass of water from the bathroom. His throat always felt dry after the dream.
Cause or effect?
Strange how the brain works. Perhaps his subconscious was conjuring the same dream to alert him to a physical need for water. It was the best explanation he could come up with. But it didn’t explain the other visions: a hooded figure, a soothing voice, an enormous disc of beveled glass floating in a sea of stars. Those dreams repeated too – short clips without any story behind them.
Daniel returned to bed, and Nala snuggled close. She put a hand on his heart. “Promise me you’ll see that neurologist. Daniel, you’ve been places. You’ve seen things no one else has.”
Daniel wrapped arms around her. “Yeah, maybe it’s time.”
It seemed to satisfy her, at least for that weird state of mind that exists at four in the morning. Once daylight arrived, he’d probably counter her concern by pointing out that he wasn’t the only person who had jumped to the future. Three others had done it before him. Of course, one was dead, another was as crazy as they come and serving time in prison, and the third was Chloe Demers who had jumped only one day into the future during their tests at CERN. The Swiss government had put a temporary hold on all future time excursions until the astonishing science could be reconciled with the obvious need for careful management of humanity’s future. The US government had agreed and had locked Daniel’s time traveling belt in a vault.
Nala eventually fell asleep in Daniel’s arms. For his part, the remainder of the night was time to think. He’d already seen one doctor and had received a referral to a neurologist specializing in sleep disorders. But more doctors were mainly for Nala’s sake – that path didn’t sound promising from Daniel’s perspective. There was something else about these dreams, not easily described but felt deep inside. He hadn’t put his finger on it yet.
Daniel managed to slide his arm from under his sleeping wife, and tiptoed downstairs. While coffee brewed, he pondered the unlikely events of his life. Chasing down missing astronauts. Meeting Nala at Fermilab and their efforts to decode an alien message. Extra dimensions of space. First contact with aliens. Crazy stuff. It had made Daniel famous.
He’d never wanted any of it. The White House job had been billed as a principal investigator for government science programs. Early on, the assignments had been routine. Finding the source of radon gas at a Nashville facility. Uncovering a vendor kickback scheme in Tulsa. Even the strange lights in the sky over Tonopah, Nevada had a perfectly ordinary explanation. No aliens involved.
Then came Core. And interdimensional portals. And time travel. Jumping thirty years into the future was the craziest of them all.
That was all in the past now. He’d given it up, cold turkey. No more visits with Core. No more celebrity life. Daniel and Nala had married, moved to Santa Fe, and started a new life with new jobs. Nala at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Daniel ending up as a science advisor for the New Mexico Department of Education. He still traveled regularly, but Santa Fe was now home, and Nala was the best reason to keep those business trips short.
Ordinary is fine by me.
Two cups of coffee later, sunlight peeked over the snow-capped Sangre de Cristo mountain range that graced their breakfast nook window, and Nala came down in a sleep shirt that hung to her knees. She wrapped slender brown arms around his neck and nuzzled close to his ear.
“Sunday. It is Sunday isn’t it?”
Coded language. On most Sunday mornings, those silky legs of hers were wrapped around his back by now.
“I’ll make it up to you later.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean…”
“I know you didn’t.” He kissed her forehead. “Lots going on. How about some toast and coffee instead?”
“You’ve been analyzing. Desert islands, strange voices?”
He nodded. “Same old stuff. But I do have a new idea.”
“Shoot.”
“Honestly, a neurologist won’t help much. My case is too…”
“Fucked up?”
“Unusual. I’ve literally been swallowed by a moon-sized cybernetic organism, for example.”
“And I’m glad Core didn’t digest you. I still don’t trust that thing. But I get your point. You’re not the average patient. You’ve been around.”
“Right. A neurologist doesn’t have the knowledge base to provide the right diagnosis. But… I could talk to Zin.”
“Doctor Zin?”
“Well, maybe not a doctor, but he’s well connected. He’s got full access to every bit of knowledge in our galaxy, something humans don’t have.”
It was true. Humans had not yet gained full membership into Sagittarius Novus, the consortium of civilizations scattered across the galaxy, or been given access to the galactic encyclopedia, An Sath. While efforts were underway to complete humanity’s membership, rumors had spread that it wasn’t going well.
Nala set her coffee down and lowered her voice in a humorous impersonation of Daniel. “So, Zin, I’m getting these funny dreams about a hooded man, broken glass floating in space, and dying of thirst. Got any alien pharmaceuticals for that?”
“Beveled glass, not broken. Get your mocking points down.”
“Beveled. I stand corrected. But what’s Zin going to do for you that a neurologist can’t?”
“No idea, but…” He was hesitant to tell all. She wouldn’t laugh, but he hated to burden her. “Look, it’s more than repetitive dreams. It’s a feeling. Coming from… some other level of reality.”
She locked eyes with him and raised a brow. Her expression wasn’t disbelief – they’d both seen other realities firsthand. She was waiting, ready to hear whatever he had to say. And Daniel was finally ready to tell.
“It’s like something out there is calling me.”
This time she spoke with no hint of mocking. “Coming from a scientist, that doesn’t sound good. You never told me this part. Fess up, Daniel. All the way.”
“Nothing more to tell. It’s a feeling, that’s all. I don’t know what it is.”
“A feeling that something is calling you.”
“Or maybe someone. Could be a person. I’m hearing a woman’s voice in one of t
She drank the rest of her coffee in one gulp and stood up. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“The airport.”
Nala had a history of spontaneity, but Daniel was still taken aback.
“I, uh…”
“Pack a bag, scientist. We’re going to Geneva.”
He finally got her point. Nala absorbed new information quickly and could flip mental frames as fast as most people changed their shoes. “Zin’s not in Geneva. Last I heard he was in Beijing working with the Chinese.”
“Then we’re going to Beijing. Right now. And don’t say it can’t be done. You’ve got the government connections.” When Daniel stalled for a millisecond, she pulled on his chair. “Daniel, don’t make me kick your ass.”
He stood up, towering over her by nearly a foot. Petite in stature, but Nala’s determination could be fierce. Daniel held up hands in surrender. “You’re right. I’ll go.”
“We’ll go.”
“Alright, we’ll both go.”
He laughed at the absurdity of flying to China on a moment’s notice. “I hear Beijing is lovely in December. Below zero cold. Killer smog. We’ll get a cinderblock hotel room overlooking the open-air sewage plant.”
She rolled her eyes. They’d both been to Beijing before. Stereotypes only fooled the uninformed.
********************
They checked into the five-star Eclat Hotel, walking distance to the Temple of the Sun and only a quick taxi ride to the Imperial Palace. From the outside, the hotel was a glass version of Space Mountain at Disneyworld, towering into the sky with twin peaks sharper than the Matterhorn. On the inside, blades of glass magically attached to a curving metal framework, polished to perfection. The ultra-modern look was complemented by delicate flowering trees and ancient Chinese statuary that made the oversized lobby look more like an art museum.
Still in a time-zone daze, they were guided to a spacious room overlooking a city crowded with tall buildings, colorful temples, and rectangular parks. Zin, now famous across China and regularly mobbed by curious citizens, had agreed to meet them at the hotel for afternoon tea – after they’d had a chance to rest.
Nala stood at the floor to ceiling window staring out at the bustling city below. “It’s not that cold, maybe we can get out to some of the temples while we’re here.”
“I’d love to.” Daniel came up from behind and wrapped arms around her. “Right after we pay a visit to the Higgs Factory.”
The Chinese particle accelerator was smashing all records for energetic collisions. They’d recently confirmed the existence of the long-theorized graviton, a discovery that had not only earned Chinese physicists the Nobel prize, but launched the country into a new era of scientific cooperation. China had done well in its program of self-rehabilitation.
Nala smiled. “Neutrinos and gravitons. You sure know how to sweet talk a girl.”
He pulled her close and whispered into her ear. “I do. Now, about that Sunday play time we missed.”
Nala laughed. “It’s Monday here. International Date Line and all that.”
“Doesn’t apply. Our bodies are still on New Mexico time.”
He lifted her off the ground and she fought back – fake, but surprisingly strong – squealing and laughing until tangled arms and legs collapsed onto the bed.
Two hours later, they were happy, rested, and presentable, sitting together at a quiet table in the corner of the hotel’s tearoom. Black tea. Quite good.
A flurry of activity and raised voices from the hotel lobby gave the first clues, and seconds later Zin swept in with an entourage of Chinese hangers-on trailing behind. He wore a traditional Chinese Tang suit with knots down the front and dragon themed embroidery that wrapped around each side. The alien android had never looked better.
“Dr. Rice, Dr. Pasquier,” he said, bowing Chinese style.
Daniel and Nala stood. Conversation from other tearoom guests turned to whispers. Stolen glances were mostly directed at the famous android, not the American couple graced by celebrity presence.
“Zin, you’ve acclimated well to China,” Daniel said.
“I do love it here. The people are kind.” He motioned to his entourage who took seats at a nearby table, then pulled out the chair next to Nala. “Have you been to the Higgs Factory yet, Dr. Pasquier?”
“Funny, Daniel and I were just talking about that. I’m game, but first things first.”
“And second things second,” Zin replied, then cocked his head. “Sorry, is that an expression?”
“Not really.” Nala stifled a laugh then put a hand over Zin’s metallic fingers and squeezed. It was only the second time the two had met – Daniel and Nala’s wedding being the first – but Nala’s relationships with people she liked went from zero to a hundred in the first five minutes. Zin had been no exception.
“Then Dr. Rice’s business first.” Zin’s flat metal eyes flicked left then right. “How can I help?”
With his table companions hanging on his every word, and the Chinese conversations elsewhere in the tearoom returning to normal, Daniel related his story. He provided the technical details of the recurring dreams, and, after Nala’s encouragement, the emotional details too.
“Is the repetition increasing in frequency?” Zin asked.
“Maybe. Probably. I guess I should be tracking it on a chart.”
Zin furrowed his unibrow as effectively as any human in distress. “If it were anyone else, I would suggest consulting a doctor. But since you are a time traveler…”
He put a hand to his chin and closed his eyes. There was little reason for the android to pause in thought – he was probably communicating.
“He’s got something,” Nala said.
Zin’s eyes flicked open. “It’s only a possibility, mind you.”
“But?”
They both waited. Pulling information from Zin wasn’t the most straightforward approach, but he had proven himself reliable once answers were delivered.
“Entanglement,” Zin said with authority.
“Elaborate, please,” Daniel said.
“Timeline entanglement. Rare among randomly chosen individuals, but more common among time travelers like yourself. Formally referred to as entanglement of conscious experience across multiple probability pathways in a multiverse. At least, that’s what the Litian-nolos will tell you. They are the experts in this dysfunction, not me.”
“Is it like quantum entanglement?” Nala asked.
“In a way, yes. Two particles, once entangled…”
“Remain entangled even when separated by great distance,” Nala finished.
“Or across timelines,” Zin added.
Daniel stepped into the physics. “But you called it a dysfunction. How does quantum entanglement affect a macro-scale object like me?”
“Far more difficult to predict since humans are new to timeline manipulation. The Litian-nolos would know more but establishing a relationship with a time mentor could be tricky.”
Time mentor. A term Zin had mentioned to Daniel last year in Geneva just before Daniel’s thirty-year jump to the future. Litian-nolos were known to be time manipulators, and they’d had some successes in guiding their species toward a better future. But Zin hadn’t said anything about establishing a relationship with them. As far as Daniel knew, humans had never met Litian-nolos. Maybe it was time they did.
“Why would it be tricky?”
Zin’s puzzled look made it clear the answer should be obvious. “Because humans are not yet members of Sagittarius Novus. While I have high hopes that the Council of Equivalence will vote in your favor, none of us can be sure. Until then, the only way for humans and Litian-nolos to interact would be at Jheean.”
Nala’s eyes lit up. “Alien interaction. I like it. Are Litian-nolos friendly?”
“Quite friendly,” Zin replied. “In their way.”
“Let’s go then, we’re free. Took a week off from work.”
Daniel was slightly less sure than his spontaneous wife. When Zin mentioned places with unfamiliar names, they might be anywhere in the galaxy. “So, how would we get to Jheean?”
“Easily,” Zin answered. “We won’t even need to leave China. Part of my work here has been to create a second portal.”
