An hour later, the ovoid landed in the middle of the desert. A dried up square bounded by a ten–meter-high wall, topped with barbed wire, with a huge block of reinforced concrete in the middle. Burning air. Cameras and sensors all around.
Three sparkling robots were waiting for her.
“Doctor Dirac. Follow us, please.”
They escorted her into the building. A garage with a row of electric vehicles lined up along a wall, and the entry to a tunnel on the opposite side. They got into the first trolley that, through a succession of hairpin bends, ran more and more steeply down the tunnel, to the entrance to the main laboratory.
After walking for a hundred meters, they reached a room, where about ten scientists were sitting round a table.
A few stood up.
“How was the flight?” asked a fair-haired young man, shaking her hand.
“The automatic pilot was not talkative. I enjoyed the view of the desert. I had never been so far.”
“We have been struck by two of your articles,” stated a senior officer in a corner, with arms folded. “We will put your theories to a hard test.”
A young woman with skin like polished ebony, offered Eve a hot coffee. “My name is Paula. I have been here for two days.”
The rest of the afternoon passed discussing a particular behavior of matter they had recently discovered. They decided to perform a simulation. Eve was put in charge of the development of the software.
Fantastic but difficult months followed, during which they produced the raw material for a new extraordinary quantum computer (*).
Defense decided to build a prototype. Scientists and technicians started arriving in dozens every day. With the delivery of materials and equipment, the preparation of the laboratories began. The base became a single gigantic yard absorbed in a restless activity.
Two months later, in perfect agreement with the plans, the staff counted five hundred units and the laboratories were the most advanced in the solar system. In the following year, they passed from the research to the design, from the testing of the components to the assembly, thanks to a streamlined organization and a good deal of favorable circumstances.
At last the object of their desires was towering at the center of the vaulted hall of the main laboratory, surrounded by lots of scientists and technicians in white uniform, ready for the final tests. A web of equipment and cables wound all over the floor. Excitement was palpable. The triumph near.
That day, when the Military Police stepped in, Eve was testing a piece of equipment. They approached her, and in a deathly silence, escorted her up to a room where three officers were waiting for her.
“Doctor Dirac, you are being investigated for corruption.”
They were staring at her, ready to notice the least reaction.
Finally the response: “We’ll hand you over to the civil authorities.”
An hour later Eve was on an ovoid, squashed on the rear seat between the powerful shoulders of plainclothes detectives. Bewildered. At the mercy of events she had not caused, and that were upsetting her life.
At the center of the room, Eve bends her head. "The beginning of a nightmare."
Immersed in dazzling whiteness, she remains motionless, till the officer brings her back to the present: “We can start.”
She raises her head. “I am transmitting the data.”
(*) Qubit strings of unprecedented size.
QUANTUM COMPUTING
In the first decades of the 20th century, the study of the matter led to the discovery of a world in striking contrast with common sense; a world in which each particle occupies not a precise position, but a space with indefinite borders. A world in such an unstable equilibrium, that even a glance can destroy it, making the particle materialize. Observations like this drew the attention of the scientific community that in a few years developed a revolutionary theory: Quantum Mechanics.
After a short time the first computers were invented: huge machines with limited capabilities but unimaginably enormous potential. The new technologies based on semiconductors triggered the race towards miniaturization that in its turn brought higher and higher performance. It was the beginning of a dream: market demand and decreasing costs fed on each other allowing mass production and the allocation of unprecedented resources to research.
But it was already clear that one day even these technologies would be inadequate. Well in advance, the scientists started studying new solutions, planning the stages to bring them to production. They conceived optical, molecular and superconducting computers, even working at temperatures close to absolute zero. A few of their ideas - they believed - would turn into reality in the first decades of the 21st century.
They were also aware that not many years later, when the size of the components reach the atomic scale, or maybe even before because of rising costs, the race for miniaturization would stop. Surely, not all of a sudden: for some time it could be still possible to perfect the technologies. But the fateful moment would finally arrive, definitely by the turn of the century.
At that time several microprocessors were already connected in parallel to speed up the calculations. This architecture was used especially for the most advanced computers, but was limited by integration, size and cost problems.
Towards the end of the second millennium, the scientists discovered a revolutionary way of performing computations. It focused on the string of bits - the sequence of 0 and 1 coding the digital information.
Till that time computer theories described the behavior of bits composed by many particles, leading to results in agreement with the common sense. It was a world of certainties, in which the position of a particle is perfectly known, in which a bit can have 0 or 1 value. All properties which were employed by the existing computers, where the string is modified step by step up to the final output.
When the scientists started applying quantum mechanics to a bit made only by one or a few particles, they entered an ambiguous reality, where no position is certain, where the bit itself can have simultaneously both 0 and 1 values. But what really interested them was the string, because it could assume all the possible combinations of 0 and 1 at the same time, an unbelievably high number even with a few hundred bits; capable of containing the final output from the very beginning.
They had devised a quantum computer. A machine that could find out the solution not working on a string at a time as its predecessors, but on all its combinations simultaneously, searching among them for the solution. A computer with a parallelism next to infinity.
They defined their objectives. It was necessary to isolate the string from the macroscopic world for a time sufficient to execute the programs and improve the switching speed, but also to develop an architecture that could be miniaturized and a system to link up the computation units. New algorithms and programming languages were needed. The scientists defined a roadmap and assigned the tasks.
Industry joined the academics, bringing its application-oriented knowledge.
Quantum computers started competing with the traditional ones in about 2030. They were rudimentary machines in relation to the potential of the technology – their strings contained no more than one hundred bits – but already advanced enough to solve otherwise inaccessible problems. They enabled the simulation of complex quantum systems that contributed to the further development of the techniques.
Towards the half of the 21st century, before the other processors could reach the apex of their evolution, the new technology was well-established. Quantum computers were destined to have a bright future: in a few decades, they would be the cradle of the first artificial intelligences and fifty years later, they would be hosts to whole worlds.
Arthur Barnard, 2298, “The new species”.
HOORAY!
@ Computer Science Institute, a week later.
A wan emaciated corpse is inside a crystal cylinder. A small group of scientists surrounds it.
“In the days spent at the simulator,” beg
ins Eve, “we found out a cure for the damage caused by the virus.” She inspects her colleagues. “Also we can cure the alterations caused by the crisis.”
Their faces light up.
“Do you mean we can bring the victims back to life?”
She tightens her lips. “I don’t want to create false hopes. Till now we have performed only simulations. Now we are testing the treatment on a corpse.”
A menu appears in mid-air. An invisible hand activates the functions. The cylinder fills with a light mist. After a few minutes this condenses into a film.
In the background is the buzzing of the equipment. On the screens frenzied sequence of numbers and graphs.
A minute passes.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
The corpse is still immobile.
Then a beep, a single, weak beep. Everybody turns.
On a distant screen, amidst the other equipment, a green dot shines.
The scientists rush to the terminals. Excited phrases…
The dot in the screen makes a leap. Then another.
In unison, all the other equipment lights up. The alarms sound.
The glances concentrate on the ashen body. He is as pale as death. For him time has really stopped running.
But the screens show something happened.
A quiver of the right hand. He moves a finger, raises his hand.
Slowly, he opens his eyes. Pupils veiled from a long sleep.
A few seconds, as long as eternity, instantaneously engraved in the memory of those present, the crowning achievement of their efforts.
A Hooray! as deafening as thunder bursts out.
Great Hall, two days later.
The scientists are gathered in front of the director and Eve. An electric atmosphere, they wait for the announcement. Only suppositions and many rumors.
The director stands up. First, he looks at the audience, then starts in a measured voice: “Two weeks have passed since the crisis began and three from the contagion. Now the treatment is ready to be used on a large scale. Unfortunately the last tests had a negative outcome. We can cure only part of the population.”
A shiver runs through the group.
Eve speaks: “I thank all of you for your dedication and team spirit.”
She pauses and stares at the confused expressions of people whom only the enormous tension and the motivation to succeed is keeping alive. “I feel a lot of uneasiness. We are undertaking the hardest test. The objective to which we have devoted ourselves without reserve. As said by the Director, the outcome is uncertain.”
A scientist stands up. “Can you quantify the result?”
“The success rate is between fifty and eighty per cent. Unavoidably, many of our hopes will be swept away…”
Eve’s clear voice echoes in the brittle silence: “Whatever happens, we must remain serene. Most of all, we must be proud of our work. No one else in the solar system could achieve the same result in such a short time. And I assure you, we have done everything possible.”
She feels their eyes on her. Meanwhile she continues: “In a few hours, millions of people will be brought back to life. This will be our success!”
Those in the hall feel a surreal calm.
Eve turns her eyes towards the screen above the platform. “Activate the microprocessors.”
A low altitude shot of Alphacity appears. Streets and buildings scattered with an expanse of yellow dots, among which show up vivid red lights: the infected and the victims.
“The deaths have reached the ten percent of the population,” announces Eve. “Now I am freeing the repair programs.”
A circular wave spreads from a corner. Like a foaming torrent, it flies along the streets, insinuates itself into the buildings, invades the basements, progressively coloring the town with green. But here and there yellow and red specks flash tenaciously.
Eve raises her arm towards a number on the right of the map, fluctuating unceasingly. “That’s the success rate.” She directs her attention to a series of graphs. “In half an hour, we will have the first estimate.”
The countdown.
Time passes not in seconds and minutes, but in numbers and percentages.
Bodies frozen by tension, exclamations turned to whispers.
A slow agony, towards an inexorable result.
At the first estimate just a murmur.
Data are updated, hour after hour.
Towards evening, the verdict arrives and is received in total silence.
ALL TOGETHER
@
Long silent processions, shining with the lights the inhabitants hold in their hands, moving towards a single destination, the main square of the town, where the ceremonies are taking place. The participants’ pallor and sadness reveal a deep pain – many have a loss in the family – but their dignified behavior shows they have accepted their fate.
They stop in front of a platform at one side of the square.
At nine o’ clock, the Admiral starts the ceremony: “We are here to bid the last farewell to our parents, sisters, brothers, relatives and friends that a cruel fate has robbed of life. For all of them, I am asking for a minute of silence.”
The people of the Caravels bend their heads and remain concentrated on their sufferings that even the Alpha Centauri anthem, sweet ancient music dealing with courage and solidarity, cannot soothe.
“A month ago,” the Admiral continues in a carrying voice, “we were celebrating the beginning of our voyage and the birth of the Alpha Centauri Republic. The moment we waited for so long, the crowning of years of hard work. However, the evil ravaged our minds and killed the most unlucky of us...
Now we are here again, to grieve for our dead and dedicate our lives to the objective we have chosen to follow by embarking on the Caravels.”
The Admiral turns towards Eve. “To this woman, I say thank you for having brought us back to life and having given us the opportunity of restarting our mission.”
After an emotional silence, the audience bursts into a flood of applause. Eve goes to the platform. Millions stand in front of her, waiting for her words. The people she is fighting for, to whom she will dedicate her future.
Her clear voice echoes in the square: “I decided to take part in the voyage to Alpha Centauri because we can give dignity to the virtual people only by migrating to a new world.” She stares at the living sea; she senses their emotions. “Your presence this evening is for me your biggest gift: in this moment I can feel the force of our solidarity and the firmness of our motivations. It is an extraordinary experience, that makes me understand how the people of the Caravels are able to turn into reality even their most daring dreams.”
When Eve leaves the platform, her friends and colleagues run up to her. Victoria and Adam hug the woman. The commander of the Special Forces first congratulates, then draws her aside. “We completed the inspection of the underground world, but we couldn’t find Nihil. He must be on the surface.”
“Have you picked up his trail?”
“Not yet, but the search has narrowed to the 13th district.”
“A matter of days, then.”
They rejoin the group and turn towards the platform, where meanwhile C573Y has begun speaking: “We cannot lower our guard yet.”
He raises his arm towards the hologram of a dozen individuals displayed in the night sky. “Here are our enemies, all of them free. The first one on the left is their leader, Nihil, the one responsible for all our disasters.”
He shakes his arm. “While they remain free, we will never be safe!”
CLOSE TO THE SKY
@
Midnight. Eve wakes up abruptly. A top priority message has appeared in her visual field:
*** CONTACT WITH ARMED GROUP ***
She sits up in bed, keeps still just enough time to recover her strength, then jumps to her feet and puts on her armor. A few moments later she is striding along a corridor, towards a glass door. Just beyond, an ovoid, with t
he engine running, stands out against the black sky.
“13th district,” she orders jumping into the cockpit. While the noise of the engines rends the air, the vehicle starts a dizzy ascent. Through the transparent covering, Eve glances at the Security Headquarters. It is filling with light and, in the vast central yard, the robots are going to and fro. They rush to the gates and spread through the town. Behind her, in the distance, the aircraft loaded with troops.
The ovoid skims over the buildings. The whole town is an immense succession of checkpoints and patrols. There is no sign of civilians who are hidden in their houses as requested by Security.
Eve connects to the main computer: "What’s happened?"
"The flying cameras have captured faces which the recognition program has identified as belonging to the terrorists."
"Is Nihil among them?"
"His face doesn’t appear in any recording, but it is possible he is one of the individuals filmed from behind: some of them have the same build."
"Show me the area."
A low altitude shot materializes. The troops are converging on a residential area.
"Connect me to the officer."
A hologram appears.
“How are things going, captain?” she starts.
“We have completed the siege. One of our patrols has engaged the enemy in a gunfight, forcing him to retire into a building at the end of the street.” He raises his arm towards a block of flats a few hundred meters away.
“Activate the killers,” orders Eve.
A black swarm, made up of tiny machines able to slip into the narrowest openings, takes off and heads threateningly for the building. After it has disappeared inside, Eve continues following the events on her visual field. The contact is almost immediate; a close chase along the corridors, up to an apartment. The terror stamped on the faces, frenzied shrieks. After a series of explosions, a dead silence falls.
The ovoid lands in front of the building. The robots have already recovered the victims – few youths with emaciated faces – and are loading them onto an armored container, ready to leave for the headquarters.