The Traveler

The general snapped the phone shut and picked up his glass of wine. “Your brother is still a prisoner of a terrorist group called the Harlequins. Obviously, they’ve trained him to cross over.”

“Gabriel was carrying our father’s Japanese sword. How is that possible?”

“Our research indicates that certain objects called talismans can be carried by a Traveler.”

“I don’t care what they’re called. Find one and get it for me. I want a weapon when I cross over.”

General Nash nodded quickly as if to say, Whatever you want, Mr. Corrigan. No problem. We’ll arrange it. Michael leaned back in his chair. He felt confident enough to make his next demand.

“That is-if I decide to visit the different realms.”

“Of course you will,” Nash told him.

“Don’t threaten me, General. I’m not serving in your army. If you want to kill me, go right ahead. You’d be losing the most important element of this project.”

“If you want money, Michael-”

“Of course I want money. But that’s trivial. What I really want is full information. The first time we met you told me that I was going to help you achieve a technological breakthrough. You said we were going to change history together. Okay, now I’m a Traveler. So why do I have wires in my brain? What’s the point of all this effort?”

Nash walked over to the side table and got a chocolate-chip cookie. “Come with me, Michael. I need to show you something.”

The men left the gallery and strolled down a hallway to the elevator. “All this started several years ago when I was in the White House and developed the Freedom from Fear program. Everyone in America was going to wear a Protective Link device. It would have ended crime and terrorism.”

“But it didn’t work,” Michael said.

“At the time, our technology wasn’t that sophisticated. We didn’t have a computing system capable of handling that much data.”

As they left the building, two security men followed them across the quadrangle at the center of the research compound. The air was cold and damp and a dense cloud concealed the night sky. Michael was surprised to see that they were headed for the computer center. Only special technicians were allowed inside.

“When I assumed leadership of the Brethren, I began to push for the development of a quantum computer. I knew it would be powerful enough to solve complex problems and handle enormous amounts of information. With a bank of quantum computers, we could literally track and monitor the daily activities of everyone in the world. A few people might object, but most of us would gladly give up a little privacy in exchange for security. Just think of the advantages. No more deviant behavior. No more unpleasant surprises-”

“No more Travelers,” Michael said.

General Nash laughed. “Yes. I’ll admit it. Getting rid of people like the Travelers was part of the plan. But that’s all changed. Now you’re on our team.”

The security men remained outside when Michael and Nash entered the empty lobby of the computer center. “An ordinary computer runs on a binary system. No matter what the size or power, it has only two states of consciousness: 0 or 1. Ordinary computers may work very fast or in tandem with each other, but they’re still restricted to these two possibilities.

“A quantum computer is based on quantum mechanics. It seems logical that an atom can spin up or down: 0 or 1. Once again, it’s a binary system. But quantum mechanics tells us that an atom can be up or down or in both states at the same time. Because of this, different calculations could go on simultaneously and at great speed. Since a quantum computer uses quantum switches instead of conventional ones, it has an immense power.”

They entered a windowless cubicle and a steel door closed behind them. Nash pressed the palm of his hand against a glass panel. A second door glided open with a soft whooshing sound and they entered a dimly lit room.

At the center of the room was a sealed glass tank, about five feet high and four feet wide, set on a heavy steel pedestal. Thick cables snaked across the floor from the pedestal to a bank of binary computers against the wall. Three technicians wearing white coats hovered around the glass tank like acolytes at an altar, but when General Nash glared at them, they immediately left the area.

The tank was filled with a thick green liquid that moved and churned slowly. Little explosions, like tiny bolts of lightning, kept flashing in different parts of the liquid. Michael could hear a humming sound and there was a burned odor in the air, as if someone had set fire to a handful of dead leaves.

“This is our quantum computer,” Nash said. “It’s a set of electrons floating in super-cooled liquid helium. The energy passing through the helium forces the electrons to interact and perform logical operations.”

“Looks like a big fish tank.”