Chapter 1
Exponential speed today. Emulation tomorrow. A lifetime’s work was about to reach its most critical stage. A period in world history that would see Dr Juan Jaimez written about in books for centuries. He allowed a wry smile. History was of no concern. It was the future Jaimez cared about, and he would soon be in control of it. Not just his own, but humankind’s.
A bulb flickered before giving up, leaving small orange LED spots behind. The privacy film was peeling away on the glazed partition. Jaimez could still see everything, but there were now small areas missing where someone could see into his office. He peered through a gap in a lifting seam, and then to his scratched and worn desk. Everyday maintenance was the last thing he cared about. The new complex was nearing completion.
Excitement levels were increasing among the staff, and not just about the relocation. He turned a dial to listen to a conversation in the staff kitchen. Jaimez knew what research team members were doing at all times. A shadow team studied their internal conversations in case they learned something they might miss the importance of. His security staff also monitored external activities to learn if any met with rival companies.The team were nearing completion. Perfect timing for the move.
He wondered which of the team would present the completed findings, but hoped it would be Dr Shaw. He would be the most open to the Circle’s invitation. Jaimez’s partners had explained they would like to thank the person responsible on completion of their vital research. And why not? Of all the research team members, Shaw would also be the easiest to manage through the process. And if they did not consider him a worthy member, there was always experimentation. Many areas needed test subjects.
Richie Shaw focussed on the face staring back from the bathroom mirror. It glared as his hand rose at his side. He made pistol digits and shot the face before blowing on the same fingers. He repeated the process with the other hand and said, “Okay, Big Dog, this is your moment.”
Shaw knew he was about to make the revelation of a lifetime. The team had worked on it for months, and even then, it was an extension to an abstract of an alternative theory. This was the way with science. Tangents. Discovery. And more tangents. Theories. Trial and error.
He looked himself up and down once again before straightening his tie. No one else wore a tie. But this was a serious business, and none took it as seriously as Richie Shaw. That was why it was he that had made the breakthrough. It is also why he had taken the time to ensure he was ready. He smoothed his hair into a tidier version of its floppy side parting, bent to tighten the Velcro straps on his shoes, and spun on one heel before heading towards the door.
The lab keys jangled on his belt loop as the air sucked from the door to the restroom. Now was his moment. He was about to present the final mathematics to one of the most significant discoveries in the history of humankind.
“Been talking to yourself in the restroom again, Richie?”
Richie Shaw ignored Josh. He was a dick. An underdeveloped dick. Incapable of rising to the heights he was about to elevate the lab team to. Shaw smirked and strode past Hattie, Steve, and Billy. He did not look at Claire. He didn’t need to. She would want him when she found out. So would Hattie. Not that he cared about her. Hattie was a four. Claire was a solid eight, borderline nine.
He looked across at the system. He thought of the space as a giant refrigerator, which prevented the intimidation others suffered from just by glancing at it. This was why he was the Big Dog and they were tiny puppies.
Such was the system’s fragility, pumps constantly vacuumed the tiniest air molecule away from the sealed qubit chips. Ensuring their protection from external dangers. Despite four layers of glass separating the researchers from the system, their boss had instructed all to walk slowly and carefully through any space near it. The slightest noise or disruption could mess everything up.
Steve nudged Billy.
“Where does he think he’s going? Dr Jaimez said no one should disturb him until we had completed and drawn up all the final paperwork.”
“You don’t suppose—”
“No. Course not. He’s a dick.”
Richie Shaw knocked on the glass door.
Dr Juan Jaimez summoned him inside.
Jaimez studied Richie Shaw. Skinny. Pale. Oversized glasses with smudges everywhere. Why can’t these kids clean their glasses?
Jaimez beckoned Shaw inside and raised a finger so he could tap a message on his phone. He needed to ensure he had the young scientist’s movements monitored twenty-four hours a day from the moment he left the building.
“Okay, spill. We know you’ve done it,” Steve said.
Richie Shaw took a long glug of his beer before letting loose a long “Aaahh. That hit the spot.”
A server appeared with the table’s chicken platter and fries. Shaw grinned and asked the group, “Leg or breast?” as if carving the Thanksgiving turkey at the Playboy mansion.
The others sat quietly, waiting for the performance to finish. They would let Shaw have his moment. It was what they had all been working towards. The completion of their project was all that mattered, not how big a dick Richie Shaw was.
Steve and Billy nudged each other twice. First, when Shaw referred to their boss as Doc Juan. And then when he revealed Jaimez had invited him to meet his friends, and Bay Area powerbrokers. At one stage, Billy coughed a ‘dick’ while supping his beer.
It had been a long day. A great day. Juan Jaimez sat on a bench overlooking the water in the Coyote Hills Regional Park. He often visited to contemplate and watch the birds, but generally to think, while observing the undulations and waves of the water lapping against the shore. Every ripple or wavelet was a mathematical probability playing itself out.
The discovery they had been working towards, and spent millions of dollars on, required complete reliance on the ability of its research team. Many of the Circle’s businesses relied upon linear progression. Quantum supremacy was an essential component to the community he was part of, but to him, it was irrelevant.
Sure, it would speed up that linear progress, and perhaps it was even the most critical part of the process, but it all seemed so much further away with every development. Maybe he was a natural pessimist. No. It would not be long now.
Jaimez allowed the corners of his mouth to turn up. Who was he kidding? It was huge.
Exponential speed today. Emulation tomorrow.
This was the password to meetings and ceremonies.
It was also the key to getting the investors, politicians, and the leading lights in the scientific community on board with his project.
Exponential speed today. Emulation tomorrow. A lifetime’s work was about to reach its most critical stage. A period in world history that would see Dr Juan Jaimez written about in books for centuries. He allowed a wry smile. History was of no concern. It was the future Jaimez cared about, and he would soon be in control of it. Not just his own, but humankind’s.
A bulb flickered before giving up, leaving small orange LED spots behind. The privacy film was peeling away on the glazed partition. Jaimez could still see everything, but there were now small areas missing where someone could see into his office. He peered through a gap in a lifting seam, and then to his scratched and worn desk. Everyday maintenance was the last thing he cared about. The new complex was nearing completion.
Excitement levels were increasing among the staff, and not just about the relocation. He turned a dial to listen to a conversation in the staff kitchen. Jaimez knew what research team members were doing at all times. A shadow team studied their internal conversations in case they learned something they might miss the importance of. His security staff also monitored external activities to learn if any met with rival companies.The team were nearing completion. Perfect timing for the move.
He wondered which of the team would present the completed findings, but hoped it would be Dr Shaw. He would be the most open to the Circle’s invitation. Jaimez’s partners had explained they would like to thank the person responsible on completion of their vital research. And why not? Of all the research team members, Shaw would also be the easiest to manage through the process. And if they did not consider him a worthy member, there was always experimentation. Many areas needed test subjects.
Richie Shaw focussed on the face staring back from the bathroom mirror. It glared as his hand rose at his side. He made pistol digits and shot the face before blowing on the same fingers. He repeated the process with the other hand and said, “Okay, Big Dog, this is your moment.”
Shaw knew he was about to make the revelation of a lifetime. The team had worked on it for months, and even then, it was an extension to an abstract of an alternative theory. This was the way with science. Tangents. Discovery. And more tangents. Theories. Trial and error.
He looked himself up and down once again before straightening his tie. No one else wore a tie. But this was a serious business, and none took it as seriously as Richie Shaw. That was why it was he that had made the breakthrough. It is also why he had taken the time to ensure he was ready. He smoothed his hair into a tidier version of its floppy side parting, bent to tighten the Velcro straps on his shoes, and spun on one heel before heading towards the door.
The lab keys jangled on his belt loop as the air sucked from the door to the restroom. Now was his moment. He was about to present the final mathematics to one of the most significant discoveries in the history of humankind.
“Been talking to yourself in the restroom again, Richie?”
Richie Shaw ignored Josh. He was a dick. An underdeveloped dick. Incapable of rising to the heights he was about to elevate the lab team to. Shaw smirked and strode past Hattie, Steve, and Billy. He did not look at Claire. He didn’t need to. She would want him when she found out. So would Hattie. Not that he cared about her. Hattie was a four. Claire was a solid eight, borderline nine.
He looked across at the system. He thought of the space as a giant refrigerator, which prevented the intimidation others suffered from just by glancing at it. This was why he was the Big Dog and they were tiny puppies.
Such was the system’s fragility, pumps constantly vacuumed the tiniest air molecule away from the sealed qubit chips. Ensuring their protection from external dangers. Despite four layers of glass separating the researchers from the system, their boss had instructed all to walk slowly and carefully through any space near it. The slightest noise or disruption could mess everything up.
Steve nudged Billy.
“Where does he think he’s going? Dr Jaimez said no one should disturb him until we had completed and drawn up all the final paperwork.”
“You don’t suppose—”
“No. Course not. He’s a dick.”
Richie Shaw knocked on the glass door.
Dr Juan Jaimez summoned him inside.
Jaimez studied Richie Shaw. Skinny. Pale. Oversized glasses with smudges everywhere. Why can’t these kids clean their glasses?
Jaimez beckoned Shaw inside and raised a finger so he could tap a message on his phone. He needed to ensure he had the young scientist’s movements monitored twenty-four hours a day from the moment he left the building.
“Okay, spill. We know you’ve done it,” Steve said.
Richie Shaw took a long glug of his beer before letting loose a long “Aaahh. That hit the spot.”
A server appeared with the table’s chicken platter and fries. Shaw grinned and asked the group, “Leg or breast?” as if carving the Thanksgiving turkey at the Playboy mansion.
The others sat quietly, waiting for the performance to finish. They would let Shaw have his moment. It was what they had all been working towards. The completion of their project was all that mattered, not how big a dick Richie Shaw was.
Steve and Billy nudged each other twice. First, when Shaw referred to their boss as Doc Juan. And then when he revealed Jaimez had invited him to meet his friends, and Bay Area powerbrokers. At one stage, Billy coughed a ‘dick’ while supping his beer.
It had been a long day. A great day. Juan Jaimez sat on a bench overlooking the water in the Coyote Hills Regional Park. He often visited to contemplate and watch the birds, but generally to think, while observing the undulations and waves of the water lapping against the shore. Every ripple or wavelet was a mathematical probability playing itself out.
The discovery they had been working towards, and spent millions of dollars on, required complete reliance on the ability of its research team. Many of the Circle’s businesses relied upon linear progression. Quantum supremacy was an essential component to the community he was part of, but to him, it was irrelevant.
Sure, it would speed up that linear progress, and perhaps it was even the most critical part of the process, but it all seemed so much further away with every development. Maybe he was a natural pessimist. No. It would not be long now.
Jaimez allowed the corners of his mouth to turn up. Who was he kidding? It was huge.
Exponential speed today. Emulation tomorrow.
This was the password to meetings and ceremonies.
It was also the key to getting the investors, politicians, and the leading lights in the scientific community on board with his project.
An Eddie Hill Adventure
The Divinity Circle
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