Chapter 32
The QBIFI
Matt, Brian, Steve, and Dan went back to their apartment after dinner. Chris returned a few minutes later with Haley and Tammy.
“Tammy is going to take us to see the QBIFI when you guys are ready,” Haley announced.
“What is that?” Steve asked. He didn’t remember the acronym.
“The machine you claim doesn’t exist.”
“Oh, I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said with a wink toward Dan.
Tammy explained the QBIFI was located in a secure vault at the farthest end of the facility, so they would take the carts rather than walk.
The tunnels looked familiar for the first fifteen minutes of the ride, but then the corridors widened without windows or decoration of any kind. As they raced through a long straight hall, they passed a dark passageway on the right. It appeared different from the others and they felt a cold blast of air.
“What’s down there?” Steve asked.
“That’s where we keep Walt Disney’s frozen head,” Tammy replied with a straight face.
“Very funny.” Steve quipped.
They arrived a few minutes later. The end of the tunnel appeared smooth and metallic. Tammy stepped from the cart and spoke toward the wall.
“This is Tammy Taylor with the Prophies.”
The wall looked as if it turned into dust and drifted away in little clouds of smoke. The others followed Tammy inside what appeared to be an enormous cavern. Strange colored lights flickered and winked casting peculiar shadows which bathed the room in a cool green glow.
“Welcome to the Vault!” Boomed a young man’s voice. Brian recognized it immediately. It was Anastasius. He leapt from the shadows wearing a cape like the one he wore years ago at Archbold. Everyone was startled.
“My Queen!” Anastasius dropped to one knee and bowed to Haley like a knight in a medieval play. Haley stiffened uncomfortably.
“Please don’t,” she said softly, but with control.
“But your Highness, I am,”
Haley raised her hand and stopped him in mid-sentence.
“I know who you are,” she said with an angry tone in her voice. Light was escaping around the edge of her contacts. A whirlwind encircled her. “My name is Haley King. I am a student at the ORION Institute like any other.”
Haley’s countenance softened and the wind subsided. She turned toward Chris and said “I’m sorry. That was a very poor joke.” He pulled her close and said, “It’s forgotten.”
Except it wasn’t. Dan was genuinely frightened, not of the strange man who jumped out of the dark in a vampire cape, but of a beautiful young friend who was possessed by something he didn’t understand. He thought, this place just keeps getting more strange.
Anastasius tried to look away from Haley as he asked, “Tammy, will you introduce me?”
“Yes, this is our laboratory technician, Dr. Anastasius Custer. We call him the caretaker. I think he wants to be an actor because he tends to be a little over dramatic,” she said with a nervous laugh. “Follow me, but be careful to avoid tripping.”
They climbed several steps and gathered around the machine. It looked like a large pipe organ except it had a twenty-foot wide, three-dimensional display screen.
“This is the Quantum Biomolecular Interactive Field Indicator, or as most students know it, the QBIFI. It’s pronounced Q-bifi. We think the QBIFI was built by an advanced civilization we call the Nina Nizhoni. The name means people with glowing eyes.” Haley began fidgeting uncomfortably.
“Legends tell of an ancient people whose eyes were as bright as the stars.”
Chris put his arm around Haley and she put hers around him. It was the light in Haley’s eyes that first attracted Chris.
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When they first met in Bayport, Haley turned away from Chris as they were introduced. She was afraid he would be repulsed by her yellow eyes. Instead, his hand softly guided her cheek until they were nose to nose. He whispered with undeniable adoration, “Your eyes shine like the stars.”
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Tammy continued speaking.
“The vault was first excavated in 1981 by an archaeological team which included our own Dr. Claude Gautier and Haley’s mother, Dr. Rebecca King.”
The stunned expression on Haley’s face was unmistakable.
“You didn’t know?” Tammy asked. Haley shook her head to confirm her surprise, so Tammy continued.
“It wasn’t until recently that we began to understand what the QBIFI does. Through the efforts of Dr. Custer and his father before him, we’ve learned that the QBIFI is a super sophisticated quantum computer which measures human interactions on a massive scale.”
“But what is the purpose?” Steve asked. Tammy paused and took a deep breath.
“Well,” She stuttered nervously. “It a, a, it taps into the fundamental fabric of reality.”
“But what does it do? What does that mean?” Steve asked. Tammy regained her composure.
“It tells the future.”
“That’s got to be the biggest pile of crap I’ve ever heard,” Steve said as he looked at Matt, Brian and Dan.
“You guys are going to be embarrassed when you realize this is a part of the freshman hazing. I’ll bet Haley is in on it, and Chris too.” Tammy reached out and touched Steve’s arm.
“I was as skeptical as you, but I stood in this exact spot last December when the machine predicted a huge biomolecular shift would take place in the western part of India on 26 January. Then as predicted, an earthquake devastated western India. Twenty thousand people died.”
“So you say, but I bet the cape crusader here (he was referring to Anastasius) is the only one who can read the tea leaves, so we have to take his word for it.”
“You’re not listening,” Tammy said, her voice filled with irritation. “This machine predicted the earthquake. It also will explain why the six of you are famous.”
She led them to a display area with dozens of projections, each measuring approximately four feet square. The sheets of information were lined up like dominoes suspended in mid-air with dates on one axis, geographic coordinates on another, and strange symbols on a third, giving each three dimensions.
She proceeded to manipulate the machine to one specific page. It was heavily marked with lines and dots and had six names marked on it. Haley King, Christopher Hagan, Steve Davis, Mathew Jackson, Brian Adams, and Daniel Naidoo.
“This single projection is composed of over trecentillion discrete biological events in quantum space. The QBIFI uses qubits to measure interactions as 1s, 0s, or quantum superposition which is both at the same time. Combine that with the quantum effects of entanglement and tunneling and the QBIFI is the most powerful computer ever built on Earth.”
“Are we supposed to be impressed because someone scribbled our names on a three dimensional spreadsheet?” Steve laughed sarcastically. “That doesn’t prove anything. It convinces me even more that this is part of an elaborate hoax.”
Tammy was struggling to stay calm. “I agree it doesn’t prove anything, but this is the only time the QBIFI has been specific enough to list names. We think it’s important for you to understand the magnitude of your biologic impact on the planet.”
“What? Are each of us going to have a thousand kids or something?” Steve scoffed, his voice half sarcastic and half angry.
“I don’t know what you’re going to do.” Tammy said seriously. “But I do know the ORION Institute was founded because of Haley.” Tammy paused before adding, “Also Chris, Matt. Brian, Dan and you!” Her hand flipped the display to another page.
“Look at this.” The page identified the northeastern United States as the location, the date was September 11, 2001.
“The QBIFI predicts something very significant will happen on that day, but we can’t identify the specific event. The President has been informed.”
“The
President of the United States?” Steve asked. You’ve got to be kidding, and on our birthday too. What a coincidence! I’m looking forward to it.”
Tammy looked like Steve had punched her in the gut. Tears ran down her face and her voice trembled.
“Steve, the readings predict you will suffer more than anyone else. I’m so sorry, but next Tuesday you’ll know this isn’t a joke.”
Steve was angry. The prank was getting much too personal. Regardless of his skepticism, he was shaken by the sincerity in Tammy’s voice. He shook his head and said, “I’ve seen enough.”
There was an awkward silence on the ride back to their rooms. As the cart passed the tunnel where Tammy joked about Walt Disney’s frozen head being stored, Haley heard voices and a powerful humming noise.