Fade to Blink - A Quantum Date Ch. 03

"What is actually going on here?" P. started, a little like a professor, but nothing like Dir HR Employee Health Kurt Johnstone HQ01.10.02. "We really don't know, and there's only a few published studies to help us, but we have one thing we can be certain about: something is happening to these folks and the mice, and we can be pretty certain it's because of the...freezers." He smiled briefly at me.

"Our initial hypothesis was that the effect merely bends light. Of course, after the mice, we know now that the light bending is just an initial phase."

"I've run some simulations that start with several presumptions: this is quantum based, that it is gradual, up to a point, when it becomes discontinuous, and that during the gradual phase it affects light, but not macro-structures. I've taken as much time on our AI services as I can risk, running hundreds of scenarios...and they almost all come back with the same result."

Jimmie finally turned his face a bit and I caught his eye.

"The flickering is the result of a shift in probabilities at the quantum level. That is," P. paused again to stare at me, "something is changing the randomness of the quantum states. And the effect is huge, considering the number of sub-atomic particles in just a person's head." P. stopped, seeing me fidget. "Anne?"

I looked at Jimmie and took the plunge. "Ummm, let's say that we can confirm the effect...affecting the entire body...I'm pretty confused about why it's limited to just the body, and not affecting the particles beyond." I waved my hands around the table. "I mean, if it's in inverse square law, wouldn't it just proceed out uniformly as a sphere? I mean, is there something about the human body that acts as a conductor or lens or concentrator or something?"

P. actually laughed and I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Yes! Excellent! Exactly! We know from the mice that it appears to be limited to the organism, which is clearly odd! But as much data as we have, we still don't have enough to posit a theory. So we're still grasping at hypotheses." He looked between Jimmie and me and smiled again.

"We are certain about one thing: the disappearing/light bending is valuable in and of itself." He stopped and stared at me again. Zealotry. "We're very excited about the possibilities that invisibility brings, but we need to understand how the process suddenly goes discontinuous, and of course, why any of this is happening at all." He paused again and looked around the room. "Which brings us to the primary agenda item for today's meeting: a status report on the project. But I have to admit, given Anne's revelation a few minutes ago, that seems less important. Perhaps we can instead learn a bit more about the effect itself...now that we have someone who seems to be flickering...frequently." He looked at the others who all nodded agreement. "Kurt?"

"I'm all set." Turning his gaze from his screen to me, his face transformed, his eyes softening, a smile appearing where his mouth used to be. "Thank you, Anne, for..."

"Urmm...hold up a sec, Kurt." Jimmie held up his hand and turned to me. "Can you give us a sec?" He glanced to the door, his meaning even obvious to me.

"Uhhh, sure, Jimmie. Uhhh, can I get anyone anything?"

Jimmie looked relieved as I took drink orders before exiting the room.

When I returned, Jimmie was waiting outside, fiddling with his screen.

"What was that all about?"

He looked up and helped me with the drinks, but paused before heading back in. "Johnstone was about to do a full debrief with you, and I needed him to understand what was, and wasn't going to be okay. I suggested if he wanted to do a full full debrief, we'd schedule something at the office without Liu and Smythe...hell or P., there."

I cringed at the implications of a 'full debrief,' my imagination going places I hoped were well beyond Johnstone's likely questions.

"Yeah," Jimmie said, seeing my face. "Worse than you can imagine. Remember, even though he knows about us, nobody else has more than a passing clue. They think we're just 'involved' and that there's something in our relationship that is relevant."

"But, but," I stammered at imagining what he could have said while I was gone, "how did you...?"

"I just said that he needed to be very careful with you; that you fit his profile to a 'T,' and that if he really wanted to learn what you experienced, he might be best served doing it in his office." Jimmie smiled, but I could tell there was something else.

"And....?"

"I can't stop him from getting personal, Annie. It's not going to be easy. But I'll make sure I'm there. He won't interview you alone."

I swallowed and looked to the door. "So, is there any reason to do a debrief at all today?" Hoping we could just leave.

He sighed and smiled, this time with nothing behind it. "Oh yeah. These things take hours. He'll do the first round with everyone. It isn't horrible, just tedious."

*-*-*-*

"Blbllbblblblblbrghhbllb," my tongue fluttering my lips and my head shaking. "That was...uhhhfffmmm."

Jimmie hugged me, his arm around my shoulder as we waited for the bus. "I know. I've sat through a couple and decided I never needed to do one again. But, it wasn't awful, right?"

I shook my head, looking down the street, trying to clear my thoughts. "Not...really." Two things stood out from the debrief: Johnstone confirmed he'd asked Marybeth to help collect information, and Johnstone was totally gaga about me. "He's a nut."

Jimmie smiled at me and leaned in for a kiss, squeezing my shoulders. "Yeah," he agreed, pulling back. "He's definitely not maintaining objectivity. He's convinced his hypothesis is right, and that can't be good."

I thought about it more as we took our seats. "It's not just that," keeping my voice low, "it's his way of going about it. I mean, he fucking used Marybeth to spy on me...us!" I could feel the tears welling up. "I really thought she was my friend." I buried my face in his neck. Thankfully, for all the reasons, there weren't many other riders, but the reminder that she'd betrayed me came flooding back in force, and I was struggling not to lose it.

He turned and pressed his lips against my head, his arm still holding me, giving me a squeeze. "Yeah. I've never really trusted him, ever since he started this new program, but now he's given me a reason not to. I'm pretty pissed he's used us...it's fucked up." He paused. "At least we know for sure it was him she was working for."

Small consolation. A tiny thought, barely formed, bubbled up. An image more than anything; a flash and then it was gone. Marybeth. Crying.