The following interview was conducted by Quantum Corps Times on May 1, 2110. An Interview with Commander-in-Chief, Quantum Corps (CINCQUANT), General John L. Winger, UNQC 1. What new missions does Quantum Corps have now? Our primary mission, as always, is to detect, defeat and if necessary destroy nanobotic swarm formations that threaten stability, peace, economic prosperity and public health throughout the world and, with our partner UNIFORCE commands, into the solar system as well. New missions have arisen in recent years due to the increased activity of Config Zero and unlicensed swarms existing inside lawfully constituted sanctuary zones. Some of these swarms now operate outside sanctuary zones and we have to contain them. One of our newest missions is to deal with increased Config Zero and swarm activity underground. For reasons that are not always clear to us, Config Zero has chosen to engage humans along tectonic plate boundaries around the world and to generate increased tremor and quake activity through swarm operations. Of course, these operations have led to much destruction and death in parts of the world. That’s why we conduct geoplane patrols and operations through our subordinate command Boundary Patrol, which is part of Quantum Corps. One auxiliary mission we have as a defensive force is to ensure that the growth of Assimilationism and the increase in the number of angels who live and work among Normals is done in accordance with all local laws, regulations and statutes. The Corps takes no official position on these changes occurring in our society, but seeks only to ensure an orderly integration of these entities into our societies. Of course, people who seek to take advantage of Normals through aiding and abetting violence, people such as Symborg, will not be allowed to disrupt society, threaten public order or destroy property. Quantum Corps takes its UN law and mandate enforcement responsibilities very seriously. 2. Has the Symbiosis Project gone as far as it can? Not necessarily. Remember, the whole purpose of the Symbiosis Project was to explore, develop and deploy ANAD-style, swarm-capable master bots with dedicated and trained nanotrooper units as blended man-machine warriors. These master nanobots would be embedded in containment capsules surgically installed in the shoulders of select troopers and would be capable of launch, capture, replicating as full-scale bot swarms and also capable of quantum coupler communications with their host trooper. I was one of the first guinea pigs and I helped Dr. Irwin Frost work out some of the early bugs. So that aspect of the original vision has been achieved. It’s now routine for nanotroopers to have embedded ANAD bots with replication ability as well as attached defensive and offensive config managers. The embedded ANAD bots are just like HERF guns or mag carbines…they’re part of a trooper’s normal armament. And they’re used for more than just combat operations. Troopers use their bots to fab structures for all kinds of purposes, even replacement parts for their hypersuits. The only limit is the configs that ANADs can deploy…the type of propulsors, effectors, grabbers, power cells, etc that can be replicated. Having said that, I will admit that the Symbiosis Project has reached a developmental plateau. We use ANAD bots and swarms fully integrated into all Corps basic operations. With the increase in the numbers of angels now living and working among us in all parts of our society, the value of having embedded ANAD swarms isn’t what it used to be. Our ‘tactical advantage’ is not as great as it once was. Instead of giving us a distinct advantage on the battlefield, our embeds now are a necessity just to operate at all. The world is awash in swarms and angels and we have to operate in an environment that is quite different from what existed when the Symbiosis Project was first approved, back in the 60s. Now everybody is symbiotic. 3. Does Quantum Corps have or expect to promote angels (swarm entities) into Corps command positions? The Corps has used angels and ANAD-swarm elements in command positions at the battalion level for a number of years now. Originally, we put angels and swarm entities in command only of dedicated swarm formations, that is battalions which consisted only of a single swarm. Some have asked ‘How can you separate out part of a swarm entity and make it a commander?’ Good question. We let the swarm work that out. Of course, we know that a swarm is a collective sentience, a sort of hive mind entity and so theoretically all parts are equal. But any swarm entity has a master bot, as does any angel. So in effect, the master bot is the commander. Now, we’ve been a little slower than our sister UNIFORCE command Frontier Corps. They have actually deployed angels as ship’s crewmen and even command ratings, like executive officers, although not ship captains. Why haven’t we done that? The real answer is in the nature of our missions. Quantum Corps is a true combatant command. We engage enemies at nanoscale levels and we have to have a strong command structure in this type of intense environment. Things happen fast on nanoscale battlefields. So above battalion level, we have so far used only humans (or Normals) as commanders. It’s my understanding that Frontier Corps uses angels in ship operations but not so much in combat positions. We do expect to eventually transition angels into higher command billets, as we gain experience with their abilities and their limitations in combat. But for now, those roles will be reserved for humans. 4. What is the Corps doing to prepare for future encounters with the Old Ones? Have you had any success with accessing their archives? Quantum Corps has a number of initiatives underway to prepare for future encounters. One of the most ambitious is EarthShield. This is a proposal for a massive shield that would orbit the Earth at about lunar distance, to intercept any unauthorized botswarms coming our way. There is evidence that the Keeper we encountered at Europa may be active again. I was part of that mission, Operation Jovian Hammer, about ten years ago. Our intelligence indicates that the Keeper or the phenomena known as Devils Eye orbiting out in the nearer Oort Cloud may be sending us unwanted visitors in the near future. Of course, we do keep a close eye on Delta P as well, that is the anomaly that Farside recently detected in the vicinity of 51 Pegasi, about 50 light-years from here. We’re not sure what this is, but it’s currently on an intercept course with our solar system and we calculate that such an encounter would come about the middle of the 22nd century, unless something happens. We want to be ready for anything. Another initiative involves a Sentinel Line to be emplaced in distant heliospheric orbit, beyond Pluto. This project would put into place a line of detectors in an arc of solar orbit oriented in the direction of 51 Pegasi. Again, this would give us a great deal of advanced warning of any unusual objects or entities entering the outer solar system from what we believe is the primary threat direction. Let me add this: of course, no one in Quantum Corps, Farside, or anywhere else that I know of, is certain of what ‘The Old Ones’ really are, or if they even exist. Evidence for something like ‘The Old Ones’ comes from past engagements with Config Zero and the Keeper at Europa. It’s possible that what has been translated as “The Old Ones’ is in reality something quite different, perhaps only a memory of something long ago, as Dr. Rudolf Volk has recently uncovered in his digs at Engebbe, Kenya. Or perhaps this translation refers to an unknown processor program inside Config Zero or the Keeper that we haven’t yet encountered. Intelligence can corroborate multiple instances of something called a Prime Key and something called The Old Ones. They correlate with each other, so they must be related in some way. They may be physical entities. Or they may be something else entirely. We just don’t know for sure. But Quantum Corps will be prepared and ready for any and all possibilities. As far as any archives that may exist, years ago Quantum Corps engaged a cartel called Red Hammer and the Corps finally managed to defeat this cartel. There were intelligence indications at the time that Red Hammer had somehow been able to contact these Old Ones and get technical data out of their archives, data which led to devices like the original quantum coupler and other devices, which they then used in their criminal enterprises. There’s never been any factual proof that such archives exist, only rumors and anecdotes. So, to answer your question, we have not been able to access the archives of any Old Ones. 5. Is there anything to persistent rumors that Quantum Corps will be merged with Frontier Corps? Both organizations have critical and even overlapping missions. Quantum Corps is tasked with the mission of defending all UN members from threats emanating from the nanoworld, threats involving objects or forces that primarily operate at that scale, whether they be swarms, individual bots, or whatever. Frontier Corps is tasked with enforcing UN regulations, mandates and treaties beyond the Earth, in near-Earth space and indeed throughout the solar system, including defending against swarm-type threats. The difference in focus is mainly one of operating theater and we certainly have overlapping responsibilities in many areas. Of course, Frontier Corps is part of a larger UN organization that deals with all kinds of space activities and that is UNISPACE. We’re not under UNISPACE, but both organizations are part of UNIFORCE, the overall umbrella command for UN law and mandate enforcement and defensive operations. There have been proposals to merge Quantum Corps and Frontier Corps but these are just proposals and I don’t put a lot of stock in them. One reason is what I just mentioned: there is a distinct difference in operating theater, with Quantum Corps oriented to defend against Earth-based threats and Frontier Corps defending against off-Earth threats. Now, with the advent of the Delta P anomaly and the possible arrival of an alien force on our doorsteps in the next few decades, it’s understandable that our level of mission collaboration will increase. Config Zero, for example, is an Earth-based threat which may well have links to an off-Earth command and control system. So we have to deal with that and we will in a very collaborative way. To answer the question directly, I see nothing to be gained in terms of organizational efficiency or tactical effectiveness in merging these two very different organizations. Of course, this decision may be overtaken by events in the future and regardless of what happens, Quantum Corps stands ready to fulfill its mandated mission in every way possible. 6. Quantum technology has advanced radically in the last 50 years. Now you have entanglers and disentanglers. What’s next? The rate of change in quantum technology over the last century has been nothing short of phenomenal. We first started using reliable quantum computer processors in the 2030s and of course, early ANAD systems incorporated these processors in their first designs. As you know, from the early 2060s to the late 2080s, Quantum Corps faced a major threat in the Red Hammer cartel. The cartel was able to deploy a new communications medium in the late 60s, called a quantum coupler. This system made it easier for the cartel to control its criminal enterprises without the Corps or other law enforcement organizations being able to gather intelligence. But eventually, our scientists and engineers were able to devise a method of tracking these quantum communications through the effects they had on space and time in the vicinity of the communicator…these effects we now call ‘decoherence wakes’. They occur anytime a source message is entangled for transmission or disentangled at the receiver. Like ripples in spacetime, sort of. So with that and further developments, the Corps was able to create its own coupler devices and now we routinely use quantum channels for most of our tactical and mission communications. The entanglers and disentanglers you mentioned are really outgrowths of the quantum coupler. Entanglers are the operating part of the coupler at the source end. They encode the message that travels through the coupler, through quantum channels in space to the receiver. The disentangler is the real success story. The disentangler enables us to grab quantum states traveling through these quantum channels and decipher the encoded entangled message from the source. We can actually read the message. We also use variations of disentanglers as a way of jamming or interfering with the transmission of an entangled message. In short, we can mess up a quantum communication channel at the receiving end by literally ‘unraveling’ the encoding scheme, scattering the entanglement states so that the receiver gets nothing but gibberish out. As to the future of quantum technology, I can say this much. Our Engineering Division is actively working on a number of projects which I can’t really describe in detail. You are undoubtedly aware of ideas floating around about taking a swarm of nanobotic mechs and somehow entangling and encoding all their atomic geometry structure, their bond energies, and mechanical details in some kind of series of quantum states and transmitting that off into the ether. Nobody knows if this will really work. But we are actively looking into it. If it can be made to work, it would be the first instance I know of a sort of teleportation…travelling great distances in the blink of an eye. But time will tell on this. 7. What are some of the main lessons, tactically and strategically, that the Corps has learned in recent conflicts with Config Zero? Config Zero is surely the most resourceful and persistent threat the Corps has ever dealt with. Our intelligence indicates that Config Zero maintains itself as a swarm of nanobotic devices, similar to our ANAD systems. There is a master bot inside but its exact location and its precise operating parameters and physical and functional nature is unknown…we have been unable to get actionable intelligence on this for years. We know that the basic swarm formation continues to reside in and around the Mount Kipwezi region of Kenya…or what used to be Kenya, now the African Sanctuary. Many of the lessons we’ve learned in dealing with Config Zero over the last ten years or so are lessons inherent in engaging any enemy that is swarm based. Swarms are distributed entities, with some degree of distributed intelligence. The best way to defeat a swarm is with another swarm. We have tried to engage Config Zero in its east Africa Sanctuary at this level, but the devices and mechanisms that comprise Config Zero have capabilities and defenses which consistently surprise us. Physical engagement of this enemy at the level of individual bots has not been very successful, due to the maneuverability and hardening of Config Zero bots. They replicate very fast, grow effectors very fast and have engagement weapons which consistently outperform our own swarms. The biggest advantage that Config Zero bots seem to have is their speed of replication. They can slam atoms together and alter configurations in an eye blink. So we always seem to be behind the curve when we engage Config Zero directly. Having said that, we are finding ways to deal with this threat from a different axis, specifically its command and control systems. We use disentanglers now to inhibit Config Zero from effectively controlling swarms beyond its immediate vicinity. This helps us deal with subordinate threats in other theaters, such as the swarms which set off so many tremors around the world. Disentangling Config Zero command and control signals allows us to engage and defeat these subordinate swarms, daughter elements if you will, more easily. Our basic strategy at this time is to contain Config Zero, perhaps even to isolate the master bot and its primary swarm structures, and go after the subordinate swarms which affect other theaters. Meanwhile our Engineering Division and our intelligence people continue to look for vulnerabilities to exploit in this on-going conflict. So contain the center and attack the perimeter…that is our current approach. The appearance of off-Earth threats, such as the Devils Eye anomaly roaming around in our outer solar system, may change this strategy in the future. Time will tell. We suspect that Config Zero may be in contact with these forces out in the Oort Cloud but to date, we have no hard evidence of that. As I said, Config Zero is resourceful and persistent and if there really is anything to these stories of a Prime Key and some Old Ones out there, then we’d better be on our guard for new surprises. My gut feeling is that Config Zero, like the Keeper we engaged years ago on Europa, may well be part of the same thing as this so-called Devils Eye. If that’s true, then we are possibly facing a true existential crisis in the coming years and our defenses and strategy will have to adapt to meet it. 8. Does the Corps have any official position on Assimilationists and the effects they are having on politics and culture around the world? No. Quantum Corps enforces UN laws, treaties and mandates and protects member states from threats emanating from the nanoscale world. We do not take positions on matters of political or cultural significance.