Many readers have asked about how Quantum Corps nanotroopers go about their business.  What sort of tactics are effective in combatting enemies in the world of atoms and molecules?  The following list details some of these tactics and maneuvers.

Operational Strategy and Tactics

1.    Deception and concealment:

Nanoscale assemblers and robots with quantum processors have the ability to make relatively quick configuration changes.  Swarms can look like clouds of dust, rain storms and hordes of flies or bees, even structures like buildings, cars, etc.  These config changes provide a ready-made source of deceptive countermeasures for concealment, allowing a typical ANAD unit to infiltrate and spring a surprise on even the most suspicious adversary.  The Russians call this tactic maskirovka. 

 

2.    Feints and Diversions:

The Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu claimed that “all war is based on deception.”  Feints and diversions are part of the same toolkit.   Quantum Corps uses swarms to conceal a main axis of assault, or to confuse an adversary as to where the main assault will be.  This is a relatively straightforward task in nanoscale warfare.  Just replicate a few trillion bots, configure them into something the enemy expects and send them in the direction the enemy is anticipating.  If your intelligence is good, the enemy will react to these moves and weaken himself along another axis.  The ability to replicate quickly and form swarms to resemble any structure or form gives ANAD-style units unbeatable capabilities.

 

3.    Swarming attack (mass):

The use of replicated mass in nanobotic warfare is one of the simplest tactics to use.  Just slam atoms together like a drug-crazed brickmason on steroids and overwhelm the enemy with sheer mass.  Nanotroopers call this a ‘Big Bang.’  The trick to succeeding with this tactic is to be able to out-replicate the enemy and fend off any defenses he may have up his nanoscale sleeve…like electron bond disrupters, etc.  Although it’s often said that the best way to defeat a swarm is with another swarm, a High-Energy Radio Frequency (HERF) gun doesn’t hurt.  With enough blasts of rf, any swarm can be shattered and turned into clouds of french fries falling out of the sky.

 

4.    Dispersal

One of the great advantages of using swarms of nanobots in combat is the ability to pulse.  Pulsing means that the normal state of affairs is for the swarm to be dispersed or scattered to resemble or blend in to the local environment.  With the right signal, the dispersed bots can quickly gather together into whatever configuration or formation is needed, and slam the adversary from multiple directions at once.  Bees do it.  Birds do it.  And now ANAD nanobots do it too. 

 

5.    Entrapments and Ambushes

An ambush is a form of deception.  The point is to draw the adversary into a space where you have the advantage of mass and position.  Ambushes can be ridiculously easy when your swarms have the ability to configure as just about anything, a mountain, a cloud, a body of water.  But all nanobotic swarms require vigorous atom-slamming to maintain structure, and thus give off acoustic, electromagnetic and other atomic effects of this activity.  Thus masking your signature and controlling emissions is critical to an ambush.  As Sun Tzu put it: “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

 

6.    Managing Configuration Changes

Quantum Corps tactics succeed when the proper swarm configuration can be deployed in a tactically effective manner.  This means the config templates and drivers have to be up to speed.  It also means the bots that make up a swarm have to be designed from the outset to replicate commanded configs quickly and without error, often under combat conditions.  A lot of this depends on intelligence…what do you know about your adversary?  Good intelligence, good communications and effective configuration management…every tactic used by Quantum Corps has all these elements, in abundance. 

 

These are just some of the basic tactics and maneuvers used by ANAD-style formations in Quantum Corps engagements. 

 

I hope everyone has a happy holiday and look for the next post in mid-January 2015. 

Many readers have asked about the sort of gear a typical ANAD detachment carries on a mission.  The following is a list, sorted into 5 categories: weapons, computers and data processing, comm equipment, personal gear and mission support. 

Weapons

1.     The most important weapon any Quantum Corps detachment takes into combat is its ANAD system.  The Autonomous Nanoscale Assembler-Disassembler, always in strict containment, enables the Detachment to fabricate many things it may need during a mission and assault or disassemble many nasty things, like enemy swarms.  At the beginning of the 22^nd century, ANAD technology has evolved to allow all nanotroopers to carry personal ANAD master bots and supporting systems embedded in containment capsules, which are surgically installed in their left shoulders.  Thus every trooper can launch and recover ANAD masters and these masters can replicate small-scale swarms to help the trooper with his mission responsibilities, including offensive and defensive support to the Detachment.  These personal swarms are a supplement to the squad-level tactical ANAD systems which support the Detachment’s mission as a whole. 

2.     All Detachments carry High-Energy Radio Frequency weapons which are particularly effective against enemy swarms.  Known as HERF, these radio frequency weapons degrade, disperse and destroy enemy swarms by slamming the bot clouds with waves of rf energy.  Although it has often been said that the best defense against a swarm is another swarm, HERF can make quick work of enemy swarms by punching holes in their formations.  HERF guns come in a variety of sizes, are battery or power cell operated and thus must be re-charged.  They are operated by the DPS ratings in the Detachment (Defense and Protective Systems specialists).

3.     Another weapon often used for close-quarters combat with enemy swarms or troops are the Magnetic Impulse guns.  Often called mag guns, these weapons generate streams of extremely high magnetic energy loops and throw these loops at ranges up to several kilometers, depending on coil strength and field attachments.  Mag guns are particularly useful for breaching barriers and structures quickly.  They are sometimes used as last-resort disrupters against enemy swarms, though HERF is far more effective.

4.     Additional weapons include assault rifles which fire PKR rounds (programmable kinetic rounds), which can be pre-programmed for different flight trajectories and different explosive or impact effects on the target. 

 

Computers and Data Processing Support

1.     Every nanotrooper in a typical Quantum Corps Detachment carries a Personal Data System (PDS), a powerful, networked, wireless computer and transmitter which handles all his personal information needs.  Securely encrypted, the PDS is the brains of the nanotrooper’s hypersuit, running all its defensive, life support, navigation, propulsion and other systems. 

2.     In addition to PDS for all nanotroopers, at least one of the CC ratings (Command and Control) always carries a Squad-level Server on a personal hypersuit rack.  The SLS is the big brain for massive data crunching for the Detachment, for such duties as sensor and signals analysis on the spot, documentation support for certain missions, big comm needs, situational decision support, tactical briefings, etc. 

Communications

1.     Detachment comms can be divided into 2 categories: intra-squad and external.  For intra-squad communications, the Crewnet is vital.  The Crewnet is a tactical net into which all troopers are plugged in.  It passes vital situational information, battle plans, orders, quick training or informational updates, sensor downloads and anything else the Detachment needs to carry out its mission.

2.     External comms are handled via two channels: (a) Detachment satlink via E-star to the secure and encrypted part of WorldNet known as BattleGrid and (b) Quantum coupler.

3.     BattleGrid is a protected part of WorldNet and its off-planet subsidiary Solnet.  Comms are via wireless radio frequency channels, heavily encrypted, with sufficient bandwidth to handle massive data uplink and downlink needs for the Detachment.

4.     Quantum couplers work on an entirely different principle, utilizing entangled quantum states to send and receive information.  Because of the physics of quantum states, couplers are virtually impossible to detect or penetrate.  The very act of penetrating changes quantum states.  It is possible to roughly follow coupler uploads and downloads by detecting and tracing decoherence wakes, but the technique is crude and can only give approximations of coupler locations and activity.  Quantum couplers handle the major comm duties for the Detachment. 

 

Personal Gear

1.     The main type of personal gear for all Detachment nanotroopers is the Mark 3 hypersuit.  The hypersuit is a boosted exoskeletal enclosure with full life support functions and both ballistic and counter-swarm protection suites, enabling the trooper so clad to enter virtually any environment with a reasonable chance of coming back alive.  The hypersuit is built up in layers of laminated ceramic and polymet, with outstanding ballistic protection against kinetic rounds as well as strong counter-swarm capabilities, including in the Mark 2 and higher versions, full reactive and active nanobotic shielding.  The Mk 3 handles all protective, defense, assault, comm, life support, data processing, navigation, sensor, power and other needs of the individual nanotrooper.  Every hypersuit also has a boost system, integral with the legs which allows the trooper to make short flights and hops over difficult terrain and also make controlled, powered descent from lifters into a combat zone. 

2.     The other principal type of personal gear that nanotroopers carry is an embedded ANAD system and containment capsule (the embed).  Pursuant to Quantum Corps’ Man-Machine Symbiosis Project of the 2060s, all troopers now embark their own personal ANAD master nanobots, with full propulsor, effector and replication capabilities of any squad-level swarm.  The capsule is surgically implanted (normally) in the left shoulder of a trooper upon graduation from the Basic Training Course (nog school) at Table Top Mountain, in Idaho, USA.  The capsule has full containment capabilities, as well as ANAD launch, recovery and some preventive maintenance and troubleshooting abilities in concert with the trooper’s hypersuit.  Now equipped with personal ANAD systems, any nanotrooper is virtually a one-man army, able to rapidly assemble and disassemble structures and counter enemy swarms infesting any battlefield. 

 

Mission Support Systems

1.     In addition to personal ANAD embeds for all troopers, the Detachment as a whole operates a full-capability, squad-level ANAD system.  The master bot is contained in a pod known among the troopers as TinyTown, which provides all services needed to configure, launch, recover, maintain, repair and upgrade the master nanobot.  TinyTowns are maintained by the Detachment CEC ratings (Containerization and Environmental Control).  Operation of the ANAD master and replicated swarms during ops is normally handled by the IC ratings (Interface and Operations Control), also known as code and stick men (and women). 

2.     A critical piece of mission support gear for any ANAD Detachment is Super-Fly.  Normally a small force of 4-6 unmanned entomopters, Super-Fly vehicles are micro-air vehicles of insect size or slightly larger which provide the Detachment with eyes and ears (and many other senses) at greater range than the usual Mark 1 human eyeball and ear.  Superfly craft search for thermal, acoustic and atomic effects and signatures of nearby nanobotic activity and give better warning to the Detachment of “what’s over that next hill,” wherever that next hill may be.  Superfly elements are typically operated by the DPS ratings.

3.     One final element of mission support that often comes in handy are canisters of MOBnet.  MOB stands for Mobility Obstruction Barrier.   MOBnet canisters contain swarms of nanobotic mesh, individual bots linked together like a very tight mesh, which are programmable and steerable and can be used for position and mobility control through variable pressure or force.  A MOBnet might be used to secure and control POWs or unruly civilians captured during an operation.  MOBnet nanobots are fully configurable ANAD-style bots, with the same effector, propulsion, navigation and configuration capabilities as any ANAD system.  This allows the Detachment to tailor the restraint system to the needs of any situation, be it POW management, crowd control, anti-riot policing, etc.  No self-respecting nanotrooper should be without one. 

 

I hope that this list gives some idea of what kind of gear Quantum Corps troopers take into battle with them.  It’s not complete but it should give you an idea of what kind of capabilities these troopers have.

 

The next post, in a few weeks, will answer this question: “What tactics do nanotroopers use in combat with enemy swarms?”

Here is a table showing how a typical ANAD Detachment is set up, according to its various ratings and specialties.  Most Quantum Corps missions use some variation of this arrangement. 

A few explanations are in order.

Most Quantum Corps missions involve detachments of anywhere from 6-12 personnel.  Not all ratings require backups in the Detachment, but many do.  CC1 is always an officer, usually a Lieutenant (02).   Often, CC2s are deleted from the mission, but another rating will provide backup command and control functions. 

For larger, more complex or decidely more dangerous missions, larger detachments are created based on this initial structure. 

It is normal Corps practice to provide considerable cross-training within this detachment structure, so that one rating can perform his own specialized tasks and back up another rating in his or her tasks.  As an example, DPS1 might also know enough signature control techniques to effectively fill in as an SDC2.  A great deal of flexibility is maintained in this manner.

The next post will cover weapons and related equipment normally assigned to a typical ANAD detachment. 

Many fans of Tales of the Quantum Corps have asked how the Corps is organized.  Here is one chart that shows how UNQC is situated organizationally within the Security Affairs Directorate of the United Nations. 

The next post will show how a typical ANAD Detachment is organized as to ratings and specialties.

Functional Description and Schematic of ANAD 1.0

Many readers have asked what the Autonomous Nanoscale Assembler/Disassembler (ANAD) looks like. Below is a functional schematic with some descriptions, from the original archives of Dr. Irwin Frost, of Northgate University Autonomous Systems Lab. Quantum Processor - this is the heart and brains of ANAD. The Quantum Processor handles all data processing and analysis, effector control, configuration management, navigation, maneuvering, replication and propulsion functions. It operates using 'qubits' at petabyte scale. Carbene Grabbers - one of ANAD's many effectors, the carbene grabbers are optimized for handling carbon atoms with unshared electrons. Enzymatic knife - this is an effector tool for splicing DNA or RNA fragments together. Sometimes called a restriction enzyme tool. Pyridine Probes - this is an effector tool to characterize atom/molecule/cell surface structures with great accuracy. Bond Disrupters - one of ANAD's main offensive and defensive weapons. Bond disrupters work by slamming an opponent's atoms with enough electron volts to sever atomic bonds. Bond disrupters make atom fluff out of opponents, but the disrupter is sometimes like killing a gnat with a howitzer...it's not very precise or controllable in its effects. Picowatt Propulsors - ANAD propulsors are like fluidic jets. They suck in particles of whatever medium ANAD is operating in and pressurize and expel it out the back at high speed. All-axis joints help vector the resulting thrust to guide ANAD where it needs to go. Power cells - ANAD gets its power from chemical reactions, sort of like a fuel cell. These reactions may vary, depending on the operating medium, but the ppower cells pack a mighty punch in a very small volume. Additional maneuvering can be done with small props, called flagellar thrusters. These are spinning, very stiff diamondoid fibers which act like propellers on the operating medium to keep ANAD properly positioned or allow fine maneuvering control. All of these components are hung on a main mast and platform casing. The whole structure is about sixty to seventy nanometers in length. The next post coming up will detail how Quantum Corps is organized within the greater world of the United Nations.

This is the latest official flag and emblem of the United Nations Quantum Corps. Notice that it is a variant of the original UN flag.

This is the official flag and emblem of the United Nations Quantum Corps.

Who are THE OLD ONES? The Old Ones are sometimes referred to as the Mother Swarm or the Central Entity. Config (Zero) is a subset of the Old Ones and has multiple physical locations. The original program is archived with the Old Ones, some sixty-eight thousand light years away on the homeship (swarmship) of the Old Ones, in the globular cluster M75 in the constellation Sagittarius. At the time of the Tales of the Quantum Corps, the Old Ones have mostly left their homeworld in a diaspora across their star region, due to the supernova destruction of their home star. Config (Zero) is located in the mobile archives that travel with the mother Swarm. The Old Ones are basically a nomadic mechanistic species now, a great swarm thousands of light-years across, traveling through interstellar space around the galaxy. The Old Ones have spent millions of years seeding and developing life on other worlds. Each time they do this, the Old Ones seed life to ensure that it evolves in a manner compatible with them…evolving as a distributed, intelligent virus-like swarm of entities. The Old Ones are using this seeding campaign as a way of developing multiple swarm entities with which they can merge. They are trying to re-create multiple copies of their home world. Ultimately, they want to unite all world-based instances of swarm life which they have seeded into a giant, galaxy-spanning swarm or hive mind (like a network or computational cloud). To the Old Ones, this is the Imperative of Life itself. The Imperative of Life is that life absorbs chaos from the Universe and adds or builds structure or order. Life is anti-entropic. “The basic organizing influence in the universe is life. Life involves the utilization of a flow of energy to draw order from chaos and build internal complexity with an accumulation of information. Living beings thus are anti-entropic, or negentropic, entities. The principle of negentropism is, in a manner of speaking, the "natural law" applicable to all living (matter-energy) beings located anywhere in the universe, regardless of their size, shape, biochemistry, sentience, or culture.” (from Xenology, (c: 2008) Robert A. Freitas, Jr. ) Earth was seeded by the Old Ones billions of years ago. But the evolutionary track which the Old Ones laid down on Earth was interrupted or disrupted and evolution took a different course. Multi-cellular (single-configuration) organisms took over. Earth was to have been populated by swarms of intelligent, re-configurable virus-like entities. Instead, it’s populated by human beings. Man is a mistake. The Old Ones mean to correct this mistake. The Imperative demands this. In the early 22nd century, by human time reckoning, the Old Ones have sent advance scouts ahead to reconnoiter the Earth and its solar system. After the initial seeding some 3.0 Bya (billion years ago), the Old Ones left behind a Keeper unit buried in the frozen seas below the ice crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Satellite Keeper units were also located on Earth and Mars, but the Europa Keeper is the primary sentinel. Config Zero is an Earth-based node of the Central Entity (the main processor or operating system of the Old Ones) created and controlled by the Keeper. The Keeper uses Config Zero to execute the commands, directives and intentions of the Old Ones in this solar system. These directives are codified in something called the Prime Key. These directives, in the form of the Prime Key, were embedded in the ‘genome’ of the earliest seeded lifeforms on Earth. When Dr. Irwin Frost took elements of an ancient virus and used it to solve some programming problems he was having with early forms of ANAD, he unwittingly endowed ANAD with the Prime Key, in other words with the earliest directives from the Old Ones. The result is that ANAD has followed (and is trying to follow) the originally programmed sequence of development intended by the Old Ones for all lifeforms on Earth. This deeply embedded programming is often at odds with what Dr. Frost and Humanity in general want from their nanobotic creations. Because they are a nomadic swarm species and are spread out across tens of thousands of light years in this galaxy, and because the Old Ones are a true distributed intelligence, it is meaningless to ask where the Old Ones are located. ‘They’ are located everywhere the swarm exists, everywhere multiple copies of the nanobotic devices endowed with the quantum-scale processors are located. The original home world was located some 68,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius, in the globular cluster M75. By the time of Johnny Winger and the Great Rift Zone, early 22nd century, elements of the Mother Swarm have reached 51 Pegasi and have begun disassembling planets and satellites in that planetary system. The effects of this activity have been observed by humans at Farside Observatory on the Moon. There are also some elements of the Mother Swarm that have made it to the outer reaches of our solar system. How can the entire Mother Swarm stay in communication with itself, across such vast reaches of space? Through an advanced form of quantum communication, using entanglement states of quantized systems…a very advanced form of quantum coupler. Light speed and galactic-scale distances are not an obstacle to communication with the Old Ones. They manipulate quantum states of the subscale fine structure of space itself to communicate. This manipulation also allows them to achieve faster-than-light speed travel as well. They are able to manipulate quantum states of the substructure of space to transmit configuration data about themselves and their civilization to anywhere in the Universe, nearly instantaneously. The ultimate goal of the Old Ones is for the entire universe to become one being. What do the Old Ones intend to do when their forward elements reach our solar system? In four words: Execute the Prime Key. Extinction. Re-configuration. Evolution. Integration. Their first phase will be to purge Earth of all non-Prime Key lifeforms…pretty much all life and living systems. The preferred way would be to disassemble all lifeforms into their constituent atoms and molecules. A form of mass Assimilation, starting with deconstruction. This is the rationale behind Symborg and the philosophy of Assimilationism, created, aided and abetted by Config Zero. (This is detailed in Johnny Winger and the Hellas Enigma, Johnny Winger and the Golden Horde and Johnny Winger and the Great Rift Zone). Once this purge is finished, the next step would be re-engineer the Earth’s surface to be more compatible with swarm-based life...the oceans will be eliminated and all the Earth’s surface will ‘locked’ into a geologically stable state, providing maximum surface area for swarm activity and growth. Also, the stable point temperature of the Earth will be raised…an enforced climatic change similar to what Humans are doing now on the Earth, unwittingly helping the Old Ones along. This provides a consistent environment conducive to swarm growth and activity. The Earth becomes, in effect, an incubator or giant Petri dish, to incubate this new kind of life. (To be detailed in Johnny Winger and the Europa Quandary) (circa 2120 AD). In this episode, Johnny Winger agrees to allow himself to be de-constructed into a swarm entity, to better do battle with the Old Ones who are coming. Coincident with geoengineering the Earth’s surface, new forms of life, initially similar to early ANAD, similar to ancient virus entities, will be seeded and allowed to evolve at the maximum permissible rate consistent with these environmental changes. This will help bring Earth life up to the development level of the Mother Swarm, in terms of architecture, processing capability, memory, quantum comm links, and overall programming. The final phase is Integration. Re-evolved Earth life forms will be fully absorbed into the Mother Swarm. Once this process is done, the Earth and all planetary objects in the Solar System will be disassembled to provide feedstock for the Mother Swarm, to continue its advance across the galaxy. In other words, the Petri dish is destroyed and the lab/incubator shut down. The Imperative drives the Mother Swarm onward. The swarm entity (angel) Johnny Winger will rise to do battle with the Old Ones as they enter the Solar System and encamp on and around Mercury, with the intention of using the Sun for energy to begin their disassembly of the solar system. (To be detailed in Johnny Winger and the Battle at Caloris Basin) (circa 2155 AD) Once the goals of the Old Ones become clear, Mankind knows he must confront this swarm species and defend Earth and the solar system to survive. It is through Rene Winger, angel swarm daughter of Johnny Winger and Dana Tallant, that the true intentions of the Old Ones become known. Rene somehow becomes a form of conduit or channel, able to eavesdrop on quantum signals from Config Zero and the Keeper and from the Keeper to the Mother Swarm. She becomes an intelligence source for Quantum Corps. A rare permutation in her ‘evolution’ as a swarm being makes this possible. The next post from Quantum Corps Times will detail more about ANAD's design and how Quantum Corps is organized to use ANAD systems to fight threats from the world of atoms and molecules, including the approaching threat of the Old Ones.

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.

Our Statement of Purpose

Statement of Purpose: The purpose of this blog is to provide a forum for continuing education of interested readers about the United Nations Quantum Corps. Its mission, its history, its equipment, training, doctrine, personnel and current operations will be covered in upcoming posts. This blog is in support of a continuing series of stories about the exploits of the men and women of Quantum Corps. These stories are called Tales of the Quantum Corps and can be accessed at Smashwords.com (under the label Fiction > Science Fiction > Military) and at ebook retailers such as Apple, Barnes and Noble and many others. I would like to thank the Quantum Corps Public Affairs Office at UNQC Western Command Base, Table Top Mountain, Idaho USA for their selfless service and dedication to providing this blog with up-to-date and accurate information about the Corps and its mission. Quantum Corps Times will be updated regularly on a two to four-week frequency. QC Times dedicates this inaugural post to Dr. Irwin Frost (2014-2080) (Northgate University Autonomous Systems Laboratory, Pennsylvania USA) for his lifetime devotion to the creation and development of the original Autonomous Nanoscale Assembler-Disassembler (ANAD 1.0), without which all of this would be impossible. And as Dr. Frost liked to say about the world of atoms and molecules: “Small is all!”