Red Moon

AI 1 shen yu Oracle

Zhangjiang National Laboratory, Shanghai

Also (entangled): The National Laboratory for Quantum Information Science, Hefei, Anhui

“Alert for the analyst.”

“Tell me your news.”

“The mobile quantum key device you asked me to track is now on the moon.”

The analyst, one of the founders and chief scientists of the Artificial Intelligence Strategic Advisory Committee, checked that his room was secure, then shifted the audio to earbud only. All communications between him and this particular AI were encrypted by way of a paired quantum key, and the AI, a private experiment of his own, was connected to the rest of the digital world only by taps the analyst himself had created. Their interactions were therefore truly private, like the conversations between a man and his soul.

“I-330, remind me which device was sent there?”

“A Swiss Quantum Works Unicaster 3000.”

“Tell me more about it.”

“Purchased May 2046 by Chang Yazu, chief administrator of the Chinese Lunar Authority.”

“How did it get to the moon?”

“It was taken to the moon by Frederick J. Fredericks, a technical officer at Swiss Quantum Works.”

“A unicaster is a private phone, I recall. Where is this one’s matching device?”

“Unknown.”

“Has the device on the moon been used?”

“No.”

“Does Chang Yazu have possession of it yet?”

“No.”

“Where is the device now?”

“Fredericks has it.”

“When will he hand it over?”

“He is scheduled to meet with Chang at ten a.m. on July 20, 2047, Coordinated Universal Time.”

“What administrative body in China oversees the Lunar Authority?”

“The Chinese Space Agency and the Scientific Research Steering Committee.”

“Waa sai! One servant two masters! No wonder it’s such a mess up there. Please create a new file for this incident. Also search for any recordings of this meeting between Chang and Fredericks, during or after its occurrence. Also search for the other phone, the one entangled with this one now on the Peaks of Eternal Light.”

“Will do.”