The Cyber War Conspiracy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The

CYBER WAR CONSPIRACY

 

A true techno sci-fi thriller

 

by Thomas Biehlig

 

-Excerpt-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Publisher

T. Biehlig Media

Contact:

biehlig@gmx.net

 

Text © by Thomas Biehlig, D-24111 Kiel

Date of publication: April 2015

Version 2.0

Foto Cube © GraphicCompressor - Fotolia.com

Foto Computer Code© Edelweiss- Fotolia.com

Graphics by Caroline Klett

Translation by Trevor Steele

 

 

All rights of dissemination, including through radio, television

and photomechanical reproduction, sound recordings of all kinds and printing of excerpts, and electronic reproduction and translation, are reserved. Please cooperate and protect copyright laws.

ISBN 978-39817310-3-3 (ePub)

ISBN 978-39817310-1-9 Print

 

 

On the internet

www.cyberwarconspiracy.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

The book

 

Marc Jansen works or the firm Technology News Research as a specialist on semiconductor technology. While preparing a market analysis on network chips for Victor Navarro’s office that specialises in the international law on patents, he learns that Orlando Lopez, famous for his work in the area of quantum computer science and semiconductor physics, has been found dead in a canal in Bangkok. It is alleged that he took to his watery grave a scientific sensation.

When Marc Jansen unexpectedly gets an offer of first-hand collaboration with Navarro’s office, he suddenly sees the possibility of immediately changing his life, which till then had been rather boring. The first assignment he is to work on is, of all things, research for an international consortium into the alleged discovery Lopez was working on up to his death.

With no hesitation Marc resigns from his job and agrees to take it on. For the task the mysterious South American woman Lana de Vries is assigned as his partner. A bizarre contest to find Lopez‘s alleged discovery starts. The maelstrom Marc and Lana are caught up in is one of murder, corruption, and intrigue that goes right up to the highest nerve centres of international powers.

 

The author

 

Thomas Biehlig, born in 1969, lives and works in the Hamburg area. As a business economist he worked for several years on the purchase of technical equipment for well-known industrial enterprises. With Cyber War Conspiracy Thomas Biehlig combines professional knowledge and complex technological questions in an entertaining and exciting thriller. This book is his debut.

The publication of a second book is a work in progress. The book is going to be another explosive hightech thriller against a current background. The story will have links to Cyber War Conspiracy.

At the end of the book there is a glossary. Further information can be found at

 

www.cyberwarconspiracy.com

 

 

 

The „Who’s who“ in the book

 

Technology News Research in Hamburg

Marc Jansen: hero of the story, market specialist in semiconductor technology

Rolf Behrendt: proprietor

Sebastian: colleague of Marc

Teresa: female colleague of Marc

 

The Navarro office

Victor Navarro: proprietor of the Navarro office in Bogotá

Lana de Vries: heroine of the story, specialist in applied nano

Martin Keller: Arbeitet in der Berliner Niederlassung und ist Jurist

Marieta Brandt: Victors linke und rechte Hand in der Berliner Niederlassung

Roman Wlazlo: a Berlin specialist in semiconductor electronics

Alexander Hellwig: allrounder in Berlin

Kerry: Irish security specialist in Berlin

Franco Martinez: worldwide security chief of the office

Carlos Marquez: Japanese branch of Victor’s office, special assignments

Raoul: personal assistant of Victor in Bogotá

Andre: chef and responsible for personnel in the Caribbean

Angelo: boatswain, deputy chef and weapons expert

Rolfo: garden, house, and security technologist in the Caribbean

Esmeralda: housekeeper in the Caribbean

Florence and Vivien: housemaids in the Caribbean

Lian: his firm works as management operator for Navarro’s office and solves ticklish situations all over the world

Leon Kulikow: staff member of the consortium from Russia

Pedro Ruíz: staff member of the consortium from Brazil

Taji: South African security man in the Caribbean

Josef and Ole: IT specialists in the office

 

Other characters

Orlando Lopez: specialist in quantum computer science, works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Julia Schmidt: friend of Marc and staff member of Hummel Agency in Hamburg

Yoo Xianghong: works at AICD (Asian Institute of Chip Design) in Bangkok and is a specialist in chip design

Keserci: Russian scientist, specialist in quantum IT

Sven: Marc’s best friend, works in a media business

Elena: Sven’s girlfriend

Volker Freising: co-proprietor of the firm C+F Electronics, main profession: son

The „Old“ Freising: patriarch

Jagran Ebrahimi: manager of the firm First Tronic in India

Vera Sweta: works in the Marquard Office, Russian woman

Karl Marquard: boss and co-proprietor of Marquard Office & Partner in Berlin and Moscow, international legal office

Charles Cunningham: proprietor of American venture capital financier Venture Capital Group VC7

Klaus: Ssecurity boss for the Freisingers

Mr. Xu: Taiwanese chief negotiator for Dazuhuang

Blackstone: general

Rahi a Har Bashi: Indian, works for First Tronic in Bangalore

 

The firms in the semiconductor industry

First Tronic: US firm with a branch in India

Dazuhuang: Taiwanese conglomerate

Shimondo: Japanese high-tech firm

Microntec: produces semiconductors and chips in Bangkok

Kim Young: from two comes one

KPN: from two comes one

KMC: can do magic with money

C+F Electronics: formerly Advanced Technologies

Spin Tec: specialist in computer capacity technology

 

Other firms

Firestone & First Move: consulting and development

Dreibach &. Partner: detective agency in Hamburg

Agentur Hummel: event planning agency in Hamburg, Julia’s employer

DCG Ltd.: Chinese firm

 

Explanatory note

All persons and the actions in this book are fictional. Similarities with living or deceased persons are fortuitous. Some of the places, product names and technical processes used in the book do in fact exist. If I have in some way offended against the rights of a name, a description, or a procedure, that happened without my knowledge. I ask for notification if that is the case.

Four weeks earlier

 

Lopez was squatting knee-deep in an ooze of excrement in a sewer conduit in Bangkok. He could hardly hear anything but the monotonous constant clatter of the monsoon rain. Next to him floated the refuse of the city of many millions. Above him there was an old metal grille, to left and right filthy cement walls. Was that to be his last view on earth, an old canal outlet with a rotting stench? That was what he was thinking when he could again make out his pursuers. And yet everything had started off so well. As a scientist of the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology he was in charge of his own research section on quantum computer science. It was the task of his section to develop a computer that using as its basis so-called Q bits was capable of carrying out complex calculations. A by-product of his research into that was the creation of a link into the old hitherto existing digital world of zeros and ones.

But at some point everything slipped out of his hands. His family, his friends and his job. At the start he had been attracted by the prospect of a lot of money. To get it he had merely to relay certain information and occasionally contribute his expert knowledge, of course parallel to his actual research work. Who had given him the assignment had not interested him at first, so long as the payment was correct and the efforts involved were tolerable. But the situation had changed in the course of time and he was blackmailed. He was threatened that something would happen to his family if he did not deliver as desired. It even went to the extent that he was supposed to spy on colleagues and frighten them in order to get hold of the desired know-how. He had found himself in a vicious circle without even the breath of a chance of escaping.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted when he heard the voices of his pursuers; they were trying to be heard over the noise level of the heavy rain. They were looking for him, the traitor.

Then he heard footsteps above him. Careful footsteps, but the squelching sound of wet shoes let him know they were damned close on his heels. He had made a special trip to Thailand to meet a representative of the US Congress inconspicuously on the periphery of a symposium on chip design. He wanted to get out of it, wanted his old life back. He just wanted to put everything behind him, confide in somebody. But it did not happen that way. While he was waiting on the terrace of the luxury hotel Riverside to meet his contact, he suddenly saw the muzzle of a pistol glittering in the night. With presence of mind he jumped into the dark, murky river. There he swam as quickly as he could and took advantage of the slight current at the edge of the water. It was his misfortune that the pursuers had reacted as quickly as a flash, and had prepared not only strong torches but also a boat and several men who obviously would stop at nothing. He just managed to flee in the nick of time into one of the many sewer conduits before he was caught in the boat’s floodlights. Unfortunately his pursuers nevertheless succeeded in following him across land on the bank path. He had an instinctive intuition that now he had only a few possibilities of staying alive. One option would have been to wade deeper into the sewer conduit. Another, to try to cross right over the river by half diving, half swimming. If only they didn’t have that boat, he thought in complete despair. In feverish thought he weighed up what he could still do, when unexpectedly an extremely strong gush of water from the middle of the canal grabbed him and dragged him in the direction of the middle of the river. In panic he wildly threw his arms about to rise up again to the surface. After what felt like five minutes in the raging river he finally was able to catch his breath again. At first glance he knew he had passed by the boat and had crossed fully a third of the river’s width. But because the surface current pulling in the direction of the middle of the river got stronger and stronger, he was now overcome by the fear that he could simply drown. Never again to escape from that stinking cesspool, get caught up in the rubbish, or be run over by the boats which were still moving in big numbers.

His thoughts were going round in circles; his wet evening wear kept impeding him and pulling him again and again under water. He noticed that his strength started to give out and he was looking for something he could cling to. Then suddenly the flashlights of his pursuers were again dancing on the surface. Only a few meters more and they would see him. Then it was too late. A string beam of light caught him. The sounds of the boat’s motor got inevitably closer. In desperation he mobilized the last of his strength and again swam for his life. He heard his pursuers yelling in excitement, then the boat was next to him. He felt a boathook catch his jacket and jerk him closer to the boat. He had no chance of escape and almost without resistance let himself be dragged. His pursuers grabbed him and lifted him with strong arms out of the water. They brutally hurled him onto the deck and began to beat him with kicks and punches. He writhed and turned himself, but that gave him no protection. After he had been beaten almost unconscious a man with a good English accent said, „That’s enough! We have to find out who else he may have betrayed something to.”

„All right, O ... ah, Boss, I mean,” answered a second voice, and they stopped beating him. Instead he was tied up with cable wire around his hands and feet, and they stuffed an old wet rag that tasted of oil and petrol into his mouth. He was aching all over and could no longer move himself, so bad were his pains. He heard one of the men ask, „Boss, are we going into the old shed?” Then the noise of the engine got so loud that nothing else could be heard.

After a short drive they docked at an old abandoned jetty and Lopez was hauled up out of the boat like a sack and dragged into a dark shed. There they threw him onto the floor. When the light went on Lopez tried to catch a glimpse of his tormentors, but he was simply too far weakened to turn himself over. On the other hand he heard the educated voice again: „I believe he’s ready to talk, Shackle him to the pillar and blindfold him!"

After that the man they named Boss spoke directly to him for the first time: „Lopez, what did you think you were doing? Did you really think you could just simply leave our organization? We warned you, but you didn’t want to listen. Now you’re going to feel the consequences.”

He gave a nasty laugh and suddenly struck Lopez a well-aimed karate kick in the middle of his face. There was a loud crunching noise and blood burst in streams out of his shattered nose.

„Oops, “said the man. „I think that went a bit too far. We still want to give him a chance. “

Lopez felt that the gag was ripped out of his mouth and somebody pulled him up.

„If you want to tell us something, do it now. Maybe we’ll let you live! “

Lopez convulsively tried to say something, but he could not get out more than a pathetic „I ... I ... I ...“ and his voice died in a new gush of blood that now was pouring out unhindered. But it was too late. His nasal bone had bored so deeply into his brain that he was no longer capable of making an articulate sound. Meanwhile only the shackles were holding him upright and the sheer pain had robbed him of his senses.

„Time to talk!” the man demanded and shook him. Again punches and kicks rained down on him, but he did not bring forth a word.

Lopez noticed he had emptied his bladder. The last thing he felt was that something warm was running down his neck and sounded as if packed in cotton wool.

„I think he’s had enough, he’ll never again speak, “said the man, and he drew out a pistol. He took a quick step backwards, aimed the pistol at Lopez’s head, and fired. Then he said succinctly to his men: „Get rid of him. Meanwhile I’ll send a report.” He took out his mobile, pressed a button, and announced himself: „Our friend won’t speak any more. Mission accomplished.”

 

 

 

1

 

 

That damned telephone, thought Jansen. Actually his thoughts had already been on his time after work. Somewhat irritated he went to the phone.

“Marc Jansen, Technology News Research.”

At the other end of the line was Victor Navarro, proprietor of the office with the same name and an important client of his firm.

„Hello, Marc. It’s good that I’ve been able to get you. It’s about the market analysis connected with the network chips. I wanted to get an up-to-date with how things are. As you know, we need your report as soon as possible. “

Unluckily Jansen had to admit: “The processing will probably last another day or two. I’m still waiting for information that’s missing.”

With a persistent voice Victor answered, “Marc, it’s really urgent. My client can’t wait any longer. There’s a lot of money involved, and important decisions. By the day after tomorrow at 12 o’clock I need the report. Can you do that?”

„I’ll make sure we keep to the deadline. You can rely on my word. “

“Very good. I knew I could rely on you. If unexpectedly problems crop up, ring me straight away, okay?”

“No problem. So, till the day after tomorrow. Bye.”

“Damn it,” Jansen cursed quietly to himself and decided to go home. Meanwhile it was after 6 p.m. and he had been in the office since a little before 8 a.m. All he could do now was wait and see. But as he went to put on his jacket it became boilingly clear to him that he had forgotten to ring Julia. He really wanted to meet her that evening. Maybe it isn’t too late, he thought, and he dialed her number.

Somewhat offended Julia answered at the other end of the line. “Did you forget again to ring me? I was already thinking you wouldn’t contact me again!”

Bugger, thought Jansen while trying to appease Julia. “I’ve had a stressful day. I really should keep on working. Let’s meet at about 7 in „El Sarmiento“, after all there’s fine weather today and it’s still warm. We can sit in the garden there and eat something, agreed?”

With a somewhat grumpy undertone Julia answered, “I’ll try to be on time,” and hung up.

At last I’m out of the place, thought Jansen. In the next moment he was sitting in his car and turning on the ignition. While he was concentrating on getting to his date on time in the heavy evening rush hour traffic he listened to the radio. In the current affairs section the topic was that the international economy was increasingly worried that in some countries international agreements on patents and copyright laws were being openly flouted. In China pirate copies of software programs, CDs and films protected by copyright were being mass produced and sold. To point the way the Chinese government had agreed to prohibit that in future. Production and distribution was to be severely punished. As a proof that China meant that seriously, over a million pirate copies were seized and destroyed. But far more dramatic were the consequences of international economic espionage. That is where there was the greatest need for action. As a serious example the consequences of a hacker attack on a major car producer were elucidated. After that came a short contribution on the further developments in a WTO conference. In the meantime Jansen dedicated himself to the annoying search for a parking spot. At about 7 p.m. he reached „El Sarmiento“, went straight away through the pub and stood at the gate of a beer garden with many customers. To his relief there was still a table free. The waiter cam immediately and took his order. As a precautionary measure he ordered a carafe of white house wine with two glasses, then turned his attention to the coming meet-up.

Julia is a real addiction of mine, he thought. Nevertheless he could not or did not want to stop meeting her. His last relationship finished more than a year before. The last two months with her had really been a lot of fun. Particularly her way of treating life impressed him. Although she had grown up, like him, in the cold north, she had southern temperament in her blood together with her intoxicating lifestyle habits. On the other hand he saw himself as a somewhat phlegmatic, typically taciturn north German living in the region. While he was busy with thoughts of Julia the waiter suddenly came to the table and brought the wine. He was relieved to be able to wash down the dreary office routine. Just as he was about to take the first sip he felt Julia’s arms around him. She had approached the table unnoticed. This woman drives me crazy, thought Jansen.

„I hope that despite my late call you had a good day, I’ve already ordered a carafe of wine.”

Julia gave a short answer, “Thanks, as usual,” and got stuck into the wine.

“Cheers,” he said, meanwhile looking into her dark brown, almond-shaped eyes.

But she just gave a weary wave of the hand and said, “You can’t imagine what was going on today at the job. I’m glad it’s knock off time at last. It’s such lovely weather. Shortly before the end of work my boss came to me. He actually asked me whether I couldn’t finish the presentation for the planned exhibition by tomorrow. When I answered that was impossible, he just said I had to have it ready by tomorrow evening, end of discussion. Great outlook for tomorrow, but now I’m here and we can have a nice evening together.”

While saying the last sentence she smiled.

“You’ll get it done,” he tried to cheer her up.

“As well, let’s now eat something, that’ll certainly help.”

While they were studying the menu Jansen lit up a cigarette and wondered whether he could at all afford the meal. He would like to invite Julia, but as usual he was broke. But of course he did not want to admit that to her. He spontaneously decided to save the money on some other item. At the next moment he no longer worried about his stretched financial situation. Because the first wine carafe was empty they ordered another half-liter with the food. When they left the restaurant they were slightly drunk. They had decided to go to Julia’s flat, drink another bottle of wine, and let the evening fade away there. While they were travelling to Julia’s flat Jansen was looking forward to the night together. He felt a wave of excitement surge through him at the thought. After a seemingly endless search for a parking spot he went full of expectation in the direction of Julia’s flat.

She was waiting for him and asked teasingly, “So again you found a parking spot only at the stopping forbidden zone?”

“And so what?” he muttered. While they were ascending the steps he was admiring Julia’s breathtaking backside wobbling to and fro in her tight dress. When at last they reaching the flat they opened up a bottle of wine and made themselves comfortable on her gigantic futon. Little time passed before they were rolling over in a tight embrace on the bed. His hands wandered over her body seeking contact with her skin. Her summer clothing made sure he had easy access everywhere. With fingers trembling with excitement Jansen began to undress Julia. The dress, when opened up, revealed dark blue, skimpy lingerie. She moaned for pleasure as he slipped off her underwear. After a short night he woke up at about 7 a.m. and felt her naked buttocks against his thighs.

He glanced at the alarm clock and said, “What a nuisance, I really wanted to be in the office about now.”

He leapt up quickly and went into the bathroom to get ready.

When he entered the office at about 8.15 the usual state of emergency reigned there again.

Energetically he threw his jacket over the visitor’s chair. As his first action of the morning he fetched a coffee from the kitchen.

At the same moment his colleague Sebastian came round the corner He greeted Jansen with an effusive “Good morning”.

„Hello, Sebastian, everything okay with you? You’re looking so hyper, is there something new?” he answered and poured coffee into his tumbler.

„No, but the weather’s good and we booked our holiday yesterday. We’re flying for three weeks to Mauritius.”

Somewhat enviously Marc poured milk into the coffee. “That sounds really great. Afterwards you’ll have to tell me more about it. Now I have to put together an urgent report for Victor. You know, the one about network chips.”

„I know. By the way, you should absolutely ring back a Yoo in Thailand. He obviously has decisive new stuff for your enquiry.”

„Thanks, I’ll do that promptly. I’ll see you later.”

Jansen looked at his watch. In Thailand it was now about 5 p.m., enough time to ring Yoo. But he had hardly got his calculator to function when the telephone rang. To judge by the number, it had to be Yoo. He picked up the phone and announced: “Marc Jansen.”

At the other end Yoo answered with a serious tone of voice: „Hi, Marc. With regard to your enquiry I’ve got myself nothing but problems. The market for network chips is relatively easy to survey. The market participants know each other. It was very hard to get anything out of them. The situation is one of general mutual distrust. All are afraid of losing shares of the entrepreneurial risk in such markets is exorbitantly expensive. One flop, and the enterprise involved can become insolvent. The costs of developing such chips are very high. You know the problems. But there is one thing that is interesting. A scientist from MIT was fished up dead from a canal in Bangkok. Before that he had been missing for four weeks. Officially he researched the development of quantum computers. But the first functioning quantum computers are still at the baby stage. Nobody knows anything for sure. Allegedly he found out along the way something that would enable the production of a new, faster generation of chips. But from a technological viewpoint that is in my opinion still in the distant future.”

“That sounds rather exciting, Yoo, but at this point I can’t see a connection with research on network chips. Or do you know more?”

ON the other end there was a short silence before Yoo answered: “I was lucky. A former colleague told me there are rumors in the market. It is said they’re continuing the work of the dead scientist in secret. Since the market is very transparent the necessary equipment had to be bought via straw men and phony firms. Probably they then made a mistake. Probably there was a leak. But that’s all speculation. Nobody would swear to it.”

Suddenly Jansen was wide awake and gave only a short answer: “Thanks a lot, Yoo. I’ll call again tomorrow morning. Please tell nobody about this story. We have to safeguard ourselves first; the matter could take on very big dimensions. Bye for now.”

Nervously he wobbled on his chair and lit up a cigarette. What sort of consequences could this have? Who could be behind it? Sunk in thought he watched the smoke of his cigarette moving.

Suddenly Sebastian put his head through the door. “The boss wants to talk to you, right now.”

“Is it something important?” Jansen asked, but Sebastian had gone away again. Now of all times, he thought, and decided that for the moment he would tell nobody about the conversation with Yoo. In many cases it could be very helpful to think things through thoroughly. Frequently you are exposed to uncomfortable and even stupid questions. And his boss had gained notoriety for just that. He first of all pretended to know everything, and at the next moment he asked a question that could not be beaten for idiocy.

On the way to the main office his colleague Teresa came toward him. “Hi, how are things?” he greeted her. With a smile on his face he eyed in passing her skirt with its floral pattern. The contents were scarcely hidden.

“Hello, Marc,” she returned his greeting. “Good, we had a barbecue yesterday evening. Was a nice evening, if a little too short. Unfortunately I didn’t get home till 8 p.m. I had to do overtime.”

I really should have a bad conscience now, thought Jansen. Yesterday evening I simply left. Instead, he gave a silly grin and answered, “On the way to the boss. Any idea what sort of mood he’s in?”

She shook her head and laughed and kept going. A short time later he was sitting in front of Rolf Behrendt, his boss and simultaneously proprietor of Technology News Research.

“Marc, I’d like to know how things look regarding Victor Navarro’s report.” To give the whole scene weight, Rolf got up and began to circle around him, like an eagle round its prey.

„I promised him I’d send the finished report by 12 o’clock tomorrow,” answered Jansen. „I’ve already explained to you in advance all the details, and you found the set-up and my provisional results to be okay.”

Willy-nilly he had to think of his theory regarding his boss’s competence. He wondered when one of the famous questions would come that substantiated that theory.

„Hadn’t you mentioned in your report that the price of network chips was falling?” Rolf kept drilling.

He obviously did not remember that they had committed themselves to presenting a scenario with limitations because of the energy spectrum. With that low cost variant Victor’s client would not profit from the very high price level, which was usual for cutting-edge chips. That’s how he had presented it with the agreement of his boss, he thought to himself.

„So I want to know why this newspaper report says that the prices of computer chips are rising. You wrote just the opposite. Why?”

To emphasize his question he fluttered an edition of CT before his eyes.

That was the question which confirmed his theory. His boss had not understood the topic, and he did not even notice that. That question definitively disqualified him. „Rolf, it’s quite logical that the prices of those chips in the lower energy segment are falling. If Victor’s client wants to produce simple chips for the mass market, then they’ll be in a market where there is an enormous pressure on margins and many suppliers are cavorting about. On the other hand the two market leaders almost annually put a new generation of their chips on the market. Development costs money, naturally they want to get it back. I pointed that out quite clearly. Of course they have to consider how they want to position themselves. Big price variations are almost part of daily business. If the client intends to build up his own production line for chips, then he has not only to determine sis own suppliers, but he also ties himself to their technology. Finally we get the blame if they aren’t competitive with the prices. I recommend to them, for exactly that reason, to proceed very carefully when choosing suppliers of basic technology. Only then will they continue to succeed, with their own production, in positioning themselves in the top segment. As a second option, in my opinion, there is only the possibility of looking for an OEM partner. But that point was clearly agreed on for the report, Jansen answered, and waited for the reply.

„Well then, everything’s okay. We have to synchronise our strategy exactly. Before you send off the report I want to check it. You know Navarro’s office is a very important customer of ours. They pay a very big sum of money for this report. After all, you’ve been working on it for two months. You really must get it done on time. It’s in your hands. If you need help, let me know,” Rolf growled, then he sat down again and drank a mouthful of coffee.

„No worries, the report is actually ready. You can have it this evening to check. I have to write only the last bit, the resume. I’ve just rung an informant, at last I’ve got everything as right as rain. Tomorrow it’ll get its evaluation,” answered Jansen, who had meanwhile become a little irritated, and he lit up a cigarette.

„Okay, I trust you. Then after that I’ll expect the complete report.”

Back in his office marc noticed that a telephone memo was glued to his monitor. Please ring Victor straight away on his mobile! Teresa.

What else could he want; we settled everything yesterday evening, thought Jansen. Then his thoughts were again circling round his telephone conversation with Yoo. To make matters worse, he meanwhile noticed he had forgotten breakfast. He decided to get from the baker open bread rolls and a salad. That would certainly bring order to his thoughts. If what Yoo had reported was correct, that could cause quite a stir on the market. No matter which angle he looked at the information from, it seemed to him enigmatic. Were there not constantly rumours on the market, so why should he mention anything about it in his report? Without proofs and concrete references to the actual assignment of tasks it was certainly a risk that could be avoided, a risk that could torpedo the professional quality of his work. On the way to the baker he finally decided not to mention it with one word in his report.

While Marc was standing in the queue at the baker’s to buy his bread rolls, Victor Navarro was sitting in his room in the Hamburg hotel “Alsterhof” comfortably on the couch and drinking a cup of tea. He had just rung his client and got the last confirmation of the plan. He guessed the carrying out of the job had reached an extremely tricky point. At the same time he was wondering how Marc would react to the offer. Thoughtfully he opened up the monitor of his laptop and booted it up. The laptop gave a few blips till it was ready the start the work. Sure of his goal he clicked with the mouse through the menu navigation till he had found the desired document. The file had the name “Jansen offer”, and would change Marc’s life permanently.

On the other hand Marc was just biting into his second bread roll and in so doing spilled blots on his desk. Cursing, Jansen wiped the desk clean and, still chewing, dialed Victor’s number.

When Victor saw Jansen’s number on his display he put his tea aside and announced himself with an experienced professional voice, “Victor Navarro.”

“Hello, Victor, Marc Jansen here, what’s going on? My colleague Teresa gave me a message that I should contact you urgently.”

Coolly Victor answered: “Marc, we have to meet this evening. Is 7.30 in Hotel ‘Alsterhof’ okay by you? I’ll be waiting at the bar for you.”

Jansen’s reaction was puzzlement. He thought it over for a short time: “Has something special happened? Is it about the report?”

“No, not directly. Please come to the hotel this evening. Talk to nobody about our meeting. Especially nobody in your firm. We’ll worry about the report later. Can I rely on your keeping silent?”

“Of course,” he answered and wondered what the background to the meeting might be. As well, he had not reckoned with Victor’s being in Hamburg. Normally he stayed in his office in Berlin or visited clients all over the world. And suddenly he wants to meet me of all people, and in Hamburg too.

“See you then,” Victor said curtly and hung up.

Jansen thought it over. What did he really know about that Victor Navarro, why all this secrecy? He had met Victor twice before. Both times he and Rolf had been there to talk about projects or to reel in assignments. He could still clearly remember the first such meeting. That time Rolf had told him that he was to go to Berlin with him. A new client had a project in the field of electronics. After all, he was a specialist in such things. Victor was introduced to him as a lawyer. Commissioned by various enterprises he organized and administered their patents and the observance of patent laws. For the firm Technology News Research Victor Navarro with his office was then a highly rated client, with a big potential sales volume. He did not like to remember the story of his car trip to Berlin with Rolf to acquire Victor as a client. They went with a draft contact in the pocket. As always the pressure of expectation was very strong. That time he had felt unwell and was as dog-tired. They got lost in Berlin and arrived late for their appointment. In his agitation Rolf almost had a heart attack. He claimed that everything was Marc’s fault because as the passenger he was not able to give the driver enough support. When they eventually arrived they were in front of an old city villa in the east side of town. The office with only three staff members turned out to be very small. One of them was obviously his secretary. Victor turned out to be a short, elegantly dressed man, slightly corpulent, a southerner of about fifty. During the meeting that followed Victor told them that he had mainly foreign clients and that his main office was actually in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. The branch in Berlin was only one of ten in the world. He lived from recommendations and his office was by international standards rather small. Rolf’s disappointment was clear to see. He had obviously imagined Victor’s office as something completely different. His sales targets burst like soap bubbles. Independent of the volume of sales to be expected Jansen found the South American likeable. He was pleased with the easygoing atmosphere that Victor radiated. When Victor suggested a common lunch it could be seen that Rolf was on edge. Victor had not yet signed the contract. The sales volume expected had disappeared over the horizon. To their surprise Victor then chose a very high-class restaurant and invited them to a meal. Afterwards they drove back to Victor’s office. He signed the framework contract with a smile on his face. Rolf was happy about that and claimed the success for himself. Two days later came the call from Victor they had agreed on. The first common project could start. Marc was appointed as the project director and key account manager. That was the beginning. Today, almost two years later, he had developed the eighth or ninth assignment. Without anything particular happening. Even the current assignment was really routine work.

Jansen was abruptly snatched out of his thoughts. Sebastian was standing at the door and asking; “Are you coming to lunch with us? We intend to go over to the Italian”

Jansen looked at the clock. 12.30. “Unfortunately I’ve got no time. Apart from that, I’ve been to the baker.”

Then he finished typing the report for Victor without mentioning the Yoo story. What was the point of stirring up dust unnecessarily? There were always rumours flying about. Most of them turned out in the end to be fully innocuous or simply false, he thought. At about 4 p.m. he could at last send the report to Rolf. Since Rolf had obviously been waiting for just that, Marc was promptly summoned to his office, and together they went through the report again. At about 6 p.m. Rolf was more than satisfied and sent Marc home. He decided to take a quick shower and change his clothing. It had been rather hot all day and he felt sweaty.

At about 7.30 he entered the hotel bar. The bar was empty but for a few guests, and he caught sight of Victor immediately. No wonder, thought Jansen, who would sit in here in this weather and get drunk? That would be enough to cause depression.

Victor beckoned Jansen over to himself and greeted him in a friendly way. “Hello, Marc, it’s good you could come. Sit down, or do we want to go somewhere else? Have you got an idea? I’m hungry. As you know, I’m not familiar with Hamburg. You’re a local, aren’t you?”

Jansen thought about it quickly and replied: „Hi, Victor, it’s nice to see you again. Let’s go to the restaurant Elbblick. There you can sit on a glazed roof terrace and admire the Elbe with its ships passing by. Apart from that, the kitchen has an excellent reputation for its fish dishes.”

Victor grinned got up, and instructed the waitress to add the tab to his room bill and to call a taxi. When they were outside Victor said: “Marc, it’s not for nothing that I wanted to meet you. It’s not just about the assignment you’re working on for me now. Is there in your opinion anything in particular happening on the whole computer chip market?”

Jansen thought briefly and answered: „No, if I’d learned anything that was relevant for the assignment I would of course have immediately let you know it.” „The situation has changed in the meantime. I’ve received information that something is happening on the market right now. However, nobody knows what’s up. I was given the job of finding out the truth about the rumour. For that I need you.”

Jansen swallowed and thought about it. What did Victor really know? Who was behind this man? Curious, Jansen asked: “Then why did you say this meeting is for nobody but us? After all, I have to report everything to Rolf. I think, if you want to give me the assignment to deepen the research.”

„I want to submit an offer to you. Have you ever been independent? You can right now work only for yourself and I’ll be your first client. You can apply your abilities with more purpose and more lucratively. With your market expertise in the field of semiconductor technology, your network, and your personality you are just the right man for my project.”

Now Jansen did not know what he should say, and finally he stuttered: “That sounds very interesting. And how would that function?”

“I’ve prepared a few papers. In this suitcase there are a laptop and a few documents. Have a close look at the documents and the files named in them. Basically everything is all worked out there. Your first assignment, as I’ve already mentioned, will be to find out the truth behind the rumour. My client is ready to spend a lot of money. For that he expects absolute discretion and accurate research. The assignment is not without danger. You have to know who and what you’re letting yourself in for. There are people about who don’t shrink from murder. The stakes being played for are very high. But I assume we’ll get the information without their noticing it. The rest will be done by other people. We need only the correct information. I’ve already got some tips. We can start with them.”

The taxi came. During the trip they kept silence. After Victor had paid for the taxi Marc showed him the way. „On the left, up the stairs, goes straight to the roof terrace.”

They were lucky and found a free table. In silence they studied the menu, till Victor looked at his watch and said, “Marc, you are of course my guest. Will you order for me number 23 as an appetiser and as the main dish number 221? Choose something you like and order a bottle of white wine as well. I have to make an urgent phone call.”

Meanwhile in Marc’s head confusion reigned. When the waiter came and asked for the order, he absentmindedly ordered only a bottle of “house wine, white and dry”, then chattered Victor’s chosen numbers and ordered for himself in a down-to-earth way the “original Hanseatic lobscouse menu”.

He had as yet not a clue that the information he had till then kept secret could have anything to do with the assignment. He was curious about the offer and the information Victor had. But he hoped he would not have to decide immediately. He decided that in any case he would negotiate an appropriate time to think it over. His glances wandered over the Elbe. A gigantic freighter loaded up with containers was travelling past the restaurant toward the open sea. Jansen seemed to be small compared with the ship. He contemplated where the ship would berth next. Africa, Asia, or Holland? Suddenly he was overcome by a desire to see distant places. The offer could satisfy that need, he thought. A little later he heard waves washing against the bank reinforcement. Then a small tugboat and a pleasure boat filled with tourists doing the customary harbour tour, went past. Music could be heard. Clearly the mood on board was boisterous. At the same moment Victor came back. His face was serious and he looked somewhat agitated.

„Marc, I’ve just got an important tip. You absolutely have to join with me. We need you. Later you’ll take the suitcase home, think it all over in tranquility, and give me tomorrow by midday your decision together with the report. If your answer is positive, we’ll have to start off by going as soon as possible to Thailand.”

At the same moment the waiter came with the appetizers and Jansen noted how hungry he was. After the excellent meal they drove back to the hotel and Victor asked Jansen to come for a moment into his room. When they were sitting in his room Victor said, “Tomorrow morning you’ll send your report as usual to my e-mail address. I’ll acknowledge receiving it. Then there’s nothing in the way of your resignation. You’ll tell Rolf you’ve accepted an offer from another firm and so you’re asking to be dismissed at once. If you say ‘no’ to the offer, then our ways will part at that point. Then the offer was never made. Destroy the documents in the suitcase, the rest you can keep.”

Jansen said goodbye and went home. His thoughts were circling around the suitcase and Victor’s words. He could hardly wait to get home to look at the contents of the suitcase.

In his flat he quickly fetched a beer and sat down with the suitcase at his desk. Then he lit a cigarette and opened the suitcase. In it were a laptop and a standard business light brown A3 envelope. The envelope was bulging with papers and cash. On top of that there was a further sealed envelope with the inscription “Jansen offer” among the papers. Jansen opened that first and began to read the contents. He could hardly believe what he was reading. It seemed that Victor had been preparing this all well in advance and had left nothing to chance. He would receive half a million dollars if he accepted the assignment and finished it successfully. $150,000 as a down payment were ready for him in Berlin. There he would also get further instructions. If he should decide not to accept the assignment the enclosed $10,000 and the laptop were his. Of course he had a duty to keep silence and to destroy the documents, since the other added documents and files described the current state of research and the assignment. The thought of all that money made his decision easy. What would he in fact lose? Actually it would be a pity to lose his good job as an employee at the medium level of a small but well-known firm. Against that however was the fact that in financial matters he was constantly in an emergency. Half a million dollars would allow him to do some things he had only ever dreamed. Maybe he could get away from Hamburg? Maybe with Julia? Till now there had been no reason for him to turn down the offer. With great interest he read the other documents and noticed that Yoo was correct. Unfortunately Victor too had only a few concrete tips except those he himself already knew from Yoo. The scientist Orlando Lopez of MIT had disappeared about four weeks ago and then shown up again as a corpse in a canal in Bangkok. As well, it was apparent that the whole business had relatively little to do with standard chips for networks. It concerned an alleged discovery that the murdered scientist was supposed to have made. Officially he had been trying to develop a quantum computer. The information squared with that from Yoo. In Victor’s documents too there was a resume that stated that that science was still at the beginning stages. There were many problems which for the present seemed to be beyond technology’s powers to solve. Then an article in the envelope photocopied from Science caught his eye. Excitedly he began to read it. It described how a quantum computer works and as well dealt with the work of the dead scientist. In the article it was written that quantum mechanics plays a major role in everyday life in the field of semiconductor physics. Using quantum mechanics the attempt is being made to explain the behavior of atoms.

As an example the border limit in miniaturization of transistors on to conductor boards or in computer chips was cited. For those highly integrated circuits the “Law of Moore” was then applied, named for the founder of the semiconductor firm Intel, Gordon Moore. It states that the number of transistors on a chip doubles every eighteen months. If at the end of the 1960’s the smallest integrated circuits were still about 5 micrometres big, in modern processors there are meanwhile circuits as small as 40-80 nanometres. Many millions of those microscopically small switches can be placed on the surface of a fingernail. The technology for that is photolithography. However, that technology will reach its limits in seven to ten years at the latest. Nobody knew exactly. But Lopez’s work seemed, according to the article, to have made no changes in that. But it seemed the thing had caused quite a stir. Then Jansen found further newspapers clippings from Washington Post, New York Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine, and from some South American newspaper. Their contents were more or less the same. The first item was that there was no trace of the scientist. He had disappeared a good month ago. His employer was the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An elite American university with a worldwide reputation. The university was known for its pioneering discoveries in various disciplines. Many Nobel Prize winners had come from there. MIT declared that his work on quantum computers had been mostly basic research. There could not yet be any talk of a breakthrough. The strange disappearance of Orlando Lopez could not be explained by anybody. Least of all could it be explained why his corpse had cropped up again in a canal in Bangkok. Police investigations were continuing, it was said. There was no concrete evidence, the police in Bangkok were at present following various clues. Jansen, reading the technical article, felt rather stupid. He could understand almost nothing except that there were in existence other prototypes of so-called quantum computers. That prospect calmed him down. For him this was for the time being just science fiction, but something must show some connection to the present, at any rate as far as the business with the dead scientist was concerned. Then Jansen thought ahead. What linked Victor with the dead Lopez? What was Lopez’s relation to the rumour? What role am I supposed to play? The scientist has been murdered. What is behind it? Has the one matter anything at all to do with the other? He took a big gulp of beer and again lit up a cigarette. A dull feeling spread through his stomach. Half a million dollars, and yet finally it was his curiosity that was decisive in making his decision. He would accept the offer. But only if he himself could determine the time when he pulled out. In no way did he intend to put his life at risk. Only, how can I be useful, he wondered. He thought further. His strength was his knowledge of various technologies in the field of electronics and of the markets. He could ask the right questions. As well, he had connections. Did Victor know about his quite specific sort of ambition? That his ambition was a pure survival instinct? That he had debts and had to accept all sorts of work because he urgently needed money? Although he had by now acquired a name internationally as a noted counsellor, he had never felt work was his task in life. And he did not get genuine satisfaction from his work. He worked to survive. It was in his free time that his real life was lived. Many had indeed asserted that in his free time he went too often to parties or pubs, but that did not bother him. And as well there were his affairs with women. But that was all in the past now. For two months he had had an easy-going relationship with Julia. He wanted to develop that. With her it might be a success. And now the offer. What should he tell her? A business trip of indeterminate duration? Or intersperse vague references to the offer? Explain to her its scope? The best thing would be to tell her of a business trip to Asia. To give her information on the way on how long it would last. Apart from that, he considered what he would say to Rolf tomorrow, and how Rolf would probably react. In his head he depicted the situation: „Hello, Rolf, I wanted to submit my resignation for your signature. I want to resign as from now. What do you offer me?” Then Rolf would walk to and fro in his office, all worked up, and tell him he had trusted him and that such a small firm as his depended on every good staff member. Perhaps he would even offer him a raise in salary. He was not really looking forward to his conversation with Rolf, and he glanced at his watch. 2 a.m. Jansen suddenly noticed how tired he was, and emptied his second beer with one gulp. But as he lay in bed his thoughts were in orbit. He did not go to sleep until 3.30 a.m.

He had set the alarm clock at 8 o’clock. Precisely at that moment it tried to wake up its owner. At 8.15 Jansen succeeded, with a bit of a hangover and very tired, in getting up to put himself under the shower. After a short but refreshing shower his thoughts slowly became clear. He even allowed himself a second breakfast just so he could think everything through once more. Actually his stomach was totally sluggish, he even felt scared of his own courage.

To be certain of his decision he decided spontaneously to ring Julia, so at least once he would have spoken about it with somebody. Decisively he took up his mobile and dialed her number.

After what felt like a waiting time of five minutes he finally heard her voice: “Hello, Marc, how are you? What’s up so early in the morning?”

“Hello Julia, it’s good that I’ve got you. Is this a convenient time to speak? “

“Yes, no problem, but what’s so important? You sound so het up.”

Then he told her in general lines of a project assignment where he was to jump in spontaneously. That he had to go first to Thailand, but he didn’t know how it would develop and for how long it would go, but that it was a big international purchase project for which he would be engaged as an adviser.

Finally he revealed the whole truth: “Julia, to put it briefly the offer is very good, actually I’ve already decided to accept it, but I hope you can put my last doubts to rest. On top of that, I like you and we’re together, so I wanted to include you in the decision. Maybe I’ll then be a few weeks on route and how the business with the project will develop I don’t know yet.”

At the other end of the line there was at first silence, then he heard Julia groan: “My goodness, Marc, you’ve really ambushed me with this. It’s really very sweet of you to have been thinking so much of us, but I don’t want to stand in your way. I like you too, so I want you to be happy. Hearty congratulations on your new job. When you come back we’ll have enough time for ourselves. We could celebrate your departure this evening. Come up with some nice suggestion and call me again later, okay?”

Marc suddenly felt perceptibly lighter; a burden had been shifted from his shoulders: „Julia, I’m so glad you want to go with me along the road. I’ll get in touch later about this evening. Sorry, but now I urgently have to go to the office. Love you, till then.”

Quickly he packed his things and rushed out of his flat. Toward 9.30 he finally reached the office. After sending Victor the report as his first task, he wrote his resignation and went with mixed feelings with it to Rolf’s office. On the one hand he was in a good humour and felt already freed from the dull daily routine of Technology News Research; on the other hand he knew exactly what he owed Rolf, and how Rolf would react. As expected, Rolf reacted in an agitated way and was hopping mad.

His resignation did not suit him and came as too much of a surprise. „Marc, how come you want to resign? I don’t understand it. I’ve always tried to be fair and accede to your wishes. As well, you’ve done excellent work. I need you here.”

The whole thing was almost embarrassing for Marc. After all, Rolf had in fact helped him then and given him a chance. He was aware that Rolf was sometimes under pressure and as the proprietor certainly had a heap of problems. But now it was about his future. He had to stay hard. “I know all of that, but please let me go. I’d like to leave with good feelings. I hope that’s okay with you?”

„No, but of course you can go. I can’t keep you here against your will. Hand over your current work to Sebastian. And talk over it with him. In the meantime I’ll inform the personnel manager’s office. You’ll have to sign a dissolution contract. We’re offering you immediate resignation without a gratuity. You’re foregoing all contingent claims. Apart from that you’ll get a good reference. But I personally expect that you’ll soon ring and make contact. I hope you’re not going to our competitors?”

“No,” Jansen gave a brief answer. “I’ve got a advisory contract on an international purchasing project. The contract is very well endowed and the project is for me an exciting challenge. I can’t say any more, but I will get in touch.”

„All right then, lots of success, although I find it bad form that you’re resigning right now. You could’ve said something. Surely you’ve known about it for quite a while?”

„No. Otherwise I’d have informed you earlier.”

“Okay, since you’re obviously in such a hurry let’s start with the handing over. I’ll have Sebastian come too. Meanwhile bring here the important documents from your office.”

Right on 12 Jansen rang Victor and confirmed his acceptance of the offer.

Victor was perceptibly glad. “Welcome on board. Please go tomorrow to Berlin Grunewald to our office. Try to be there at about 2.30 p.m. You’ll be expected,” he added quickly. Then he had to catch his plane.

At about 4 p.m. Jansen carried his private things out of the office. Before that he had said goodbye to everybody personally and by e-mail. He chucked his goods into the car and drove in an almost indecently good mood home. He had even succeeded with an abrupt decision to book by internet a room in a quiet hotel on the Baltic Sea coast so he could celebrate a great evening with Julia. They had agreed to meet at Marc’s place at 5.30. That left him enough time to get onto a few things for a picnic on the beach, and to pack a blanket and clothes and toilet articles for the night. Since Julia had meanwhile had left a few clothes and bathroom articles at his flat for spontaneous overnight stays, he simply packed those things in a bag. Punctually at 5.30 Julia came. Shortly before 7 they reached the hotel parking lot and started with a walk along the beach. They wanted then to eat dinner in the hotel and restaurant “Brodtner Ufer”. Quickly Jansen clicked on the packed backpack and they set off tightly embraced. Jansen did not mention that he had booked a room for the night there. On the way they found a quiet stretch of beach in a small bay. Julia spread out the blanket they had brought with them while Jansen opened the bottle of wine and unpacked a selection of Italian variations of almond biscuits. Then they let their gaze take in the dark blue sea. They enjoyed the view of the many sailing ships and watched the ferries setting off for Sweden. On the neighbouring fields the last canola was blossoming and cows dozed chewing their cud on the pastures. Lost in thought they listened to the repetitive consonance of the waves and the small breakers. The sun was still shining but it no longer had the strength to warm them. Finally they wrapped themselves in the blanket and drank the last portion of wine. When finally Marc let it be known that he had booked a room in the hotel, they decided to go there immediately. Julia was enthusiastic, and under the blanket they could hardly keep their hands off one another. Full of anticipation they checked in at last and went to their room. Since it was in the meantime a little after 9 p.m. they decided to eat in the room, and for that they straight away ordered two bottles of a light Portuguese vino verde. When the room waiter knocked on the door at last to bring the meal, Julia had to flee into the bathroom because she was already stark naked.

But Jansen quickly called out, “A moment, I’m coming,” while he hastily put on his trousers and T-shirt.

With his foot he kicked Julia’s things under the bed, adjusted his hairdo with a look at the hall mirror and finally thought he was ready enough to open the door and accept the meal.

Scarcely had Jansen closed the door again than Julia came out of the bathroom still naked and asked cheekily: “Should I help with setting the table; I have an idea how we could enjoy the dessert.”

With those words she weaved her way past Jansen, hopped onto the bed sprawled seductively between the sheets. A romantic candlelight dinner was now out of the question. Marc could not get rid of his clothing fast enough, so great had his excitement become. When at last he succeeded in taking off his trousers again he slid into the bed and pulled Julia close to himself. Before five minutes had passed the two of them were united, and Marc in desperation had to try to relax and think of something else. He was about to have an orgasm and definitely wanted to draw it out. Unfortunately Julia too did not need long, and he felt the coming explosion. Then they came to a climax at almost the same time. Exhausted and contented they sank onto the silky sheet.

Next morning they returned to Hamburg. Jansen said goodbye to Julia. His penis was sore and he did not want to arrive late on his first work day for his new employer. Arrived back in his flat, Jansen changed his clothes and packed things for a week and set off at 10 a.m. in the direction of Berlin.

Punctually at 2.30 he parked his car in front of the old town villa in Berlin Grunewald and rang the doorbell.

 

2

 

 

There was a buzzing and Jansen pressed the wooden main door open. It had on it many decorations and small glass windows. Curious, he walked up the creaking old stairway. The office was on the second floor.

When he had arrived Victor’s secretary opened the door for him. She gave him a friendly greeting and said, “We’ve prepared everything. I’d like to introduce you straight away to Lana de Vries. She’s waiting for you in the conference room. Later Martin, Roman, and I will join you. Those two you already know from our previous collaboration.”

At the same moment the door of the conference room opened up and a woman walked out. When Jansen saw her he was speechless. In front of him stood one of those women in whose presence he always felt helpless. He could not help staring at her. She was about 1.70m tall, had long black hair, slightly curled, which she had with some effort bound at the back to make a plait. Her face had a faintly Asiatic cast and her deeply dark brown eyes beamed at him. A body-hugging short black fitted dress and tight leggings completed the picture. Then he pulled himself together and introduced himself: “Marc Jansen. I assume you’re Lana de Vries. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

 

 

 

GLOSSARY

 

Quantum computer

A quantum computer or quantum calculator is a computer whose function is based on the laws of quantum physics. In contrast to the digital calculator it does not work on the basis of the laws of classical physics or IT, but on the basis of quantum mechanical states, and that essentially goes beyond the rules of classical theories. Processing of those conditions occurs according to quantum mechanics principles, e.g., the so-called quantum entanglement.

 

Quantum entanglement

Quantum entanglement is the name given to an effect that apparently allows two or more particles to influence each other without passage of time over any special distance. Although that behaviour is widely understood in the framework of quantum physics, it goes contrary to our intuition. One possibility of creating complex states of entanglement is to make a great number of photons interact on each other. However, as soon as there are more than two or three photons involved it becomes enormously difficult. Here quantum technology faces a really big challenge.

 

Qubit (Qbit)

Qubits (or Qbits) form the basis of quantum computers in quantum IT. The Qubit plays a role analogous to that of the classical bit in traditional computers: it serves as the smallest possible memory unit.

 

Quantum points

A quantum point is a nanoscopic material structure mostly made of semiconductor material. Charge carriers (e.g., electrons) in a quantum point are so limited in their ability to move in all three special directions that their energy is not continuous but can take on only discreet (finite, countable) values. Hence quantum points behave in a way similar to atoms, but their form, size, or the number of electrons in them can be influenced. Hence electronic and optical properties of quantum points can be configured. One method of producing that is lithography. The quantum point is ascribed to a substrate by means of electronic rays, a scanning microscope or something similar, and subsequently released through a suitable etching technique.

 

Quantum teleportation or “beaming”

Quantum teleportation is the transfer of quantum conditions with the help of an instant alteration of state of quantum systems entangled with each other. For a complete transfer of a quantum state it is necessary to have also an interchange of information between sender and recipient in the classical manner (with maximum speed of light). A team under the Viennese physics professor Anton Zeilinger teleported the quantum state of a photon from La Palma on the Canary Islands to neighbouring Tenerife, over a distance of 143 kilometres. The interesting detail is that thereby satellite-based quantum communication is within reach. But for teleporting objects or even living things the technique is not suitable. True, researchers have already succeeded in sending not only the properties of particles of light, but also those of atoms. But “beaming” of human beings, as happens in Spaceship Enterprise, will probably remain for the time being within the realm of science fiction. As is well known, a human being consists of a huge number of atoms which, into the bargain, would have to arrive at the target in their original arrangement.

 

 

Nanolithography / informational nanolithography

Nanolithography is the description given to processes that are chiefly suitable for creation of structures with dimensions of a few nanometres. Among those are, for example, electron-ray and informational nanolithography. They are employed where a structuring by means of conventional photo lithography is not possible, and are meant in future to replace it in the production of integrated switching circuits. Informational nanolithography is a nanolithographical process for financially economical production of nanostructures by means of a nano-structured stamp. Informational nanolithography is applied in the production of electronic and opto-electronic components.

Informational nanolithography is used for the production of two- and three-dimensional organic or semiconductor nanostructures in optics, electronics, photonics, and in biology. Applications in optics and photonics are optical filters, polarisators, or e.g., photonic circuits. Quantum wires and points are of interest for optic semiconductor elements such as lasers or diodes.

 

MRAM

Magneto resistive Random Access Memory is a non-volatile memory technique that has been developed since the 1990’s. In contrast to traditional memory techniques, such as DRAM or SRAM, the information is stored not by electric elements, but by magnetic charges, i.e., the properties of certain materials is exploited which alter their electrical resistance under the influence of magnetic fields.

The advantage of the MRAM technology is that it is non-volatile that means, the chips retain their stored data even after the switching off of the energy source. Hence electronic apparatuses such as computers can be made that are immediately ready to operate as soon as they are switched on, and do not have to be loaded into the working storage for the operation of necessary data by a permanent storage such as a hard drive. In contrast to established non-volatile memory techniques such as Flash, MRAMs, like traditional DRAM/SRAM, can be written on practically an infinite number of times. So MRAM should combine the advantages of the various established memory techniques and thereby point to the potential of the so-called universal memory which could replace DRAM, SRAM, and Flash.

At the moment the firm Everspin Technologies is the only commercial supplier of MRAM memory chips. Almost all other big memory producers, such as Samsung, Hynix, etc., have announced they will invest in development and production of MRAM.

Because of their high price MRAMs are utilised in the first place in industrial systems to protect against critical loss of data. Typical applications are control systems for storable programs (SPS), POS/electronic cash, GPS trackers, or as the cache in server systems. Because of their radiation stability MRAMs are more and more used in air transport and space travel.

 

Bootkit virus

A bootkit is a collection of software tools or boot loaders installed in the compromised system after hacking into a computer system to deactivate further security mechanisms of the operation system. So a bootkit is a mixture of boot sector virus and a rootkit. The assumption here is that whoever has the hardware under his control can also have the software under his control.

 

Rootkit

A rootkit is a collection of software tools installed after hacking in a software system of the compromised system to conceal future logins by the intruder and hide processes and files.

The purpose of a rootkit is to conceal malwares from antivirus programs and the owner through a disguise. Since a 100% recognition of rootkits is impossible, the best way to remove them is a complete reinstallation of the operating system. Since some rootkits are hidden in BIOS, even that method does not offer a 100% certainty of removal of the rootkit. The boundary between rootkits and Trojan horses fluctuates, though a Trojan horse has a different procedure in infecting a computer system.

 

Backdoor

Backdoor describes a part of a software (often installed by the author) that enables users, without the normal access safeguards, to have access to the computer or to another protected function of a computer program.

Examples are universal passwords for a BIOS or special software (usually secretly installed by a Trojan horse) which allow distant access to the computer. Backdoors make it easier for the hacker to have access to existing or already compromised systems, for example if a shell is started, or when a login question is asked for a certain network portal.

 

DDoS

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is the description in IT of the non-availability of a whole number of systems which really should be available. Although there may be various reasons for the non-availability, DDoSs are usually described as a consequence of overloading of infrastructure systems. That can be caused by unintentional overloading or by a malicious attack on a server, a calculator, or other components of a data network.

DDoS attacks, such as SYN flooding or the smurf attack, overburden the access to the internet, the operating system, or the services of a host with a bigger number of questions than can be processed, and as a result regular questions cannot be answered or only very slowly. Examples are WinNuke, Land Attack, Teardrop Attack, or the Ping of Death.

Denial-of-Service attacks are nowadays being offered for sale by cyber criminals, for example to damage the competition. Malicious DDoS attacks are often carried out with the help of backdoor programs or similar ones. Those backdoor programs are usually installed by computer worms on insufficiently protected processors and they then try independently to infect further processors in the network and so to build up a botnet. The bigger the botnet, the more likely it is that the attack will penetrate even against well protected systems.

 

 

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 20.04.2015

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