Spheria Read Online Free Page A

and so on. With each ‘one,’ Max blinked the laser on, with each ‘zero,’ Max paused. David completed reciting the whole number 10011001011011101.
    Max ended by locking the laser on. The Qube emitted a pinkish hue. Max said, “The entry speed was important, but David knew that. It’s kind of like Morse Code, beep beep pause beep pause beep. The Qube read the pauses as zeros, so the number was entered as dictated by David. As you can see, the Qube is now emitting a color. The hue is its result.”
    The audience was silent now. Puzzled expressions dominated.
    Max produced a box, similar to an alarm clock, from under the podium. He placed it next to the glowing Qube. “This is a portable spectrum analyzer. It's calibrated to convert ten different color hues into the digits 0 through 9.”
    Max turned it on, and it showed the number “6” on its LED display. “There, the 78,557 th digit of pi is the number six . A traditional computer would take hours to calculate that, as it has to go through each digit in order, one by one. The quantum algorithm we programmed into this Qube can perform that calculation instantly, skipping to just the position we want to know about.”
    The audience began clapping; then they stood. Max smiled ear to ear and blushed. He glanced back at David, who gave him a thumbs-up.
    Max made a downward motion with both hands and said, “please sit.” The audience did so. “And that’s not all. This is just a simple algorithm. The possibilities of this are… endless! I think we could make versions that could simulate the intelligence of insects, or even better.”
    The crowd was moved. Many had begun talking with each other, and the noise level was rising.
    “Thank you,” Max said, but it was drowned out by the voices.
    David got up to the microphone and tapped it twice, producing loud clicks. The audience hushed. “We have a few minutes to field any questions you may have,” he said.
    One woman stood up and asked, “How did you get the germanium atoms to align in an evenly distributed lattice?”
    Max replied, “Good question. As I said, some of this is a trade secret, and that’s one of the pieces I'm not at liberty to reveal.”
    She sat down, frustrated.
    A gentleman stood and asked, “D-Wave costs ten million dollars for one computer. How does this compare?”
    “Well,” Max said. “It's much more economical. However, that doesn’t make it cheap. Diamond, no matter how you make it, is expensive. The exhibit before you cost in the range of forty thousand dollars to create. Much more inexpensive than previous attempts, but still economically unreachable for, say, home users. I was only able to afford this one with the research grant I was using.”
    Another gentleman stood up. “What is next for the Qube? What are you planning to do with it?”
    “Two questions! Well, tonight I'm kicking off a tour of venture capital firms. I don’t have the money to mass produce these, but I do think there could be a large market for them. With the right backing, the company we form could become the next Apple or the next Google. Heck, it could make computers obsolete as we know them today.”
    A woman, without standing, blurted out, “Does this present a danger if it falls into the wrong hands?”
    Max stared at her, not expecting such a question from those who built careers out of furthering science despite any risks. “Well, um, I’m sure they could be used in nefarious ways just as traditional computers could.”
    “So what if terrorists get these? What if the military gets them?”
    “Well, I haven’t thought that through. I'd prefer that the Qubes are used for good rather than evil, just like anyone. But did Glenn Seaborg hesitate when he produced plutonium from uranium for the first time, knowing it’d inevitably lead to an atomic bomb? Everything can be used for good and bad. Let’s just hope the good guys keep winning.”
    Something caught Max’s eye. Among the sea of