I'm often asked to explain the details of how the kvantovaya mashina smerti, the Quantum Death Machine, in QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) worked. While all of what was disclosed in the book is true, at least to a lesser scale, I must admit to using it as a MacGuffin. For those who haven't heard that term before, a MacGuffin, is some goal, object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues, usually with little or no narrative explanation, often that is actually not central to the overall action or story. Okay, so how does the Quantum Death Machine Work? 

First, consider the word "quantum," which literally means a measure. In the world of cosmology, the cosmos is really big. In the world of quantum physics, a quantum is generally really small, so small that it can appear to violate the usual laws of middle-size, everyday physics or cosmic-sized physics. For example, here's what I imagine a quantum dinner to look like:


If that got a good laugh, then consider this: A very tiny quantum object, like, for instance a fundamental building block of matter, a quark for example, might constitute only three thousandths of a proton. If you're talking dinner, this isn't dieting, it's extreme dieting taken to it most radical, in concept, like the above quantum dinner. 

Objects of this size have a peculiar quality in that for an instant, they can exist in two places at the same time. It is assumed that in the next instant, they will return to exist as one "normal" quantum at either one or the other location; hence, the possibility of instantaneous "teleportation." It is this quality that Cerebrus Agent Kate Keenan, in her role as the agencies best scientist and computer expert, exploits in resolving the unusual "events" that are bringing America to it's knees. And that's a MacGuffin!