Quantum Entanglement Module

“	Sorry Cathy, but you do not understand. Every time we are between Earth and Mars the signal delay to the local cyberspace jumps up to minutes. I am not able to talk with any of my AI friends anymore because the protocols cannot handle cyberspace access with this delay and I am forced back on IRC. You really have to do something about it... please...	”
—Cortana trying to explain Cathy the problem about ‘being offline’

“	Yes, these two boxes... yes, they are a working bidirectional interwave node with the size of a shoebox... NO, you cannot look into the box, that will destroy the quantum entanglement. Please look away so I can demonstrate the effect.	”
—Cathy, showing a Senshi the result of her “blue cat day”

Original QEMs

The first generation of the Quantum Entanglement Modules were the product of a Blue Hair day, boxes small enough to be put into the rear trunk of a car providing a faster than light communication link to a home base.

History

The Quantum Entanglement Modules were built by Cathy with help of her AI friend Cortana to solve the light speed delay the Stargazer had to tolerate on trips away from FTL capable Interwave nodes. After learning that a full blown Interwave node with interstellar range was too large to mount on the Stargazer, Cathy and Cortana started discussing the problem and looking for answers. After a lot of research and failures, Cathy built the first pairs of QEMs after a flash of inspiration in a small lab at Crystal Kyoto in 2013.

Cathy has built three pairs of Quantum Entanglement Modules in late 2013. One was integrated into the Stargazer, the twin module was installed in a small server rack at 476 Hedwig. Another pair is in storage on Crystal Kyoto, the last pair was given to the Senshi Sailors Armed Militia.

Abilities

Each pair of modules allow a digital connection between both with the bandwidth of a modern DSL connection with a similar delay as normal Interwave communication, regardless of the distance between the modules. Each box is a cube of 13cm length, width and height and a mass of exactly 4242 gram. There seem to be no moving parts, the only interfaces is a Gigabit Ethernet connector which has to supply the roughly 1 watt of power for the module too (through power over Ethernet).

Despite their compact size the modules have a few built in limitations:

• Point-to-Point: Each module can only communicate with she corresponding twin module. If one of them is damaged or destroyed, the second one becomes useless.
• Do not look: Looking at the box too long can disrupt communication, opening the casing or trying to penetrate it with a sensor device will destroy both twin modules, leaving only empty boxes containing lots of white dust.
• No Warranty: Quantum Entanglement Modules cannot be repaired if damaged. They have to be replaced.
• Rare one: The modules are difficult to build, so at the moment Cathy has no plans to build more of them.

Trivia

• Cat-Inside: There is a mandatory sticker with a cat on the left side of the module.
• No-Cat-Inside: There is a “no cats allowed” prohibition sign on the right side of the module.
• Hide it well: The modules work best when integrated into a larger machine where it cannot be seen.
• The modules are also called Quantum Entanglement Devices or QEDs.

Catgirl Industries QEMs

“	So you want to know if we are aiming for better data rate, range or size? The answer is yes, we do… all of them!	”
—Cortana about the QEM project

While Cathy did not spent much time on the idea of further development of the Quantum Entanglement Modules, Cortona set up her own private lab to work on them as soon as things settled down on Jenga. The idea of having her own faster than light communication network was too tempting not to work on the technology.

In Mid 2016 Cortana and a small team of catgirls assisting her produced the first new Quantum Entanglement Module. It was an oversized prototype model, but it helped to sort out a lot of strange bugs in Cathy's original design.

The technology quickly absorbed some hardtech ideas how to trap single particles while moving forward, downsizing the necessary containment systems and slowly increasing the range to data rate product. While the Quantum Entanglement Modules data rates went up, the overhead of necessary error correction codes slowed down longer ranged connections.

Still, the delay of Quantum Entanglement Modules were roughly the same as a normal Fenspace Interwave connection.

Catgirl Industries Backbone

Catgirl Industries use a large set of point to point Quantum Entanglement Modules to connect their habitats Jenga and the Little Big Bang Labs with other installations as the factory on 77 Frigga and 125 Liberatrix. Larger ships like the Normandy are normally connected by a single Quantum Entanglement Module to their home port. The larger Deep Space Drones are also connected directly to their home port.

The connection between the Catgirl Industries habitats and the normal Fenspace Interwave was switched to standardized wavetech in 2018, when the techs at 476 Hedwig protested about the common sight of repair teams of catgirls at their server racks.

Project Doorbell

In 2022 a friend gave Cathy a kilogram of Gatemetal. Half of it instantly vanished in the Little Big Bang Labs department for Material Science where the catgirls were looking forward to have a closer look at the unknown material with their particle accelerator.

First results were very confusing and inconclusive. The crystal structure of the material was like nothing the catgirls had ever heard about and the two unknown elements in the matrix made simulation guesswork at best. But over the years the catgirls got a closer look at some attributes of the material.

Since the first pictures of the materials crystal structure turned up Cortana was convinced something very strange was going on in the material. Vacuum fluctuations in certain parts of the matrix don't behave like expected, jumping back and forth between entangled and unentangled states.

Cortana's pet theory is that the crystal is somehow able to form entangled connection to other similar crystals on demand, forming some kind of hardtech communication link. Still, attempts to replicate the effect with available elements are only moving forward slowly.

Trivia

• The new Quantum Entanglement Modules are better than the original ones, but still don't like to be poked by sensors too much. Cortana tends to integrate them deep into blocks of computer hardware.
• Cortana is convinced that the Interwave like delay of the Quantum Entanglement Modules is not a problem of the quantum entanglement itself.