MIAQUANTUM MAGIC

A Science Girls Squad book

AND THE

Copyright Solenne and Pauline Le Billon 2020

Solenne and Pauline Le Billon assert the moral right tobe identified as the authors of this work.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names,characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work

of the authors' imaginations. Any resemblance toactual persons, living or dead, events or localities is

entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,

without the prior permission of the publishers.

ISBN: 978-1-7773666-0-5

Find out more about the authors and the Science Girls Squad at

www.science-girls-squad.com

1

This book is available under a Creative Commons License CCBY-NC-ND. You can download and share the book, as long as

you give credit, but the book can’t be altered or usedcommercially in any way.

1

About the Authors

We are two sisters, aged 16 and 12. We really love reading,and we love science. We’re on a mission to inspire girlsabout cutting-edge science and technology, like artificialintelligence, quantum computing, and robotics.

About Science Girls Squad

Girls’ interest in science peaks before 12, and declines afterthat. Science camps aren't accessible to everyone. Andthere aren’t many books out there for younger girlsinterested in science. So we wrote a series of adventurebooks featuring girls exploring the amazing world of scienceand technology. The books feature diverse characters with“girl power” attitudes.

Narrative fiction is easily accessible to girls no matter wherethey live. It engages their imagination in an inclusive way,and catalyzes their interest via the “near peer” effect.

The books are free for anyone to download. Go ahead andshare! Or, if you would like to explore working with us toincorporate these books as part of your science outreachcurriculum, please get in touch!

https://science-girls-squad.com/

The school bus rumbled to life, and Mialooked out the windows as they rolled downthe street. 

“I’m so excited, Jada!” Mia exclaimed. She’dbeen waiting for this class field trip forweeks. 

“I know! I can’t wait to see all the coolequipment!” Jada said, grinning.  "I'm stilltrying to figure out what quantum is, but I'llguess we'll find out!"

3

Quantum Experiment In Progress

NO ENTRY

“Back in your seat, Mia!” said Ms. Raynolds, theirteacher. All the kids turned around and looked.

“Oops!” Mia exclaimed, looking a littleembarrassed. Jada grinned at her and theyerupted into a fit of giggles. 

The school bus finally came to a stop and theclass started chattering excitedly. 

“Hey look, there’s the lab!,” Jada exclaimed. Mialooked through the window, and smiled as shesaw the giant building, with huge glass windowsgleaming in the sun. 

“Line up! Everyone line up!” Their teachershouted above the class as they filed out of thebus into the parking lot.

“Don’t forget anything on the bus!” the teacherreminded them as she starting leading the lineinto the building.

““Come on Jada, let’s go!” Mia exclaimed, asthey walked toward the entrance.

4

The class walked in through the huge doubledoors. Ms. Raynolds pointed up at thehanging globe hovering above  them in theatrium, and the students murmured indelight. 

“Q-Wave Lab is at the forefront of quantumphysics research,” the tour guide explained.

Mia had read all about the famous lab in herfavourite science magazine: Science GirlsSquad. The magazine was full of articles bygirls her age who wanted to share coolinsights about science. It was Mia’s dream towrite for the magazine one day. She hadbeen sending them articles for months, butso far they had all been rejected.

The tour guide began telling the studentsabout the different scientists they wereabout to meet.

Mia stared off into space, only half listening.As the tour guide started walking forward,Mia began trailing behind.

5

Quantum Experiment In Progress NO ENTRY

So far, the visit didn't seem very interesting.Mia had been hoping to see some researchor an experiment in action. Jada wanderedcloser to the guide and Mia found herselfalone at the back of the group.

Just then, a sign caught her eye: ‘QuantumExperiment In Progress - NO ENTRY.’

The sign was on a small door on the far wall.As Mia looked more closely, the door movedslightly. Was it open?

Mia walked a step closer.

The group had rounded a corner, out ofsight. Mia thought she might as well take alittle peek inside the room.

She opened the door and gasped at whatshe saw inside…

Quantum Experiment In Progress

NO ENTRY

6

The room was huge, the ceiling far above.

Computer screens flickered on the walls. Inthe middle of the room stood atransparent, circular chamber. On it waswritten “Quantum Teleporter.” 

Mia looked around the rest of the room, butit was strangely empty. How could this bean experiment in progress if nobody washere?

8

As she slowly approached the teleporter, lightson the floor lit up wherever she stepped.

She stopped close to the glass wall. It beganto glow, and a hidden panel slid open, hissingquietly. 

Mia leaned forward excitedly as wordsappeared on the clear material of thechamber: “Welcome, Quantum Explorer. Areyou ready to begin your journey?”

A glowing ‘Ready’ button appeared in themiddle of the teleporter.

Enthralled, Mia stepped forward into thechamber. She hesitated just a moment, butthen told herself that this kind of journey couldbe the type of story she could write about inthe Science Girl Squad Magazine.

She let out a deep breath, and pressed thebutton...

9

Lights spiralled and glowed, and a breezeswept Mia’s hair around her face as shesqueezed her eyes closed.

As the wind settled, she slowly opened hereyes.

Soft, pulsing purple lights glowed on the wallsof the room. Something felt different. Verydifferent.

She brushed her hand against the teleporterand its panel opened. Cautiously, she lookedout.

Mia looked around, but saw nobody.

“Hello?”

10

“Hello,” said a robotic voice. “Welcome, traveller.Here is your helpful guide to the Space Stationand quantum computing. Inside, you will findanswers to common questions.”

A small shiny pamphlet floated in the air just infront of Mia. She slowly stretched out herfingers. The pamphlet dropped into her hand.But before she could open it, she heardanother voice. 

“Welcome to Space Station Callisto, located1,170,000 miles from Jupiter,” said a cheerful,friendly voice.

12

Mia spun around, searching for the source ofthe voice. Just then, a floating round ballshimmered in front of her. Mia reached out,but it danced away from her fingers.

“Hi, I’m Quantum Particle E89Z657439, but youcan call me Q for short!” said the glowingball. "Actually, I'm not really this size. I'm tiny.This is a projection so that humans can seeme."

Mia felt odd talking to the ball as it jiggledrandomly around the room. But, not wantingto be rude, she introduced herself too. “Hi, I’mMia. Nice to meet you, Q! I just have a quickquestion. Did you say we’re near Jupiter?”

“That’s right! Space Station Callisto is one ofthe Milky Way’s finest quantum teleportationhubs…or will be soon. Final preparations arestill being made on Earth, where most of ourpassengers will come from. You are our firstguest! No one told us you were coming,actually.”

“I'm...uh...advance testing!” Mia exclaimed. “I’dlove to explore your Space Station, but canyou help me get back home after?” 

13

“Yes, of course,” Q said, “but you’ll have tolearn the basics of quantum teleportationfirst.”

Mia frowned. “Um, I don’t know a lot aboutquantum stuff. And I have to be back at thelab in time before the school bus leaves!”

No problem,” said Q. “Follow me!”

Mia frowned some more. But the shimmeringball floated off down a hallway. Just before itdisappeared around a corner, Mia jumpedup. “Wait for me!”

Q led Mia down the hallway to a widearchway. As she walked through the arch,Mia stopped and stared.

Before her stood the most breathtaking viewof the stars she had ever seen. The wholespace station was composed of enormouswindows that let people inside view thegorgeous Milky Way.

Q bobbed alongside Mia, but then all of asudden disappeared. Mia turned aroundslowly, but Q was nowhere to be seen.

14

Hurry up!” said Q, from the other side of theroom.

“How did you do that?” said Mia.

I’m teleporting. I can do that because I’m aquantum particle! I can only do it when you’renot looking at me, though. If someone iswatching me or trying to measure how Iteleport, it doesn’t work!” Q said, glimmeringmore strongly. He looked almost proud, Miathought, then shook her head. How could aquantum particle have feelings?

As they reached the starry arches, two giantdoors opened. Mia found herself in a circularroom with walls transparent walls. She couldsee Jupiter, and the whole Milky Way!

Suddenly, numbers flickered on the walls. Onesand zeroes started streaming down like awaterfall, going faster and faster and theneventually slowing down to a trickle.

“Pick one up!” said Q. 

One of the zeroes turned red. Mia picked it upoff of the screen. It felt warm to the touch. Shewalked it over to a desk.

15

"Try tickling the zero!” said Q! Mia brushed itgently with her fingers, and another zero onthe far wall lit up and giggled.

“They’re entangled! This means that even ifthe particles are apart, what happens to onewill still affect the other!” said Q!

Mia tickled her zero again. The other zerogiggled even louder.

“In order for quantum teleportation to work,there have to be entangled particles spreadbetween your original location and yourdestination!” said Q, as it hovered closer toMia, stopping right in front of her face.

“When you teleported from the lab to here,there were entangled particles at each place!In order for you to get home, we have torecreate that," Q insisted.

"But how?" said Mia, puzzled.

"Um, I'm not sure," said Q. His light dimmed.

"Let’s go back to the teleportation room andsee if we can figure it out.”

16

Q led Mia back down the hallway to theteleportation room. Mia was excited to see ifshe could figure out how to operate theteleporter. Could she get herself home? 

At first, Mia just stared at the buttons. Therewere a ton of them. She looked at Q, whoshimmered--almost as if he was smiling.

Then, he pushed a small red button under abig screen, which flashed with bright light as itturned on. A full map of the space stationappeared. 

18

“Plot journey back to Q-Wave Labs, Earth,” saidQ.

The lights on the screen flickered anddisappeared. A calculator popped up, and thenumbers began flickering by. The screenglimmered with numbers as it calculated Q’srequest, and then responded with:“1,679,354,218 options to get to the labs! Doesnot compute!”

Q looked confused. He asked the questionagain, only to get the same response. Q’s lightdimmed for a moment.

“How do we choose which option to take?”said Mia.

"I don’t know… “said Q. "But they’ll all bring youback to Earth, right?"

“I guess…,” said Mia, a little doubtful. "But what ifI ended up far away from home?" she asked,as her heart sank.

“Okay, how about you just pick an option?Try....option 1,329, 417, 820!” said Q.

19

“Uh, if you think that’ll work,” said Mia. Shestepped into the chamber and pressed thebutton that said ‘Ready’ as soon as thechambers doors slid closed.

A keypad appeared on the transparent wall ofthe chamber. Slowly, Mia pressed the numbers:1,3,2,8,4,1,7,8,2,0.

Wind swirled around her and Mia closed hereyes. She opened them again…and foundherself still in the teleportation room.

“I’m not sure what happened,” sighed Q. 

“I really don’t want to miss my bus home!” saidMia.

“Hmmm… I know!” said Q, and his light flickeredback again. “We can get the help of the SpaceStation’s quantum computer!”

“What’s that?” asked Mia. 

“A quantum computer is a really specialmachine that can solve problems way fasterthan normal computers can!” said Q.

20

“Could it pick the best option from all of thosechoices?” asked Mia, a little doubtfully.

“Totally! Quantum computers can calculatehuge numbers. By using a quantumcomputer, we’ll be able to choose the bestoption to get you home! Now come on, let’sgo find it!” 

Mia followed Q down the hallway, draggingher feet. This sounded complicated. Was itreally going to help her get home?

21

Mia and Q walked down one flight of stairs, andthen another, and then through so manyhallways that Mia lost track of where they were.At each turn, beautiful views of the starsbeyond opened up, but Mia had lost interest.How was she going to get back?

As they walked, she caught of glimpse of roomsbehind the many doors. Labs, swimming pools,training rooms, and what look like a cafeteria.Mia stopped dead in her tracks outside thedoor of the hanging garden--the greenhousesmelled just like home. 

"Come on," nagged Q, swooping in circlesaround her head until Mia reluctantly startedwalking again.

23

Finally, Q stopped at a room with a door thathad a sign that read: ‘Headquarters.’

Entering the room, Mia was greeted by arobotic voice: “Hello, I’m the space station’sCaptain, Athena, Callisto’s resident quantumcomputer," said the voice.

“Hi Captain Athena. I’m Mia."

"Good to meet you, MIa," said the Captain."How can I help?"

"Q told me that you could help me get backhome to Earth. There are a lot of routes tochoose from, and apparently you are reallygood at calculating really hard problems!”said Mia.

“Q was right! As a quantum computer, I cantotally help you! Let me get started,” saidAthena. The robotic voice sounded almostcheerful.

Mia allowed herself a small smile.

“Are you sure it will work?” she whispered toQ.

24

“Yes,” he whispered back. “Quantum computersare way more powerful than ordinary ones.They store information in a quantum form, insomething called qubits. Qubits help you domath much faster than normal computers. Thisprocess will only take a few seconds.”

Mia waited, holding her breath. Would it work?

“"Computation completed. I have calculated theoptimal solution!” announced the captain.

“Wow, that was so fast! So, what’s the bestroute?” said Mia suspiciously. The quantumcomputer had given the answer really fast.Maybe too fast?

“I’ve inputted the coordinates into the quantumteleporter already! All you have to do is stepinto the chamber and head home. Have a safetrip back, Mia,” said the captain.

“Thank you so much Captain!” exclaimed Mia,deciding to keep her doubts to herself.

They retraced their steps through the SpaceStation, back past the hanging garden andthrough the starry hallways. 

25

Arriving back at the teleportation room, Mia feltexcited to go home, but also nervous. Wherewould she end up?

“This has been an amazing visit, Q. I’ll miss you!”said Mia.

“I’ll miss you too Mia,” said Q. “But, since I’m aquantum particle, I might visit you occasionally,since I can teleport!”

“Oh!” Mia exclaimed, “that would be so fun!Alright, here I go.”

Mia stepped into the teleportation chamber.The door sealed, and a voice announced“Destination: Q-Wave Labs, Earth.” 

Mia felt a wave of doubt. Q said that quantumcomputers were fast. But Captain Athena hadsolved the problem in less than a minute. Whatif the answer wrong?

There was only one way to find out. With onelast wave at Q, Mia pressed the ‘Ready’ button,and felt the now-familiar breeze sweep her hairback. The lights spun, and Mia closed her eyes.

26

Mia opened her eyes slowly. She took in thehigh ceiling and the computers on the walls.She was back in the room where she had firststarted her adventure in.  The quantumcomputer had correctly calculated how toget her back home!

Mia smiled to herself. This trip to the lab hadended up being even cooler than she thoughtit would be!

She peered cautiously out of the teleporter.Nothing looked different. Careful not to touchany of the buttons, she slipped out of themachine and ran to the door.

28

Mia stepped into the hallway, and turnedtowards the entrance. There was her class! Sheslipped into the back of her group, just as theteacher was thanking the tour guide forshowing them around. 

“Where were you?” asked Jada. 

“You’ll never believe it! Somewhere amazing,”Mia said. As she started to explain heradventure, Jada’s eyes grew wide. 

“No way!” she said. Then, her eyes narrowed.“Areyou sure you’re not just pranking me?” she said.

“Of course not!” said Mia. She put her hand intoher pocket, and pulled out the pamphlet.

“Welcome to Space Station Callisto,” read Jadaout loud.

“Where is that?” she asked. “Well,” said Mia, “it’sright next to Jupiter.”

Jada looked at her in disbelief. “Jupiter?” sheexclaimed. “Sure…”

29

Mia handed over the pamphlet. Jada startedreading, doubt on her face. But then Mia sawsomething on the wall behind them.

"Jada...look!" Mia pointed at a poster. Jadaturned, and read the words out loud: "COMINGSOON! Quantum Teleportation visits to CallistoSpace Station. Book your tickets now!"

The tour guide saw the girls pointing, andwalked over. "We'll be launching Callisto visitsnext month. Everyone is so eager to try it out, wealready have a waitlist that is over a year long!"

As the guide walked away, the girls looked ateach other in silence. 

Back on the bus, Jada handed the pamphletback. She waited until the chatter grew louderas the bus pulled away, and then leaned overto whisper to Mia: "You know what? You mightfinally get published in Science Girls Squad!”

30

APPENDIX

Hey there reader! Want to learn more aboutquantum teleportation and computers?

The Information Age

As you readers may know, we live in a timecalled the: INFORMATION AGE. This is because weshare and use a lot of information in our lives.Books, memes, videos, tweets, and texts are alldifferent types of information. Computers storeand exchange information.

Classic Computers

Digital information is usually stored as zeroes andones which we call  BITS. Eight bits = a "byte" ofinformation. This type of information is calledCLASSIC information.

The computers that we use every day (laptops,cell phones, tablets, and smart watches) dothings with information. For example, computersstore and transmit videos, pictures anddocuments. Or they can do math calculations.These types of computers use classicinformation, and so are called CLASSICCOMPUTERS.

32

Quantum computers

However, there is another other type of computer.This is called a QUANTUM COMPUTER.

Quantum computers store information usingQUBITS! (Q-bits). Qubits are different thanclassic bits and bytes.

Quantum computers use something calledsuperposition. While bits can only be in twostates (zero or one), qubits can be in multiplestates. In other words, qubits can besuperimposed. This means that quantum statesare stacked on top of one another, and can storeinformation more efficiently. (To give a simpleexample, imagine a library where you have to putall the books on the floor, one by one (CLASSICALcomputing) versus stacking the books one of topof each other on shelves (QUANTUM computing).

This means that quantum computers can holdmuch more information than classic computers.

Q-bits are super cool because they aren’t onlystored by computers, but also by single atomsand electrons, which are tiny particles that formthe basis of everything in the universe!

33

Quantum entanglement

One of the differences between classiccomputers and quantum computers is thatmultiple qubits can exhibit quantumENTANGLEMENT. Quantum entanglementoccurs when two particles become linked.Whatever happens to one immediatelyaffects the other. This ability to affect eachother continues even if the particles areseparated, regardless of how far apart theyare. Albert Einstein called this "spooky actionat a distance".

Quantum teleportation

Quantum TELEPORTATION is possible becauseof entanglement!As of today, only quantumteleportation of quantum information (like theexact state of an atom or photon) can betransported. However, scientists hope to beable to quantum teleport entire objects andmaybe even people in the future.

Learn more

Check out Science Girls Squad atwww.science-girls-squad.com.

34

MIAQUANTUM MAGICA Science Girls Squad book

www.science-girls-squad.com

AND THE