Randomize
By Andy Weir, first published in Amazon Original Stories
After a husband and wife team up to use quantum physics to cheat a casino out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, they make a shady deal with the casino's owner to avoid jail time.
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Plot Summary
Edwin Rutledge, the owner of a lucrative Vegas casino, is informed by his IT man, Nick Chen, that he had to shut off the keno lounge. This will cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nick explains that the device the casino currently uses can be hacked pretty simply, so people could cheat to win hundreds of thousands of dollars. He wants to use a system that utilizes quantum physics to generate random numbers. Rutledge agrees and tells him to install it. Prasant Singh helps Nick to install the new computer system. Prasant sets up a special long-term memory unit. He explains that this computer could still be hacked with numbers chosen by a cheater beforehand. The day before, a woman named Sumi Singh packs her husband's suitcase and makes him food. She is married to Prasant but is much smarter than him; she has advanced degrees in numerous fields. She has always been a genius. Sumi has the same sort of computer as the one used in the casino and entangles it with the one Prasant is taking to Vegas to install. She explains that she has a process for choosing the winning numbers ahead of time using quantum physics, which she does in front of her husband. Sumi goes to Rutledge's casino and places the winning bet using her knowledge of quantum physics and her ability to hack the system. Rutledge takes her to his office and claims to know who she is and that she is married to the computer installer. He calls the police because he believes she cheated. She poses a deal: if he gives her the money and calls off the police, she and her husband will start a technology company that all of the other casinos will use except Rutledge. In a matter of time, they will engineer the technology to fail so that all business has to come to Rutledge, as his casino will be the only one that works in Vegas. He agrees to this con and calls off the police so that he can give Sumi her winnings.
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