  Postulates which lead to Minkowski spacetime are amended in a subtle way, and
used to construct a consistent flat spacetime geometry with intrinsic quantum
character. Events in the new quantum geometry are described by labels of the
form (t, x, s) where t (time) and x (spatial extent) are familiar and s is a
positive integer. Structure-determining parameters for the novel spacetime are
explored in some detail. Particular structure parameters can be shown to
generate equations of mainstream quantum mechanics, and structure parameters
can also be chosen which lead to the appearance of quantum particles as
spatially extended moieties, such as strings. Further elaboration is required
before the new spacetime can be used as a comprehensive basis for physical
theory, however even at the unfinished level a new way of accounting for rest
mass emerges, and it is predicted that future experiments will fail to find
Higgs particles.
