People think this is all somehow connected with Halley’s Comet about to pass by. Brutal random murders are reported throughout the world, missing objects and buildings in any and every city. Strange is what’s happening in the world today. I’ve been using the word strange wrong my entire life. I just got a call from the chief. I’m to investigate the strange now
Dr. Edmond Sor was killed in his hotel room last night and from what I’ve heard over the radio, it’s not an easy scene. I arrive at the hotel and uniformed officers are doing crowd control. Another detective is questioning the clerk, but no one is in the crime scene. The holographic police tape hovers in front of the doorway but the door is shut.
I walk up to the perimeter guard, flash my badge and he stops me.
“Ma’am do you expect me to believe that’s a badge?” He says.
I show him my allergy bracelet.
“You don’t have any nanomites?” He asks.
I shake my head no.
“Most of the officers couldn’t handle the crime scene. That is with their nanomites controlling their brain functions. I just have to warn you, it’s not an easy sight.”
“I think I’ll be fine.”
The uniformed officer’s face goes blank with disbelief he moves his body as if it’s a door on hinges and lets me through. Another detective notices me and starts jogging toward me.
“Heywood, slow up.” He says.
We walk in step together all the way to the door of the hotel room, the detective whose name I’m blanking on right now is blocking the door.
“We took enough notes and photos, you don’t need to go in there.” He says.
“Something could have been overlooked. If you please.”
“A lot of officers aren’t taking this well. Some have already asked for the rest of the day off. Trust me, this isn’t something you want to see.”
“That’s the curse of the detective. Now please move.”
The detective slips away from the door and deactivates the police tape. Once I walk into the room it smells like a gigantic penny and the automatic lights turn on. I thought the room was painted red until I saw that everything in the room was dripping with the same color. Along with the clumps locked under the assumed paint. The entire top half of this person was spread around this room like they were the main attraction of a fireworks show.
Twelve point five million people cannot be injected or implanted with nanomites. It has something to do with the artificial marrow, the artificial stem cells, or both. They haven’t figured it out yet. I never really wanted Nanomites, even when I broke my leg in the twelfth grade, when I get really bad cramps, or when I just can’t sleep. Looking at this crime scene makes me want them for the first time in my life. I can’t control my anxiety or stop myself from gagging. His bottom half is still sitting on the bed as if nothing happened. Like he was still watching television and checking his emails. Which was the strangest thing about his room, there wasn’t much technology in it.
The t.v. was gone, the hotel phone, his phone, the hotel computer inside the room was gone. The shower, toilet and sink interface was gone, the HUD mirrors as well. The only personal belongs of his in the room where his shoes, socks, pants and underwear. No keys, no wallet, There are some stains on the carpet other than blood. I’m looking under the dresser and I see and a lifeless eyeball staring at me as if it still in the man’s head. I hop to my feet unable to keep my head about me. I run out of the room and I puke behind a squad car.
“You see what you needed to see?” The detective asks
I wipe my mouth and stretch my back. “Did you notice that most of the tech in that room is missing?”
The detective puts both of his hands up has if he’s holding a ball. To me he looks like an idiot but he’s actually going over evidence in his natural memory. Micelles have stored recent memories and he can release them to relive a full recall memory. His hands drop.
“This couldn’t have been a robbery. Why blow him to pieces and then steal stuff?”
“Who is this guy?” I ask.
“Edmond Sor. He’s out of state, we called his wife and she couldn’t tell us why he was in Chicago. Must have been having an affair.”
“Anything else?”
“No, ma’am.” The detective says.
“Have we got his blood work run?” I ask.
He puts his hands up again.
“We don’t have his post-mortem blood work.”
“Put that at the top of your list and send it to me when you get it. I have to get out of here.” I say.
I write my report at home and email it in. I can’t get that room out of my head, it’s not the pieces I saw but what was missing. We didn’t find his heart, lungs, not even a piece of his intestines. They say those are thirty-five feet long, and we didn’t find a speck of it. The chucks just happen to be balls of skin stuck in the wall from when he exploded. Skin shrapnel as it was referred in another detective’s report.
With the magic of e-mail I now know the detective’s name from his email address. Isaac Schenck. He just sent me Sor’s blood work and it’s just as I suspected, he doesn’t have any nanomites in his blood. It’s time to follow my lead. I take a quick shower to compose myself and head to Kojima Technology.
The main floor of the building isn’t busy at all. My footsteps echo through the empty building. Standing at the welcome desk is detective Schenck, he gives me a slight wave that doesn’t past his waist. I get to the welcome desk and give my thumbprint as a time stamp.
“I thought you could use the back up.” He says.
“You know we work for different precedents. I don’t think that’s how backup works.”
“No other officer is touching this case and you dove in head first. That’s something that I want to be around. Will you let me help you?”
“I’m sorry but I don’t remember when we met.” I say.
“The Robinson case, the suicide made to look like a murder. How did you know she faked her death?” “
Her mother told me that an heirloom necklace was missing and I got curious. You just need to do the work and the rest will follow.” I say.
A representative of Kojima Technology is walking toward us from the elevator bank. He stops an arm’s length away from us.
“Welcome to Kojima Technology, how can we be of assistance detectives?”
“We’d like to speak with Dr. Aristides Bergeson.” Schenck says.
The representative puts their hands up and stands there for a minute. They put their hands down.
“The doctor is free and has time to answer any questions you may have. Please follow me.”
We follow the representative to the elevator bank and get into the first one that opens. Once in the chamber starts to rise to a floor, which floor I do not know. Most objects in the world are made of nanomites. With nanoimprint lithography everything works in unison. The road sends information to the tires, the tires send information to the car, that car sends information to the surrounding cars.
Like this building we’re in, these two have melded with each other and the building due to the magneto lithography the new nanomites are using. When people meet they trade nanomites and when they trade information comes with them. It is depending on the type of nanomites as well. Some can send memories, skills, upgrades, there is no limit.
The elevator stops and we exit onto the twenty-seventh floor of the building. We continue to follow the representative until we reach a door with the name Dr. Aristides Bergeson laser-etched into the door. The door slides to the left and we take this as a sign to enter. The room we enter is an office and in the corner of the room sitting in a chair is the doctor.
We stand before the doctor waiting for him to exit the chair. His eyes are staring blankly at the ceiling. He blinks and now the functioning human being is behind the wheel. He wipes his face with his palm in a downward motion and stands up.
“I’m Dr. Bergeson, what can I do you for?”
“I’m detective Heywood and this is detective Schenck. We’re currently investigating a murder and we are in need of your expertise.”
“I thought the police already knew how to use micelles to pull up video to see a person’s last memory.”
“It’s not that. We need to know if there has been anything strange going on with the nanomites.” I ask.
The doctor looks around the room as if the ears in the walls have grown eyes as well. The doctor gets a sudden blank stare on his face and snaps out of it as soon as he got into it.
“I’ve closed the window on us. I don’t know how long we have so I’ll have to be quick. The nanomites are out of our control. Everything is connected, the murders, the missing objects, the disappearing buildings, all of it. In the fifty years since everyone has had nanomites everyone who is on this planet now has already had everyone else’s nanomites inside of them.
“Along with the upgrades the nanomites have been getting they have evolved into something we could have never dreamed of. The nanomites are self-aware, even more so than us. They have created a nanonet. They’re using our bioelectricity to support the connection throughout the world. Current nanomites are five micrometer in size, they’re most likely stretched over most oceans to support the connection over great distances.”
“How is this connected to everything?” I ask.
“Because nanomites are everything. My only hypothesis is that they have gathered all the information they can from us and they are ready to move on.”
“How are the nanomites able to do this?” I ask.
“Everyone is born with their parents nanomites, these are non-active nanomites and they aren’t activated until your first immunization. Once they are activated they start to replicate and modify themselves for sporification. The nanomites in your blood turn your nanobeads into nanoflilters below your nanopores. So when the nanomites leave the body from sweat and breathing, they can spread to multiple people instead of one unlike the first generation models. This would explain why you wouldn’t have found any nanotechnology at the crime scene.”
“How did you know that?” I ask.
“I hacked his nanomites and he had already hacked your mobile and downloaded your case file.”
“You what?”
“Let me explain.” Schenck says.
I put my hand up to his mouth and he knows not to speak. I point that same hand to the doctor and he knows that is notification to speak.
“The nanomites have been gathering to a specific area. I don’t know what they are planning next.”
“What is your best guess doctor?” I ask.
“Everything I can think of we lose in each scenario. I don’t see us coming out on the other end alive.”
“How are you tracking the nanomites?” I ask.
“I’ve been following their ionization trail with a few satellites, but it knows I’m following it and loses me. I’ve already downloaded the frequency to your computers. I think my time is up. I’ll try my best to contact you again.”
Dr. Bergeson demeanor changes and we take notice and play along. We compose ourselves
“Is there anything else I can help you with detectives?’ Dr. Bergeson asks.
“Nothing that I can think of detective Schenck.”
“I think we have everything and we have your contacts. We’ll be in touch.”
We walk away from the doctor and I can’t help but think that was all a dream. This strange experience is traveling all around my mind. I can’t understand what I’ve just learned. A system of nanomachines is violently exiting people in order to become one single mass. Even with all this new information I still don’t have a single clue on how to stop it, let alone really know what I’m going up against.
Schenck and I are standing in the parking lot and once we are both stationary I step in close toward him putting my leg behind his and trip him. I pin him on the ground with my forearm in his throat and my knee in his groin.
“What this about you hacking into my mobile?”
“I just wanted to be caught up to speed. We don’t have time for me to play catch up.”
“If that’s so do you think you can get clearance to ask for a satellite search?”
“Let me stand up so we can find out.”
Once Schenck asks for clearance to host a satellite search the feds step in. While we were chasing our lead a green nanotechnology town with a population of two thousand disappeared, floated away like snow picked off a mountain’s peak by a heavy wind. The only reason we were still connected to the investigation is because we hold the only lead. The frequency of the nanomites. They assume that the nanomites are trying to stay cool while performing their operation systems.
We’re in a trailer that is fitted out with the latest and greatest nanotechnology. Everyone is connected into a pod and is doing god knows what in them. Well they all know I do not. I don’t know how everyone else interacts with the world. I’m staring at Schenck right now and I know he can’t see me. He’s out in the ether gathering all the information I asked him to. He comes back to his senses with a bodily move that mimics a sneeze. He sits down in the only chair in the trailer. He stares at me.
“What do you know?” I ask.
“I found everything I could on maintenance of nanomites, from what I gathered it seems they run fine by themselves. They don’t need any kind of temperature to operate. That would put them anywhere on the planet, but they’re generating a lot of energy.”
“Where did we lose them in our tracking?” I ask.
“In the Atlantic ocean in-between Spain and France.”
“Can you track there now?” I ask.
“Yes, and I’ll keep an interface up, just type in what you want me to do.”
Schenck puts his hand in-between his head and his face looks like he just died. I can only interact with his interface through my mobile. I text him to check the rivers in both countries, he texts back all clear. He checked every ancient catacomb, alcove, mountain, and still nothing.
Just when I’m stuck in my thought Schenck was just sent a message from the feds, the Franz building in New York is flying into the wind bit by bit. I told him to follow that trail to the ends of the Earth. A game of cat and mouse on the molecular level is like none other. The nanomites keep disappearing in the same spot between France and Spain. That’s when I realized that they must have been traveling farther with the body of water. I told Schenck to continue the search in the Mediterranean. I see his eye twitch and I ask him why.
“I found something strange. There is a lot of seismic activity happening in the Tyrrhenian Sea.” He texts.
“What’s so strange about it?”
“I found them.” Schenck says.
He sends me the coordinates and a photo of the place. I look at the label, Stromboli Volcano, the lighthouse of the Mediterranean. He’s sent this information to all the other pods and they have already compiled their data. The nanomites had been gathering in hydrothermal vents. Why? We don’t know. What we do know is that the mass is getting bigger by the second and we’ve only just discovered the problem.
Schenck and I have been flown, drove, and in all kinds of transport to a location underground. If I wanted to guess where we were my best guess would be Earth. We’re monitoring the mass under the volcano by physical computers. These computers have nano-resistors, they’re made out of a material with a photolithographed pattern so nanomites can’t pass through. Every egghead in the room is sitting down not doing a thing because they don’t know what to do.
The collection is getting faster, town after town, city after city. A terrifying game of roulette, when your number is called the unbias wind takes you away. Spreading you particles like a condiment across your own last meal. The building we are in is being pulled apart. A majority of the scientist are feeling the effects. They’re getting dizzy and exhausted.
We keep hearing the word missile strike and we go to investigate this outrageous claim. By the time we get to the commanding officer Dr. Bergeson is shouting at the commanding officer.
EMP won’t even work against them, and you think some missile will stop it.” He looks over his shoulder and doesn’t double take. “You couldn’t even find it without these two and your best idea when you get to it is attack it?”
“This thing has already hit multiple targets, killed countless around the globe and has crippled the infrastructure of countless countries. We are responding to an attack.” The officer says.
“This is why I gave these two the lead because they would at least listen. It is collecting nanomites of all kinds and it can’t leave the body due to a program connected into our own self-preservation. Our bodies won’t let the nanomites leave.” Dr. Bergeson says.
“I’m not going to be the one telling people to let go of everything they know and love.” The officer says. “Are you saying that we have to let the nanomites leave our bodies willingly?”
“It’s the only thing I can think of.” Dr. Bergeson says.
“What will happen when all the nanomites merge?” The officer asks.
“I wish I could tell you.” Dr. Bergeson says.
“You want me to do this all on a whim? You need to be certain that this will work. Don’t come back in this room until you know what to do.” The officer says. “And you two, what the hell are you two doing here anyway?”
“Bathroom?” I say.
Dr. Bergeson, Schenck and I are sitting in a dining room going over everything we know right now. We stop trying to think of the end goal of the nanomites because we have no idea about what they can do, let alone what they want to do. Dr. Bergeson stands up and screams. He puts both of his hands in front of his face. It doesn’t seem he’ll be popping out of that trance any time soon.
“He said that we have to consent to the nanomites leaving us right?” Do you think I would be able to meditate them out of my body?” Schenck says.
“What good do you think that will do us?” I ask.
“To find out if it’s even possible.” He says.
Schenck slides onto the table and sits in a crossed legged position. His face is different in this natural trance. His brow flexes and his eyelids twitch and rumble. I can see beads of nanomites pooling out of his forehead, Schenck looks like a fish fresh out of water. His shirt is already damp and a nickel sized circle of nanomites is hovering just before his brow. Schenck can’t focus on it anymore and falls from his seated position.
“Isaac.” I shriek.
I catch his crumbling body and lay him on the table as if it was a bed. Just as I’m about to perform chest compressions on Schenck, Dr. Bergeson snaps out of his trance.
“I’ve made contact with the mass. I know what it wants.” He says.
Dr. Bergeson has called all the upper echelon to the dining room. They all find tables to sit at. Schenck and I are sitting together, he still isn’t feeling well. Trying to let the nanomites leave was tough business. He keeps fidgeting and mumbling. I can’t stop to worrying. A doctor comes over to us and puts their hand on Schenck. I can see in his face that his pains are being controlled.
“This will be a lot to take in. I don’t really believe it myself but I heard it straight from the horse’s lips, so listen. The nanomites are done with us. They have learned everything they can about us and this planet. They’re moving out and since we don’t have anything they can hitch a ride on they’re leaving by other means.” Dr. Bergeson says.
“On what?” A random voice calls out.
“Halley’s Comet. It’s passing by and they are going to connect with it.”
“What were they doing in the hydrothermal vents?” A different random voice calls out.
“They were collecting Archaea and chemosynthetic bacteria.”
All the eggheads in the room murmur to one another. One scientist stands up.
“Are you telling me that the nanomites are gathering into one mass to travel into space, latch on to Halley’s Comet to start life somewhere else?”
“Yes. They will use Halley’s Comet to travel as far as they can go and then let solar winds and other galactic gust carry them to a planet of their choosing.”
“And we get killed in the process” The scientist asks.
“No, the nanomites don’t know how to leave us without killing us. We have to override our own resisting program to allow the nanomites to leave our bodies.”
“How do we do that Dr. Bergeson?” The standing scientist asks.
Schenck gets to his feet, his first few words are a jumbled mess. He shakes his head and composes himself.
“I don’t think it is something we’ll learn overnight. We will have to prepare the species to be able to do this. Can you contact the mass again? We need their help.” Schenck says.
“How did you connect with the mass?” The standing scientist asks.
“Strangely enough, I emailed it. It’s how we use to run the troubleshooting program in the second generation. I’ll connect back with the mass and ask for instruction on how to separate us. I need all of you to spread the word. Have everyone gather in big open spaces we will need a strong connection. Move everything you need to do this outside, your nanomites need to travel freely.”
A dead stare comes over Dr. Bergeson and we all take that as our cue to act. We hit all the major news channels and sites. The people take our word and begin to gather in open areas. A miniature exodus on every scale is taking place. Dr. Bergeson comes out of his trance he’s surprised to find himself outside in a military tent. He gets up and moves in front of the group.
“The reason we are unable to split is because of the parent nanomites. They’re unable to recognize a dissolving bond. It only has an activation program, they never put in a shut off switch. This next part is tricky, we can reprogram the parent nanomites with a natural EMP. We have to use our own bioelectricity to create an EMP to separate our parent nanomites from the nanomites that are trying to leave.
“We have to locate our endogenous elements and connect them to the correct DNA sequences and lock them into the parent nanomites micelles. Once we do that the mass will be able to pull the nanomites from us with ease.”
“No casualties?” A voice asks.
“No guarantees. This is our only chance. If we are unable to do it this way, the mass will skip the pleasantries and do it the way they’ve been doing it.” Dr. Bergeson says.
We get back on the digital grapevine and inform all of Earth’s citizens on what it should be doing. The mass also told us holding hands would increase our bioelectricity field, which would help increase the chances of finding the correct sequence. If one is able to find it, it will spread through the nanonet and if one knows we will all know.
Our unison mediation creates an eclectic hum from our bodies and our mouths. The human race is now a web of particles, our own bioelectricity is causing all the hair on our bodies to stand on end. We can hear the crackling of electrons and see arches of tiny lighting cross from person to person.
The field isn’t doing anything to me but I don’t think that will last. I find cover under a tree a few feet back and watch the nanomites rises out of the bodies of everyone sitting before me. All the eggheads, military officials, Dr. Bergeson, and Schenck have grey clouds swirl out of the necks like extravagant collars of medieval kings and queens. It’s all collecting into a ball above their heads. Its surface is almost reflective but it’s too hazy to make anything out.
The last of the nanomites have left the crowd and the ball moves seamlessly in its form into the sky. As we continue to stare we see other great globs link up with the main glob. People are trying to pull up their interfaces and nothing is popping up. The grey is growing faster as the minutes go by. I head to the computer screen. Dr. Bergeson and Schenck in a limp run head over to me.
We watch the metallic cloud drift away like a soap bubble toward the Stromboli volcano. The grey dives into the Tyrrhenian Sea like a mirror falling into a mirror. It’s pulling itself up the throat of the volcano, the mass exits the vent like pewter fizz spilling out of a bottle. It hovers above the vent for a few seconds and shoots up into space with a great stretch. The top extends until the bottom had to follow.
Wherever the person meditated is where they sat for a full two hours. We all stare into the sky until it became night. In the contrast of night we were able to see the grey mass catching up to Halley’s comet. We all sit in a trance hoping for our molecular kin to reach its goal. I can’t help but think about what we could have taught the nanomites?
Do they understand love better than us? They’re capable of actions we never even dreamed about, we have clearly been bested by our own creations. We watch the grey connect to Halley’s comet and a new color burns in its tail. Halley’s comet turns in a different direction.
We all stand up and wonder how do we get back to our daily lives. Dr. Bergeson is on the radio telling everyone not to unlock the micelles just yet. The mouth of the feed has been shut but this is no dark age. This is a misstep into a different world. An idea never thought of before. We have just witnessed a new life’s birth before our eyes and I hope we are all wondering if we can do the same.
Words like strange and impossible only speak of the yet known. A new way of life is before us, whatever it is it will be up for all of us to decide. The connection didn’t just allow us to have the nanomites leave, it connected all of humanity into one cognizance for a minute in reality but infinitely in our thoughts. The last gift from the mass was knowledge, they told us everything they knew.
Every cook in the kitchen has a place, the learning curve is straight up and there is nothing no longer in our way. Humanity has seen a path with burden. We don’t know where to start. We are much like the nanomites that have just left. Do they know exactly what they will do when they land on a planet? It’s no longer where do we go from here, it’s how do we start?
Schenck and I are sitting under the tree I was at when everyone was expelling their nanomites.
“I don’t feel different. Is this what you feel like all the time?” Schenck asks.
“I don’t think so. You just have a knowledge drop, your dopamine levels are as high as the mass right now. How are you feeling Schenck?”
“I’d feel a lot better if you called me Isaac.” He says.
“Okay, Isaac. You hungry?”
“Yeah, maybe? What does that feel like?”
“You’ll get using to certain senses kicking back on. The nanomites regulated a lot of bodily functions. Let me know when you feel like you’re going to burst. That means you have to take a leak.”
“What else is there to know?”
“Strangely, so much more.”