The insects continued to disseminate across her body, though none of them touched the artificial skin that began above her upper chest. No… they crawled underneath it, concentrating on the metal portions hidden below. Devouring. Transforming.
She zoomed in on a section of her body. They weren’t insects of course, but nano machines. Spiderish, with eight legs, and mandibles that could rip away pieces of metal. On the abdomen, precisely where the spinnerets of a real spider would be, resided an array of lasers and extruders, used for cutting, soldering, and 3D printing. She wasn’t sure what their power source was. The physics behind them were impossible, at least by Earth standards.
The machines devoured her armor, and at the same time printed copies of themselves. These copies went on to do the same, so that they were reproducing exponentially.
The machines were no longer crawling onto her from the pedestal, so she released it. As the servomotors in her knees failed, she collapsed.
She tilted her head to gaze down upon her ravaged body. Her arms, legs and torso caved as she watched.
Veil’s final revenge. It was all a trick.
Her network connection cut out, severing her from the others. She knew it wouldn’t be long before her mind-machine interface failed entirely, and then, her brain.
But incredibly, new arms and legs began to take shape beneath the remains of her old limbs. She realized that while the nano machines were using the metal of her body to create more of themselves, most of these new machines went on to integrate themselves with her frame, forming new circuitry, servomotors, and armor. On a macro scale, they were remaking her.
Her chest slowly puffed out as well, and then in moments, it was done. The nano machines slipped inside tiny vents within her armor, vanishing from view, and then the vents themselves sealed, leaving behind a smooth, skin-like metal in its place.
Her arms and legs were bigger, and sleeker than before, polished to a mirrorlike sheen. Not only that, her severed hand had been restored.
She touched her upper body. She felt the soft, artificial skin of her head and shoulders, which apparently had survived the transformation unaltered. The Ban’Shar around her left hand had also survived the transformation.
Will stood at the entrance to the room. The others were crowded in behind him, with concern written all over their faces.
“Are you all right?” Will asked.
In answer, she slowly clambered to her feet. She griped the pedestal for support.
Will seemed reluctant to come inside to offer her a hand, she noted. She didn’t blame him, after what had just happened.
When she was fully standing, she released the pedestal and turned toward him. The nano machines activated in a ring pattern around her neck. They swarmed out, with those in the lead melted by those just behind, their raw elements smelted and separated to create a glass composite. This process continued, with more and more of the machines swarming upward, so that they 3D-printed a translucent dome around her head. At the very top the machines formed a metal box, completing the seal. The remaining nano machines vanished within that box, and oxygen flowed into the dome.
She took several deep breathes, and then the process reversed as the dome began breaking down. In seconds it had vanished, and the nano machines returned into the vents around her neck.
“How are you doing that?” Will transmitted.
She lifted her arm, and it changed shape as the nano machines forged a long blade. She noted that her forearm thinned noticeably—the materials for that blade had been taken directly from her armor.
“I don’t know,” she told Will. “It’s almost… instinctual. It’s like the nano machines inside me are just another organ inside my body. One that’s completely under my control. I’m creating these things by flexing this organ… as I would flex a finger or toe.”
“Muscle memory,” Will said.
She nodded, and the blade retracted, restoring her hand. Her forearm returned to its previous thickness.
“Give me access to your feed,” she said. “I want to look at myself.”
Will did so.
She observed herself from his viewpoint. The artificial skin of her head and shoulders indeed remained intact, so that part of her looked identical to before. But the rest of her… she looked exactly like the other Ganymedeans she had seen in her memories, those who had leaped from the hull of the starship as it burned up during atmospheric reentry. Lustrous, lithe, and highly deadly.
“Your body looks almost like it’s made of mercury,” Brinks commented.
“Mercury is liquid at room temperature,” Rhea said.
“That’s what I mean,” Brinks said. “It’s so shiny… almost like liquid metal.”
“Just like the Ganymedeans,” Miles commented softly.
Rhea continued to admire herself. “I thought at first Veil had betrayed me. But she wasn’t lying. This is indeed a gift.”
“You’ve been upgraded,” Will agreed.
She nodded, smiling grimly. “I’m finally ready.”
“For what?” Will asked.
She could see her eyes glinting malevolently on the video feed. “I’m ready to face Khrusos.”
BOOK 4: Rhea, Will and Horatio return to fight another day in Warden 4, available on Amazon at https://readerlinks.com/l/1054312
Or discover how Will and Horatio first met in the prequel novella, Salvage, available for free here: https://bookhip.com/WBMXLC
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Isaac Hooke holds a degree in engineering physics, though his more unusual inventions remain fictive at this time. He is an avid hiker, cyclist, and photographer who sometimes resides in Edmonton, Alberta.
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Copyright © 2020 by Isaac Hooke
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