The join between her forearm and the new hand section was seamless—it was impossible to tell where she had taken damage. She lifted her hand to her face and squeezed it into a fist. She opened it to examine fingers, and when she was certain all the nano machines had crawled inside, she rested her arm on the table. She was a bit leery of this new technology still, and didn’t want to accidentally loose any of the nano machines into a world unready for them, even though she knew it was essentially impossible for the technology to escape her body, let alone reproduce on any sort of exponential scale.
“Those things still disturb the heck out of me every time I see them,” Jairlin said. “It’s like creepy crawlers coming right out of your skin. Doesn’t that bother you at all? That you have all these tiny, squirming things living under your skin?”
“No,” she said. “Strangely, it’s almost comforting. Natural even, like a part of who I am, or who I’m supposed to be anyway. It’s not all that different from a human body, which is inhabited by all sorts of microorganisms, both inside and outside, not all of it as beneficial as my nano machines.”
“I usually try not to think about my gut flora,” Jairlin said.
“Just as I don’t think about my equivalents,” she said.
“I wonder if you can use them as a weapon?” Brinks said. “I mean, imagine if you rested your hand on someone’s face, and ordered the nano machines to rearrange it?”
“They’re designed not to harm living tissue,” Rhea explained. “One of the failsafes the Ganymedeans programmed in.”
“What’s to stop you from simply absorbing an entire ship and making it your body?” Will nodded at the three-dimensional handprint in the wall. “The same way you turned that section of metal into your new fist. Am I correct in assuming the nano machines can self- replicate?”
“You are, but that’s where the second failsafe comes into play,” Rhea explained. “There’s an iteration limit built into the machines. This limit prevents them from reproducing past a set number. Basically a check the Ganymedeans put in to prevent the tech from running amok and devouring their whole moon.”
Miles seemed unconvinced. “So you say. But how can we be sure the failsafe is working?”
“Because you’re not dead yet,” Rhea stated.
DragonHunter sat back. “All of this begs the question: what if these nano machines can be hacked, and their failsafes disabled? Theoretically, you could cause the end of the world. It’s a dangerous technology.”
Rhea stared at him in shock, because in that moment she realized what weapon was used in the Great Calming. It wasn’t conventional explosives or nuclear weapons, it was nano machines run amok: programmed to terminate after reaching a certain radius and level of destruction, selectively wiping out cities across the planet.
She wasn’t sure how she knew this, or why, but it meant there was a chance she had indeed participated in the Great Calming.
If that was true, she reminded herself she wasn’t that person anymore. She could never do such a thing, not now.
“What’s wrong?” Miles asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
She forced a smile, and when she realized her hands were shaking, she hid them under the table.
Will leaned in. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “I just… I guess seeing those nano machines made me feel kind of queasy after all.” She turned her attention back toward DragonHunter. “So. You said you had news?”
“Yes,” DragonHunter said. He glanced upward. “Have you activated the Faraday cage?”
She nodded. “No signals are getting in or out of this room.” She was used to this behavior from the hacker. He was very paranoid when it came to signals security.
DragonHunter slumped slightly in relief at her words. “Okay. Good.” He swallowed. “So then, the news. I already have Khrusos’ ID.”
Will arched an eyebrow. “Really? I’m surprised you were able to contain your excitement. You have a predilection for showing off to the Warden here. You know, proving how good you are and all.”
“Oh, I am excited, believe you me,” DragonHunter said. “But also wary.”
“Yeah I know, you like your Faraday cages,” Will told the hacker. “Well anyway, congratulations, that was a quick ID extraction.”
“You hire the best hacker, you get the best,” DragonHunter proclaimed. “Khrusos routes missives through the parliamentary network at least three times a day, so his ID wasn’t hard to track down.”
“Have you pinpointed his location yet?” Rhea asked.
“I have. Get this, Khrusos doesn’t even live on Earth.” DragonHunter leaned forward. “He’s staying as a guest of the Paramount Leader Qui Fon Chin, in the presidential palace on Mars!”
3
It took Rhea a moment to process the news. “As a guest, or a prisoner?”
Horatio exchanged a pointed glance with Will. “That would explain why the policies of the United Settlements have been slowly aligning with those of the Martians and Chinese over the past several years. He often praises the Martians in his nationwide addresses, pointing them out as a prime example of sustainability.”
“You think Qui Fon Chin mind-jacked him?” Will asked.
“It’s certainly a possibility,” Horatio said. “Though I have a feeling Khrusos is there of his own free will. He was last sighted in person on Earth fifteen years ago. He might’ve moved to Mars any time since. Everyone wants to live on Mars, after all, though few can afford it.”
“What’s so special about Mars?” Rhea asked.
“It’s a utopia compared to Earth,” Brinks said. “As Aradne is to Rust Town, Mars is to Earth.”
DragonHunter shrugged. “The Mars domes aren’t any better than Aradne, honestly.”
“Maybe so, but at least Mars won’t be running out of water anytime soon,” Will said. “I can understand why
