I thought I was being smart. “I get it. The above ground lab would hide all that extra electricity DARPA must have been using.”
“No, of course not,” said Grandad. “The DARPA lab had a dedicated nuclear reactor.”
I’m glad the reactor took only minor damage in the lab explosion. Because it was the DARPA lab that was targeted. What happened above ground in the science lab was blowback from the DARPA lab explosion that came up through a secret elevator shaft. The nanites and goo that covered all of us came out of that shaft. We were, literally, hosed with the stuff. All the nanites and goo were DARPA nanites and goo.
Now, we had been ever so impressed with that above ground science lab. Grandad had told us the science lab was working on cutting-edge civilian stuff. That was true.
But now he confessed, “DARPA technology is generations ahead of civilian tech.”
We were all in the process of some sort of change. Grandad hoped, and he prayed, that it was all for the good. Don’t worry, he would be watching over us like a hawk. At the slightest suspicion of a negative consequence, Grandad would get us the best help on the planet. Okay. It was still disturbing.
Nanites, and artificial intelligence, and genetics, and all. The kind of stuff dreamed up by quantum computers. (Note: That must be what happened to Muncle. Sure, the rest of us have some odd gifts. But Muncle especially got hosed down. His cage was close to that elevator shaft. I’m thinking he received the bulk of the nanites and goo.)
***
+ BEGIN TIMELINE DROP.
NOTE: This recording snippet may help with a better understanding of our monkey friend. Evidently Muncle was under investigation as a possible genetic terrorism threat. Ridiculous. Muncle and Para allowed the Drop.
Source: Solcom Special Investigation Case 15-172-135286, ‘Muncle’. This is a review of a prior U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security investigation related to genomic terrorism.
Subject: Muncle, apparent non-human operative of the Shockwave Special Operations Team.
* EVENT RECORDING. SHOCKWAVE AI MONITORING, EXPERIMENTAL. SEPTEMBER 10. <ADAPTIVE INTERPRETATION SOFTWARE ON.>
*** File has been redacted.
* Muncle: “I do. Really, it’s not so bad being one-of-a-kind. It just takes some getting used to.
* Para: “Yeah, all of our team is one-of-a-kind if you think about it.”
* Muncle: “True. And as I think about it, at least I’m not alone, not really. Communal is as much a part of me as old Stripe, the spider monkey. Communal provides an incredible amount of processing power to make Muncle 2.0 happen. I’m always immersed in community, they’re always there in the back of my mind. It must be lonely ... being only an individual person.”
* Para: “Sometimes. Yeah, I guess, sometimes.”
File has been redacted. ***
END TIMELINE DROP. +
***
GIFTS
After all the talk about our nanite infestations, no one was saying much. It was a lot to process. Grandad had gotten his hands on a project list, showing the variety of work that was taking place in the DARPA lab around the time of the explosion. He thought it was only a partial list. There may have been new projects not included on that list. Still, Tom and Bill had their heads together, probably memorizing the listed projects. Para was curling her hair with a finger, no doubt trying to think of other things. I was certainly troubled.
“So, Grandfather,” I said, fists resting on hips. I call him Grandfather on the rare occasion that I am a tiny bit perturbed with him. “What do we do ... now?”
He smiled in an attempt to disarm me. “We do some more testing and analysis of course.”
More testing? He had already done a lot of tests including regular EEG monitoring. At that point he pulled out a weird looking metal headset with all sorts of leads. It had a thick wire harness which was plugged into a large dedicated computer box sitting on a roll-a-cart. He said it was just a very advanced EEG on loan from a friend. We each had a turn as Grandad carefully placed the headset and all those leads, while the machine happily chirped and beeped. He went on to say we shouldn’t worry about all those nanites. Too small to see. We wouldn’t even notice them.
Okay, none of us are stupid. We were aware the ... advanced ... EEG was recording our brain activity. Don’t worry about all those nanites. Yeah, the whole thing was troubling. At that time we still didn’t know about any special abilities. Grandad suggested there might be some small changes, only a possibility. We would figure it out and handle any eventualities. But it wouldn’t be long from that point until we all discovered our new capabilities.
It was time to say our goodbyes. Mia and I walked home. We were drained. To top it off, it had developed into a grey stormy day. Perfect mood setter. I decided to go downstairs to the TV room and watch a movie and try to relax. My folks had recently sprung for a RealHolo3D entertainment system. The vid system was still new and exciting to me. Immersing myself in full holographic imagery and D-base sound. That would be the ticket to forget what all those nanites might be up to as they rattled around in my brain.
Mia opted to wash her hair instead and see if she could comb-out any stray nanites. She must have been kidding about combing out the nanites. Mia knew very well they were too small to even see. I was about 20 minutes into my movie when I heard a creaking and a sudden crashing sound. It didn’t seem to fit with the movie at all. And there was Mia sitting on the floor right next to the couch. I looked up to see a gaping hole in the ceiling through which she had obviously fallen. Not part of the movie then.
I quickly got over my initial shock and ran over to her. “Mia, are
