NanoSymbionts

by Joseph Philbrook

  Jake, who had stood next to the fireplace watching Steve's efforts with a bemused look on his face, answered immediately.

  “Surely you jest!” Jake said.

  This of course brought an immediate, though somewhat strained bit of laughter from everyone.

  “Actually you won't need it,” Jake added. “You've set up the damp wood and kindling so well that this will almost be like cheating.”

  With that said he produced the lighter that Steve Fontane had given him. He placed it next to the kindling and shot a jet of burning hydrogen into it. The small twigs fairly burst into flames and before long they had a roaring fire.

  Ellen began the preparations for another stew. Sue took a quick inventory of what they had. Then noting that absolutely nothing was dry, she called for everyone's attention.

  “As you know,” she began. “We are all drenched to the skin. And while we have plenty of wood for a couple of cook fires, It's simply not enough to keep the fire lit all night. And it's going to get cold and damp tonight. So I think we need to use the fire while we have it to dry out some blankets. And of course ourselves. Which will work a lot better if we get out of our wet cloths. But since it doesn't seem like anyone has anything dry to put on... Well lets just say I'm glad nobody is too bashful to get naked in front of everybody else.”

  As soon as she stopped talking Sue began undressing. They were soon all sitting in a semicircle around the fire while Ellen whipped up a passable stew out of some of the smoked meat and the last of the vegetables she had brought from the ranch. Then she surprised them with a form of fresh sourdough biscuits that she had “baked” in a covered pot.

  “I'm sorry,” Ellen apologized. “But I'm afraid we're out of proper bread.” Then she lifted the cover off the second cast iron pot. “I hope these will do.”

  Jake, who alone wasn't at all surprised, commented after eating his.

  “The rolls are delicious Ellen,” he said.

  Sue, who along with Steve and Tom were only mildly surprised that the rolls they suspected she had in the covered pot were made from fresh sourdough, inquired.

  “You didn't seam at all surprised Jake?” she asked.

  “That's right Sue,” he replied. “But with my enhanced senses I've been smelling that sourdough ferment since we left the ranch.”

  “So let that be a warning to all of you,” Sam suddenly said. “Don't ever bother trying to hide anything from my boss. He sticks his nose into everything.”

  As he finished saying that, Sam managed to produce a loud, long and as they all soon discovered, pungent flatulence. Jake made exaggerated waving motions with his hands as if they might actually make enough of a breeze to affect the air quality. While he did so he countered Sam's assertion.

  “But if that were true,” Jake countered. “I'd have smelled that coming.” Jake paused long enough to display an obviously contrived grimace. “Seriously though Sam. If you insist on modifying your nano-med packets to actually promote intestinal gas, I'm going to have to intervene.”

  Sam considered this for a moment.

  “But that would be breaking your word about messing with my mind or body with your nanites, wouldn't it?” Sam asked.

  “That depends,” Jake retorted. “On how I intervene. There is, for example, nothing in that promise that would prevent me from sending a nano-pod to cling to your short hairs and ignite the next one. Of course your nano-meds could heal the damage, But not until after you've already found it a real pain in the ass.”

  “On a less aromatic subject,” Jess spoke up. “I think it's high time we all bed down for the night.”

  “About us all bedding down Sue,” Jake interjected. “I think your boys deserve the night off from guard duty. I'll be posting some nano-pods to scout the parameter anyway.”

  “Alright Jake, I guess that will do for tonight,” Sue agreed. “Just be sure they know to look for the two biggest threats in these parts, wild dogs and poisonous snakes.”

  “By the way people,” Sue added as an afterthought. “I suggest we all remember to get around to getting some sleep tonight. The trail from here to the bridge at Shiptown won't quite take all day. But it's got some treacherous spots. And it simply won't do for us to be groggy from lack of sleep.”

  Chapter 26 Surprise Attack

  Cindy woke up refreshed. She pushed Stephanie out of bed with an impish grin. She was disappointed to see that Stephanie managed to land with her feet under her crouching form.

  “You'll have to do better than that if you expect to catch me off balance,” Stephanie said.

  “Damn it! I miss Jake,” Cindy replied. “He would have at least pretended that I caught him off guard. Oh well, I'm thinking of going shopping today. Want to come?”

  Stephanie shook her head.

  “Actually I promised Al that I'd spend some time with him today in the pool and/or jacuzzi today,” Stephanie said. “Are you sure you don't want to join us?”

  Cindy thought about it for a moment. Then she shook her head.

  “Actually that is a tempting idea,” Cindy acknowledged. “Especially if half what I've heard about his stamina is true. But I really want to hit a few shops. Maybe I'll join you later.”

  After Stephanie left, Cindy took a quick shower and got dressed. She decided on the brown and turquoise nano-leather outfit. Which Sam had designed to vaguely resemble a stylized version of something that a very nontraditional, ‘wannabe’ might imagine that a Native American teenager would wear. That is if she was wanton enough. It's main components were a short wrap around leather skirt with painted decorations, a leather vest festooned with rows of turquoise beads and a leather halter top with decorations matching the skirt. The outfit was completed by a pair of knee high boots laced up the sides and a shoulder bag that matched the vest.

  Cindy went out through the kitchen door into the main roof's screen room. Then she took the ramp from the backside of the roof to the short path leading to the crest of the hill. The secure gate accepted her palm print and she quickly made her way to the upper parking lot. Where she had started keeping the modified jeep that Hillside provided her with. It's turbine engine quietly provided more than enough power for her to bounce along the unpaved private way at a speed that would have terrorized her just a few weeks ago. In all it took her nearly three quarters of an hour to drive to the shopping district of the small mountain community.

  She parked her jeep in a public lot and began walking from one shop to another. She almost felt like she was being wasteful of Jake's new fortune. To spend over a hundred dollars on a pair of shoes that were only going to be destroyed to provide a template, for Sandra to replicate from nano-materials but then she recalled just how big his new bank account was. She didn't bother carrying packages from one store to the next. Instead she cheerfully paid extra to have all her items delivered to her at Hillside.

  When she left the third shop, Cindy noticed that a tall man with short black hair, appeared to be following her. She looked around carefully when she left the fourth store but the tall man wasn't there. Cindy relaxed a little. She thought she might have lunch at a quaint looking seafood dinar she had noticed earlier. As she walked towards it however, she began to feel like she was being followed by a short blond man but he kept walking when she stepped inside the seafood joint. Cindy found her seafood lunch a little disappointing. She wanted fried clams but the menu clearly said clam strips. When she asked if they had any clams with the bellies intact, the clueless counter help didn't even seem to know they came that way. At this point she settled for the scallop plate. Which she decided tasted good, even if they were a bit tough.

  When she was done eating she looked up and down the street but she didn't see either of the men that she had thought might be following her. Cindy decided that she was just being paranoid. Which wasn't too surprising, given the things that Sandra had told her. Nonetheless, she decided to cut her shopping trip short and headed for the jeep. She almost got there.

  When
she turned the corner she could see her jeep. It was parked right where she left it. On the near end of the public parking lot. There didn't appear to be anybody around as she approached the small cluster of parked vehicles. Then suddenly without warning the rear cargo door of the small rent-a-truck that was parked next to her jeep burst upwards. Two men jumped out and tried to grab hold of her.

  The short blond man was slightly faster than his taller accomplice. He was taken completely by surprise when he found himself sailing through the air, landing in an awkward position on the hood of her jeep. The taller man had a split second warning that she wasn't as helpless as they had thought. He evidently also had some martial arts skill. As when she tried the same tactic with him, he was able to use his legs to rebound off the side of the jeep and aimed a vicious blow at Cindy's head. He wasn't prepared however for the speed with which she blocked his punch. Nor for the sudden impact of her compact fist as she countered with a blow that rendered the tall man unconscious before he hit the ground.

  Suddenly her nano-tool interface issued a warning that almost came to late for her to snap on an energy-shield. The short blond was pointing a small multi-beam weapon at her. The look of surprise on his face as he realized that the neuro-stun had failed to render her unconscious was, in Cindy's opinion, ‘priceless’.

  Her blond opponent decided to retreat. Cindy started to pursue him but after a short distance she thought better of it. So she returned to her jeep. At which point she noticed that the tall man was gone. She decided to return to Hillside and talk to Sandra about the attack. Cindy climbed into her jeep and started back. Twenty minutes later, she had almost reached the dirt road that led to the back gate. When she found the road suddenly blocked by a fallen tree. That's when she saw the rented truck rapidly approaching from behind.

  That was also when her nano-tool interface warned her of a high energy field emanating from a spot just beside the road. She jumped out of the jeep on the opposite side just in time. Her defensive screen would probably have prevented the high intensity shockwave that hit her jeep from killing her but it's not likely that she would have remained conscious. Without wasting any time, Cindy ducked into the woods behind her and began a cross country run towards Hillside.

  As she ran, Cindy activated a stealth device. Which should confound most remote sensor systems. Then she began a zigzag course that took advantage of the natural cover. Before long however she became aware of rapid pursuit by something that had no trouble following her path.

  This in spite of the fact that the stealth device she had activated used a small army of dedicated purpose nanites that absorbed the molecules of her scent and dampened the sounds of her passage. As well as disrupting any remote sensor signals. Additionally, her path should even be obscured from the unlikely pursuer that could detect the nanites themselves. Because rather than leaving a trail of them behind her, they emanated in all directions from the spot where she had activated the device.

  In fact Sandra had told her that even a questor would have to work at it to track her. She moved as quickly as she could without breaking cover. Which, as a Sister of Rebirth, was actually quite fast but not fast enough. She felt something slam into her back as a pair of hairy arms griped her like a vice. Her attacker clung to her as they both tumbled to the ground. She tried her best to dislodge it but she could not.

  She felt it's hot breath on the back of her neck as it's hands wrapped around her neck and began to choke her. She could hear footsteps and a soft beeping sound approaching as she fought to remain conscious. Her vision was beginning to cloud over when she saw the tall man and his blond accomplice enter the clearing. Before vision faded out completely however, she saw the expressions on their faces change from a form of gloated satisfaction to sudden alarm. As a broad shouldered naked black man burst into view and took them both down with a flying tackle.

  At the same time she felt the grip on her throat suddenly loosen and fall away. She woke a few moments later just in time to see Stephanie pulling her staff out of the dead body of an apelike creature. Her staff had impaled the creature. Entering it's body through it's anus, and continued up it's now smoking body until it burst through the top of the creatures skull.

  “What the hell is that thing?” Cindy asked.

  As the creature's body began to rapidly dissolve, Cindy noticed that Stephanie was just as naked as the well endowed man who she now recognized as Al.

  “That abomination was a nano-whiffer beast,” Stephanie spat out venomously. Completely ignoring the Hillside armed security breach response team that had just arrived. “Whiffer beasts were genetically engineered by the old guild to track down those they deemed to be criminals. Then when the cybernoids took over, they used to enhance them with a specialized form of nanite designed to help them locate nanite enhanced quarry, such as those who eventually became the questors of the new guild. Since then, some of the very worst kind of intergalactic bounty hunters have begun to use them.

  But I'm afraid this is something far worse than that. You see the nanites my staff pumped into that beast should have been able to stop it's own nanites from destroying the evidence. Unless of course they were up against guild nanites. And even then they should have been able to report that they were losing the fight. Since they failed to do even that, I have to conclude that the nanites in that creature were actually supplied by a questor.”

  “I'm afraid that Tweedledee and Tweedledum here won't be telling us much either,” Al spoke up. When they looked up they saw smoke escaping from the ears and other orifices in the heads of both men. “It seems they also had some kind of destruct mechanism. Whoever was really behind this abduction attempt wants to stay anonymous.”

  “That's my assessment also commander Eastman,” one of the black uniformed guards responded. “Team two reports that the attackers didn't leave any useful clues at the remains of Miss Kincade's jeep. They are commencing cleanup operations now. Nice uniform by the way.”

  “Yeah well I was engaged in an off duty recreational activity when my playmate detected the problem and came running,” Al replied. “It's a good thing we didn't stop to dress or we'd have been too late.”

  “I'm not sure how you got here before we did,” the armed guard responded. “We had to track those two from where Miss Kincade ran into the woods to get here. I don't believe you came that way. Care to tell us how you located her?”

  “I tracked the same two idiots remotely,” Stephanie interjected. “Then it was a simple matter of plotting an intercept course.”

  “I might have known you'd have something to do with it Miss Zigman,” the guard replied. “I don't suppose you'll ever tell me how you did that with the equipment you brought with you. So I won't ask. Though I'd like to mention that I like your uniform a lot better than Al's.

  Now however, if Miss Kincade isn't in need of medical attention. Would you two mind escorting her safely back to Hillside. So we can commence cleanup operations here.”

  “Who the heck were those guys?” Cindy asked as she followed Al and Stephanie back to Hillside.

  “Their part of an elite organization that provides certain perimeter security services for Hillside and several Micronic Enterprises locations,” Al explained. “Under normal circumstances you'd never know they were there. They can be trusted to keep our secrets and to help keep us out of the evening news by cleaning up incidents like this. Even so, they don't know that any of us actually came from another planet. Nor anything about the underground base. So don't tell them.”

  “Don't worry, I won't tell them a thing,” Cindy said. “Though I'd like to know why he called you a commander Al?”

  “If you must know, my brother and I are part time security officers at Hillside,” Al replied. “We are also liaison officers to the perimeter security teams that surround Hillside. We are usually the ones to give them their marching orders and to tell them who not to pester for hanging around the perimeter.”

  “Thank you two for running to my rescue b
y the way,” Cindy said. “But how did you know I was in trouble anyway? And come to think of it, why were you so naked when you got here”

  “Actually I planted one of Sandra's nano-toys on that jeep when it was first assigned to you Cindy,” Stephanie explained. “It was part of a matched resonance tracking device system. The other half of the device, which was in my staff, went nuts when that shockwave weapon trashed the jeep. Fortunately Al and I were busy sexercising with a rope tether in the side yard at the time. So the fastest way for us to come running was to use the rest of the rope to scale the hill. Then we hopped the fence and made a beeline through the woods to get to you.”

  ***

  “So much for secrecy,” Sandra began, with a shake of her head. “Still this is why I offered you the nano-enhancements in the first place. I wish I could be sure if Steve or for that mater Jake, now that he's taken command of Hillside, will let me continue to supply you with them. But you may as well tell Jake about it when he gets back. It's not likely that your immunity to that neuro-stun beam will go unnoticed by whoever sent those thugs. And while the way you defended yourself in town could be written off as just martial arts skill. The way you evaded the vibro-shock weapon and the distance you covered before that damn whiffer beast caught up with you will be more than enough to convince them that you must have advanced nano-toys at your disposal.

  I doubt they will underestimate your defensive capability again.”

  “Maybe not,” began Cindy. “Don't forget none of my attackers survived to report such things.”

  “I wish that was the case Cindy,” Sandra said as she shook her head again. “But someone had to fell that tree and fire that shockwave weapon. And it couldn't have been one of those two jerks. They were behind you in the van. Besides, neither of them could have been the whiffer beast's handler. Or you wouldn't have made it out of town.”