The Nano Experiment

by Wid Bastian

  “What about Kano?” Alandreian asked.

  “He has actually adapted quite well to his implants,” Dr. Romero reported. “Physically he’s nominal.”

  “General, I would completely understand if you would like me to separate him from the group. Sergeant Kano has a personality that is difficult to deal with – he’s highly disruptive,” Dr. Leavitt said.

  “Will he be okay?” the General asked.

  “Bodily, yes. So far, so good,” Leavitt answered.

  “Then he stays with us for now. When will you wake him up?” Alandreian asked.

  “In a couple of hours he’ll come around,” Dr. Black answered.

  “Watch this,” Carter said as he bent his legs and jumped, touching the ceiling thirty feet above him with ease before landing gracefully. Then he flipped on to his hands, pressed one arm into the floor and took off again. This time he lightly tapped the ceiling with the soles of his feet before landing with his arms outstretched in a handstand position.

  “Impressive,” Dr. Leavitt said. “Some of you will adapt more quickly than others. It can sometimes take days for the nanomites to express themselves fully. If you feel unchanged, there is no need for concern. That being said, there is one nearly universal reaction to the process, we ha -.”

  “Hunger,” Commander Halverson said, finishing Leavitt’s sentence.

  “Indeed,” Leavitt concurred. Another unmarked door opened in the lab wall, this one was on the opposite side of the control room. “Please move into your living quarters. We can monitor your progress there and take care of all your physical needs. Do not switch sleeping pods. Each of you has been assigned a pod designed to meet your particular requirements.”

  Captain Mason was staring into the mirror. Cassia took notice to the way he seemed to be admiring himself.

  “General, we did not finish reporting. I need to –.”

  “In our quarters, Commander. If I don’t eat something soon, I might pass out before I reach my rack.”

  The soldiers left in an orderly fashion, with only Kano and Hernandez left behind. Medical techs were attending to each of them.

  “She feels nothing yet and there are no visible signs of a transformation,” Dr. Romero whispered to Dr. Leavitt. “A cause for concern?”

  “You saw the monitor. As we suspected the nanomites integrated with her DNA immediately. That has never happened before, even with lower species.”

  “Yes, Doctor. Why then the delay in expression?” Romero asked.

  “That’s difficult to understand,” Dr. Leavitt answered, scratching his chin. “Perhaps they are waiting to bloom all at once. Unlike Carter, Mason or Halverson her complete transformation might be nearly instantaneous.”

  “You don’t mean… in the past when that -.”

  “Yes, Carl. I’m well aware that Cassia may not survive. In fact, I think the odds are slim, but if she does… Schaffer is very excited about her possible outcome.”

  Chapter Six

  “Where are we?” General Schaffer asked.

  “Zero plus thirty seven hours,” Dr. Leavitt replied.

  “Report.”

  “General, most responses are falling within norms. The nanomites are combining with the subjects’ DNA at the optimal –.”

  “I said report, not bore me to death with your scientific jargon.”

  “Sir,” Dr. Black said, taking over for his colleague, “only Hernandez looks to be lost, the rest are progressing on schedule.”

  “Hernandez is deceased?”

  “Not yet, sir. Only you can give the order to euthanize. We have determined that he will not emerge from his vegetative state. A second dose of implants only made his condition worse. I have video,” Dr. Black explained.

  “Let’s see it.”

  “Yes sir,” Dr. Black said. On his hand held controller, Dr. Black dimmed the lights in the conference room and switched on the main video display. What they saw made the General cringe.

  “What the hell is that?” the General asked.

  “Hernandez, sir,” Dr. Romero answered. “There is not much of him left. The nanomites did not combine with his DNA, they destroyed it. I’m afraid this has happened before, sir. Mostly with lower forms, chimps and dogs, but one of the prisoners in the last round suffered the same fate.”

  A large, pulsating ball of cherry red flesh was sitting on the floor of an isolation chamber. There was nothing “human” about it.

  “Does he even have a brain?” the General wanted to know.

  “Very little brain activity is evident. Higher functions are non-existent,” Dr. Leavitt explained.

  “Terminate him, immediately,” the General ordered.

  Dr. Leavitt switched on his hand held control device and typed in a sequence of codes. A few seconds later a light, white gas was released into the isolation chamber. A minute after the gas was released the blob stopped pulsating.

  “I’m calling it. Time of death is 1420 hours,” Dr. Leavitt said.

  “Go for incineration?” Dr. Romero asked.

  “Proceed,” Dr. Leavitt ordered.

  A brilliant thermite flash engulfed the isolation chamber and burned intensely for one hundred and twenty seconds. When the flame ceased, only a small heap of ashes remained. Popping up from an opening in the floor a robotic broom device swept the ashes into a small box. Then more gas was released, this time a decontaminant.

  “Explain to me again how remains are disposed of.”

  “General, those ashes will be subjected to intense radiation bombardment and then compressed into a small titanium container. The container will be stored in a vault underneath this facility.”

  “Very good, Dr. Leavitt. As for the rest of the soldiers, are they ready for their first trip to the demonstration facility?”

  “To the Recreational Pod, yes sir. In fact, I think they are in there right now. Care to go and observe from the Control Deck, sir?”

  “Please.”

  Lieutenant Carter had led the soldiers into the Rec Pod. His body was completely translucent and it shined in a light purple color. While his clothing covered it, all of his internal organs were visible under his opaque skin. He looked like an anatomical chart that had decided to join the world of the living. His strength and agility were remarkable and his fingers and feet exuded a sticky, gelatinous substance. Carter could propel himself against any surface and remain attached to it, no matter how slick it was. Water, oil even the most slippery lubricant were no match for his viscous appendages.

  “I’m anxious to try a flight simulator. The joystick controller in our quarters has no feel, no true relation to real aircraft,” Commander Halverson said as he walked. His physical changes were subtle but very real. The ten pounds of extra fat he’d carried since his teen years were gone. Now he was all muscle. His visual acuity was off any human chart as were his reflexes. His eyes, nose and ears had increased in size by about ten percent giving him the appearance of an awkward teenager whose body was maturing unevenly.

  Captain Mason could only nod in response. He heard and understood every word spoken around him, but he could no longer speak. The strange scale like shells now extended over his entire body. His limbs were still flexible, but his shell appeared to be impenetrable. He was anxious to test the limits of his new body armor.

  “I like it,” General Alandreian said to Cassia as they neared the entrance of the Rec Pod. “It makes you look like a creature from a Greek myth.”

  “It’s really weird. Now I see in something other than stereo. It’s almost like the picture in picture function on a video monitor. I can look in three different directions with all three of my eyes.”

  “What about that?” Alandreian said, pointing to Cassia’s right arm.

  “I’m not sure what’s going on there. It looks almost metallic. Doesn’t hurt but it tingles all the damn time. Very annoying.”

  “I feel like, well, stronger for sure. Younger? Does that make any sense?”

  “I’m feeli
ng something else, sir,” Cassia admitted. “It’s a bit embarrassing.”

  “Still hungry all the time? Devouring everything in sight?”

  “No sir, I feel… aroused. Extremely aroused.”

  “As in you need sexual release?”

  “As in if I don’t get one I might have to hurt somebody.”

  “Don’t look at me,” Alandreian said, laughing. “That would be too weird even for this madhouse.”

  Stepping on to the Control Deck General Schaffer said, “I want a complete update on Cassia, Dr. Leavitt.”

  “As we suspected, we think it is possible.”

  “Think, Doctor, or know?”

  “There is no way to be certain until the event occurs.”

  “We don’t want it to happen; until we can control it, of course.”

  “We will be conducting more tests on her while she is asleep. We’ll know more soon.”

  The Recreational Pod was quite large, fifty by seventy five meters. It was stocked with various types of equipment. Roughly divided into two sections, the northern section contained a full gymnasium including free weights in un-human sizes (up to three tons), a sparring ring, a full sized pool with a deep end extending some twenty meters beneath the floor and strength and agility machines specifically designed to record the performance of each soldier in minute detail.

  On the southern end were the flight simulators and Light Rifles as well as other assorted forms of personal weaponry. The Western Alliance High Command needed to know with as much certainty as possible how acute their Supersoldiers’ senses were and how fast their reflexes had become. They intended to design weapons systems specifically for them to maximize their effectiveness in combat.

  In perhaps the most bizarre mutation yet evidenced, Sergeant Kano’s body had become nearly invisible through any light spectrum, even infrared. Movement sensors kept track of him rather than cameras because they recorded air displacement. Kano also moved incredibly fast, at least seventy five kilometers per hour in short bursts. When the Rec Pod door opened, he ran through brushing by the others like a brisk wind.

  A huge video display showed the actual view of Forged Bay as it existed just a few meters outside the south wall. The illusion was very precise – it appeared as though the Rec Pod had a great view of the bay through a massive window. In reality, the entire Pod, not just the south wall, was several stories underground.

  “Where do we start?” Cassia asked, looking up at the Control Deck.

  “Feel free to explore at will,” Dr. Leavitt said over an unseen sound system. “We will structure your activities tomorrow. For now, the room is yours.”

  “I wonder if I float?” Lieutenant Carter chimed in out of nowhere, dropping his clothing to the floor. He charged off and dove in the pool as the rest of the group stood and watched. A few seconds later he flew out of the water and landed on the surrounding deck. His body glistened in the light, the water making his clear skin look like a plastic coating.

  Mason was the next to dive in. Since no alarms went off, the other Supersoldiers figured the scientists had to be certain he wouldn’t sink despite his heavy scales. He didn’t drop to the bottom, just the opposite – he glided underwater like a sea serpent, easily moving through the water. It was as if he was made for the ocean.

  Cassia walked over to the free weights, followed by Alandreian and Colonel Lancet. “Let’s start small,” Alandreian said. With one arm he picked up a five hundred pound weight and tossed it in the air. He caught it with his other arm before it could hit the floor.

  Lancet was the only one in the group who appeared to be unchanged by the nanomite injection. He had reported no meaningful physical side effects. At the moment, he considered himself to be a washout. He tried to lift the five hundred pound dumbbell, but he could only lift it a few inches before he dropped it to the floor.

  “I’m a bit stronger, but nothing like you, sir,” Colonel Lancet said. “Perhaps…”

  “Yes, Colonel?” Alandreian asked.

  “Hey, are you people listening to us up there?” Gordon Lancet asked.

  “Affirmative,” came the response from above.

  “General, give me a math problem. Something incredibly complex.”

  “Hmm… okay what is one hundred and thirty four thousand times forty five times three divided by six?”

  “Three hundred and one thousand and five hundred,” Lancet said a second after Alandreian gave him the equation.

  “That’s correct, Colonel,” the Control Deck confirmed.

  “I didn’t really think about the answer, it just popped into my head. I’ve been doing things like that for the last twenty four hours. I see equations and answers, patterns as well,” Lancet explained.

  “I guess we know who the genius is now,” Cassia said. “These little machines are amazing.”

  “One other thing,” Lancet said, moving towards an electrical power outlet. “If I die now, be sure to bury me properly.”

  Gordon extended his arm towards the power outlet and when he did a visible flow of electrical current came from the wall and entered his body. A few seconds later the flow ceased with a loud pop – the colonel had evidently fried the circuit. Excited about his newfound abilities Gordon continued to demonstrate his skills. Shaping his hand in the form of an imaginary pistol he pointed his finger at a large free weight and let loose a bolt of energy that hit the metal creating a loud sound, not unlike a thunder clap. He laughed loudly as he said “Bang”.

  “Colonel” the voice on the intercom said in a chastising tone, “you just disabled the power system in a quarter of the pod. Perhaps you could refrain from that particular activity until we can set up a suitable test facility for you,” Dr. Leavitt said.

  “Yes sir,” Lancet said, now grinning from ear to ear.

  “Corporal Parsons,” Cassia said, turning her attention to a tall attractive man who was a few years younger than she was. “Care to go a couple of rounds?”

  “Love to,” Parsons responded.

  Putting on her gear, Cassia did not know what to do with her right hand. Her fingers were now too long for the glove and too sensitive to strike with. So she gloved up her left hand and put on her foot pads. “I only have the one arm if that’s okay with you Corporal,” Cassia said.

  “I’ll take it easy on you ma’am,” Parsons replied, blushing.

  As soon as Cassia began the first round, she discovered how much the nanomites had improved her skills. Already an expert at several martial arts disciplines, Cassia could now combine various styles seamlessly. Her enhanced vision allowed her to focus on the slightest movements and shifts in weight by her opponent. Every shot Parsons threw looked telegraphed and slow.

  At first she concentrated solely on defense. Parsons had become super strong and quick and he was also a hand to hand combat expert, but he was no match for Cassia. She easily fended off his blows. At the start of the second round she let loose a barrage of kicks that Parsons could simply not defend. Rather than embarrass him further, or hurt him, Cassia stopped the match.

  “Thank you, Corporal,” Cassia said, extending her left arm to help Parsons up. “That will be enough.”

  “Yes… ma’am,” Parsons said, still not quite sure what hit him.

  Chapter Seven

  Cassia was finding it almost impossible to sleep. Her sleeping pod was crammed with silent, but ever present, cameras and machines. She was fitted with a microfiber suit that monitored her vitals and tracked her nano progression. They ordered her to wear it day and night and she hated it.

  Her body was continuing to transform. Her right forearm arm down to her hand now looked like synthetic metallic skin. When she touched it, it was as soft and supple as the rest of her body. Something was happening under her nails, but she was not sure quite what. It was as if a new sense organ of some type was developing.

  When she did manage to doze off, her dreams were vivid and erotic. She was not in love, there was no room in her heart for anyone b
ut Rolf and he was gone, but a purely physical desire to copulate dominated her thoughts like never before. This urge was unfocused on any particular partner, in fact if anything she desired multiple partners. She was not looking for affection; she wanted to devour them. It made no sense to her. She was embarrassed and even repulsed by her new hunger. Was there more to it than sex? She wasn’t sure, but Cassia was determined not to give in to this disordered desire.

  On the Control Deck Doctor’s Leavitt and Romero were completing their tests.

  “Look at how active her ovaries have become. They no longer house eggs in the human sense, but they are full. Ripe might be the best term to describe them,” Romero explained.