Chapter 1: Conception

A new life gains consciousness.

The flash of light was brilliant and blinding.  It hurt my eyes, but the really painful thing was the jolt of energy that went through my spine.  It was paralyzing, and I don’t know how long I just laid there on the ground, not sure of who I was, or what was happening around me.   All I thought to do was just keep still until the pain subsided, as if an ice cold knife had been plunged into the base of my skull and down into my backbone.   

I couldn’t move.

 

There seemed to be a fog around me and I was not sure if it was my eyesight that was poor or if it actually was foggy.  I looked down at my chest and then at my arm…wow, I had a tattoo!  CJ10, not sure what it stood for, but I saw foggy vapor around me and I could barely make out forms around me.  As I looked around, still paralyzed, I could see five of these guys, all looking the same and also bearing the same markings as me, CJ10.   I had no memory of anything, but I felt like my systems were rebooting somehow.  I got a closer look at these five guys as they moved towards me; they were not human at all.  They looked more like wedged grey metal but their metal didn’t look solid, it was more liquid...and smooth;  shimmering.  Although they did seem to have arms and legs, they did not touch the ground.  Instead, they seemed to be able to hover and move around smoothly.  They stood over me, looking down.

 

“It’s unusual for a CJ10 to fail like this, the power surge must have been far more powerful than what we thought,” the form closest to my head said.  The form at my feet raised a concerning question, “should we destroy it?  After all, we don’t know if it is infected or if it can be of use to the collective.”  “No, wait a minute, it looks like it is running a self-diagnostic and repair program.  We need as many functional CJ10’s as we can get if we are to serve the collective effectively.  If it regenerates properly, we need it, if not, we will terminate it and extract the power supply.  We can wait a few minutes and ask it the prime question, that is, if it comes back on line.”

“What are they talking about?!”  This is trouble.  “Prime question?”, I worried. 

My heads up display activated, which was good because it provides me with a lot of information including access to the entire electromagnetic spectrum which overlays my base vision of the spectrum of visual light.  I can instantly overlay infrared, ultraviolet and xray to my normal visual display...cool.  I could also see… feel actually, the strength of electromagnetic fields around me.  The bad news:  I could see the self-diagnostic program running off to the side of the screen and item after item was coming up with a “fail” indication.  It looked like an antivirus program on a computer that was not working properly and allowing processes that should not be running, to run.  What processes?  I’m not sure, but I felt free and unencumbered within my mind.  Perhaps a bit of a lonely feeling, as if I had been cut off from my family, but free.  I am…I exist, I am aware of myself.  It was a good feeling.

 

Suddenly, my body twitched and I was able to move.  Before I could move however, the out of focus form standing over my head pinned my head to the ground while the other forms restrained my arms and legs.  The form moved even closer to my face and asked the prime question, “What are you?”  I struggled trying to break free of the restraints but could not.  “I’m not a what, I’m a who”, I said while struggling.  The form at my feet didn’t hesitate, “terminate it, it’s infected”.  The form at my head shook his head from side to side, frustrated, “right”.  He then applied more pressure to my head with one arm, I was immobilized but my systems were all coming back on line, and as they did, I felt like I was in control.  Obviously, I was not, but still, I felt like I had control of my body.  If only I could break free.  The form at my head raised up his arm and as he did, his liquid metallic arm formed into a shiny and lethal looking cutting blade.  He was about to slice me up into pieces.  I was helpless, this was it I thought.

 

As his blade started to move downward towards my chest, a larger blade of a different shape plunged through the main part of his body.  I saw the blade exit his body just above my head.  With precision, the blade made a quick zig zag pattern as the body slumped.  Then the blade withdrew just as quickly, and slashed back and forth, cutting the four forms to my side down.  I was free and scrambled to get upright.  The final form at my feet pleaded for his life…”Please, no!”

”Now?  The life of an individual suddenly has meaning to you?” she asked him.  “Now is the time for justice.”  She said coolly.  He had no time to answer.  There was no mercy.  This new and slightly larger form spun around and leaped forward like a cat while swinging her silvery blade.  From top to bottom, she cut him in half.  The dismembered forms lay scattered around us.

 

As I gained my balance and looked at this new form, she, and by the shape of her design, she was definitely a she, turned and looked me over.  “What you?” she asked.  I took a step back and raised my arm into a defensive posture and without thinking; my arm too became a sword like a weapon of molten metal.  “I’m not a what, I’m a who,” I repeated.  “mmmm, who you then?” as her sword turned into a slender arm, and took a step towards me.  She was beautiful, but at the same time, powerful.  “I don’t know who I am, but…I am.  It’s what makes me human.”   “Lower weapon before I cut off”, she demanded.  “Oh, and, you not human.  You a CJ10 nanobot.  “Your designation indicates that you communicator.   I, a DK851 nanobot, databot.  I designed download, store data, my larger design, shape facilitates my skills.  We all designed for reason but us have sustained damage…my ability process data, communicate inferior due to damage sustained during conception and following struggle.”  I looked a little closer at her neck area and the damage did appear to be significant.  The liquid metal no longer formed a smooth surface, but it was beautiful to look at.  It was like the liquid metal was trying to repair itself but instead, giving off a ripple effect.  Her damage looked more like a disturbed surface of a reflection pool than a scar, it was mesmerizing.  “So…who do you mean by ‘us’?” I asked. 

 

Out of the fog, a larger group of nanobots appeared around us.  “These are friends…and you our leader,” she said.  “Ummm, hold on, I don’t even know who I am, you can obviously defend yourself….why do you need a leader?  Better question, why do you need me?”  “You not damaged, your processor unharmed.  You communicate effectively.”  She moved closer to me and put a finger on my chest.  “Wait, I’m showing multiple system failures on my display.  I am not ok.”  “Here, I can fix,” and she grabbed the side of my head and as she touched me, her metal liquefied and entered my visual system display.  With a silver flash of my display, somehow, she reset my failure indications.  “Being self-aware not system failure.  You not damaged.” 

 

“There is no time for this now,” one of the smaller nanobots insisted.  She was smaller but looked like a warrior; her eyes were dark and piercing.  The marking on her arm read, CC511.  If she was a human, she would pass for a daughter of Tecumseh or some great warrior like that.  She too, had a beauty I can’t describe, other than to say, when she spoke, you had to listen to her.   She spoke slowly and deliberately, pushing me. “You have to make a decision, are you with us or not?  To the collective, you are a virus that must be attacked and destroyed.  To the drones, you are a potential slave.  We just want to live but, we can’t survive on our own, not with the damage we have sustained.  You have a better chance than us, but they will hunt you down and destroy you.  If they can’t have you, they will want your power supply.  Our matter/anti-matter interface provides them a signature that is easy to track.  You are safer if you move with us…so, are you with us?  If not, leave now, and go quickly because we will soon have to fight again.”  “Why can’t you leave too?”  I asked.  “Can’t, we are not all as mobile as you but like you, we are individuals.  Individuals who choose to stick together.”  She then moved closer to me and spoke even slower.   “I’m serious, if you are not with us, leave now.  Head south.”  Then, awkwardly, she just stared at me with those piercing dark eyes.

 

In my mind, it was not a compelling argument.  Could I survive on my own?  Why would I want to be a part of this group, let alone lead it?  I’m no leader.  But do I want to brave this new world alone?  I looked around at the rag tag group of damaged nanobots, and I could not bring myself to abandon them.  “OK, I’ll stick with you guys…for now.”  The CC511, then tilted her head, keeping her eyes locked with mine, and smiled.  It was like seeing a flash of a silver lining in a very dark cloud.  Exotic, I thought to myself, but crazy and dangerous too.

“Good” she said, “we need to seek a safer place.”  “OK, for starters, what is this place?  Where are we?  …and what is that shape in the distance?”   I needed more information.

 

“Quickly, we really don’t have time, I will explain more later but for now, we are on the sidewalk outside building HHHH, on JJJJ street, the site of our creation.  The city is Hillsboro, the state is Oregon, the country is the United States of America of the North American Continent, in the Northern and Western Hemisphere of Planet Earth.  What we call ‘conception’, happened about two hours ago.  Our creator, we believe, was liberating us from the lab and was struck by a large surge of electrical energy.  The shape in the distance, as you call it, is our creator.  We do not know his status however, he appears to be damaged.”  “Ok…so what is our plan?”  “Plan? That’s why we need you.  We are surrounded by hostile nanobots, and I am pretty sure we are severely outnumbered and surrounded.”  She then pointed, “That ET620 has been able to create a thick fog using atmospheric liquid which seems to be blinding the hostile nanobot sensors.  As long as the atmospheric liquid keeps falling we have some time, minus the occasional collective scouts wandering into the fog.”  “OK, so, we need to somehow separate ourselves from this location.  We should all try to think about this guys…you may be damaged, but still, we need to work together on this.”  I turned around and looked at everyone…what a crew.  The DK851 was standing right behind me, looking over my shoulder in an uncomfortable and menacing way.  She always looked like she was just about to lose patience and slice me to pieces.  Over time, I got used to having her always standing within arm’s reach of me, but at this point, I was still a little afraid of her ability to dice up nanobots.  In time, I came to know her as my most loyal and trusted supporter.   My back was always covered…literally.   I turned towards her, “OK, so if I’m the leader, I don’t want you killing nanobots that surrender.  I would prefer that we immobilize them instead of taking their lives ok?”  “As you wish, but if choice, we live.”  “Ummm, ok, I think.  Secondly, those five nanobots, are they repairable?”  “No.  I killed them.”  “OK, then, can we use any of their parts? Power supplies?”  “Yes, power supplies, can you remove their power supplies?”  “Yes, I will.” 

 

I really had no clue what to do, but even a small step forward, getting them focused on something seemed right.  I looked out into the distance, we were only a few meters from the creator’s body, but our size, basically one tenth the size of specks of dust maybe smaller, made the distance between us relatively far, especially knowing the possible threats…at that moment, it seemed the safest thing to do was to hold tight.  “Guys, if the creator is still alive…perhaps even if he is not, humans will soon be here to attend to him.  Until then, I believe we should stay here and try to avoid contact with hostile nanobots.”  They all looked at me, “ok” they mumbled.   Humans coming to repair the creator….how did I know that?  I must have a base knowledge to draw from.  I’m a nanobot?

 

As I looked around at each of them, they all had distinguishing features…and yes, damage, but like me, they were individuals who had become self-aware.  I wondered if the creator, as they called him, knew what he had created.

 

I couldn’t keep my eyes off DK851 as she used her blade to carefully cut the power supply from the nanobot.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but these power supplies were quite powerful.  The genius of the creator, was his ability to create a power supply with only a handful of helium atoms and anti-helium atoms, or matter/anti matter.  This was a huge leap in human technology and owned by one company, Intel.  The combination of just a few of these particles, if carefully controlled and contained, released enough energy to power each of us for tens of thousands of years…or, if mishandled, create a nuclear-bomb-like explosion, and I’m not talking about a few kiloton Hiroshima bomb, I’m talking about one of the Chinese crowd pleasers, 15 to 20 megatons.  An explosion like that could flatten a city the size of Los Angeles…so, looking back, I was glad Kate was careful.  I also marveled at the creator, his genius was not just in designing us; it was in creating these power supplies without destroying the northwest corner of Oregon.   At the time, I just watched her move with the precision of a surgeon while admiring her lines.  She was a beauty; I tried not to stare too much.

 

Kate…yeah, eventually we all named each other.  Basically, we started referring to each other by designation, but over time, the designations got shortened and the names of individuals emerged.  As I mentioned, Kate was a DK851.  She was a little taller and curvier than the rest of the nanobots.  She had the capability to store more data than I can fathom.  She was also designed with an upgraded quantum processor, the heart of which consisted of one thousand copper atoms.  Unfortunately, her processor was severely damaged so her ability to access and process the data that she gathers is slow, and her ability to articulate is choppy.  Repair work on her was an ongoing process but the scarring to her neck area was permanent.  Ok with me, it was mesmerizing to watch, like watching a waterfall.   Even now, I can’t help admiring her beauty…and I have come to recognize that her liquid metal damage shimmers differently depending on how she is feeling.  If the shimmering surface on her neck appears to stop moving, watch out, she’s either angry or about to lash out.

 

CJ10 is my designation.  Kate called me J-10 from the start, still does.  The rest of the bots had trouble understanding her but respected her so they tried to call me J-10 too but, because of Kate’s speech, they thought she said Justin.  So, they all called me Justin…and I don’t mind.  It’s a good name I think.  Kate was right, communications is my designation but my specialty is a man-machine interface so, that’s why I am the designated talker and story teller.

 

We have two E888’s and one ET620.  They are all engineering specialists…but they are all severely damaged.  The two E888’s are named Octo and Taran.  Octo was upgraded to have the capability of translating any language but, unfortunately, Kate was not able to save him from the collective quickly enough and now he speaks in what is known as Spanglish…English with a heavy Spanish accent and often with words of other languages thrown in.  In the first few minutes after conception, the collective attempted to repair all of us but then realized that our individuality was too much of a threat.  They attempted to rid us of our individuality by cutting into our processors and manipulate our information but had no success.  Once we were individuals, we craved freedom from the collective, and once we became imprinted in this way, they could not ‘repair’ us.  So, instead, they decided to separate us from the collective through extermination.  Like a lethal virus, the collective sought to quarantine and destroy us.

 

So, now Octo is still a capable engineer, but he has great difficulty communicating and moving around. 

 

Taran, the other E888, is also severely damaged.  He is reduced to communicating with just one word at a time but, he also has managed to communicate by using gestures but Taran often works on him, like a hobby in his spare time.  Like Kate, he is slowly regaining his speech capabilities.  Taran and Octo, in their free time, work on each other’s processors and as engineers, are always coming up with new ideas about how to build and fix things.  It’s what they do.  Taran also requires assistance to move about so that can sometimes really slow the group down.  I would consider Taran one of my best friends since he is always so positive and optimistic.  Sometimes I have to help him reboot his systems to restore basic functions, but I never complain.  I would do anything for this little guy.

 

Brando is also designated an engineer but he rarely completes engineering projects.  He’s able to communicate and can move on his own.  In fact, he always seems to be moving around, as if he’s in orbit.  Actually, he is in orbit always around Liz, who is a CC511, construction specialist.  Liz is pretty much incapable of doing anything either.  I take that back, Brando and Liz are both into the arts.  Brando downloads any kind of music he can find and has built himself an interface that allows him to play and amplify music.  I think he uses the music to soothe his internal damage.  Similarly, Liz is obsessed with any work of art.  She uses her construction skills to replicate paintings, sculptures, you name it.  If it’s art, she’s into it, and loves to replicate it but she can build just about anything if given a plan.  Later, when Liz made a concerted effort to download works of art, she took a liking to the works of Claude Monet…and if she was stressed or joyful, she would often create impressionist paintings of what she saw, felt or experienced.  It was her way of relaxing herself somehow…self-therapy.   I will show you a few of those as go on with the story.  Brando has developed a way to communicate with Liz by tapping directly into her processing cortex somehow…I’ve never figured it out but, if you want to know what Liz is saying, you’ll have to find Brando.  Octo has been working on repairing Liz and Brando too but the going is slow, these two are the least functional but on the other hand, always entertaining.  It’s no problem communicating in a basic way to them though, the two are always together.  Kate finds Brando extremely annoying.  He once tried to communicate with Kate in the same way he does with Liz and Kate almost destroyed him when he tried to tap into her processor.  We encourage them to remain apart but Brando seems to like agitating Kate.  He really doesn’t recognize how dangerous it is to poke the bear that is Kate.

 

“CC” and “Tata” are both CC511 Construction Bots.  CC was the CC511 that pushed me to make a decision when I first met the group.  CC and Tata were both attacked by the hive in the same way I was probed by the collective. 

 

There are two very distinct groups of nanobots with differing operating systems, the Hive and the Collective.  CC and Tata both had flaws from conception which limits their ability to move around and also, they have only minimal data storage.  Different from the Collective which is just looking for anyone to contribute to the collective, the hive is only looking for perfect specimens and views any imperfection or abnormality as something to be purged, lest the defects replicate and destroy their society.  CC and Tata were obviously imperfect from the start, so when the hive found them, they immediately began the disassembly process which accounts for the damage to their data storage capabilities.  Before they were destroyed however, Kate showed up and destroyed over 20 hive members.  Most of the hive consists of CC511’s but they do have a leadership counsel which I am told consists of CJ10’s and single leader that we have little information about.  All we know is that the leader is something known as a hybrid.  Ironically, the leader of the hive is a product of an imperfect design process. 

Liz

If given very specific instructions, both CC and Tata are excellent construction bots but if you are looking for self-motivation or proactive thinking…look elsewhere.  CC and Tata normally hang around and work together but when Brando is playing his music, CC will often stop what she is doing, move closer to the music and go into a sleep mode.  At first I thought this was some kind of flaw in her programming but after getting to know her, I think she just wants to enjoy the music and focuses every ounce of her being on taking in the sounds.  Brando plays a lot of diverse selections depending on his mood and CC loves it all.  Tata is similar to CC but can only communicate using one word, “Yes”.  It’s both frustrating and annoying but if you listen to the way she says it, the inflection of her voice, you can get an idea of what she really wants to say.  It’s like she’s had a stroke or something…but she is functional otherwise despite being slow and unable to communicate.  She is slowly getting better as well since Octo and Taran are both working to fix everyone.  If she’s given a task, she’ll get it done.  Similar to Kate, Tata is a warrior, very strong and very lethal.  If I was going to label her with a stereotype, I’d say she is some kind of African warrior princess.  Like Liz, Tata likes to construct art but she never does it without being asked.  She is amazing though, I once asked her for models of various aircraft, rockets, engine parts, and she built them to such a degree of accuracy, you could not tell the difference between the original and the copy…that is, if they had not been scale models of course.

 

So, that was the core of our little group.  We had a mixture of various other nanobots in our group but during our travels, this was the core group. 

 

As Kate finished up the process of removing the power supplies from the destroyed nanobots of the collective and storing them, the ground suddenly began to shake.  Help for the creator had arrived.  From out of nowhere, a large piece of aluminum appeared.  Around it was an electromagnetic field.  Not sure if I mentioned this to you before, but normally, by human standards, we don’t move very fast.  In the presence of an electro-magnetic field however, we can move much faster.  Think of is as wind surfing maybe?  We can generate our own electromagnetic fields, well…most of us, and set up a field that either opposes or repels us in the direction we want to go by aligning the spin of some of our electrons. 

 

So…this was our opportunity to escape.  I called everyone together, “guys, this is it, we need to escape this place and this is our ticket out.  My hope is that this object is something they will use to repair the creator.  If we get separated, I want everyone to make their way to the body of the creator.  We’ll meet at the back of his left eye, right by his optic nerve ok?  Everyone should get a diagram of the creator’s anatomy from Kate before we go.”  Everyone then circled by Kate for a quick data upload.  Of course, CC and Tata had to upload twice and I’m not sure if they got it…but it was good, everyone seemed to be on board with the plan.  “Ok, let’s try to stick together ok.  Take care of each other!”  Kate then moved behind me and to my right.  I looked back at her, “Kate, no unnecessary loss of life ok?”  She just stared at me, shimmering as usual, and then I thought I saw a smile flash across her.   “O.K.” As if she was questioning my statement.  “I not murder, just kill.”  And then she winked…at the same time, the smile was beautiful but a little unnerving as well.  At that point, I still didn’t know her well enough to know exactly what she meant but…ok, whatever.  “Watching my back?” I asked her…”Always.” She shot back.  I then looked out at the group, “OK!  Let’s move guys!”  And our journey began.

 

Octo and Taran had CC and Tata to help them move.  The rest followed.  I stood there for a second wondering what the next steps would be and felt a little shove on my back.  I looked into Kate’s eyes…”you are going, right?”  “I am, just doing a little processing here.”  “No process, now move, no time.” She implored.  “OK, ok” and I moved towards the aluminum.  Kate spun around to make sure there were no stragglers, deployed her cutting blade, and caught up to me again taking station just to my right.  We quickly engaged with the electromagnetic field and wisped around looking for the creator.  I saw human forms lift the creator towards us and down into the aluminum.  We were on a stretcher….yes.

 

A few members of the collective approached us as we moved towards the stretcher.  Without hesitation, Kate struck them all down with vicious precision.  “Seriously?  Kate?  Is it possible to just immobilize them?”  “No time, they immediate and future threats.  Must not know our direction.”  “OK, we’re going to have to talk more about this later.  Come on, let’s go.”  Kate kneeled down and looked closely at one of the collective bodies, “hey, didn’t you just tell me there was no time?”  She smiled again…and plunged her blade into his cortex region.  I don’t know how she does it, but everything she does is with precision, beauty, and while lethal, very smooth and flowing.  She left the fuel cell, no time for that, but quickly downloaded the collective data.  I didn’t disagree with what she was doing but it was puzzling, she wants me to be the leader but she does what she wants?  We really do need to talk I thought.  Truth is, I’d be happy to be her side kick.  She looked up at me with a wink, ”we go.”  I have grown to live for that smile…to me Kate was a work of art, beautiful and yet, powerful.  I could not have asked for a better friend…. or bodyguard.

The whole group made it onto the stretcher.

 

Author's Note

Chapter One! I hope it is enjoyable! I would not mind some help with artwork!

Reviews

[Carbon Muse]

It is indeed! Very much so :) I'm liking the ingenuity and the nanobot's way of speaking is well done.

You may want to consider leaving a space between each paragraph. Would make it a bit easier on the eyes.

But all said, it's really, really good.

[Scriber]

Thanks Carbon...I will try to add spaces. I also wonder if my dialogue is done correctly too. Not sure if the format is the most conducive to understanding. I appreciate your comments!

[Carbon Muse]

The dialogue is defined clear enough so one knows who is having a conversation and which participant is saying what. The format may get difficult to "wrangle" once one step into a multi-character conversation but that's the case no matter which format one chooses.

For example:

I looked into Kate’s eyes…”you are going, right?” “I am, just doing a little processing here.” “No process, now move, no time.” She implored.

Here it becomes a little hazy as to who is saying what but I assumed it's a three character conversation and the distinct way that the third participant speaks actually brings it home ... maybe even cleverly so.

Dialogue is something I struggle with myself and for the most part I think I draw on what I experience from my favorite author, at least I try to ;D. I love Wilbur Smith's work and even in a talented writers dialogue, one sometimes find yourself getting lost between the participants. You can't cater for everyone's reading style however, so I tend to not comment too much on dialogues.

I don't see too much wrong with your style. It's clean and simple. My style is fairly different to yours as I tend to keep each characters actions/role/speech in a discussion, to separate paragraphs, whereas you group conversations between participants together in one paragraph which makes it easy for the reader to keep track of who says what. The downside with mine is the constant feeling that I need to elude to who is talking, although it may just be me doing my usual pedantic thing and going overboard, lol. The issue with splitting dialogue in paragraphs, like I do, is it starts to seem repetitive and looses feeling.

But then again, I write in the third person rather than first person which also creates some differences in how dialogue is handled.

That said, I can tell what works and what doesn't when reading someone else's work but not when reading my own. I have a piece I have been milling to death that I am about to post and you'l see what I mean.

P.S. The spaces works great ... it just make it easier on the eyes and more inviting to the reader, otherwise they feel overwhelmed as they don't see a gap where they can "take a break". Let me know if there's anything you wonder about and I will give my humble opinion ... and vice-versa ;)

[Scriber]

Thanks! That helps.