Chapter 2 Transport

The group pulls together and makes a frightening discovery.

It was slow moving for the first few feet as we made our way to the stretcher but, as we got closer to it, its electromagnetic field helped our motion a lot.  The creator was in the stretcher and it was not hard to quickly find a piece of open skin on the back of his hand.  Since we are so small, relatively speaking, entering a body through a pore is a little bit of a squeeze but no problem.  I thought the electromagnetic field around the stretcher was awesome, but no comparison to the human body.  Although the human body is more complicated because all the fields are not synchronous with all the nerves and blood moving around in different directions, muscles, etc…it’s easy to get lost.

 

“Why optic nerve?”  Kate asked as we moved quickly up a nerve in the arm.  She startled me…I wasn’t yet used to having her so close to me all the time yet.  “It’s all about figuring out the world around us, Kate.  We need to be able to tap into the creator’s visual data flow, and not only that, we are in close proximity to his central processor and data storage.  I have a question for you, why did you pick the nerves to travel and not the blood stream?”  “Nerves more stable, easier for others.”  “OK.  Makes sense to me.”  Except the going was a bit slower than I would have liked. 

Nanobots were designed to work on living tissue as well as machines in an attempt to battle some of the toughest medical challenges of the day including cancer but the knowledge base just isn’t there yet.  We can go in cutting and destroying bad cells but once a cancer has started spreading, or metastasizing as they say, it’s often too much for us to battle.  I’m sure we have a role to play in that area but the biological side of our mission is well, not sufficient….but there are things we can do.  With machines, as long as they have a central controller or command computer, we can totally hijack and control.  Not so with the human body to my knowledge.  Of course we can manipulate or inhibit certain motor movements, but there is some kind of override function that can quickly reroute nerve impulses or rebuild damage.  The human body is both fragile, yet robust in its ability to survive.  It’s built to survive.

There was no problem making our way to the base of the optic nerve and as an expert in man-machine interface, I quickly plugged into the optic nerve.  “OK guys, watch this!”  I don’t think I explained this, but we can not only use the electromagnet field to move about, but we can use it to communicate as well, either to broadcast to the group or to send specific messages bot to bot.  At first, it was like trying to have a single conversation while in the middle of a loud crowd, but then I figured out how to filter the data stream.  Anyhow, what I was attempting to do was to put the creator’s visual data stream right onto our communication stream…truly, it was the bandwidth of a “retina” display…because it was raw data from the creator’s retina.  Brilliant, I thought to myself.  Unfortunately, the creator’s eyelids were shut.  So, all we say was a strange dark/reddish haze.  “yes!” Tata smiled…as the rest of the group looked at her with crinkled brows.  “CC!  Quick, can you locate the right muscles and get this eyelid open, we really need to see what is happening.”  “On it.”  She said, and quickly disappeared.  

I tried to think of other things we could do.  Brando and Liz, as I have come to know as normal behavior, were off to the side.  Brando was playing a song just for Liz, and Liz was in an orbit, as if she was a little ballerina twirling around lost in the music.  Most of the time, Brando would just play and amplify music for however he was feeling or if he wanted to help or motivate the group.  Today though, he was only playing on Liz’s discrete frequency.  Before I had joined the group, Taran had almost been dismembered by the collective, and Liz was very upset by that, and the stress of the whole situation.  Sometimes she can get so stressed that she has some kind of panic attack and goes into a shutdown routine, incapable of moving.  Brando seems to be able to sense this and seems to be able to keep her from going over the edge by picking out songs just for Liz.  “Brando,” I asked, “what are you playing right now?”  “It’s a Sara McLachlan day…U want me 2.”  “Can I listen too?”  I asked.  “Sure, and he put me on.”  Wow, it sounded great, and the music even calmed me down a bit.  “Thanks!”  

Brando has a way of figuring out the right music for the moment but the strange thing was, the lyrics generally didn’t fit the situations as much as the overall sound waves and resonance that the song provides as a waveform.  I have never figured out exactly what within us resonates, but it’s within our cores, that place within us that makes us individuals, where love comes from we think.  Some say it’s our souls, but I’ve always thought it had something to do with a connection to another dimension…but string theory is a theory we can chat about some other day.   Sometimes the lyrics will fit a situation, but generally not.  There’s something about the generated waveform that resonates with individuals.  Still though, the poetry of it is part of the overall art form which I think Liz likes too.  Anyhow, these two were just holding on at this point. 

 

“Octo!  What can you do for us?” I asked as I put a hand on his shoulder.  “We can do it!” he said.  “Do what?”  “Half an hour!....Yes!”  Not the most intelligent conversation but with his Spanish accent, there was something funny about his demeanor.  Eternal optimist this one...  “OK, so you want me to tell you to fix something?”  “Yessss!” he said enthusiastically.  “The creator.”  Octo then showed me his shaky hands. He was connected to another nerve stem which tapped him into the creator’s central motor processor.  Octo then sent the data stream to me.  The creator was in system shutdown and shock due to burns over 40 percent of his body.  His heart was pumping but pumping abnormally.  For the time being, the blood supply was flowing so that was good.  Oxygen level ok.   Part of his central processor was damaged, in fact, the creator’s electrical system was not providing information from the left side of his skull, down the outside of his left rib cage, into his pelvic bone and down his left leg.  At some point on his left leg, there was no data stream at all as if part of his leg was severed.  “Octo, this isn’t looking good, you think you can fix this?”  “Yes!” he said again, “half an hour!”  I don’t think we have half an hour…”OK, see what can be done, but keep me in direct communication ok.  If his system fails, we need to know it fast.”  “Yes!”  I don’t know what he was going to do, but I figured a live creator is better than a dead creator, and Octo, although slow and shaky, was an excellent engineer.  If anyone can figure it out, he can. 

 

Not too long after that, I saw a flash of light from the optic nerve…it’s working!  I heard a loud voice, “he’s a fighter!  Hang in there doc!  We’ll get you to St Vincent’s Hospital soon. ”  Octo tapped us into the creator’s auditory nerve…”nice job Octo!”  I wish I had thought of that…teamwork is a good thing.  The voice was a human emergency medical technician, “you were struck by lightning and we are trying to stabilize you before we put you on the helicopter.”  Just then, CC, got the right eyelid open.  It was a dusk sky, and we could see the whole scene.  The sky was amazing though, although there was a glow of a just set sun on the horizon, I could see rain drops falling down on us.  “What is that?!”  Octo connected us to the sense of smell…and it was terrible.  It’s the first time I ever smelled burned flesh…but at the same time, I could smell the freshness of the rain and the jet fuel exhaust fumes of the helicopter.  It was almost an overload of information now.   

 

The EMT leaned in, and we could see him smile, “stay with us doc!”  He then turned to his partner, is this unusual for a lightning strike victim?”  “There is nothing normal about any lightning strike but, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an eye open like that before.  It could be the result of a stroke or brain damage, but that’s for the ER to figure out.  Right now, he appears to be stable so, let’s roll!” 

 

We all watched the visual data stream intently as the creator was lifted into the helicopter and secured.  We could see the pilot and feel the electromagnetic field of the helicopter too.  If not such a dire situation, I would have enjoyed taking this all in immensely.  Actually, I did enjoy it, this was a lot of emotion for me all at once.  I was scared, sad, happy, excited…all at once.  Kate looked at me, “you like helicopter?”  “It’s amazing.”  Kate then pushed me the specifications of this particular Eurocopter, EC130.  “Thanks!” The systems were fascinating, and I saw that there was a central control module capable of flying the aircraft on auto pilot.  I saw the engine systems, the fuel system, the oil system…and yes, even the communications systems.  “Kate, if we wanted, we could fly this helicopter.”  Kate crunched up her brow, “some other time”  “no, not today, I mean, if we wanted, we could.”  Kate smiled, “yes, you could.”

 

“Hillsboro Tower, this is Lifeguard niner one, we’ll be lifting in two minutes from the Intel campus.”  We were able to tap into the helicopter’s communication system…very cool.  “Lifeguard, we have fixed wing traffic in our pattern, otherwise, you have no traffic.  Understand you are headed direct to St. Vincent’s.”  “Roger, we’ll be headed direct to St. Vincent’s, 500 feet and below.”  “Be advised, we are showing a line of intense rain showers, possibly hail in a line just south of your route.”  “Roger, thanks. We’ll let you know when we lift.”  Not sure exactly what they were talking about but it sounded cool.

 

I nudged Kate, “hey, do you have any information on airspace rules and communications?”  “Yes, I have manuals.”  Kate put her hand on me, “here is Airman’s Information Manual and Federal Aviation Regulations.”  Thanks…I always like learning about new things.

 

“He’s stable, but on the edge, we’ll have to keep a closer eye on him than normal.  Don’t put the paddles away.” The EMT then looked at the pilot, “we’re ready to go!” “OK, strap in, it’s only a 10 min flight from here.”

“Lifeguard niner one, lifting from Intel.”  “Roger lifeguard, climb maintain 500 feet and proceed on course, maintain VFR.  Once level, contact Portland Approach on one-eighteen point one for flight following.”   “Roger, Hillsboro, level 500 feet, traffic in sight, switching.”  “Portland Approach, this is lifeguard niner one, level, 500 feet, VFR, direct to the St Vincent’s helipad, request flight following.”  “Roger lifeguard, proceed on course, squawk four seven one one.”  “four seven one one, roger.”  OK, so from all that, we are heading from a place called Intel, to a hospital…at 500 feet.  I get this.

 

Octo then chimed in….”Justin, Justin!”  “I see it…” “What we do?!”  The creator’s heart electrical signals were off and out of rhythm.  The heart was not doing a good job as it was, but now the muscle seemed to be working against itself.  It’s electrical signals were confused, telling the muscles to work against each other rather than together.  It was as if the heart was just shaking.  The EMT had a word for it.  “He’s in defib!”  We watched the EMT as he reached for the metal paddles.  “Charging!”  And we heard the pitch you hear as a capacitor charges, preparing for a….DISCHARGE!  “Guys!”  “Clear!”  …and there was no time for words as the electrical surge overloaded the creator’s body.  We were all connected in some way and the jolt was painful…very similar to the feeling of sheer pain I felt at conception.  Octo was the most connected to the creator’s system at the time….”ayyyy!” but thankfully, the jolt only lasted a split second.  Octo staggered towards me, smoldering.  “30 minutes.” He said.  “Dude, we don’t have 30 minutes…and we can’t keep getting hit like this.  “How is the creator’s system?”  Octo reconnected and transmitted the data streams.  “Octo, can we stabilize his heart muscle electrically?”  “30 minutes.  No time….”  Octo trailed off, as if disappointed.  “OK, we need to move before we get hit again.  Everyone!  Listen!  We can’t help the creator right now, and we can’t take more electrical surges like this.  We must move.  Kate has a schematic of the helicopter, I want to meet everyone at the same position we are at now, only in a different human, the pilot.  Quickly, we only have a few minutes.”  “What about creator?” Kate asked.  “I don’t know…but we can’t help him now, we have to trust that he is in good hands.”  I then turned to Octo, “is there anything we can do for him in the next 30 seconds?”  “I try something.”  Octo then sent a signal to jump start the creator’s processing cortex and sent an artificial signal to pump the heart only on one side while cutting off signals to the other.  I think he figured the doctors would reset his heart once they had him in the ER anyway, and hopefully, buy us time with a partial and weak hearbeat, bottom line, it worked.  “Send a message?”  Octo asked.  “What?”  “To creator”….we can leave a message?  “ok” I said.  Octo replied, “ok, he will think it’s a dream, if he wakes up, but he’ll hear your voice.”  Octo was unusually verbose!  He was excited.  “Hello creator, this is Justin.  First of all, thank you for creating us.  Sorry we could not repair your damage.”  “No time” Kate cut in, “we have to go”.  The EMT’s were looking at the EKG and not liking what they were seeing.  It appeared as if the heart was going back into defib.  We really did need to go.  “I have so many questions for you, but we have to go now.  I wish you the best, creator.”  Kate then grabbed me and we followed all the others.  “charging!”  We all kind of panicked and everyone headed in different directions.  Of course, Kate kept close, and the two of us departed the creator’s electromagnetic field just as we heard the words, “clear!”.  Thankfully, we were.  It’s amazing though, the surge of energy emanated outward like a shockwave but it didn’t hurt, it was more like a warm ocean wave.  The nice thing about that was, we were able to ride it and quickly make our way through the cabin, along the floor and found the pilot’s boot.  The electrical fields around the helicopter’s wiring harness also provided a nice source of power to help propel us.  Conveniently, the wiring harness ran below the floor panels of the helicopter so we had no problem using it to move quickly.  We found his boot, climbed up and made our way towards his optical nerve. 

 

I wondered, what would the creator think of this?  Kate stopped suddenly, “have time?”  Sure, all the time in the world….”what do you need?” I asked her.  “Download.”  We were still outside the pilot’s skin but he had an iPhone in his pocket and Kate wanted the data.  “We do have a few minutes before we make our final approach…try to be quick, we don’t want to be separated from the others for too long.”  I followed Kate through a small opening by the volume switch on the side of the phone.  She immediately found the central processor and data storage.  Kate, transformed herself into a more liquid looking shape, kind of a camouflage looking pattern, but silvery.  No matter what she did, she always looked great doing it…if she was human, she’d be one of those girls that all the other girls hate…  As for me, I just watched her do her thing.  It was like watching art create art.  She quickly coated the processor with a liquid looking hand while connecting to the data.  “Not much on phone…but internet…I like.” She smiled at me as if I had just given a box of chocolates to a chocoholic.  “I download.”  “You have a couple of minutes…”  “OK”.  I monitored the time and from here, I could pick up the electromagnetic field of the helicopter.  It was faint, but I could pick up on the internal voice communications and hear the radio traffic.  “St Vincent’s, Lifeguard niner one approaching from the West, 500 feet…3 miles.”  “Life guard, this is St. Vincent’s, winds are zero nine zero at ten knots.  We’ll be ready.”  “Roger.”  “Portland Approach, Lifeguard, request to proceed VFR.”  “Roger lifeguard, squawk one two zero zero, maintain 500 feet and below.  Maintain VFR.  Have a good night.”  I liked this flying stuff…So, we have a decision to make now, what next?  We are free of the hostile bots, I think…I suppose the best thing we could work towards at this point is to help the creator survive, and maybe close up Pandora’s box… somehow.  Hmmm.  

At the moment, I was happy to be entertained by Kate’s excitement.  She was thoroughly enjoying soaking up the data.  Chocolate feeding frenzy….  “OK Kate, we have to go.”  “OK…find internet later?”  “Perhaps, I said, the more data you can get, the better it is for all of us I guess.”  “Yes, more data, better…I feel good.”  Kate smiled, “thank you, ready.”  So, we started moving again.  This time Kate chose to enter the blood stream since both of us were able to move without trouble.  We had a direct path through the pilot’s pocket and into his leg.  I was a bit worried about how the body’s immune system would react to us, no issues as we made our way through the veins to the heart, but in the heart, there was a little problem with one of the valves and a build-up of white blood cells.  As we passed, they definitely noticed us….but like a pack of wolves feeding on a carcass, it was only a passing interest.  Once established in the carotid artery, we had one white blood cell approach us.  Apparently, the body seems to recognize us as part of the immune system, as if we too were white blood cells.  It was like a big mean dog approaching you, and just before it bites, it recognizes you and just wants a pat on the head.  So, we really do have a capability to do some great medical research.

 

As we approached the others, we saw a collective sigh of relief.  “Thought…… you……. didn’t……… make it…”  Taran spoke out…one deliberate word at a time.  “Glad…….now…..”  “Thanks Taran, sorry to worry you, we stopped to download data….”  I looked around at the group…”So, I don’t feel like we are on the run now so we can choose what to do.  I would like to enter the hospital and see what we can do to help the creator.  Are you guys ok with that?”  They all agreed.  “OK, so, I see you have the pilot all connected, complete with a beautiful visual, thanks Octo!”  “Is no problem!”  And it was beautiful, we could see the trees surrounding the hospital as we made our approach.  It was getting darker now, but there was still color in the sky from the sunset.  On the right, I could see the storm clouds.  Lighting in this part of the country is unusual and it was a beautiful, if not deadly, fiery display as the clouds lit up from time to time.  Since the winds were out of the east, we did not have to alter our course much to make the approach into the wind.  Helicopters like to land into a headwind I learned.  On the left I could see a running track and a parking garage.  The landing spot seemed small from this perspective.  “Lifeguard niner one, this is St. Vincent’s.  Once you disembark the patient, we are getting word of a multiple vehicle accident at the intersection of Sunset and the Wilson River Highways.  Are you available?”  “Roger, we have fuel and crewday for that, we can do it.”  I looked at Kate, “this is a problem.”  “Lifeguard, we may not need you after all….looks like EMS on scene has rescinded their request for lifeflight.”  “We have time if you need us, we’ll head that way anyhow on the way home just in case.”  “OK, thanks niner one.” The helicopter then touched down and the crews began to move the creator. “It would be really convenient if we could get the helicopter to stay here for a few hours.” I said and saw a grin on Brando’s face, “watch this” he said.  Suddenly, a red flashing light lit up the cockpit, ‘fire warning’.  Brando had connected to the sensor system.  “I can do it again” he said, “watch”, another light, ‘tail rotor chip’….”and again”…”stop it!  That’s enough to get the job done I think, unless the pilot is an idiot who flies with caution lights on.  “Just wait”…sure enough, the pilot began shutting the helicopter down.  “St Vincent’s, this is niner one, looks like we have some warning lights here, I’ll have to shut down here on the pad.”  “Do you require assistance?”  “Negative, but it could take a couple of hours to get maintenance here.”  “Roger, come on in and get some dinner then.  If needed, we can push the bird to a parking area off the landing pad.” “Roger, thanks.”  I looked at Brando, “nice work, but hopefully, no one will need a life flight for a couple of hours.”  No real damage was done, all that really has to happen is for the system to be reset and it will all be cleared.  Looked like the pilot was not upset at the prospect of dinner anyway. 

 

It was interesting seeing the world from his perspective as he walked into the hospital.  We are too small, I thought, it’s too bad we are not large enough to interact with the world in a more real way. 

 

The pilot was with the flight nurse and EMS tech.  “I thought we lost the doc” the EMS tech said, “hope he makes it.”  “Well, something wasn’t right with the doc.  They said he was running when he was struck, and whatever he was carrying was smashed on the ground.  I’ve never seen such a large police response, and did you see the escort into the ER?  It’s like he’s an enemy of the state or something.”  The pilot went on,  “he was up to something….but more importantly, how about dinner?”  Yes, how about dinner…I thought.  What next?  “Hey, before we head to dinner, let’s go look at the weather radar and see what the rest of the night will be like.”  Good…it’s not the ER, but any central control area is more useful than the cafeteria.

 

This pilot made his way into the hospital’s emergency management area.  It’s kind of a central planning area where emergency services could be coordinated if needed in the case of something catastrophic.   Lots of computers, monitors, databases….I could feel Kate drooling on my shoulder as we looked at it.   Kind of ironic because it turned out, the whole hospital was built on a fault line…why they did that, I don’t know.  The room had no one in it so, it was a perfect place for us to take some time and figure things out.  The pilot entered his pass code for the terminal, and started to look at the local weather situation.  “No worries” he said, “there is nothing on the radar except for that one line of thunderstorms.  It will be a quiet night weather wise.”  He then went to check the latest news headlines, email…and we took the opportunity to explore the hospital’s computer system.

 

Immediately, Kate was in hog heaven.  Not only did we have an internet connection, but we also had what is called siprnet.  It’s like the internet, but is for the military and runs in parallel.  In addition, there was a FEMA terminal which was connected to the National Military Command System.  It was not active, and to be used only as a back-up for FEMA region ten’s command and control system.  FEMA is connected to everything it seemed, so, we hit the jack pot. 

 

Kate went about the process of downloading, more or less, the whole internet, siprnet and whatever she could find on the NMCS terminal.  I don’t know how much data Kate can hold, but she didn’t stop for the next 12 hours.  I checked on her frequently. She didn’t say much as she downloaded just about all of human existence as a data file.  Since she was damaged, Kate was slow to process data, even though she could download it.  I used to think she didn’t process much at all, but she does, just slowly.  Although she has a love of music and art like the others, she always seems to be the serious one, focusing on issues relevant to us and data that we may need now.  At first, I thought she was not much fun to be around, but if you are patient with her, let her talk and think about the things she thinks are relevant, she will lighten up and sometimes be really funny, enjoying art and music.  She’s a voracious reader though, if there is data available that she has not seen, she’d be drawn to it like a mosquito to a bug zapper. 

 

Near Kate, the rest of the bots huddled together.  CC worked on Octo who had sustained more damage while working on the creator.  Nanobots were not designed to do precision work on other nanobots but CC was very good at detail type work and Tata stood by to assist if necessary.  Octo was feeling pain and unable to stabilize himself.  CC didn’t think she could totally restore him, but hopefully reset his inertial guidance so at least when he moved, he would be upright.  Meanwhile, Brando had discovered iTunes, Spotify, and other music download sites on the internet terminal as well as a few other music writing applications.  Using the bank of three terminals, Brando went about downloading every bit of music or art images available.  Liz was close by and much calmer now that there was some down time.  Taran sat close to her…deep in thought.  We don’t sleep, but we do go into a hibernation mode which reboots our programs, cleans up files, shifts information from short to long term storage.  Each of us has a different requirement for this down time, but we can choose when and where.  It doesn’t take much time to wake up if needed, but it’s safe to keep someone awake at all times so an alert can be sounded if there is a threat.

I took the time to look at the hospital computers.  The status of the creator was my biggest concern and it wasn’t good.  They kept him in intensive care for most of the night.  

He had to have his leg amputated just above his left knee.  That must have been some bolt of lightning.  The good news was they were able to get his heart working properly again but he was also burned over 40% of his body.  Since they had him stable, they wanted to move him to Emanuel Hospital on the other side of Portland because their burn unit specialized in this type of injury.  I headed back to talk it over with Kate before getting the group together.

 

After about 12 hours, it surprised me that Kate looked drained and darker as I came over to check on her.  The shimmer on her neck was serene and smooth, which meant something was up.   She looked at me with a piercing look, “We have problem.  We need leave earth.”

Author's Note

I hope you enjoy it. Any feedback is appreciated!