20 – Containment protocols

The small cave, which was originally mostly empty and barren after it had been cleansed of dirt and plant residue by the nanites, was quickly filling up with tools and equipment. They were all connected to one another, and to Calvin, via a thin cable of nanites to make sure they would not collapse back into their inert form as soon as they were left alone, or even worse still so that they would not even think about dissipating into ash. A problem that briefly crossed his mind was the possibility of the nanites developing free will if left too long detached from his body, or with Computer conspiring against him. For now, it was a nonissue however, because they just dissipated into nothing or reverted back to their original form as soon as their connection with him was terminated, depending on how he was handling them. If he detached already inactive ones, they would stay that way, but if he detached active ones, they went up in ash.

There were two possible reasons for that. One was that they could not operate without a mind, and therefore became ash because they were basically dead. Or, otherwise, it was because of the towers. If that was the case, then he had to see if his personal protection would also affect radio controlled nanites or not.

Calvin had spent, together with Computer, a great deal of time preparing all they needed for their little science experiment. Ever since his companion in his head spewed out the word radio, Calvin had been quite intrigued. He knew that it was the key to getting back the old power of the doomsday weapon, and it would prove invaluable in the days to come. He also had a faint idea of what the word meant, thanks to the many dream-like memories that were coming back to him. Not to mention the impromptu lessons Computer tried to teach him, after being denied permission to directly download knowledge into his mind.

The cave floor was a smooth plane of crisscrossing fibers, in a lattice, hard as steel but at the same time pulsing with energy. From various points in the floor, many devices had emerged over the hours, while Tommy mostly slept the night on his comfortable bed. By the time he was awake in the morning and had eaten, they were ready.

Calvin felt the gaze of his new brother on his back.

“Scared?” he asked.

“No!” The boy replied. “Well, a bit. You won’t become a mindless weapon of destruction, right?”

Calvin chuckled. “Of course not. This radio will only allow me to control nanites remotely. Nothing else.”

The boy hummed in agreement. Calvin was not so sure what Tommy understood of this all, considering not even he could really grasp the many concepts Computer tried to teach him. They all felt so alien and strange, it was hard to believe the very world he lived in was made of things like atoms and waves, and that light was at the same time a thing and not a thing, and could be split and harnessed as a communication device. But he trusted his companion, knowledge-wise at least, and because so far he had done nothing to betray his trust. He noticed that after the incident with both the merchant and the inquisitor he had become less easily trusting towards unknown external agents, and he was oddly proud of it. He also felt that Tommy was proud of his growth, almost as if he was the younger brother of the pair, rather than the big one.

Speaking of which: seeing Tommy beside him filled him with joy. He had someone to share this milestone with, and looking at him he was pleased to see that the boy was growing up fast. All the food he was feeding him to make up for the starvation he suffered was filling up his face and body, and he was already developing a good layer of muscle.

“It’s time.” He eventually said, and severed one of the connections that were keeping the far away nanites connected to his main body.

He watched the thin wire slowly recede towards him. If all went according to plan, then he should still be able to sense the nanites even after they were disconnected from him, just with his mind. He stretched his consciousness towards the small antenna at the other side of the cave.

As soon as he did that, however, a large tremor shook the ground. The earthquake was so strong that pieces of stone were coming down from the ceiling, crashing down into the ground. He stabilized the roof of the cave with his nanites before any damage could happen to either his equipment or the people in the room, thanks to his enhanced reflexes. In a matter of a few seconds, the tremor went away, and Calvin helped Tommy get up to his feet.

“Are you okay?” He asked, his voice filled with concern.

“Yeah,” the boy replied, and then turned to see what happened all around him.

Calvin too looked up at the receiver antenna array, and found that it had vanished into thin air. From that very point in space, a feeling of dread seemed to spill over from somewhere far away. He could feel something build up in the air, and his body stood tense and the hair in his tail was electrified and sent a prickling sensation to his skin. His ears were pressed against his skull, same as Tommy’s, and they both stared at the empty space at the other end of the cave. Time seemed to stretch and dilate, and he could swear that the few seconds that passed, according to his clock, lasted a whole eternity out there.

Then, a low rumbling sound accompanied another small tremor that came from all around. It was building up in strength, and frequency.

“DOOMSDAY SCENARIO 48: FAILURE STAGE”

A voice boomed all around, deafening and powerful. Calvin’s eyes widened, so much so that only his dark pupils were visible. He lifted Tommy by an arm, and sprinted with all the speed he could muster towards the exit of the cave. The rumbling increased, and now a loud siren was wailing, its noise cutting through the air in a shrill screech. The entrance of the cave parted with but a thought of Calvin’s, since it was still connected to his body. He launched himself out of the cave, and kept running through the forest while the ringing from behind grew and grew.

Then it stopped. Calvin too stopped to see what was happening, and turning around he saw a bright light engulf the air all above the small hill he was barely a few moments ago. The top of the trees that were growing on the flat stony face of the hill were scorching hot and on fire, and the fire was travelling down their trunks and towards the ground, leaving behind barely a charred remain of the tree. All this happened in a matter of instants, and Calvin witnessed it all as the world slowed down all around him.

Then, as soon as the fire reached the ground, a devastating explosion shook the land, and the shockwave sent him and the boy flying through the forest. Calvin put his body between the boy and the many trees that were impacting them, to protect him. The two slammed against many ageless trees, bursting their solid trunks open with the force of the impact and flying through for many meters before they came to a tumbling stop on the ground.

Calvin immediately checked if his little brother was safe, and seeing that he was not injured, he quickly offered his hand.

“Come, fast! We have to run!”

Tommy blinked in confusion for a moment, trying to get the world to stop spinning so that he could get up on his feet again. He noticed the panicked expression on Calvin’s face, and shook his head quickly to regain his senses. The ringing in his ears seemed to somewhat fade, and he made up a few words that Calvin spoke to him.

“Quick! They will come to check what happened here. The tower was triggered, and sent the explosion to us… I fear the inquisitor too will come.”

With a fast motion, Tommy was yanked away from where he was resting on the ground, and the two started running away through the night. When they felt that they had put enough distance between them and the cave, only then did they stop to catch their breath.

“Woah.” Tommy said, holding his body onto his knees to stop himself from collapsing. He was heaving harshly, sucking in the rich air of the woods. His forehead was covered in sweat, and his hair felt sticky by the neck.

Calvin was standing next to him, and looked around.

“This is bad.” He said. “I’m once again low on reserves, and on top of that—” He stopped. “It’s no use complaining now. What’s done is done.”

“What happened?” Asked the little wolf-kin.

“We… I triggered a tower. The radio must have done it. Whatever defense keeps me hidden does not extend to the remotely controlled nanites, nor does it hide the radio signals from the tower’s detection. And since we are so deep in the kingdom’s territory, here they have protocols to deal with it. The explosion was one such protocol, I think.”

Tommy looked at him, taking in the information. “The voice we heard.”

“Automated voice, coming from the tower’s defensive formations. Quite lucky, I have to add, because without it I would have not guessed what was about to happen.” Calvin said calmly.

Tommy regarded him for a moment, and swallowed what he was about to say.

“But the voice… it was your voice.”

Calvin turned around to face his new brother. “What are you talking about?”

“Not your voice now, but Mateus’ voice. It was his. Did you make the enchantments in the towers back when you were a hero?”

“No,” he replied, scratching his chin. “And I don’t recall ever lending my voice for their implementation. Something is wrong here.”

He then looked around once again. A little tendril of molten metal that had crawled its way to top of a tall tree receded and was absorbed back into his body.

“As I feared. A search party is coming. We have to go now. Can you run?”

Tommy nodded.

After the entire night and morning spent running around the forest, trying to get as much distance as possible between them and the site of the explosion, Calvin finally allowed Tommy to get a quick nap under the shade of a great sequoia. The boy was fast asleep, tired as he was after what happened, but his sleep was uneasy and troubled. He half dreamed; half remembered something about his father. For a moment, he was back home, with his old family, before he had his big brother with him. His father was sitting by the hearth of the fire, reading one of his large tomes, and he was on the ground playing with something.

All of a sudden, the windows exploded open, and the chilly air engulfed the room and banished the pleasant warmth of the fire. From the windows, a black smoke oozed in, and from the smoke men seemed to coalesce in many shapes, draped by shadows. There, amidst the shadowy men, stood Mateus, old and with white hair a beard. He wore the robes of a mage, and bore a staff that pulsed with the black energy of the myriad stars of the void. A pulse burst forth from the staff, and enveloped the whole world, the whole universe and beyond the veil of the distant stars.

It spread and spread, and the energies that laid dormant started to stir.

He woke in a pool of sweat, and his heart was racing in his chest. But he felt a warm and comforting presence next to him, and he felt his heart soothed and calmed down. His eyes closed for a moment, and he savored the sensation.

By the time he was awake proper, the sensation had gone away, but he noticed that it was now evening and Calvin had lit a small fire in a clearing. He got up from the tight and warm wrap of covers and blankets that held his little body like a cocoon, and let the chilly air wake his muscles and mind.

Hearing the rustling of fallen leaves, Calvin noticed that Tommy was now awake.

“Hey there, sleepyhead.” He said.

Tommy grumbled in reply.

“Hungry?” Calvin asked.

“Yeah.”

Tommy received only a smile for an answer, which then turned into a frown.

“Well, it looks like I’m low on materials. I didn’t go harvest some forest before because I wouldn’t dare leave you alone. Come.”

He held out a hand, and Tommy gingerly took it. It felt warm and soft. Both siblings were very new to the whole concept of being siblings, and both were coming from somewhat troubling background. They were awkwardly trying to come to terms with it, and still had to get used to their new kinship, and the warm and fuzzy sensation that caring, and being cared for, awoke in their bellies.

Tommy thought, with a smile, about the fortuitous encounter. All it took was to nearly get eaten by a bear, and then getting captured by a band of merchants who wanted to sell him off to slavery. Maybe it was chance, or maybe it was fate, but he was glad to be here.

Calvin too was reflecting on the events of the past few days, as he distractedly ate through some of the underbrush where it looked most tender and rich in greenery. His life had been in constant flux ever since he woke up in the cave, but most of all he felt like a newborn again, now that he was no longer Mateus. And such a change, he didn’t feel it even when he woke up to find out that he was made of nanites. This change felt different, more intimate, more radical. He was indeed reborn anew. And he could be much, much different than how he was before. He only had to figure out how.

Anomalous material found.

His musings were cut short when Computer pulled up a report on something it found among the bushes. Made of hydrocarbons and plastics, it said, whatever the item was.

Calvin crouched down, and pulled the strange object out of the shiny silver goo of his nanites that were feeding on the biomass. Tommy’s eyes were immediately drawn to it, and he scrunched up his eyebrows cutely.

“What is it?”

“I—I have no idea.” Calvin replied, and examined the plastic bottle more closely. “I have never seen something like this.”

Behind him, he heard a hollow thud, and turned around to see the unconscious body of his little brother laying on the grass, with a small puddle of blood growing beneath his neck, getting bigger by the second.