Retaliation

CHAPTER SIX

QBS ArchAngel

Bethany Anne was going over reports with Barnabas when ADAM interrupted them.

<< Bethany Anne I regret to inform you TOM and I may have made an inexcusable error>>

What do you mean?

Uh, what my overly analytical accomplice is trying to say is we didn’t thoroughly analyze all the programming in the Boris nanites, and therefore we might have misidentified them.

Guys, okay why are you coming to me with this now. I mean you’ve had them for weeks, right?

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Get with Jeffery and arrange for more E.I. units to assist you.

Not everything is on ADAM. I failed to give him details of older esoteric methods that were used by other Kurtherian Clans. The methods were considered antique, not just obsolete. They dated from thousands of years before the split. They are so old that what I knew of them was incomplete.

So you are telling me we now have three possible landings of Kutherians on Earth for me to deal with? Well doesn’t that make us special fucking snowflakes? She paused a second, thinking. Ok, your priorities haven’t changed. So, what upped the relevance and caused you two to figure out what the problem is, and brought it to my attention?

TOM continued, Unfortunately, that isn’t the worst of it. There are programming quirks unique to each of the clans. Things that don’t change, because they are embedded in how we learn to program. This coding is so old I cannot identify it as belonging to any clan. Or from an unknown faction within the clans. But that doesn’t match up with the nanites. They are close to what I would call modern. It is like someone from your history — a Ghengis Khan, say — came to the present day and took nuclear technology back with him. Then he figured out how to modify them. Kurtherians of that era had not yet broken from the philosophy that the Five still have. I cannot predict what may have happened to change that.

TOM stopped for a moment before realizing he hadn’t answered her, But, to answer your question, it is Janna’s condition that made us bring this to your attention.

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They are much more aggressive at changing a person to fit their optimum DNA. Not only that, the medical pod cannot flush them from her system without a significant risk. A small but significant percentage of the nanites hook into the body’s vital functions — literally — and siphon energy to reproduce. If she had been brought to me within hours, the Pod Doc still might not have had the capacity to halt or reverse the changes. The process would damage many cells in critical areas because one of the core rules was changed. The nanites will try to change a person whether they have enough energy, or not.

So whoever designed them was what? A psychopath?

No, that disorder was wiped out from our genome before we discovered interstellar travel.

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TOM hesitated before he replied. You think we didn’t check for such and repair them when we found them?

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We’ll top off her etheric energy in the Pod, but we need to get her out of the pod for some time.

Well, why do you need to talk to me?

There was resounding silence for a moment.

Oh, right. You need my hands. And she needs to get some food in her. How long to go?

An hour or so would be my best guess before she can be removed. Her transformation, as I said, was very aggressive. She will need food and time before I feel safe putting her back in to make sure no permanent damage was done and re-key her nanites to her new DNA. ADAM and I will spend some of that time making sure there are no more hidden protocols in their programming. We will want to put Boris in to ameliorate the aggressiveness on his nanites after we fix the programming.