video;

[upshore]

[There's a man in his late 20s on the screen, and he looks tired. Not like he hasn't been sleeping well - though that, too - but like 'tired' is just generally a state of being for him. His hands are out of frame. He's going to keep it that way.]

Not to diss Raine and Heather, without whom I would be dead, and I am very grateful for their help, I've got a question. Out of curiosity, are there any doctors here? Gonna be clear here - I don’t mean maniacs with rusty shears, I don’t mean someone with a penchant for making people into unwilling human guinea pigs for whatever the fuck, I don’t mean Dr. Strangelove’s crazier Nazi cousin who’s trying to turn mental patients into batteries for nanomachines with more tubes in them than that one senator guy called the internet.

‘Cause before I let anyone come near me with so much as a stethoscope in future, I’m going to need to see some medical credentials.

[A pause, and then:]

Also, if anyone comes at me dressed as a priest, this is the only warning you’ll get that I am going to set you on fucking fire. It worked on the last guy.

Comments

[upshore]

[Miles chuckles too. Good gallows humor, kid. Join the club.]

No. No, I wasn't involved with the program at all. I'm a journalist. I went to check out a tip about abuse at a mental asylum. Turns out, the company running it had also been testing their pet project out on the patients.

[He flexes one of his hands, almost unconsciously. They're still hurting - phantom pains in phantom fingers.] Since you said one of your specialties is nanotech, I was wondering what you could tell me about some of the technology. I don't know as much about it as I'd like, and I'll need some context for the story.

[highprofilerichkid]

Damn. That's messed up. [That ranting hadn't been hyperbole after all.]

I can tell you a lot about nanotech, but... you know you probably won't remember any of this when you go home, right?

[upshore]

Little bit, yeah.

[Miles is already halfway to writing down the next few words in his bloodied notebook, before:] Hmmmmmsaywhat?

[Looks like someone missed that part of the briefing.]

he misplaced the introductory pamphlet along with his fingers and his sanity

[highprofilerichkid]

[Dude, is that blood on your notebook? Gross. Suddenly Tony's wondering how recently he lost those fingers.

Also, he's wondering how much of the Welcome Speech he's going to have to go over with Miles. Did he miss the orientation course?]

We don't remember Keeliai when we go home. The dimensional transfer isn't set up that way. If you vanish and then come back, you'll remember being here the first time, but you won't remember any of this while you're in your home universe.

So I can tell you anything you want to know, but unless we figure out how to fix that, it's not going to help you.

so trager took 'em all. DAMMIT TRAGER THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS

[upshore]

[More recently than you would care to think, Tony. More recently than you would care to think.

Miles sighs, flipping his notebook closed.] Well that's fucking useless.

Still, I don't know a whole lot about nanites. Are they normally capable of taking humanoid forms, or did I just get really lucky?

[highprofilerichkid]

[Miles took that pretty well. He's obviously Seen Some Shit, so a memory wipe must not rate very high on the Shit Scale. Tony's happier talking about nanotech than hand-holding someone through an existential crisis, anyway.]

Well, a mobile swarm could take any form it wanted. If it's being controlled by a human consciousness, it would make sense for it to look a little human.

[upshore]

Yeah, I suppose. But the one I saw...half the time it took the shape of what looked like a cloud of smoke, not something humanoid.

Then again, you can apparently hack satellites with your brain, so what the hell do I know about nanites?

[highprofilerichkid]

Sounds about right. It doesn't need to be in any specific shape, right? Unless the person linked to it is focusing on the shape or it has a program telling it what to do, it would default to standard swarm behavior.

[Then he grins.] My nanites can't function outside my body [SO FAR] so, different kind of tech, but sort of the same idea with the mental interface. The serum modified my brain so I can use the nanites to send and receive wireless signals. Want to see something cool?

[upshore]

"Standard swarm behavior." [To self, sarcastically:] Hooray!

[He's a little wary of 'something cool' but sure, why not.] Um...yeah, okay.

[highprofilerichkid]

[Hey, it's pretty cool stuff. Ever seen a flock of swallows flying?

But anyway, he's not going to argue about it when Miles has given him permission to show off.]

Check this out, [He says, still grinning, and calls the armor to him.]

[upshore]

[Well that sure is something. Miles jumps.]

Whoa!

[highprofilerichkid]

Awesome, right? [Even ensconced in the armor with his faceplate down, he still manages to look smug.] Direct neural link to the armor. Or anything else capable of receiving wireless signals, but there's not a lot of that kind of tech around here. [Oh well. At least he can still do the armor party trick.

Then his armor pings a warning, and Tony pauses and frowns.

Active nanite source detected. Threat level unknown.]

Hey, you said you weren't part of this nanotech program, didn't you?

[upshore]

[Miles is about to agree that it is indeed awesome, and then that weird question happens.]

Um, yeah. No. Definitely not. I found out about it about half an hour before I got here. Why, did your thing say I maybe have some on my jacket? I didn't get through an active purge gate and that shit gets everywhere...

[highprofilerichkid]

Uh... [That is not an optimistic-sounding "uh".] Let me run some scans.

[And run some scans he does - which show Miles' entire body lit up like a Christmas tree with nanite activity.]

I don't think you're gonna like this, dude, but that's definitely not just a few stragglers. It looks like you're hosting a full self-sustaining swarm.

miles' voice is the voice of michael jones. nobody can tell me otherwise

[upshore]

[Miles' brain has stopped processing audio for a second. Because that's insane. Insane, and also ludicrous, and also fucking impossible Billy Hope was dead the Walrider dissipated the nanites were gone.]

Uh, uh, uh, uh, I'm sorry?! [he stammers in shock.]

[highprofilerichkid]

Yeah. You've got them all over you. And, uh, in you. Can they switch hosts without being reprogrammed?

[Tony pauses, realizing the implications of that.] Man, I hope they're not, you know, contagious.

[Nanite outbreak! Just what they need!]

[upshore]

I don't know. I, uh. I killed the guy who was controlling them in his dreams and then the nanites tried to kill me and I thought they dissipated but I guess they. Did not.

[He sits down, hard, on the floor, and puts his hands on his head.]

Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god they went in me oh my god WERNICKE YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH!

[highprofilerichkid]

[Oh, jeez. He's not taking this well.]

Well, they're not hurting you, right? [Tony points out, trying to look on the bright side.] What are they supposed to do? Do you think you can control them? I mean, they could be useful, couldn't they...?

[upshore]

[Miles looks up from his anger/despair-ball on the floor at Tony.] They hurt like fuck when they went in, now that I know that's what that was!

It's a weapon, [he says, hanging his head, his tone bitter.] The Walrider is a weapon. That's all it is. I thought I destroyed it. I was wrong.

Killing Billy didn't accomplish anything. I should have...I should have just let Walker rip my fucking head off, [he says, laughing bitterly.] He just wanted to keep this parasite from getting out of the asylum.

[highprofilerichkid]

Someone wanted to use it as a weapon - that doesn't mean that's all it can be.

[He's assuming the 'Walrider' is the nanite swarm? That must have been the name of the project.

He's not sure he wants to know who Billy is. One of the test subjects - "the guy who was controlling them in his dreams" - obviously. But also, by implication, one of the patients in the asylum, and probably not someone whose murder, necessary or not, is going to make anyone feel warm and fuzzy. Tony decides he'd rather not hear the details.

But not wanting to be forced to advance weapons research? Not wanting to become a weapon? That's something Tony can sympathize with.]

Look, man - people are always trying to steal my inventions and turn them into weapons. And Extremis was supposed to be a weapon. I could still use it as one if I wanted to. Some people will try to turn any new tech into a weapon, because it's profitable. But when we've got that tech and they don't, it's up to us how to use it. A nanite swarm is only a weapon if you use it like one.

[upshore]

[Miles shakes his head, getting up from the floor.] It has no other purpose. It was the product of Nazi research, taken by an amoral corporation for no other reason than to make money by selling it to the highest bidder. The only way to make it not a weapon is to not use it, or to destroy it.

I want it out. You're the nanite expert. How do I get it out?

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony sighs, and de-armors. The suit folds itself back into its compact configuration.]

You don't. There's no way to do something like that here. The tech level isn't high enough. Maybe if we were still in Hatal, but I couldn't promise anything. They don't have nanotech yet.

What does it do, anyway? What kind of weapon is it?

[upshore]

Thaaaat's fine. [Miles laughs, a little hysterically.] This is fine.

It's...well, most of what I saw was its aftermath, so, turning people into bloodstains and organs and the occasional limb. And when it's humanoid, it can pick up even someone who's three hundred pounds or more and toss them around like they're a baseball. I saw it do that to someone. And it threw me around a lot, too. Like I said, like an orca playing with a harp seal. Toying with me, because its controller wanted to kill me.

So, not exactly capable of doing anything useful like talking to satellites, [he mutters.]

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony tries not to look too appalled, because those nanobots aren't going anywhere and Miles clearly needs to come to terms with that, but, okay, yeah, that's pretty appalling.]

That's... not great. But you're the host, now, so you're the one controlling them, right...? So you could just. Not use them.

[Right? Right?? Tony wonders if maybe he should have kept the armor on. He does not want to know what getting turned into meat soup feels like.]

[upshore]

Well...yeah, I am. But I don't want anything with that kind of capability inside me. I wouldn't use them even if I knew how.

[He closes his eyes.] Bastards.