This story explores the possibilities associated with the development of new technologies. It is a work of fantasy and should be considered as such. The new technology in this world works as described. If you think this is wrong, then you will either have to accept this or chose to read a different story.
This story is copyrighted by the author and no rights are given to distribute, copy or publish the story without the authors express consent.
Part 1 -- Samuel
Sam was in his basement workshop and had just finished with his latest and hopefully his greatest creation. He was an inventor, his creations were his children, but unlike most of those who would describe themselves as such, Sam was a learned man. A professor of both computer engineering and Biomechanical engineering, his research and inventions focused on the possibilities for improving human kind as well as helping them interact with an increasingly technical world.
But now he had finally finished what he hoped would be a new start for himself and possibly the world and he needed to test it. However it wasn't like you could just test a new medical device on anyone and the one thing he did know, was that assuming it worked, his invention in the wrong hands could be catastrophic.
As such, he had come to the conclusion that the only thing he could do was to test it on himself. Now that might sound crazy, because if it went wrong, he wouldn't have anyone to fall back on, but he'd decided on this course of action bearing in mind the benefits it could bring to anyone that he tested it on. He needed to understand those, before there was any way he could risk it on anyone else.
He'd spent the last 5 years of his spare time working on it, designing a testing protocol and interface system as well as the device itself and now finally it was finished and ready to be tested. He held up the syringe that the device was in (not that you could see it) and checked the interface on the computer to confirm it was functioning within parameters. Confirming that it was, he set the syringe to the vein in his arm, slid it in and injected himself with the nanite. Observing the interface as it changed to confirm the nanite knew it was inside it's new host.
He watched as the replication protocol commenced and the nanite set about replicating itself the first 100 times. He had calculated this process should take about an hour and was glad to see the interface confirming it was expected to take 1hr and 5 mins. Only once stage 1 was complete, would stage two dispersal and further replication commence.
Sam headed back upstairs to get some food and as he walked past the front windows noted that there was a removal van outside his neighbour Jack and Rebecca's place. He certainly wouldn't be sad to see Jack go, frankly the guy was 100% an asshole, the type of guy who thought being aggressive and putting people down was some form of dominance. He'd tried it once on Sam and had been utterly unable to handle Sam's refusal to be cowed. Jack had then taken the usual route so beloved by bullies and attempted to intimidate Sam physically. Jack had never quite gotten over being face planted into the pavement right in front of his neighbours and held down in a wrist lock until he promised he would behave himself.
Rebecca on the other hand was lovely, Sam had always enjoyed those intelligent blue eyes looking at him, she had a lithe toned figure and lovely classic brunette head of hair. When Sam had first heard that she was a Barrister, he'd formed an initial impression, that seemed to have then been proven wrong. Much against that first impression all the evidence showed she was caring and feminine and he'd ended up wondering why she was with a twat like Jack.
However deep down inside he knew why, he'd see the signs too many times. She clearly had a strong submissive streak and he'd heard enough to suspect, she'd made the classic error and had mistaken aggression for dominance when marrying Jack. If she was, she would have a hard time leaving Jack and it became almost like a self fulfilling prophecy even if she knew he was a total douche bag.
Sam had a craving for a proper ham and egg mayo sandwich and busied himself making it, whilst he considered how his life might change with the nanites. His house was nice, but not large, he'd never felt the urge to have anything bigger, there seemed little point, when it was him alone. He was fairly wealthy, various engineering contracts over the years had seen to that and he knew that as long as he didn't go mad, he would never need to worry about money, £10m invested generated more than enough income to meet his current needs, although if some of his dreams came true, he might need more.
He sat watching the activity outside next door as he ate and couldn't help but notice that something was clearly a little odd. The van was nowhere near big enough to be moving them out entirely and only the douche seemed to be present. He knew Rebecca would normally be at work and her car wasn't there, but he would have expected her to be present if they were moving.
Glancing at the clock, he realised the time was nearly up for stage 1, so he headed back downstairs to monitor the transition to stage 2. Watching the screen, he saw the transition occur as programmed and the estimated time to completion of stage 2 flash up as a further 90 minutes. Once that completed, stage 3 would commence, interface set up, which he believed should take only 10 minutes or so, followed by stage 4, full diagnostic.
It was stage 4 that carried some real curiosity, what might it reveal, given that the diagnostic was on him. He knew he had some health issues, although nothing serious (as far as he knew), so it would be interesting to see what the nanites could actually detect and then what they could correct. As already mentioned, he was fairly healthy, but then again he was 50 and his body had picked up a bunch of niggles along the way, as well as the expected declines simply due to age. His eyesight was no longer perfect, he'd been having neck issues for well over 20 years and as could only be expected he suspected a few joints were not in the best of condition.
Glancing at the timer occasionally, he worked on his secondary screens, detailing potential experiments and tests he could perform to help determine the success of the nanites. If they could correct issues, how far could they correct? What additional resources would they need, how could those resources be delivered? He'd already stocked up on things like whey and protein supplements, plus lots of different vitamins and minerals, as well as an extensive stock of food in case his hunger suddenly increased, after all you can't make something out of nothing.
He'd been working away on scenario's and tests for some time, when the interface popped up to say that stage 2 was complete, the nanites were finished replication, were distributed through his entire body and the interface was ready to initialise, the button, proceed with initialisation yes/no was open on the screen. Sam took a depth breath and pressed yes.
He knew what to expect, but was still slightly surprised when an interface menu popped up in his field of view and a beep sounded like it was in his ear. The interface with his optic and auditory nerves was working. Thinking, he explored the menu's, forward and backward, remembering the terms and how a direct thought could take him directly to where he wanted. In many ways the interface itself was more of a reminder about the options that were available, rather than needed for him to control it. All he needed to do was think it and the action would be carried out whilst he was conscious and awake.
Scrolling through the various menu's, all bar one were currently greyed out, the only exception being diagnostics. Double checking the menu he selected full diagnostic and the system told him that this would take anything up to 3 hours, with the yes to confirm showing and flashing. Glancing at the computer interface, he saw the same menu was showing on there and thought yes to confirm. The interface in his optics immediately shut down, however on the computer screen a progress bar and results section showed up, along with an estimated time to completion of 2hrs 57 mins.
Sam carried on working for a while, before deciding to go back upstairs to make a coffee whilst he waited. He noticed out the window that the removal van was now gone, as were all the cars in Jack & Rebecca's drive. Glancing at the clock, he saw it was now close to 4.30 and he thought about how long till the diagnostic would be done. Immediately the display popped up in his optics, to show estimated time to completion 58 minutes.
Grabbing his coffee, he went back down to the workshop and puttered around doing things like checking his mails and the like, whilst he waited for the diagnostic to complete. After what felt like forever, a ding sounded in his ear and the menu popped up to say diagnostic complete, would you like to view the results. Glancing at the computer screen to confirm the same menu was displayed, he thought yes.
The results popped up immediately.
Subject: Human Male
Age: 50
Diagnostic issues detected:
Moderate trauma to C1-7 vertebrae
Mild trauma to T1-T12 vertebrae
Moderate macular degeneration (age related)
