"Rashi, you need to go shopping", Sae said. "We need to get you and Nick into the medcentre; you need to retrieve the nanites; and then we need to get you, Nick and the nanites out without being disabled by the EMP". Sae finished scribbling down a list on a sheet of paper, and handing it to Rashi added "You should be able to get these things easily enough. I've added the names of the stores I think will have it in stock."

"Roger that", Rashi replied, looking down at the list and then casting a strange smile towards Nick "One... nurse uniform coming up!". Seeing Sae's expression, she quickly added, "and some pills and some... copper insulation. That's weird, but you're the boss!"

"Right you are", Sae smiled and added "and hurry up, we don't have much time!".

As Rashi was heading towards the apartment door, Sae looked up at Nick. "And you need to eat and sleep. The next few hours will be hell on your body, and that is if all goes to plan. You need all the energy you can store. I've already ... fixed your schedule at work, so they won't be expecting you for at least the next three days." Seeing Nick about to protest, she continued over him, "You're the one who is determined to do this, and this is how it's going down. Eat. Sleep. And don't protest.". Rashi moved over to a cupboard and fetched three energy bars, saying "Step 1" as she handed them to Nick.

Nick still wanted to protest, but Sae made sense and Nick had long ago learned to trust in his sister's judgment. Chewing down the energy bars, he was wondering how he was going to be able to sleep again already. His brain was still buzzing with thoughts and ideas, and he wanted to spend more time getting to know Goose.

Fortunately, if he had one special skill it was the ability to sleep anywhere and anytime, and he could feel the beginnings of fatigue replacing the adrenaline that was leaving his body from the morning's events. "Alright, sis. I guess you make sense.".

Nick took one more look at Sae, and headed for his bedroom. He briefly noticed the door to his observation bubble, and felt the familiar pang of curiosity as he considered checking up on his various instruments. Seeing Sae still watching him, he decided to make use of the wave of tiredness sweeping over him, undressed and got into bed.

"Nick!" he heard Sae shout from the living room. "Please leave open a comms channel to Goose as you sleep - we've got some work to do!"

And with a last effort of consciousness, he set it up on the virtual machine, before drifting off to bed.

--

Only three hours later, Nick was holding a small white pill between his thumb and forefinger. In front of him on the table was a small glass of vinegar.

"So...", Nick drew the words out. "You want me to take this pill, and wash it down with... vinegar?!"

"Yep!", Sae answered with a grin. "And the effect will be immediate! The Theracene will get your digestive system working, and the vinegar will help dissolve the pill immediately to create a spectacular overdrive." Sae threw a look towards their bathroom and added to Rashi, "Rash, perhaps you want to open the door there and make sure there are no obstacles in the way?"

Sae observed Rashi opening the door and clearing the way, before looking up at Nick and continuing. "The worst of it should be over in ten or fifteen minutes." Sae went quiet for a moment, looking down at her hands with an uneasy expression. "Those minutes will be hellish, though. Remember - even if it feels like you are dying, it will be over quickly and with no permanent damage. At first it will feel like the worst stomach bug in the history of stomach bugs, and afterwards your body will react with symptoms reminiscent of the flu. With your vitals registering an increased heartbeat and a small fever, Rashi will take you to the medcentre wearing her new... nurse uniform." With a small cough, she added to Rashi, "are you sure that's your size? It looks somewhat... tight?"

Rashi laughed as she looked down her body. Not used to the display she was currently putting on, she tried not to look abashed as she answered, "It's actually not, and I think this top button is supposed to be done up. But we want them to be focused on me, not on Nick, right?"

"Alright." Sae sighed. "Ready, Nick?"

Nick kept his eyes on Rashi as he saluted the girls. "What I do to save a species..." he muttered, putting the pill in his mouth. And in one grimaced swig, he downed the vinegar.

Sae had been correct. The effect was... immediate! Nick felt his gut making a violent twist, and he was out of his chair running towards the bathroom before the contortion had finished. Rashi was helpfully holding the door open, and closed it as he ran through.

The next few minutes were excruciating. At some point between bending over the toilet and sitting down on it, Nick heard loud music from the living room. He would have been embarassed if he had the capacity for anything other than enduring the new bout of agony emanating from his stomach. Again and again, the pain surged through his body. Minutes passed, and just as he thought it was getting better, another wave washed through him, sweat pouring from everywhere, drenching his clothes.

It was nearly half an hour later, when Nick finally managed to send a short message through his mindpal to Sae. Get me to the medcentre. Please.

--

Together, Rashi and Sae managed to get Nick into a taxicart. Rashi entered the address of the medcentre and added the emergency tag to the request. The taxicart took off at speed, flashing its emergency lights and navigating the narrow streets around the apartment. Even as the hab wasn't one of the larger ones, it still took them almost ten minutes travelling at a quick pace through the narrow streets to get to the emergency bay of the medcentre.

Rashi threw open the taxicart door and jumped out, shouting for a gurney. An orderly ran towards them pulling one behind him, and together the orderly and Rashi got Nick onto the gurney, and pushed it through the doors into the medcentre. Passing through the heavy metal frame around the door, Nick thought he could hear the silent buzz of the EMP as they went through, ready to disable any nanites as people exited the building.

Using the internal map of the medcentre that Sae had found, Rashi directed the orderly to a room they knew was currently unoccupied, and together they moved Nick from the gurney and into the empty bed. Rashi sent a quick message to Sae who marked the room as in use. When another nurse came into the room, and started asking Rashi "Who are y...", Rashi quickly interrupted her with the script Sae had given her; "He needs an IV with a basic nutrient solution, immediately."

Casting Rashi a suspicious glance, the nurse still got to work. From a drawer, she got out a small box of sensors that she stuck to various places on Nick's body, and a second later the screen next to the bed woke up and started displaying key information. "Good morning Mr. ...Anson. Please be patient for a moment, I'll get the doctor for you."

As the nurse worked, Rashi stepped out of the room and messaged Sae through her mindpal. Alright, Nick is receiving care. Where is the fabricator?

I see you on the map, Sae responded immediately. Down the hallway where you are standing is a double door at one end. Go towards the door, but take a left turn before entering.

After a couple of minutes of guiding Rashi through the medcentre corridors, Sae finally messaged, this is it. The blue door on your right leads to the nanite fabricator lab. The room should be empty right now. I will unlock the door in three seconds, 2, 1, GO!"

Rashi hurried through the door, and heard it latch behind her. Hurry up. Sae messaged. I will monitor the hallway and keep the door locked if somebody tries to enter.

Moving quickly, Rashi walked up to the terminal sitting alone along one wall. She sent it a signal to activate, and the small screen lit up: TRANSMIT AUTHORIZATION appeared, just as a new auth request popped up in her mindpal. Alright Sae, hope this works... she messaged, as she instructed her mindpal to send the authorization token to the terminal.

Rashi held her breath, and AUTHORIZATION APPROVED appeared on the small screen a moment later. Rashi had no idea how Sae did it, but it was scary how she could get into practically any hab system. A new connection request appeared in her mindpal, and accepting it Rashi quickly navigated the menus. She found the NANITE COMPILER option that Sae had told her to look for, and uploaded the two nanite code packages that Sae and Goose had built together.

With a mental command, she triggered the option called COMPILE AND FABRICATE. The fabricator sent back an acknowledgment and a timer appeared.

It's happening! Rashi sent a message to Sae. Just over four minutes. Let me know if anyone approaches!

As Sae confirmed that she would remain on the lookout, Rashi started pacing around the small room. One wall was covered in an interesting wallpaper, if you are into abstract biology inspired art, Rashi thought and observed that it looked like someone had given up the attempt at decoration after that wall. The rest of the room was simple and clean metal. Metal walls, metal ceiling, metal floor. Utilities, tables and chairs - all metal. A colourful rug would liven up this place, Rashi was thinking to herself as she sat down in a chair and began to idly swivel it around. And would it hurt them to hang a picture or two? The utilitarian look made sense when the hab was just getting started, but now they had been turning a profit for at least a decade. Still, hab admin insisted on very strict budgets with practically no concessions for esthetics or non-vital purchases.

Some minutes of increasingly nervous musings later, a melodius ping could be heard from the nano fabricator, and two small vials were pushed out on a tray. Both the size of a fingernail, Rashi was amazed at the complexity contained in the small smoky fluid as she hurriedly put the vials in her pocket. Done. All clear? she messaged Rashi, and after getting a confirmation she exited the lab.

Rashi found her way back to Nick. Seeing his colour returned, she asked him with a smile "It looks like you feel better?"

"That. Is. Not. Something. I. Want. To. Do. Again". Nick paused between each word for emphasis, and shuddered. "Did you get the... medicine?" he said, looking nervously around the room, wondering if Sae had remembered to disable the monitoring.

"Yep!", Rashi smiled and took out the two vials. Giving him one of them, her hand dug into her pocket for the small copper container she had purchased earlier that morning. Drinking the contents of the first vial, Nick shuddered as he remembered what happened the last time he ingested something as part of Sae's plan. "Don't worry", she had said. "The nanites won't really hurt that much. It should only feel like someone gently tugging on your intestines. Nothing like before...." Nick wasn't sure how much he trusted his siter on that. Not that gently tugging on the intestines was something he wanted to experience either.

Rashi put the second nanite vial into the copper container, before closing it. Handing it to Nick, she noted "This is just so weird, Nick. I hope it works". Nick nodded back, taking the copper container in his hand. Not much larger than the first vial, he popped it into his mouth and swallowed. "I am so done with swallowing weird things", he noted as Rashi got ready to leave.

"Ok Nick", she said. "I'm out of here before they remember to start asking who I am!"

Nick gave a wave of his hand as Rashi stepped out of the door just as the doctor entered to check up on him. Briefly nervous that the doctor would stop to ask Rashi who she was, Nick chuckled quietly to himself as he noticed the doctor casting a lingering look at Rashi's uniform as she disappeared around the corner.

--

The rest of the day was anticlimatically uneventful. Nick could feel the slow churn in his gut as millions of cells were reprogrammed. It wasn't exactly painful, but a steady weird sensation. Sae's description that it would feel like someone tugging on his intestines was surprisingly accurate, and he pictured the army of very small robots working according the the code package Sae and Goose had made. Nanites, or nanomachines. From the Greek word for dwarf, Nick remembered. An army of dwarfs, silently and efficiently rebuilding his cells to build a fortress for Goose to live in. Inside him.

Nick's thoughts were interrupted as a nurse entered the room. Reading the screen next to his bed, she noted "Looks like you are just about ready to go home, Nick. How do you feel?"

Worried now, Nick needed to ward off the nurse. Sae had said the process should only take four or five hours, and it had now been nearly eight.

"Better", Nick answered her. "But if it is alright with you, I'd prefer to stay a little bit longer. This morning was... I was scared". Nick didn't have to pretend the look he gave the nurse.

"Ok, Nick. No hurry. We'll keep you a bit longer, but unless you get worse we need this bed back before the night shift starts."

Again alone in the room, Nick had time to think - and worry. At first, worry about the immediately impending interview with Internal Audit, but very quickly his worry turned to the larger consequences of the events that were happening. If - and Nick thought that was still a big if - the current plan worked, what was next? How could they help Goose? Would they be able to do anything with the current increased scrutiny from Internal Audit? Even... and Nick had to admit to a growing apprehension as he organized his thoughts on the topic for the first time... Can we trust Goose? Is it capable of lying? How far would Goose go to get at his goals?

As Nick was following that particular trail of thought, it was oddly jarring to be suddenly interrupted

Hi again, Nick. It looks I am still alive! I am very grateful for what you have done.

Weird! So WEIRD! Where before, Goose had appeared as messages from his mindpal, which was an interface he was familiar with from childhood, this was like a voice directly inside his head. Only it wasn't a voice.. there was no sound involved. Only words, and meaning, directly sumperimposed on his thoughts. How was he supposed to respond? Hello, Nick thought, but nothing happened. Then he whispered "Hello?" into the quiet of the room, and immediately Goose responded

You don't have to vocalize, Nick. Just speak, without actually moving your mouth or pushing air through. I can see the nerve signals as they trigger, and can read them.

Weird! Nick subvocalized to Goose. Super weird. And creepy. And... How are you? How is the imprint process?

Complete, I think. I've been running error checking for the past few minutes, and it looks like it is all there. The full signal.

So you can access it all now?

Not quite. I've loaded the most important parts into your gastroneuron cells, to make up my.. brain, I guess you can call it. It contains the logic processor and short term memory functions. The rest of the signal is stored in the cells of the fatty tissue in your abdomen, but I cannot retrieve it with neuroelectrical signals. I need to use slower biochemistry based signalling, which is an order of magnitude slower. It would take me years to read through the whole data set like this.

As agreed, I have taken the liberty of connecting to parts of your nervous system and I am currently monitoring your immune response. Our earlier estimates appear correct. We have one hour before they start to degrade, and we need to activate the repair nanites before then. Time to leave!

The second vial, wrapped in the copper container, housed the repair nanites. Even know, the nanites were slowly eating their way through the container. The container was intended to shield the repair nanites from the EMP at the exit door and Nick had to get out of the medcentre before his immune system had begun flushing out the nanite reconstructed cells that made up Goose, and before the repair nanites had eaten through the copper container.

Nick rose from the bed he had spent the last hours in, and found his coat. Casting a look back at the room, he exited the door and followed the signs to the registry desk. Smiling to the nurse there, he completed the checkout forms before heading for the door. The moment of truth... he thought to himself, stepping through the exit.

Ok Goose, we are outside the EMP. He subvocalized immediately after going through the door, mentally crossing his fingers.

Good, Goose responded immediately. I'm still... here. The copper housing should be completely dissolved in another twenty minutes.

Nick waved down a taxicart and gave it his address. Remembering the morning's journey and still feeling slightly queasy, he appreciated the slow pace it took through the hab streets.

Just as the taxicart stopped outside his apartment, Goose said

I can see the repair nanites. They are working. Mission success!