Chapter 9:

After a few minutes of talking things through with each other, Paige, Jake, and Will decided to continue with Will doing most of the speaking. They also decided what they would ask first.

“Okay, so you’ve told us why you're here. So far, my first question is do you know any details about this vague threat you mentioned? We ask, because we can't help but notice we’ve been experiencing some societal tension lately, ourselves.”

“Unfortunately, no. At least, not that we can have any confidence about. In looking through your history we have discovered that current tensions are not at all unique for your race. Because of this, we cannot say if there is something guiding it.

I can say, however, that if there is anyone here working as part of the same force we identified on my world, they came here before we did. Our long range scans would have detected any portals opening, and alerted us,” came Sil’s reply.

“Okay, that's not exactly comforting, but not something we can currently do anything about.

You mentioned you intended to share your technology, but you've been exceedingly vague in what it actually is. Obviously, it's the source of the changes in my body, but I don't exactly recall signing up for implantation.”

“Yes, the technology in question is a type of nanite that is self replicating, and connected to a subspace dimension that is suffused with a type of energy that is entirely unique in its effects on organic tissues that come into contact with it. Once bonded, the nanites open a conduit between their host and this subspace, known as the Aether.

Once that connection is established, aetheric energy begins to flow into the host through the nanites that are in the process of completely integrating with their hosts. This energy does an array of things to the bodies it fuses with, which we will speak of later in our story, but to begin…”

“Wait,” Paige suddenly interjected, “Are you saying you’re implanting people with nanotechnology, and not discussing it with them first? That's a terrible idea!

Even momentarily putting aside the issue of consent, which is a big deal on its own. You're essentially giving random people you don't have a clue about, abilities that are far beyond what a normal human is capable of. That alone could cause huge trouble for pretty much everyone.”

Sil was noticeably uncomfortable sounding when he responded.

“So, I have, on occasion, been accused of impulsiveness. I admit there were several aspects of our plan that I failed to think through properly.

One thing to understand is that this technology is ubiquitous on my world. Quite literally, everyone has these nanites introduced at birth. Because of that, when it came time to introduce them on Earth, I perhaps didn't lend potential consequences adequate consideration.

To address those issues you mentioned, we monitor those who breakthrough from Latent stage via long range sensors, and investigate them all through multiple channels. For the rare occasion someone with psychopathy or violent histories manages to bond with the nanites, we devised a method of blocking them from accessing aetheric energy.

Without that energy, the nanites are programmed to self-destruct. There is a downside to this. Normally, when people don't bond with them, the nanites exist in a dormant phase. They are self contained, and simply follow the same path through the body as normal water does.

When they bond with a host, however, they stop being isolated from the body of the person they reside in. You could think of it as a shell covering them when dormant, and when they bond and become active, that shell is destroyed.

Without that shell, what's left behind after they break down is highly toxic to internal organs. The people exposed to the internal destruction process often die as a direct result of that event within hours. For those that survive the initial phase, the remnant in their systems quickly causes cascading organ failure, and inevitable death.

It may sound cold, but we don't see an alternative that is both responsible and harmless. Additionally, it is not something we do without significant reason. Hence, our insistence on thorough investigation of those who achieve initial breakthrough. Thus far, we have only needed to kill three humans this way.

The first was a serial killer who got away with his crimes by nature of being a witch hunter sanctioned by the Church of England. Interestingly, he actually never experienced the ergot poisoning many who participated in witch hunts fell prey to. He was just a massive wanker.

The second was a rapist. We found DNA evidence on the clothing of several of his victims, in the time before humans could test it. We also observed significant circumstantial evidence suggesting his actual victim count was much higher than we could prove.

The third was trickier. He had graduated from a university and been unable to find a job in his field. He had also become quite radicalized on the internet. Over the course of a month, he collected the firearms and ammunition needed for a substantial amount of violence, and constructed an explosive vest. When he left his house to carry out his plan, we triggered the self-destruction of his nanites and caused him to veer off the road into a ditch. He was dead before he woke.

As for the issue of consent, honestly, it never even occurred to me that I should seek it until centuries after it was done. I understand what I did was morally unacceptable. There is nothing I can do to change that. I do find a small amount of solace in knowing that this technology has absolutely NO negative effects on the people it is introduced to, regardless of whether they successfully bond with the nanites or not."

Paige looked like she was about to start shouting, but Sil quickly continued.

“Please understand, I am not saying I did the right thing. Allow me to finish this conversation, and I will happily speak to you about it. Truthfully, I am certain your perspective and input will be invaluable to helping me grow as a person, but I need to finish explaining things to all of you.”

Not looking exactly mollified, Paige did nod her head and sit back in her seat.

“Thank you, Paige. Now, to begin I should explain my vessel, if nothing else so I can stop bloody calling it that. I simply call it The Cube, but it is far more complex than that could possibly express.

The Cube is entirely constructed of nanites made from a highly refined metallic alloy. This unique construction allows it to be formed into almost any shape needed, but I chose this one for simplicity.

Internally, it has several functions, but the main one, for our purposes, is its manufacturing capabilities. Essentially, it is an extremely advanced 3D printer.

Shortly after arriving, Artie and I activated the process to begin producing the nanite technology. Once we had reached sufficient quantity, we seeded them into the atmosphere in a manner that would allow them to join with the water cycle of your world.

From there, they would naturally become a part of every water source on earth. That, in turn, allows them to come into contact with every person on the planet, eventually. Their ability to self-replicate ensures they always exist in sufficient concentration to accomplish this. Also, until bonded to a host they are undetectable by human means, so they simply remain dormant until the proper conditions are met.”

Sil then paused for a moment, organizing his thoughts, before continuing his story.

“There was more than one reason for the approach we took to introducing this technology to your world.

For one, we didn’t have any way of identifying each individual capable of bonding with the nanites. Mapping the genomes of everyone on Earth was just never going to be feasible, even when we first arrived.

This led to the second reason, with an expanding population, introducing the technology individually would have been a logistical impossibility. There were already too many people here when we arrived for it to work, and the population has exploded since then.

Then, my own arrogance showed through as we sincerely believed we were helping your people advance as a race. Empowering a significant portion of your population with complete disregard to the social caste systems of the times seemed like a brilliant way of spurring sociological evolution, technological innovation, and scientific growth.

I did mention my history of somewhat impulsive behaviour.

Lastly, we believe your people have the capacity to not fall prey to whatever machinations were taking place on my own world. Many of your people are far more mentally flexible, adaptable, and empathetic than anyone I had ever met. Those traits are what give you the potential to stand against what we saw happening before coming here.”

With that, Sil once again paused in his recitation, but this time it was for a purpose. Eventually, it got awkward, and Will was forced to break the melodramatic tension with a sigh and add to the conversation.

“Okay, dramatic pauses aside, you got these nanites into all of us. I assume I’ve had them for basically my entire life, so why is the crazy only happening now?”

“Excellent question, my dear boy!” Sil exclaimed, causing Will and his friends to exchange quick, amused glances.

“We might have to work on your sense of humor a bit,” said Paige, with an amused tone, before Sil could continue.

“Well, excuse my attempt, my dear, I haven’t spoken to anyone biologically alive in quite some time.”

They could all hear the sarcasm in Sil’s tone, but he was clearly enjoying the chance to speak with new people.

“Now, as Will astutely pointed out, essentially every human on the planet has some amount of these nanites in their systems. Everyone drinks and releases water on a constant basis, after all. Simply put, only a percentage of humans are genetically capable of permanently bonding with them. Of that percentage, there is no guarantee that they will experience the needed breakthrough to move beyond the Latent stage of the bond.

We don’t actually understand every aspect of why only some people can properly bond, as we haven’t yet identified a single gene sequence that definitively allows for it. We also don’t know why not all of those who bond are capable of further evolution. It is simply how things have developed since our plan began.

As a brief aside, It’s actually rather interesting how varied the circumstances for moving beyond a Latent are. For some, mental or physical trauma triggers it. For others, it simply happens as the host ages. Some achieve it through meditation. We’ve even seen some that trigger as a result of either exceptionally good or bad dreams.

Further, for those who simply evolve as they age, it seems to follow a similar schedule as adult onset schizophrenia. Meaning they remained Latent through the dramatic and turbulent hormonal shifts that take place during puberty.

A fact that I cannot begin to fully express my gratitude for.”

“Wait a sec, good or bad dreams?”

This question came from Jake, who had a sneaking suspicion brewing in his mind, which was then confirmed by Sil.

“Yes, horrendous nightmares can do it. Other times, dreams involving romantic entanglements, likely sexual fantasies, can trigger it,”

Jake looked like he was about to follow up with more questioning, so Sil hurriedly continued.

“Before you ask, it’s a supposition drawn from brainwave analysis and the detected… release when the dream concludes.”

At that, Jake barked a quick laugh, Will snorted, and Paige simply rolled her eyes while smirking.

“Anyway,” Sil continued, “simply put, it’s difficult to determine who may or may not achieve the needed energy levels to achieve true Activation.

When it happens our sensors scan for anything out of the ordinary, and flag us if we need to examine the situation more closely. Will, your activation began twenty-four to forty-eight hours prior to your close encounter with a direct lightning strike.

Because of that, you were on the cusp of full breakthrough when that storm formed. This created a rarely seen anomaly that was immediately flagged for closer examination by our sensors.”

“Soooo… I had already been changing before that night? Now that I’m thinking about it, I had been feeling like I was forgetting something, or maybe like something was missing? Could that have been because of this process? Whatever it was, I’m not feeling it anymore.”

“Interesting. I suppose it is possible. I’m afraid I do not have any hard data to give you a real answer with, however. We haven’t spoken to enough Latents on the verge of breaking through into Initiates to have that information.”

This reminded Will of another question, and he asked, “You’ve used the term Latents and Initiates. I’m assuming these are the first two levels for people with the potential for these abilities?”

Sil thought for a moment, then responded with, “Yes, there are five levels: Latent, Initiate, Operator, Specialist and Incarnate. There are various differences between them all, but we can discuss that, in detail, later.”

Will just shrugged and nodded in response, not looking overly put out.

“So, I mentioned the electrical storm causing you to be flagged. You see, there are very few times we’ve seen lightning storms taking place at just the right time to coincide with the transition from Latent to Initiate. That particular barrier is different, as that is when energy begins to flow into you from the Aether at a significant rate. Essentially, your body is now expecting a certain amount of that aetheric energy to be present, but still needs to pull it in through your connection.”

“Okay, so my body was working to pull in aetheric energy, and the storm formed before my body… equalized?”

“That is an adequate description, yes.”

“Okay, that makes sense in a ‘this shit is nuts’ kind of way. Why does it feel like you’re hesitating all of a sudden? Rip the bandage off, dude.”

“Very well. It is important that you know that electrical storms interacting with the breakthrough process never happened on my world. Artie and I have yet to identify the cause, as there are a lot of potential variables between our worlds and people, and therefore, we have been unable to do anything to stop it.

Now, you know your body, in the process of evolving, wanted aetheric energy at that moment. This caused what amounted to an energetic vacuum to form in your body. That, in turn, caused the electricity built up in that storm to be attracted to you.

Essentially you became a temporary lightning rod. To date, about one hundredth of a percent of those moving from Latent to Initiate have encountered an electrical storm. Of that tiny minority, about fifteen percent have experienced a direct strike.

You, Will, belong in that category.

Coincidentally, you are also the only being to have had that happen and survived the experience.”