An unknown amount of time later

I was just coming out of what I felt was one of the longest and strangest dream-states I had ever experienced. I could remember vague impressions of colour, of swirling nebulae, of occasional appearances of text and other forms of visual communication. The text was odd, like I was floating in some game environment and the text was part of a visual interface. It wouldn't be too far removed from most RPGs I've played.

At least once, I imagined myself in a wood-panelled room with ornate carvings and luxurious furniture, almost as if it had been taken directly from an ocean liner in the first half of the twentieth century. I could not immediately recall anything specific happening in that environment, but I did recall being in it for a while.

I had no idea why.

Now, I was beginning to awaken. It happened slowly at first, as I came to, everything began to become clearer, more defined. The fog lifted from my brain, and I started to recall what I had last done.

I found myself lying in a still-cold sarcophagus, like the one that I was in when Rochelle had placed me under cryogenic suspension. This one looked exactly the same as it did when I was being anaesthetised.

Considering I'd just woken up, I was surprised by how easily and quickly I recalled previous events. Wasn't a long term coma-like state meant to make me groggy, and more than a bit out of it for a while? Yet I felt as sharp minded as I ever had.

And was it my imagination, or did everything look sharper, more defined? It was like having a pair of glasses on, but without actually wearing them. I looked around, and looked down toward my torso.

Wait, this wasn't right.

No, this isn't right at all.

I needed to get a good look at what was going on with me now. With a sense of urgency, I pushed against the canopy, and tried to force it open. It resisted my attempts, but then it suddenly gave way, and the top flew open and nearly knocked the whole apparatus sideways with me still inside it. Still, after trying to rebalance my weight so I didn't find myself tipping over onto the floor, I discovered that I could now sit up, and as I did, I got my first look around this new environment.

While the sarcophagus looked almost identical from the inside, the room I was in did not. It looked worn. faded. There were no lights other than the emergency lighting from the sarcophagus itself.

This was unexpected, as I realised that despite the low light, I could still see extremely well, including colour, not just a monochrome impression I normally expected in the dark.

I pushed up off of the sarcophagus, stunned momentarily that it seemed ridiculously easy. The last conscious memory I had before being put under was that I struggled just to sit down, to stand up, to do anything really. Seriously, even doing something as simple as standing would give me dizzy spells. Now... I ended up suspended in the air without realising it when I pushed off of the surface of the gel bed. I wondered just what in the hell had changed for me to be so strong all of a sudden?

I needed answers.

I looked over toward the exit door. It was closed, but I approached it anyway, and pulled to open it. With some force, it eventually gave way, including the lock-

Wait, what?! I shouldn't have been able to do that.

I looked at the door, then at the door frame, where I had literally torn off the locking mechanism with nothing more than brute strength that I shouldn't have possessed.

What the fuck?

I started to freak out a little bit, my heart jumping in response. I needed to chill out before I pushed myself into a fucking heart attack.

Without even realising it, I had triggered something in my eyesight. Overlaid on everything I could see, medical information scrolled along the periphery.

Blood pressure 132/81. Heart rate 152bpm. Blood Oxygen level 99.89%

Heart monitoring indicates no danger of fibrillation. Cardiovascular health OK.

This was all very strange. I devoutly wished I could understand why I was seeing this information.

All of a sudden, I was prompted with another panel in my periphery. This one marked "Important information".

I desired that it open, and it responded immediately.

Rick Reyes, subject 42.

If you are reading this message, it is because your nano-machine cluster has now gone into contingency mode. This is a special mode that provides integration with the host's synaptic network as well as the ability to coordinate medical functions while disconnected from Synergy Nanotechnology servers and in the absence of time-relevant programming. In order to assist you as well as possible, your nano-machines will only interface with other nano-machine clusters, or Synergy Nanotechnology approved computer and network systems. At present, all other access to the nano-machine network within your host body is denied. In order to resolve this issue, you can discuss it with your Synergy representative, if possible. Failing that, the nano-machines can be instructed to attempt to gather intelligence about their environment through contact. Please ensure that you exercise care in this situation, as it is designed only to be used in extreme situations, and should not be triggered if there is merely a power outage or a network failure in your lab or medical facility.

In addition, you may notice that you are presented with an array of useful, context-sensitive information about your environment, as though projected on to your eyesight. Your nano-machine cloud is actively processing information being sent to your visual cortex as it arrives, and this results in a real-time augmented visual improvement. Over time, this can be improved further as your nano-machine cloud integrates more fully with your synaptic pathways.

If you need further assistance, please contact your Synergy representative, or query the nano-machine cloud directly by asking the question in your mind.

End of message.

I felt momentarily like I could be close to panic. While in my former life, something so life-changing might have triggered a near-anxiety-attack, as soon as the feeling occurred, it was muted, and within a second, it was gone.

Why?

I was again surprised by a message appearing in the periphery of my vision.

Fear stimulus was detected. No external threats detected in the area. Countermeasures were deployed to ensure clear thought ability. Continuing to monitor.

I might have felt a sense of outrage, but the nano-machines probably turned that off as well, I thought. Would I now act like a zombie?

Reference zombie is unknown. Context indicates host is referencing the control exercised over psychological status. Nanomachine cluster is limited to ensuring no loss of thought control risking impairment to safety or health. Changes will only be effected when required. This directive will be rescinded when contingency mode is terminated.

Oh, really?

I would have liked to demand just what constituted required, in this machine cloud's hive mind.

Panic responses will always be filtered. Fear stimulus will be muted when no external threat is detected. All other responses will be muted if context deemed inappropriate.

I snorted derisively, despite the fact that there was no-one else nearby, and the nano-machines in my blood and throughout my body most likely would not know a cynical reaction. Who knew to the extent that this would run? I would have to deal with it later. For now, I needed to know where I was and what to do next.

Seek an exit, and search for other living organisms.

This was hardly a startling revelation, but I went with it. I opened the now-broken door a bit more, and took a look around.

Wow, this place had gone to hell in a hurry.

I catalogued, without realising I was doing so, every change that I had seen through my walk through the underground area I was currently trapped within. I missed nothing. The water stains on broken piping from nearby, the fading of the sky-blue paint that adorned some of the skirting in the area, the dustiness of the glass, the perishing of many rubber seals that had been fitted to contain the different sections from each other, the glass on the floor from where a few of the panes had slipped out of their frames and shattered on the floor, among many other changes.

While the place had looked like it had been neglected for some years that I could only guess at, there were no bodies in the area. Whatever was going on, nobody seemed to have died down here.

At least that was something.

As I walked past a less-than-polished window pane, I nonetheless saw the first glimpse of how I now looked. Those nano-machines must have enhanced my visual capabilities, because despite some grime and misting on the surface of the windows, what I saw was nonetheless very clear.

Whoever it was, the guy in the mirror was definitely not fifty-eight years of age.

I took a closer look at the face reflected back at me. Instead of a haggard, jowl-faced sign of obesity and poor lifestyle choices, a sharp, angular and smooth-skinned face looked back at me. I was momentarily taken aback, and the surprised shock registered in the reflection.

If this was an illusion, it was a damned good one, because it kept up with everything I did, all my movements, all my expressions.

Gone was the dry, wispy grey-white that I was used to. My hair was now lustrous, jet-black, just like it was as I had grown up. Along with a lean and healthy face, I took in the lean, muscular build I now possessed.

This was completely new.

Never in my life, had I possessed any sort of definition. I was skinny and gangly, or mostly-skinny and awkward for most of my twenties, thirties and for part of my forties. It was only after I stopped trying to keep fit, lapsed my already limited exercise regime after something happened that I still didn't want to think about, when I started to put on unhealthy amounts of weight. I had never possessed any degree of muscle definition.

Until now.

Now, I could clearly see a taut stomach with a clearly-defined abdominal group, my pecs and lats were all clearly visible and well-defined, and I possessed the musculature of a dedicated gymnast. My arms had the look of a bodybuilder, and just to be sure, I looked down at the biceps I now possessed, along with my hands and forearms. I could clearly see the veins running along under the surface of my skin, and for the first time in many decades, I noted the delicate arrangement of bones in my hands, all supporting a very complex array of muscles that my nano-machines could clearly outline without any prompting from me.

I felt warm and fuzzy inside. This was a bonus for me! I looked like I belonged on the front cover of Bodybuilder Monthly, or something!

If I had to guess, I suspected I might have the physicality of a thirty-something.

Current estimates place the host at twenty-four years approximately, based on overall health factors.

Twenty-four years of age? I would have loved to have stayed at this age for the last thirty years of my life. Now, these nano-machines were telling me I had de-aged to that point? I had no idea that this was even possible.

Attainment and maintenance of optimum health profile for host is a hard-coded function.

This directive cannot be overridden.

Age-related conditions have been eliminated.

Optimal health profile has been achieved and will be maintained indefinitely.

I wondered if that meant I was now able to fight off any future infections, including such things as cancer.

Genetic repair is a function of the nano-machine cluster.

Optimum health conditioning mandates that genetic susceptibility to health conditions contrary to this goal be corrected.

Wait, I thought to myself. What does that mean, precisely?

Host cellular make-up contains no genetic markers for any known health condition.

Based on heuristic algorithms available to this cluster, any potential genetic markers that may result in future susceptibility to illness have been corrected.

I was beginning to get a grasp on how this mind-machine interface works. If I understood this correctly, the nano-machines had genetically altered my DNA so that I could no longer develop cancer cells.

Confirmed.

I wondered what else had been done?

Before I could wonder any further, I detected a tremor in the ground. It was minuscule, almost imperceptible to any human not augmented in the fashion I had been, but I nonetheless felt it. At the same time, my nano-machines alerted me.

WARNING: Detecting above-ground activity through host sensory interface, Caution should be exercised in exiting this area.

No shit, Sherlock, I thought to myself. Still, I realised it was time to get out of this place and see if I couldn't find out what the hell was going on around here.

I quickly found the emergency stairwell I noticed when I first came down into this facility, and was relieved to note that it was still entirely intact. Despite the perishing of rubber seals and the destruction of glass panes that were no longer held in place by those seals, the entire complex appeared mostly intact. There were no areas that had collapsed, and the place seemed to still be structurally sound.

This included the stairwell leading up to the surface, which I now took three at a time, surprising myself.

If I'd tried this when I was about to go under, then I probably would have had a coronary or something before I even got half-way up the first flight of stairs.

Now, I was flying up the stairs, every flight, every floor, right up to the surface which led out into the warehouse space I saw so long ago, and I didn't even break a sweat. I wasn't even breathing all that heavily, and it settled down again within seconds of coming to a stop.

Holy shit, my fitness levels were now amazing! I wanted to jump, cartwheel, spin, run, jump and do a Parkour run over every building in the fucking country, I felt so good about my new youth!

Now wasn't the time, though, so I forced myself to relax by taking steady breaths, and then I opened the door from the stairwell out into the warehouse. There, I was greeted by the signs of neglect. The most obvious was that one whole corner of the warehouse had its' roof collapsed inward, the signs of long-term weathering obvious. Water stains were visible in that corner and partly across the flooring in the surrounding areas. I could see the signs of animal shit on the floor, and I wouldn't have been surprised to see a pigeon or seagull roost somewhere inside here.

Just how much time has passed?

Time elapsed since initial nanomachine cluster was infused into host is unknown.

I couldn't believe what I'd just been told by this thing. Even basic PC motherboards and practically all laptops and mobile devices from my time has basic battery-backed clock functions, yet the most advanced technology to have ever existed can't even do that simple task?

Timekeeping was not a function of the nanomachine cluster.

This may be acquired if suitable conditions are met.

In the meantime, external means of assessing time elapsed must be sought.

Well, this was the first time I was coming up against the limitations of the nanomachine cluster now coursing through my bloodstream. I supposed it was nice to know it wasn't an all-powerful all-knowing technology that had no gaps or flaws, but it was incredibly inconvenient right now.

I really needed to get a handle on what was happening, because it was clear that something had seriously fucked up since I was put under. I also wondered if my nanomachine cluster possessed the ability to develop a true artificial intelligence. It clearly possessed neural networking, otherwise it wouldn't be able to do what it was doing with me now, but true AI? That was another issue entirely.

I also decided that thinking and saying nanomachine cluster all the time would get old, really quick. What about nanocloud?

Designation 'nanocloud' accepted and will be used in the future.

Further functionality is possible through information gathering and raw data transfer.

Coming into close contact with other nanoclouds will speed up the process of raw data transfer.

When sufficient additional data has been gathered, additional functionality will be granted upon retasking of any new nanocloud units replicated for this purpose.

I didn't miss my nanocloud mentioning other 'nanoclouds' in the plural sense. Did my nanocloud expect others out in the world to have their own? Could the presence of nanoclouds out in the wild explain what was going on here? And wait...

Did the nanocloud mention replication? Was that even a function of the technology at the beginning of the experiment?

Replication is now enabled.

This functionality was provided for the purposes of self-sustaining a given nanocloud by replacing individual units as needed during the course of treatment in hosts.

The functionality had been locked for testing but the current situation necessitated the ability to replicate additional units.

Time of activation is unknown.

You don't know when? I asked my nanocloud.

Unable to timestamp activation.

Nanocloud activated time elapsed function for all current and future nanocloud units was enabled twenty-seven thousand, eight hundred and fourteen hours ago.

The current nanocloud unit with the highest uptime was activated two-thousand and ninety-six hours, six minutes and twenty-six seconds ago.

Replication was enabled an undetermined amount of time prior to time elapsed function becoming enabled.

While the nanocloud was telling me this, I got an impression in my awareness of a running timer, with the time that the nanocloud just told me continuing to tick upward.

I willed it to disappear. The nanocloud had made its' point. Now I needed the nanocloud to understand and obey an instruction I was about to give it.

Let's see if this works...

I want you... Cloud... To maintain a continuing uptime monitor starting from when I regained consciousness, so that there is always a time reference point if it's ever needed.

Quickly, I realised that in a tiny corner of my awareness, I had a sense of exactly how time was passing in the world. Never again would I fail to understand how much time was passing at any given moment. It seemed a bit strange given how we humans usually don't have that kind of visceral awareness, but I would probably get used to it.

While I thought of this new ability, I wondered about others, so I queried the nanocloud about this, and was rather bluntly given an error, like a buzzer going off in my mind.

ERROR: Function query cannot be processed. Insufficient resources.

Well, that caught me by surprise. What the hell did that mean?

Resource utilisation is already at one hundred percent. Critical system tasks include maintenance of nanocloud integrity and medical optimisation of host. There are no running non-essential tasks. Additional resources will need to be tasked for additional functionality.

What the hell do you mean additional resources? This was starting to frustrate the shit out of me.

Resource gathering is a function of the host. To access additional nanocloud resources, examine your local environment. Presently, the host will have access to touch-scan functions incorporated in the nanocloud nodes present in the extremities. Residual nanocloud units will be detected if they are within wireless reception range of the nanocloud units closest to them.

Yeah. Great. Wonderful. Now I was going to have to get touchy-feely with my environment. Just what I wanted to be doing with my time out in the wild. Thanks, Nanocloud.

As I had expected, there was no response to my retort.

Well, I guess I had better get started.