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Nellie and the Nanites - Bk3 - Ch.37
🕑 Added 2024-06-11 08:05:00 +0000 UTCChapter 37
Repercussions
Nellie sat back and stared at the space so recently occupied by the hologram of a man she had considered a friend. Tapping her fingers on the arm of the chair, she ran the memory of the discussion through a couple of times, trying to convince herself it was anything other than a complete change of character for the man.
Eventually, she saw it.
The way he stood, the way he moved back on the farm. It had been there, even then. The assurance and confidence were just too much for a farmer, simple or not. At the time, Nellie had put it down to the simple fact that he was also a smuggler.
That had been a mistake, it seemed.
Even the way he had been ripped off when it came to building his stupid arc ship made sense. Anyone else would have double-checked everything. Especially a smuggler. That kind of trust only came from dealing with people who wouldn’t dare give you anything but their best. Nell had missed it. The easy way he commanded, the assurance that he would succeed despite the massive task he was attempting, it all added up to one thing. The privileged son of someone very nasty indeed.
Of course, that was less important now than figuring out exactly who the real Duke was. How far would he go?
Of course, Nellie had been using her senses and the full power of her implant. They both agreed that Duke was calm, methodical, and, above all, truthful. He had meant every word he said during the call, except for when he mentioned attacking the other Colony. Then, and only then, was there a sign of falsehood. His heart rate had increased—it showed in a slight flush in the skin that her improved vision was able to notice immediately—as had his rate of breathing.
That suggested falsehood.
Nellie had a lot of experience with liars. In her old life, she had encountered them again and again, and there was a feature shared by all the ones she seemed to miss.
They had all been men she trusted.
There was probably something psychological going on with that, but unless she managed to find a shrink out here in the stars, Nellie was kind of stuck muddling through it on her own. Not that her improvements and upgrades were useless in that regard.
A horrifying aspect of an improved memory was the gift of remembering every time you made a complete idiot of yourself in agonizing detail. The way they blinked more often, their eyes shifting to the side or holding contact just a little too long. It was all there, laid out for her to see and remember.
Duke had done all of those things and more when he mentioned attacking the other Colony. It was pretty definite that he had been bluffing. The only real question was how many lives she was willing to risk on the idea that she was right.
If she gambled that he was bluffing based on her experiences with him and others in the past and was wrong… people would die. It was that simple.
“Lucy, thoughts?” Nellie asked.
“He was bluffing, but what about is unclear.” Lucy offered. “He could have been bluffing about the attack or about the reason for it. It is just too soon to tell.”
Nellie went back to tapping her fingers on the arm of the chair again.
How many people was she willing to risk?
The answer to that was simple. None.
“Remy, how many nanites do we still have on the Last Chances?” Nellie asked over internal comm channels. The built-in secure communications of her apartment on the Bly’s Rest really came in handy.
“I sacrificed about thirty percent to make it look good,” Remy noted. “The others are currently inactive and will appear as normal as any other part of the ship.”
“Good,” Nellie nodded. “Set them active, have the swarm move below ground, and work their way SLOWLY toward the Colony. I want eyes and ears in that place before the end of the week.”
“Understood,” Remy signed off.
“You have a plan?” Lucy asked.
“Not yet, but I have the start of one at least.” Nellie smiled to herself. “I’ll need to get in contact with Crush soon, but for now, we need to focus on production.”
“I have some good news on that front,” Lucy said happily, “We have finally completed the upgrades on the last of the synthetic units. All produced resources are going into ships and the Mk2 Centrum units.”
“Great,” Nellie felt a little tension leave her shoulders, “Let Paren know I want to see how the new design is coming along later today.”
“Practice time?” Lucy asked innocently.
“Yes, Lucy, I’m going to practice my nanite control. I promised, didn’t I?” Nellie chuckled.
“Good luck!” Lucy signed off, focusing her attention on one of the other places she was active right now.
Nellie sighed and leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes and focusing on the nanites in her body. She was close to a breakthrough; Nellie could feel it. A few more hours and maybe…
===<<<>>>===
Crush looked at the small field and rubbed the scales on the back of his head in confusion. He saw And-Aran shifting excitedly next to him and tried to think of what to say.
The new colony had managed to plant an even dozen fields from their seedlings, and the initial reaction had been nothing short of dismay. They had lost ten percent of the plants on the first day. The ground here on the moon was not a great fit, apparently. And-Aran had reported to Crush that it was the same back at the original colony but less noticeable because they actually had a surplus of plants. At least, at first.
Crush had already started devising plans to trade with the natives for knowledge of local plant life when they planted the single shard of crystal in the far left field.
It was a risk, but one they needed to take.
He was looking at the result of barely a day and a half of growth and struggling to believe his eyes.
“Tell me again,” Crush said with a smile.
“I’ve told you three times,” And-Aran laughed.
“Yeah, but I want to hear it again,” Crush replied.
“Estimates are that the plants are not only healthy but are showing over a week and a half of growth since planting. If my math is correct, which I warn you is dodgy, then we will see the first crops on these plants before the start of next week.” And-Aran beamed. “What is better? We show a total loss of plants at exactly zero percent.”
“Even with the bad math?” Crush chuckled.
“Oh, sure. Nothing is easy to count.” And-Aran simply couldn’t stop smiling. “So, can we plant the crystals in the other beds now?”
“You didn’t do it already?” Crush eyed the fields suspiciously.
“I might have done that an hour ago,” The man shifted a little, clearly expecting to be told off. “Just to save time.”
“Good thinking,” Crush knew it was never a bad idea to let a smart man take a little initiative. The last thing they needed was a bunch of yes men who would watch a place burn to the ground rather than pick up a bucket without an order to do so.
That wasn’t a random example, either. Crush had actually seen that happen in his time in the forces.
“No, no, no, no!” Maddy was yelling as Crush went past the new ‘school’ area. Feeling in a good mood, he stuck his head inside and was amused to see a rather embarrassed-looking Prim holding a crushed and wilting plant in one hand.
“You did that on purpose!” Maddy accused. “I know you did.”
“I did not,” Prim replied rather primly, which was fitting in so many ways. “It was a logical assumption.”
“It is not logical to nail a plant to the fucking ceiling!” Maddy complained.
“It was having difficulty holding its own weight. This was a simple solution.” Prim countered.
“So is a stick! A little stick and some string!” Maddy waved a handful of the little planter sticks to illustrate the point. “How is nailing it to the roof better?”
“No need for a stick?” Prim asked, seeming uncertain. “Also, it seemed happier that way.”
“Why would it be happier?” Maddy demanded. “There was no soil!”
“Would you like to be tied to a stick all day?” Prim asked. “I would not. There would have been soil once I figured out a way to get it to stay up.”
“You couldn’t find small enough nails?” Maddy snapped.
“Nails seemed wasteful of resources. I was thinking of something like a fine netting?” Prim was utterly immune to sarcastic questions, it seemed.
“Well, that would work,” Maddy admitted. “But how is it better than a stick, which is a lot easier?”
“They could be grown on any surface, no matter the orientation?” Prim seemed doubtful. “Is making the plant happier not enough?”
Crush ducked back out the door as the argument started again. He had to admit the idea of growing on any surface seemed quite attractive. It was what they did on low-gravity stations, after all.
“Hey!” He turned to see Cara running up to him. “We have a new problem.”
Five minutes later, Crush was looking over his newest problem with much the same sense of confusion he had felt when he had looked at the fields.
“Would you please stop doing that?” Crush asked the small alien child who was systematically drawing on the gates in what appeared to be some kind of acid.
“Are you going to hit me?” It asked, large round eyes staring up at him challengingly.
“No,” Crush admitted.
“Then why would I stop?” It let out a chirping little giggle and went right back to scratching on the gate.
“Because I asked nicely?” Crush tried.
All that got him was a blank look.
“Five more around the outside and one who got in somehow,” Cara reported as she jogged over. “It is on top of the first housing stack and keeps threatening to jump.”
“Any idea what we do here?” Crush asked helplessly. He was a soldier, he was a reluctant leader, he was a lot of things. Being experienced in dealing with children was not one of them. The scream of terror came before Cara could answer, and they were both sprinting for the housing stack.
They arrived to see a stunned-looking Bil-Tor watching as a giggling and whistling alien child floated down from the stack. The webbing on their legs seemed to make a natural parachute of sorts.
Still, it was startling to see. The assembled crowd moved aside as it gently drifted to the floor.
“Are you okay?” The voice of the woman matched the scream of terror, so Crush assumed it was her who had panicked when the little bugger jumped.
“Push off!” The little creature screeched and raced for the nearest tower.
Sec was just exiting the tower when the thing ran full tilt into him, and Crush watched in absolute horror as the thing reached down, scooped the ball of young energy up, and, without a backward look, threw it with all their mechanical strength in a high arc toward the nearest wall.
Crush found he had already drawn his weapon before the whistling giggle caught up to his ears.
“Problem?” Sec asked, looking at the drawn weapon.
“You just threw that child,” Crush growled, anger and confusion warring inside him.
“They enjoy it,” Sec shrugged. “And it will keep it busy for a while. Left alone, they will take things apart.”
“You have seen them before?” Cara asked, gently pushing Crush’s still-drawn pistol down.
“Of course,” Sec shrugged. “We get them at least once a week at the Embassy.”
The child in question ran up to Sec again, bouncing up and down and chirping.
“May I?”
Crush nodded mutely, wondering at the sight as the thing rocketed into the air, only to drift towards the ground harmlessly.
He felt a slight poke in his leg and looked down to see the one from the gate, complete with her weird, acidic pen, trying to force its way through the crowd.
Moving aside, he saw it run up to Sec and chirp.
Five minutes later, the robotic lifeform had a queue of chirping alien children, and it was bowling through the air as fast as they could return.
“Is this really happening?” Cara whispered.
“I think so,” Crush said, feeling as mystified as she was.
“So they just let their kids run around on their own?” Cara called to Sec.
“Of course not,” Sec said as he bowled another child. “There will be scouts around the area, keeping watch.”
“How did they know they could trust us?” Cara asked.
“They do not,” Sec replied calmly. “They trust us.”
“So, if we had tried to hurt the children in some way?” Crush had to know.
“If you were that kind of person,” Sec replied. “We would not be here. Neither would you.”
===<<<>>>===
Nellie saw the scouts in the trees around the colony and gave them a friendly wave. Despite the first impression they gave, the Clutch did care quite a bit about their young. Which was actually a good point.
She did a quick about-face, increasing her speed and quickly crossing to the nearest scout. Once she was below them, she kicked off, jumping effortlessly up into the branches and settling next to the scout.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I am worried the original Colony might attack this area. I just wanted to let you know.” She gave an apologetic smile.
“They are busy at the moment,” The scout simply shrugged. “If they move, we will leave long before they can arrive.”
“Just wanted to let you know,” Nellie nodded and dropped from the tree.
“You remember your promise, do you not? If they move against us, you will deal with it.” The scout didn’t look down.
“I do, and I will. Thank your Clutch for their patience, will you?” Nellie called up.
“The Clutch is always patient,” The scout said with an amused chirp. “Until we are not.”
“I’ll remember that,” Nellie promised and headed over toward the new colony again. The idea of the Clutch running out of patience with their visitors was something that she thought about often. Even now, none of them had any idea what the people were capable of. With a lot of luck and care, they would never have to find out.
Crush was sitting on the wall, watching one of the cents throwing the alien children in high arcs over the fields of rapidly growing plants, and Nellie went up to sit next to him for a while before they spoke.
“I’m assuming this is not going to be good news,” Crush said mildly.
“Yeah, it’s not great,” Nellie admitted guiltily. This situation was partly her fault, after all. If she hadn’t attacked the Last Chances, Duke would never have made the threat.
Explaining it all to Crush went a lot smoother than she had expected. He even laughed a little at the idea of the pirate ship slowly disassembling itself. When she got through explaining everything, Nellie sat back while Crush thought it over.
“Do you think it was a bluff?” Crush asked her eventually.
“I’m almost certain it was,” Nellie confirmed. “But almost certain isn’t the same as certain.”
“No, it isn’t,” Crush agreed thoughtfully. “And he looked different?”
“More like he was himself, but more so,” Nellie sighed. “I think it is likely he was holding back on who he was before.”
“It takes a lot of training and privilege to run things as badly as he was,” Crush grinned. “The whole situation was inevitable anyway. We are preparing to defend ourselves if we need to.”
“I’m really hoping it doesn’t come to that,” Nellie sighed. The idea of a ground war on this moon was not attractive. So much as a single shot fired, and it was possible the Clutch would be a LOT less patient.
“We are looking into ways to ease tensions as well,” Crush smiled. “Don’t worry about it; we know where you are if we need help.”
“Would you mind if I sent some more people over to train?” Nellie asked. “We have some new cents ready to go.”
“Cents?” Crush asked.
“The smaller ones,” Nellie pointed to her people. “The more training they get, the better.”
“And if something happens, they will already be in place,” Crush grinned. “I will allow it, but no combat training. I’m saving that for a rainy day.”
“No problem,” Nellie admitted. “We need a little of everything.” She didn’t mention that they were not short of firepower. Crush was well aware of that, as was everyone else, it seemed.
Well, they hadn’t seen anything yet.
Trotting away from the colony, Nellie once again felt that weird feeling of change. Things were shifting, and for some reason, she could feel it. It was almost like feeling the wind shift, only it was the movement of people and events. It was like seeing the shape of the clouds and knowing that snow was coming.
She saw how Duke was acting, the two colonies, the pirate ship, and the tension, and knew that something big was coming. Something that would change them all.
The feeling grew and grew until it almost seemed to overwhelm everything else, the world seeming distant and….
Integration 50% Complete!
Pattern Recognition unlocked.
Ship-to-ship Operations unlocked.
Combat Protocols unlocked.
Juggling unlocked.
Nellie stumbled a little as it all unfolded in her mind. The pattern recognition must have been almost complete, which was why she had felt so strange. However, her most pressing question at that moment was not the future but the present.
“Juggling? Really?” Nellie muttered as she took a moment to center herself and allow the new information to settle.
The swirling information made connections where she had missed them before and no sooner had the scrolling unlock messages begun to fade than a second round of changes seemed to flow through her.
Nanite Control level increased.
Nanite efficiency increased by 10%
Custom Nanite creation enabled.
Nanite Controls Systems integrated into the brain stem.
For just a moment, Nellie felt like she had two bodies. One was her physical body, whole and complete and unchanging, while the other was made of the nanites themselves and shifted and moved constantly according to her needs.
The moment passed, and the two bodies became one.
“Wow!” Lucy practically screamed in her ear. “You are doing so well!”
“Thanks,” Nellie laughed, “Plus, now I can juggle!”
Comments
Mercury313
Ohhh she could juggle with the little critters from the clutch xD
