Sentinels&Vanguards (Semi-open, Attn: Alexlantis)

[Unified Western States]

"Theoretically yes. The nanites would eat the bullet, replicate using the material, then heal up the wound."

[Alexlantis]

"Sweet! So, theoretically, if I were impaled with a katana, would they eat that and heal me?"

[Unified Western States]

"Sadly, no. The nanites can only heal so much. They would do what they could, but you would die if you got impaled. Bullets, fine, but being impaled, not so much."

[Alexlantis]

"Oh. Crap. Still, though, that would be pretty badass. It's still cool to take a bullet, but being impaled and the sword disolving, that'd be the high point of epicness."

[Unified Western States]

"Oh, the sword would dissolve, but the nanites would have to choose between eating the sword and letting you die of bleeding or leaving the sword and let you die of the damage that caused. So, your dead body would have no sword in it."

[Alexlantis]

"Ah. So it'd be cool, but not badass. Interesting. How about, say, my hand gets chopped off. What happens then, does my hand grow back?"

[Unified Western States]

"Not quite. The stump would heal and the hand would slowly start to heal, but there would have to be some stem cell stuff thrown in there. But eventually, we'll be able to upgrade the nanites with this ability."

[Alexlantis]

"Huh. Cool. And to think I thought the only cool bits of science were, er, Biology, so to speak, and explosions."

[Unified Western States]

"Ah, yes. Nano-biotics and nano-robotics are two amazing fields that both stem from nano-studies."

[Alexlantis]

"Yup. Nice." Allan said, growing weary of the subject. He began staring at the ceiling, seeing pictures in the dots.
It's a bunny.
With a flamethrower.
Next to a rocketship.
With the ice cream man inside it.
Delivering ice cream to Martians.
The Martians explode because that's what ice cream does to them.
Oh, and there's a sideways fish involved.
And Speedy Gonzalez with a nuke.

[Unified Western States]

"Well, get some rest. I'll be back tomorrow." With that, she left.

[Alexlantis]

Allan drifted off to sleep, suddenly seeing the messages.
Not again.
Yes, again. This is vital information.
My God, you sound like my Mom.
Asshole. If I were where you are you'd be back and blue.
Someone's violent today.
Shut your face.
Not using it to talk. This is telepathic.
Stop being a smartass. Pay attention...

[Unified Western States]

In a room far away, these message were monitored.

"I knew it. Just fucking knew it." The man said, looking at the readouts. The modifications to the NIC were reading the neural signals and translating them into images.

Mr. Tanner looked over the man's shoulder. "Record it, then jam it. Then begin the neural reconfiguration."

"Yes sir." The man waited, his finger hovering over a button that would begin the final process of Project Eternity.

[Alexlantis]

Allan's eyes sprang open around 11 PM. He took out the wire and bent it some more. He broke out the alluminum foil and began making a tube, which he strengthened with layers and paperclips. He kept working, adding a spring. He ended up with a small makeshift handgun. He took out the half-empty (or was it half-full?) bag of peanut M&Ms. He coated them with little pieces of damp paper and chucked hem in the freezer, tweaking it so that it was as cold as possible and chucking in a few alluminum foil balls to help it run efficiently (because refridgerators and freezers work better when full).

[Unified Western States]

"Sir, those visions are done."

"Good. Jam all further transmission and begin scanning the recorded messages."'

"Yes sir. And, what about the stage 4?"

"Activate it. We have to finish this on schedule."

The man nodded and pressed the button. Inside Allan's head, the NIC began to send out electric pulses through his head, jamming any incoming signals. Then, it began releasing stem cells. These would slowly modify his brain. It would take a while. Allan began to feel a headache coming on.

[Alexlantis]

The visions became staticy again and Allan noticed what was going on as his hand went to his temples. He downed a Dr Pepper to ease the headache.
Shit. Alright, that''s it. I'm starting now.
Allan checked on his ammunition and noted that they were almost done. He broke pencils into several pieces and sharpened said pieces, creating sharp dartlike projectiles. His chocolate ammo frozen, he loaded up, grabbed the letter opener, and donned his usual outfit of sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers. He hid the weapon, making sure it wasn't noticable, and casually walked down to the lab.
"Hey, Doc. I've been getting headaches lately." He said casually, rubbing his temples. "Any cause you can generate that's not the ordinary everyday stuff?"

[Unified Western States]

"Oh, thats either the NIC finishing the uplinks with your nervous system or the nanites fixing some problems that you don't know about. I wouldn't worry about it. Just take a few Advil"

[Alexlantis]

Allan was suspicious of this. He was going to ask the question on his mind, but didn't. "Are you so sure of this, Doctor? You sure it isn't anything else?" Allan said, sticking his hands in the pouch of his sweatshirt and, covertly, grabbing the gun and silently cocking it.

[Unified Western States]

"I don't see what else it could be. Unless there is some sort of malfunction. But I don't think there should be." The doctor turned to a touch pad and brought up a screen. He held it in front of Allan's head.

"No, it appears to be functioning normally. Probably just the uplink process."

[Alexlantis]

"Hmm. You're sure it doesn't have anything to do with a disruptive signal or remote control or something?"
Hurry up and shoot them.
Not yet. I need to see if this'll work. I'll only pull out the gun if they put up a fight.

[Unified Western States]

The doctor gave him a look like he was crazy. "I don't know what you are talking about. The chip just is interfacing with your brain. A headache is expected. Your body isn't used to the increased mental activity." The doctor was getting nervous. "Look, you should go back to your room."

[Alexlantis]

"Oh, sorry. It's just that the Internet's been down." The Internet WAS down, but it had been for awhile. Allan went back to his room, keeping an ear open just in case something was said.

[Unified Western States]

"I'll get somebody on that." When Allan returned to his room, the internet was back online. There was also a chocolate box, with a card that said, From Dinana. Hope you feel better.

[Alexlantis]

"Hmm. Well, what do ya know?" Allan said to himself as he checkedthe comics. He then hacked into the system, making it temporarily unable to aquire history. In short, his movements were unknown. The visions struggled through, barely understandable.
Alright, before you start, I need your email address.
After it being repeated several times, Allan typed in the address. He then began typing the message, attempting to aquire help.

Code: Select all

I made it, didn't use it. Dr. dismissed the headache as nothing. Help requested.
Allan M.

[Unified Western States]

Code: Select all

AI. Code 342
Disturbance Detected
Scanning....
Disturbance Located
Enabling AI interception

Through the subroute, the AI that ran the base began locking down the system that connected Allan's room to the rest of the facility.

Code: Select all

Locking out Room 245
Alerting Security Personnel
Done

On Allan's screen, the screen suddenly went red.

Warning. This terminal has been locked out.

A few seconds later, the door opened and two Vanguards walked in with their rifles at the ready.

"What do you think you are doing." One of them said in their monotonous voice.