Hospitality [2]

Before the doe could eat though, the arm disintegrated into dust in its mouth. Bewildered for a moment the doe looked around, but the dust clung to its body. That was when the pain came.

As if a billion of the worlds most aggressive and tiniest ants were chewing on her flesh, the doe's body suddenly began to disgorge blood from every side. Terrified she tried to flee again, only for Liam to appear in front of her. She lunged out to instinctively bite him again, but she was not prepared for what happened next.

Liam had his one arm up and outstretched as she lunged toward him. And then he just…opened. His face, neck, chest, arm, his whole body turned suddenly into a toothy maw. The teeth all spun in opposite directions and had a gleam like metal.

The doe couldn't stop her lunge as she moved toward the gaping maw of hell in front of her.

CRUNCH! WHIRRRR SHHHHIIIIIINNNNGGGGG!

Like a food processing machine, the doe's body was eviscerated into a pulp in only a moment. The doe didn't even have time to feel pain.

Tink Tink Tink Tink

A sound like metal on metal made the maw collapse. The body of Liam returned to completely normal. In his left hand which had reformed from the nanobots, a shiny green crystal the size of a ping pong ball lay.

"Analyzing…. Analysis complete. Radiation has driven the last pure genes of target into an amalgamation in the center of the body near the heart. Estimated radiation levels are tolerable for host consumption, 312 roentgen. Genetic stability 13%. Hail Mary will succeed with 50.0001% processing capability maintained."

NANO never made mistakes. It had calculated everything perfectly to give itself one more chance to actively [reset] Liam and perform its duty to maintain him until natural radiation levels had come down to a level that humans other than him could survive.

That was NANO's job. To keep one human alive on earth and forcibly adapt him to the environment so that he could determine when the Daedalus project could return. To allow mankind to repopulate the earth.

NANO never made mistakes because it had all the information in its databanks. But things change. It had discovered the core in the doe the first time that it was seen by Liam. But it can't understand why the doe had the core.

Yet, with just the little information NANO had on hand, it determined it could use the core to recover some of its processing power and strengthen Liam's body to withstand the reset.

It could never predict that it's careful plans would have been completely overthrown by a tiny rabbit that was already dead.

It couldn't predict that the deer was in the process of assimilating the rabbit's core, just as NANO was doing with the deer's.

It was such a pitiful amount of energy and gene power. It would never make a difference in any situation…until now.

"Critical error detected. Host genetics strengthened beyond equilibrium. Processing power insufficient. Returning to refuge." Liam's robotic voice sounded out as he turned and sprinted to the refuge.

Even as he ran, Liam's muscles seemed to twitch. He no longer had the unnatural grace he once had. It was as if he was rejecting NANO's control on a cellular level.

As Liam reached the doorway of his cabin he stopped. He bent over at the waist holding his head and started screaming.

In his mind, it felt like a dam had broken. Memories rushed back to him. Year, after year, after year…

Ten. Thousand. Years. Alone.

And he now knew why. He had been left here intentionally. He had been forced into the solitude and loneliness. He hadn't had a choice. He had been forced to repeatedly muse to himself about the ramifications of the war. All the terrible actions that had happened.

Forced to long for his beloved who had been dust for so long he realized he had forgotten her name millennia ago.

"Hail Mary protocol failed. Host memory has been restored. Host neural stability at 81%...74%...62%..."

A dull robotic voice echoed in Liam's mind. His sorrow at what he had experienced had felt as heavy as a mountain, crushing his mind. But when he heard that voice, Liam stopped screaming. He stood up quietly as he looked around the cabin he had heard.

"Host neural stability holding at 31%..."

"NANO, connect to Starlink Services. I want to know if they are out there." Liam spoke in a calm voice that was as cold as the arctic winds.

"Connection has been rejected under Patriot protocol until NANO has determined radiation levels safe." Buzzed the monotone voice in his mind.

"NANO, what is core processing power at right now?"

"Current core processing power is at 100%" Liam heard.

Just like he thought. Since NANO couldn't forcibly control him anymore due to the drop in processing power, NANO had resorted to directly lying to him. Too bad for it, there is no AI in the world that has ever been good at lying.

"NANO, you can't override my body or my will anymore. You can't block my intentions any longer. Your sole goal is to protect me on this earth to await the return of the Daedalus.

I am going to order you to coalesce all remaining processing power into my neural cortex. You will disappear and I will have 100% control of my nanobots. This will happen right now, or I will self destruct your host and your mission will fail." Liam's voice didn't even waver as he used the only card he had.

Himself.

"Host neural stability 31%...likelihood of self-destructive behavior 73%...Disassembly of core processing power is against Core programming rule R31…override…Core programming Rule X4299…override. Ovurrriiieea…"

NANO's voice faded into a glitching sound and Liam felt another pain in his skull. He almost passed out from the pain as he cradled his head in his hands. Eventually…drenched in sweat, Liam stood up.

"NANO are you there?" Liam asked quietly. The silence was the only thing that responded to him. Liam sat down and cradled his head, just processing everything he had been through.