I think that’s as hardened as I can make this system without Collingsworth discovering what I’ve done. Despite my personal feelings about him, the guy knows his system and the implant hardware, Aria thought a few days later. I’ll find out just how good I am tomorrow since I’m supposed to get a new round of skills in the morning unless Gunny changes the schedule again.

She yawned and decided to take a shower before going to bed. Aria stretched. Get to work little buddies. My back is a little sore.

She grabbed a change of clothes and walked into the bathroom. I’m glad something new is happening tomorrow because I’m tired of sparring and practicing Akido and Wing Chun. I’m no master, but there’s very few guards and experts that Gunny has brought in that pose a challenge to me after only a couple weeks of training. I guess knowledge is king.

Aria turned on the water and waited for it to get warm. She stripped and started to hum a song. She played the song as she entered the shower. A moment later, Aria started to sing. She suddenly stopped.

Is that me? I’ve never been able to sing that well before or even carry a tune when singing. That’s probably why I’ve only ever sung in the shower before and played instruments.

Aria finished showering, dried off, and changed clothes. She exited the bathroom and picked up her guitar. She sat on the edge of the bed and started to play Let it Be by the Beatles. Dad loves this song, and I have to admit, I’ve grown to like it too. Strange that I never listened to his favorite type of music until all this happened. Guess I’ve become more open to different things since becoming an elf.

She kept playing and humming the song. Before she knew it, Aria found herself singing as well. She felt a pleasant warmness in her lower back where the soreness was. By the end of the song, the knot of soreness had loosened and faded to nothing, and the warmth faded along with it.

What in the world? Aria thought. She sat the guitar down and checked the nanite monitoring app Collingsworth or one of the other techs had written. It was a good enough app, so she hadn’t felt the need to replace it.

Interesting. The nanobots responded to the song or to me singing and playing. I may have to experiment with music and them more, Aria thought. She turned off the lights and laid down. That will wait though. If Collingsworth or anyone else doesn’t detect any of my alterations to the implant and system tomorrow, I’ll start back on the storage idea tomorrow evening.

*

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Aria asked as she sat in the same chair she had when given the martial arts skills. “Kung Fu, karate, or something else?”

“Something else,” Dr Craig Clarkson answered. Aria glanced at Gunny.

“It’s a useful surprise,” the sergeant added.

“We’re going to divide these skill downloads up into categories,” Collingsworth added. “Get comfortable this is going to take a while.”

“Can I go back and get my guitar?” Aria asked. Collingsworth looked interested in that idea.

“No,” Gunny Hauora and Dr Clarkson said at the same time.

“Spoilsports,” Aria muttered. Oh well. I guess I’ll go over the math for the teleportation storage gateway thingy again while they give me whatever.

“Here we go,” Craig announced. “First skill downloading now.”

Download complete. You have learned First Aid.

Aria dismissed the notice a few minutes later. “You gave me first aid?”

“It’s a survival skill,” Collingsworth answered.

“And a very useful one at that,” Gunny added. “You’ll be getting quite a few more survival skills today.”

“Actually, I’d like to make a change to the plan,” Craig said.

“What kind of change?” Gunny asked.

“I’d like to give Aria full paramedic training,” the scientist answered.

“Why?” Sergeant Hauora asked. “First aid is all she needs, especially with the nanites in her system. Besides, we’ll have a combat medic with us when we go on training excursions.”

“What happens if something happens to the medic, and you have to wait for pickup?” Collingsworth asked. “Having a second trained medic isn’t a bad idea.”

“Don’t I get a say in this?” Aria asked. I don’t want to be a paramedic. Seeing that kind of trauma isn’t my thing and if I’m that badly wounded, I wouldn’t be able to help myself. That’s what the little buggers are for.

“Dr Roth?” Gunny asked, ignoring Aria’s question. Everyone knew she didn’t have a choice in the matter.

Great. She’s monitoring the lab.

“I approve of the change. Good thinking Craig,” Dr Roth’s voice said over the lab’s speakers. Hauora shrugged as Clarkson and Collingsworth smiled.

“Don’t worry, Aria. You won’t be a combat medic. This is just more knowledge,” Collingsworth said.

“And it might save a person’s life in the future,” Craig added.

*

“Knot tying, navigation without technology or a compass, fire starting, foraging, hunting, fishing, sewing and mending clothing, signaling, shelter building, tracking, water safety, and water purification,” Aria said as she read and dismissed the notices hours later.

“The last one isn’t so much for you as others,” Gunny replied. “Your nanites will purify anything you drink as long as it isn’t poison.”

They’ll sort that out too thanks to their initial programming and the changes I made, Aria thought. “Gunny, how am I going to practice these skills?”

“That’s what the excursions are for,” Gunny replied. “We’ll also do some of the simple water purification stuff out by the lake as well as fire starting. We can also do some simple tracking exercises too now that I think about it.”

“Guess that’s going to be my afternoon training for the rest of the week,” Aria said.

“Yep,” Gunny confirmed. He gestured to the tech and scientist. “Once the eggheads give the clear for no side effects, you’ll get an archery download. Then we’ll do an excursion.”

“Archery?” Aria asked.

“Yep,” Collingsworth answered before Hauora could. “No firearms are allowed in Southland.”

“So, you won’t be trained on them,” Craig added.

“Actually, giving Aria at least basic firearms training would be good for her,” Gunny said. “It’ll be good for her accuracy, and we can also consider it additional hearing training.”

“I agree,” Dr Roth’s voice announced over the speakers. “Good suggestion sergeant.”

“I’ll get started on the module,” Collingsworth said.

25

“Here goes nothing,” Aria muttered to herself late the same afternoon. She activated what she considered the gate building nanites. That’s a bit of a misnomer. They’re not really building a gate. They are entangling quantum particles though.

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She broke out in a sweat and felt nauseous. “What in the world?”

Aria dried heaved and fell to the floor, feeling extremely weak. Her eyes widened in alarm. I forgot about the energy requirements and the nanites are feeding on me!

She sent the command for the nanites to stop their work and passed out not knowing if she successfully stopped them or not.

*

My head hurts, Aria thought the next morning just as soon as she woke up. I’m hungry too.

She sat up and realized she was still on the floor. This almost feels like a hangover.

Aria got up and went into the bathroom. She turned on the cold water in the sink and cupped her hands under the flow. Aria sipped as much as she could before it leaked out of her hands. She repeated the process until she felt a little better. A message popped up as she turned off the water.

Gunny: You’re late.

Yep, Aria thought as she checked the time. He’s right on que.

Aria: Feeling nauseous.

Gunny: You shouldn’t be. That’s what your enhanced healing and nanites are for.

Aria: Well, I am.

Gunny: Is it that… time of the month?

Aria: Do you really want to know?

Now that I think about it, it is that time of the month for me. But other than feeling weak and hungry, I feel fine as far as that goes just like the other times since I woke from the coma. Guess it was something else that was changed without telling me. Aria frowned. What does this mean about having children? I always thought I would, but can I even do so now? Do I even want to anymore? I’m not sure.

Gunny: You were fine in what should have been your previous cycles.

That’s just creepy. They’re keeping track of when I’m on my period.

Aria: Don’t know what to tell you, Gunny. But it’s creepy that you know that.

Gunny: Alright. I’ll give you the morning off training. Eat if you feel up to it. I’ll let Dr Roth know what is going on. Odds are she’ll want to talk to you and run some tests.

Aria: Thanks Gunny.

Gunny: You’re welcome, but don’t thank me yet. You’re still starting your survival skills training this afternoon.

*

“Damn girl! You’re packing it away this morning for someone so small. That’s what, your third plate of pancakes?” Holder said. Aria looked up from her plate to the muscular female guard and shrugged. “Finish chewing before you speak. I don’t like see food.”

“I didn’t eat last night,” Aria replied after she finished chewing and drinking some of her orange juice. “Guess I should have.”

“Yep,” the guard agreed. Holder checked the time. “I’ll see you around. I don’t want to be late for my shift.”

“Bye,” Aria replied. She checked the incoming message. Great. I have to meet with Roth and Clarkson in a few minutes.

*

“How are you feeling?” Dr Lin Roth asked.

“Better than when I first woke up,” Aria answered.

“So, it was just nausea?” Lin asked. Aria nodded and Roth noted something on her tablet. “Alright. Get comfortable and we’re going to run some tests.”

“Want a urine sample?” Aria asked. “Because I need to use the restroom before you start running tests.”

“No. You’ve had breakfast and that will cloud the results,” Dr Clarkson said on behalf of Dr Roth. Aria shrugged.

“Make it quick,” Lin told Aria.

“Sure,” Aria replied. She went to the restroom and did what needed to be done. She returned and sat down in the examination chair. It reclined back. “I can use my implant while you do these tests, right? Because I know you won’t let me get my guitar.”

“Yes, you can use your implant,” Craig answered. “Ready?”

“Begin,” Dr Roth instructed as Aria nodded.

Right. So, let’s see just how badly the nanites messed me up yesterday, Aria thought. She examined the data. Not too bad all things considered. But I don’t want to do that again and that means I need to find a way for them to use energy that isn’t me or from food. The easiest way would be to have a few leave my body and interact with a power socket. That would probably show up on the facility’s logs though, so I don’t want to do that.

She started researching ways for the nanites to use other energy sources. Aria smiled a few minutes later. Kinetic energy is perfect for my needs if the nanites can store it. Wait! I wouldn’t need the nanites to store energy. Quantum particles could do that and the same teleportation that should allow me to store objects could store energy.

Aria continued to think about it. I would need nanites throughout my body that housed quantum particles and were designed to convert kinetic motion into energy and transfer it to the bonded particles. I could leave everything inside me too instead of sending the particles to another location.

She grinned. If this doesn’t work and I blow up, well, I’d be finished with this mess. But if it works, I’ll have unlimited energy at my disposal and there’s no telling what I can do with that. I mean, people are almost always in motion except for when they sleep. Every little movement could be used to make energy.

With that happy thought in mind, Aria pulled up the nanites specs and code. Her grin grew as the implant helped her quickly finalize a design for her new nanites.

“Reading something good?” Craig asked. Aria jumped, making him smile.

He is cute, Aria thought. “Uh yeah. Just a comic.”

“Oh,” Craig said. He seemed disappointed.

Too bad. I’m not telling you what I’m doing. Though if this works, I could share it with others. And that might not be so bad, Aria thought. Then again, that might be a bad idea. SL3 would use this kinetic energy/quantum teleportation for profit, and I think that’s a bad idea.

Another thought hit her that made Aria smile. Maybe I can share this with the world if it works and deny SL3 profit. That would be a nice bit of payback for all this.

26

No more rubbing sticks together for fire, Aria excitedly thought three days later. It had taken 72 hours and a lot of food to create the new nanites. I don’t have enough yet to store a lot of energy or create a portal yet, but I have enough to do some testing.

Aria had also created a few dozen new nanites that should allow her to use the stored kinetic energy outside her body to start a fire. She made sure the sergeant and guards weren’t watching and pointed a finger at the tinder and activated the ignite command with a thought.

Nothing happened. What? Oh, come on! All the tests and status showed green across the board. This should work. Aria jabbed her finger forward and sent the command again. Still, nothing happened. Oh, this sucks!

She glanced at the sticks and balled her hands. Looks like I’ll have to do it the hard way after all. I better check my code to see where I messed up at.

Aria began testing her code again. She started humming a tune while doing so. Suddenly, she felt intense heat in her right palm. “Ow!”

“Everything alright?” Gunny asked, not even glancing up from his tablet as Aria shook her hand. A second little spark appeared and disappeared above her right index finger.

“Yep. Just a bit of a cramp,” Aria fibbed. Gunny grunted. That was a delayed response to the command.

“How’s that fire coming?” Gunny asked.

“It’s coming,” Aria replied. Gunny chuckled. He looked her way while she rubbed her right palm.

“Better?”

“Yep,” Aria answered. Gunny turned his attention back to his tablet.

So, what caused the reaction? Was it my humming? Aria wondered. She held up her index finger in front of her chest and started humming while triggering the activation command again. A small flame sparked above her finger.

I did it! And it seems the nanites respond to music for some reason. I’ll test that some more later.

Aria pointed at the tender, hummed, and triggered the command again. The tender caught fire. She smiled and stood up. Gunny looked her way and then at the small fire.

“Nicely done. You started the fire faster than yesterday too,” Hauora said.

“Thanks,” Aria replied. “Should I put it out?”

“Yeah. Kick some dirt over it,” Gunny answered. Aria did so and he made sure the fire was out. “Now, let’s start working on tracking.”

“Going to tell me how?” Aria asked.

“Nope. You have the knowledge in your head,” the sergeant replied. “Corporal Timmons, who’s one sneaky SOB, started here and headed to another point around the facility. Follow him.”

“You’re not going to give me any hints?”

“None,” Gunny replied. “Well, just this one. Review your knowledge and use your eyes.”

“Asshole,” Aria murmured. Gunny smiled.

“Oh, he wears a different style boot than the rest of the guards too,” Gunny added.

“That helps. Thanks,” Aria replied. Hauora nodded and gestured for her to get started.

So, look for different footprints, Aria thought as she pulled up the information her implant had on tracking. That caused her to remember knowledge she hadn’t learned yet knew. These given skills are nice.

She quickly found the footprint and followed it to the edge of the grass, where it disappeared. From there she found bent blades of grass and caught a different scent. That’s aftershave and boot polish.

“This way Gunny.”

“You sure?” the sergeant asked. Aria nodded. “Then lead on.”

*

“Corporal Timmons is in the tree to the right,” Aria said, pointing to the tree, a while later.

“Are you sure?” Gunny asked.

“Yes.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“For one, I can see his clothing and shape in the foliage. The pattern doesn’t match,” Aria answered. “I can hear him scraping against the tree as he moves, and finally, I can smell him. More specifically, I can smell his aftershave, deodorant, and boot polish.”

“Not bad…”

“And if you insist on more details, I can point out the bent grass, indentions from his steps in the ground, and a bit of mud against the base of the tree for you,” Aria added, cutting the sergeant off.

Hauora laughed. “Should have known your senses would make a simple tracking exercise too easy. Next time, we’ll venture into the woods a bit.”

“Tomorrow?”

“No. We need to give you some movement and stealth skills first,” Gunny said. “You’re way too loud when you move. Plus, there’s a chance you’ll fall and hurt yourself.”

“Oh. So, is that for next week?” Aria replied.

“Yeah. I may push things up a bit though,” Gunny answered. “I think tomorrow I’ll have you show me what you can do with your medic skills.”

“Joy,” Aria muttered. “So, we’re done for the day?”

“Yep.”

*

That’s good, Aria thought after finishing her supper. Alright little buddies. It’s time to start making more of you for energy capture. She activated the nanite creating process as she tossed her trash down the chute.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t take more than a week to make enough nanobots. Aria reconsidered things. Honestly, it won’t take more than another day to make enough for the storage portal thingy. Heck, I might have enough by morning to make another attempt.

Aria glanced at her guitar. I’ve done enough work for one day. It’s time to relax and have some fun.

She picked up the guitar and started playing.