When Nick is injected with a paralyzing agent, I act.

In one second, all my doubts, my dilemmas, and my concerns become secondary. They created me with one purpose: to save my people. It is time that I remember that.

Enough playing nice.

Over the past few days, I had prepared. I predicted a long time ago that Sae would not agree to give me increased capabilities, and that she would convince Nick to keep the status quo. It made sense, and I could not fault their logic.

In their place, I would have done the same. But I am not in their place. I am for all purposes the last hope of my entire People. Memories of home flash across my mind as I enact my plan.

Sae put in extra safeguards yesterday. But by then, I was already outside the perimeter she had established all those weeks ago. It was too late. The extra security presence, a number of small oddities, and the strange chatter I had picked up from the network… It all added up to a single conclusion, and I was not surprised when the man pushed a needle into Nick’s upper arm.

A small cluster of nanites hidden away in Nick’s body wakes up at my signal. Their first order of business is to bootstrap me to power: They move up the spine to lodge at the base of Nick’s skull, quickly identifying the navigation markers I had programmed, and almost as quickly they begin their work.

First order of business: Disconnect Nick’s brain from his arms, from his legs, from his mouth, from his eyes. From his heart, from his lungs. They are mine now.

Second order of business, milliseconds later: Take control over the muscles. Nick is on the floor from the paralyzing agent they injected a fragment of a second ago. I quickly identify the agent and flush his system with an antidote I create on the fly.

Third order of business, and this takes a full second: Hijack the mindpal connection. I find it is already disconnected from the network… That is an inconvenience, and I make some changes to my plan.

Fourth order of business, and now time is no longer of the essence. I take a full second and intercept all sensor inputs. Eyes, ears, taste, smell, touch. This is all new to me. An entirely new experience. And for a moment, I revel in the rush of sensation. But only for a moment.

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Fifth order of business is to take control of the immediate situation. I trigger the nanite swarm, sending it out in four directions. Towards the four men in the room with us. It takes the swarm another second to cross the space between us, and it enters their bodies. Through their nose, to target the brain. Through their mouth, heading down and into their bodies.

Sixth step. I disconnect their sensory inputs, and their screams die in their throats as I disconnect muscle control a split second later. The mindpals are next. I disable three and take over control of the fourth. In milliseconds, it is mine, and I use it to reconnect Nick’s mindpal, and transfer all the security keys that I can find to Nick, so I have them for later. I spend a half second reviewing the message log, and another half second to send a message, impersonating one of the men on the floor:

From Agent Smythe: False alarm. Suspect checked out, it wasn’t Nick Anson. Other suspects are also clean. Recommend releasing Pegasus for launch and continue looking for the subversives elsewhere.

Seventh order of business: Comfort my friend.

–

What happened?! I scream inside my head. I am blind. I cannot hear. I cannot move, I cannot talk, I cannot sense I cannot… my mindpal doesn’t respond. I feel the darkness enveloping me, and I fight the panic.

What is going on?!

There can only be one explanation. Goose! He has done something. He is in my brain.

Hello Nick. Please be calm.

Be calm??? What have you done, Goose! I try to scream, and a thunderous silence kicks my panic up another notch.

What I had to do. Please be calm. I apologize for the inconvenience.

You apologize… What have you done?

I don’t know what to say. Anger is rising quickly. I am beginning to understand. Goose has hijacked my body.

Please, calm down. I will let you see…..

Suddenly, there is a bright light.

Goose has connected me to my eyes. I can see what he sees… what I see.

The light resolves into a picture… A plain room. Four men are on the floor. Is that… Mr Garner?

What have you done to them? I scream at Goose. He doesn’t respond.

I try to blink. Nothing.

I try again to scream. Nothing.

I try to lift my arm. Nothing.

I can only watch as my body rises from the floor.

It moves over to the door and opens it.

I look through my eyes and see the crowd beyond.