Priya woke up to the shrill blare of the SPA alarm system, her head throbbing painfully. She found herself tied to a chair in the radar control room. Amanda Zhang stood over her, gripping an iron bar, a smug smile on her face.
“There seems to be more of you here,” Amanda said, glancing around at the flashing red lights with an amused expression. “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” Amanda sneered. “It seems like you just love being tied to chairs, Priya.” She laughed.
“It’s not my favorite thing in the world,” Priya replied dryly.
“I’ve always hated your guts, do you know that?”
“Hey, Amanda, why don’t you come and say that to my face?” she spat at her.
Amanda came closer.
Just a little bit more! Priya thought. Then the interference device would be in range.
Amanda took one step forward, then another, until she was just fifty centimeters away.
But nothing happened.
“Oh, do you think I will break down like Ryan did when I come closer?” She laughed. “Like those idiot guards did?”
“But how …?”
“While you’ve been playing hero, I’ve been working on this.” She held up a strange-looking device, the size of a phone. “Just a little something to protect the NanoChips from any magnetic interference. It neutralizes any incoming magnetic field immediately. Are you that stupid to think that NAPPA would not figure out what happened to Ryan? Once this is ready for production, we will not have two, but two million copies! All of our soldiers will be protected from whatever this old fool Kuryakov produces.”
“You are completely fucking crazy.” Priya spat to the side. She struggled against her restraints, but they were too tight.
“Oh, am I? Well, first of all, let’s see if it works if I come even closer.” She came closer to Priya and started patting her jacket. Finally, she had found it—Priya’s interference device, playing with it in her hands. “Looks like I’m not that crazy, after all. I built this in, like, two weeks, and I’m not even a freaking engineer. Even NAPPA’s best people couldn’t keep up with me now that the NanoChipM enhanced my intellectual capabilities.” Amanda threw the interference device on the floor and stepped on it with one swift motion, destroying it.
“Now, tell me, what are you doing here?” Amanda demanded, her voice cold and menacing.
Priya, despite the pain and confusion, remained defiant. “I won’t tell you anything.”
Amanda’s smile widened. “Suit yourself. But you will talk… eventually. Just wait a minute until the NanoChip inside you reassembles. I will break you! You will beg me to stop. And don’t think that someone will be able to hear you. I already removed that little earpiece of yours.” Her eyes were filled with loathing.
Several agonizing seconds passed while Amanda kept quiet, looking intently at Priya, while Priya stared back. Then something in Priya’s eyes changed. It was almost like they lost their sparkle.
Amanda noticed it immediately. Priya had too, but she couldn’t change her thoughts.
“Good, by now, the AI center should have given your NanoChip the right dose of neurotransmitters. Are you ready to talk?”
“Yes, yes, I am.”
“What are you doing here, playing with the radar?”
“The radar… It’s coordinating… the signal.”
“Signal? What signal?”
“It’s Niko… He will turn on MRIs around the world… The NanoChips will disintegrate.”
“With MRI devices? How?”
“Kuryakov… he built a program that will make it emit a strong, continuous magnetic signal from the 21 Tesla MRIs. And many MRI devices more, all around the world …”
“And the radar is there for your signal coordination?” she said more to herself. “I see. Well, even if he manages that—which he won’t—not much will change. Many of our security staff don’t even have a NanoChip. As they are working so closely to the MRI. There are other ways to make humans loyal to you, you know. Money can be a good strategy. Fear, though, is the best one.”
She turned around. “Now, first things first… let’s see how this works…” She went to the computer and typed in several commands, totally immersed in the process. “Bingo!” she exclaimed, stopping the radar in its tracks. The computer shut down.
“Now, next, let’s notify NAPPA.” She took out her phone.
Suddenly, the door burst open. Sayeed, panting heavily and armed with a gun, charged into the room. “Get away from her, you fucking monster!” he shouted, pointing a gun at Amanda.
Amanda turned, a look of surprise replaced by a vicious grin, and jumped quickly to the side, toward Priya.
Sayeed shot once but missed. Amanda was too fast, and once in front of Priya, he couldn’t risk it. Realizing his predicament, he lowered his gun and took out a knife. He continued his charge at Amanda, but she was ready.
She sidestepped his attack and landed a powerful kick to his midsection, sending him crashing into a desk. The impact dazed him. Before he could recover, Amanda was on him, her fists a blur of motion. He was forced back by her, approaching Priya’s chair.
Priya, under the influence of the NanoChip, still sat tied to the chair with her head lowered.
Amanda grabbed a nearby iron bar and swung it at Sayeed, who managed to block it with his arm, but the force sent him reeling backward.
Amanda laughed, reveling in her control. “You see, Priya? You can’t win. Now, help me!”
As Sayeed approached Priya, she looked up. Seeing Sayeed in front of her, she stretched out her leg. Sayeed lost his balance and tripped, dropping his knife onto the floor.
Amanda took advantage of Sayeed’s distraction and delivered a crushing blow to his temple with the iron bar. Sayeed collapsed, blood streaming from his head wound.
Priya, still controlled by the NanoChip, pinned him down with her feet, while Amanda swung the bar again, hitting him in the chest. Sayeed let out a small groan, blood seeping across the floor.
“Okay, good, that’s done. Now, Priya, help me find the others,” Amanda said as she untied her.
A low buzz started to fill the entire room. Priya blinked, looking around. She saw Sayeed’s lifeless body and Amanda standing over him.
“All right, Amanda. Let’s go,” she said.
Amanda turned to leave when, suddenly, with a scream of fury, Priya attacked, plunging Sayeed’s knife, which she had managed to pick up quietly from the floor, into Amanda’s back.
Amanda, with otherworldly strength, managed to turn around, knife in the back, staring at Priya taking the iron bar from her hands.
“It’s over now, bitch.” Priya said. “I will never forgive you for this.” With tears in her eyes, she took aim at Amanda’s head.
Niko arrived in the control room and saw Priya bent over Sayeed’s body, tears streaming down her face. Just next to her, Amanda lay facedown, a knife protruding from her back.
“Priya, you…” was all he managed to get out. He ran toward her and put his arms around her. “How did he find us?”
“I don’t know,” Priya sobbed out through her tears. “But he saved my life. I… I helped her.” Priya motioned with her head toward Amanda. “I killed him!” The weight of her confession hit her all at once, and she broke down, crying even harder.
“Hey, hey, you didn’t kill him,” Niko whispered. “Amanda did. She was controlling you, like Ryan controlled you back then. You cannot blame yourself now. What is that in your hand?”
“Something Amanda… built. It shields her NanoChip from magnetic interference. She was immune to the MRI signal…” she explained, trying to pull herself together.
Then, remembering, Niko said into his earpiece, “Klara, are you still there?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I’m here, Niko, but I don’t have a visual. Someone shut down the cameras in the rooms around you completely. Is Priya okay?”
“She’s okay. Sayeed saved her.”
“Sayeed? How?”
“I don’t know, but he’s hurt, badly.” Niko shook his head. Then he bent down, feeling for a pulse. It was still there, although faint. Niko looked up to Priya. “He’s still alive! Priya, you take care of the software update. Get that radar running, immediately. I will take Sayeed.” He took Sayeed’s gun from the floor and then looked around. “Klara, navigate me to the medical wing immediately! I have an idea…” Niko bent over Amanda, quickly dipping his hand in her pool of blood. Time was running out.
Niko’s muscles burned with effort as he half-carried, half-dragged Sayeed through the eerie hallways of the SPA facility. People were lying on the floors, clutching their heads in pain. A couple of guards he met were quickly convinced by his gun to let them pass.
His heart pounded as he finally found a stretcher and hoisted Sayeed onto it, breathing heavily. “Hang in there, Sayeed,” Niko muttered, pushing the stretcher toward the medical wing.
“You’re on the right track, Niko,” Klara guided him. “It should be coming up in a couple of meters to your right.”
Then he saw it. The room was filled with the sterile scent of antiseptic and the hum of medical equipment.
He grabbed a syringe, drew some of Amanda’s blood that he had collected earlier, and injected it into Sayeed’s arm. Thanks to the advanced NanoChipM technology, he wouldn’t have to worry about their blood types—they would prevent any immune reaction. Niko couldn't help but feel the irony, knowing that this feature had been developed by NAPPA for military purposes, something he had always opposed.
Quickly, he then hooked Sayeed up to a ventilator to assist his breathing and administered a dose of adrenaline to jumpstart his system. Niko hoped there were enough nanobots in Amanda’s blood to help. The gash on his head was still open, blood trickling steadily from the wound on the white bed sheets.
Two nurses, wide-eyed with fear, watched from the corner of the room.
Niko pointed his gun at them, his voice steady but threatening. “Get over here!” Niko barked.
The nurses obeyed immediately, their faces pale.
Niko gave them quick instructions. “You, stop the bleeding on his head. And you, take care of his vitals. I’m pretty sure he has a broken arm and several broken ribs, as well. If he dies, you die. Understand?”
The nurses nodded frantically, rushing to Sayeed’s side.
“If he shows any signs of moving, tie him down immediately. Use the straps on the bed.” He slipped Amanda’s device into Sayeed’s pocket, hoping it would protect the nanobots in his bloodstream from the MRI signal. Sayeed would kill me if he knew what I was doing, he thought.
Niko turned on his heel and sprinted out of the medical wing, his mind racing. “Klara, can you hear me?” he spoke into his earpiece.
“I’m here, Niko. What’s going on?”
“I injected Sayeed with some of Amanda’s blood. I’m hoping NanoChipM in her blood might replicate and will help him survive. If our information is correct, NanoChipM doesn’t only work on your nervous system. It was supposed to enhance soldiers’ physical capabilities and help rapid tissue repair. It also provides pain suppression and boosts the immune system. All these things Sayeed needs now, with this sort of injury.”
Klara’s voice crackled with concern. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“No, I’m not,” Niko admitted, “but either that or he’s dead. Just keep monitoring things on your end in the medical wing. I need to get back.”
“Will do, boss.”
Back in the control room, he found Priya staring at Amanda’s lifeless body. The radar’s receiver platform, suspended high above the dish, buzzed with energy, emitting a low hum that reverberated through the control room. Powerful lights on the platform illuminated the structure, casting long shadows as it moved, and the entire assembly glowed with a faint, eerie blue light as it scanned the skies.
“It’s done,” she said softly, her voice filled with a mix of relief and horror.
Niko nodded, taking a moment to catch his breath. “We need to focus. Now that the radar is operational, let’s start with the second part of the plan. We have to coordinate the MRI signal with the radar to amplify the magnetic field and disrupt the NanoChips globally. Klara, how many MRIs do you have on your list for activation?”
“The AI has gathered a list of around thirty thousand, give or take. The one in Singapore, I cannot reach, unfortunately—NAPPA’s security is too tight. We also have a bit of an incomplete picture in China, due to the firewall, but it should be enough, right?”
Niko ran a hand through his hair. “There’s only one way to find out.”
He turned to Priya, who was still visibly shaken. “Priya, I need you to start the synchronization process with the radar. We’re going to link every MRI machine we can get our hands on and have them emit a continuous signal that’s synchronized with the 21 Tesla MRI here in Arecibo.” He explained to her again, slowly. It was important to get her mind focused on other things.
Priya nodded, her fingers already over the keyboard as she started to initiate the commands. “I’m on it. It’s going to take a few minutes to get everything lined up.”
Meanwhile, Klara connected to the global network of MRI devices, using the AI to send out the signal modulation instructions. Each machine would have to be reconfigured to emit a continuous magnetic field.
Klara’s voice came through the earpiece again. “I’ve managed to penetrate the Chinese firewall, but it’s tricky. I’m rerouting through several nodes to avoid detection. This will take a bit longer.”
Niko could see the radar outside through the control room’s large window. The dish was rotating, its receivers and transmitters adjusting to fine-tune the signal. It was a massive, intricate ballet of technology.
“Starting synchronization,” Priya announced. “We should see the first wave of MRI machines coming online in three… two… one …”
On the monitors, Niko watched as dots began to light up, each representing an MRI machine around the world. Slowly, the number of dots increased, spreading across the map like a web. Each node was a powerful magnet, ready to contribute to the global disruption of the NanoChips.
“The first batch is online,” Klara reported. “We’re at about ten thousand machines and climbing.”
“Keep going,” Niko urged. “We need every single one.”
As the numbers continued to rise, Niko and Priya worked feverishly to maintain the synchronization. The Arecibo radar dish was now fully aligned, its powerful signal boosting the coordinated magnetic fields from the MRIs.
“We’re at twenty-five thousand,” Klara said, her voice strained with concentration. “Almost there.”
Niko’s heart raced as the final machines came online. “We still have a dark spot around China and Southeast Asia. Are you sure we can’t get those, Klara?”
“Unfortunately, I can’t get through to them.”
“Okay,” Niko sighed. “We’ll work with what we’ve got and hope for the best. Priya, are we ready to initiate the global pulse?”
Priya took a deep breath, her eyes fixed on the monitor. “Ready when you are.”
“Do it,” Niko commanded.
Priya pressed the final command, and the room seemed to hold its breath. Outside, the radar dish emitted a low hum, and the MRI machines around the world began to synchronize, emitting a powerful, continuous magnetic signal.
“It’s working!” Klara shouted.
The combined magnetic fields resonated, creating a wave that spread across the globe. The screens in the control room showed real-time data as the wave passed through each region.
“Klara, how do we measure the disintegration of the NanoChips? Do we have any way to confirm their complete deactivation?”
“Well, off the top of my head, I think we could monitor social media and news feeds for reports of headaches, dizziness, and other symptoms. The AI system can analyze global communication for any significant changes.”
Priya chimed in, “Excellent. Work on that, Klara. I’ll also start pulling up news reports. We should see some sort of reaction if the NanoChips are disintegrating as expected.”
Klara nodded, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she adjusted the signals and coordinated with the MRI machines. “I’m fine-tuning the signals to ensure we cover every possible area. The AI is working on optimizing the coverage.”
Priya’s eyes widened as she read through the news channels. “Niko, look at this! People are reporting headaches and strange sensations in North America, Europe, bloody everywhere!”
Niko took a deep breath, still cautious, but feeling a sense of accomplishment.
“She’s right; I think we’ve done it,” Klara confirmed. “The AI is detecting activity from all across the globe—social media feeds, police reports, ambulance calls, you name it. I will stream the feeds now. The only thing I don’t see from here is Eastern Asia.”
“Okay, try to find out what’s happening over there. We have to confirm the signal is working there, as well.”
Niko watched the monitors, showing real-time footage from around the world. Thousands of different reactions were caught on camera, from shock, fear, confusion, and happiness. Strangers hugged each other on the streets, tears streaming down their faces as the realization of their freedom sank in. The oppressive aura that had blanketed the globe was lifting.
Soon thereafter, various government statements began circulating. In France, the Prime Minister announced an address to the nation later that day. In Berlin, the Bundestag had scheduled an emergency session. News reports from the United Nations were being broadcast live.
“Priya, we did it,” Niko finally said, a smile spreading across his face.
“Yeah, we did,” Priya replied, her voice tinged with exhaustion and relief. They looked at each other contently.
“It feels so… weird,” Niko started. “I mean, who knows what is now happening millions and millions of times around the world? All of these stories will remain forever untold.”
“You’re a real poet, Professor, you know that?” Priya smiled.
For a while, they sat in silence, looking at the rotating radar outside.
“Hey, why all so gloomy?” Klara burst into the room. “We’ve saved the day!” She ran toward them and gave them each a hug.
“It’s quite surreal, that’s all.” Priya sighed.
“I’m happy, but you know me, always on the cautious side. We need to keep monitoring the situation. Let’s focus now on Asia and the Pacific. I didn’t see too much activity there,” Niko added.
At that moment, an alert flashed on the computer screen. Klara ran toward it.
“Niko, something’s happening here, in SPA. In a facility on one of the lower floors. Look!” Klara exclaimed as she managed to pull up the live feed.
Niko and Priya rushed to her side, their eyes widening as they saw strange readings.
“What’s going on?” Priya asked. “Is it the MRI signal? Is it still working?”
Klara quickly accessed the data logs, scanning the information. “No, something else is happening. I’m detecting a strong radiofrequency emission from an underground facility. The computer detected it. It’s as if something down there is transmitting some message. What is that?”
Niko’s heart raced, glancing at Priya. “Could it be …? The Egg …? Is it sending the signal out?”
“The Egg?” Klara looked at him with concern.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Priya chanted. “Klara, did you take down SPA’s defenses?”
“Well, of course I did! How do you think you were able to get in here in the first place?” She smirked.
Priya’s eyes widened with realization. “The lowering of SPA’s security defenses must have allowed the Egg’s RF transmission to pass through.”
“Can you finally tell me what—”
“We need to reestablish the RF barriers immediately to stop the signal from getting out,” Priya interrupted her. “Klara, do it! Rebuild SPA’s defenses—now! We can’t let that signal reach its destination!” Priya was almost shouting now.
Klara nodded. Although surprised, the urgency in Priya’s tone made her act immediately. Her fingers were already flying left and right, like a pianist on the piano, when Niko calmly put a hand on hers.
“It’s too late now,” he exclaimed. “We can do that later. Now, we have other things to do. Priya, you go to Sayeed. Those nurses might need your oversight. Klara, the two of us will speak with Kuryakov. Let’s see if we actually managed to disrupt every NanoChip there is.”
As the Egg’s signal continued to pulse, Niko realized the trade-off they had inadvertently made. They had taken a significant step in freeing humanity from NAPPA but, in doing so, they had given away their location to the alien civilization on Proxima Centauri Bc.
As they glanced at the pulsating RF data on the screen, he couldn’t help but wonder what the future held.
“Whatever comes next,” Niko said to them calmly, “we’ll face it together.”