After lunch, there was a knock at the door. The three of them looked each other a mixture of fear and confusion on their faces. Daniel got up and walked to the door opening it. One of the suits from yesterday’s visit was standing there expressionless.

“Do you remember me from yesterday?” He asked in a faintly English accent.

"You were with the lady, yeah." Daniel said. "Other than that, not so much."

"My name is Damien." The man said. "I'm following up on yesterday's visit. May I come in?"

"I'm not comfortable with that." Daniel said, barring the door. "Perhaps you should leave."

"I think it's...safer. For everyone. If I come in. Now." The man said, his voice hardening.

“Is that a threat?”

“Yes. It is, if I don’t come in.”

Daniel frowned, but he stepped back from the doorway to allow the man in.

The man looked at Daniel intently. Daniel assumed he was scanning him. The man turned to Renée and Farrah in turn.

“So your friends got into something they didn’t understand? And now they’ve disappeared?”

They looked at him blankly, wondering what he was trying to get out of them. 

“I’m going to suggest that in a few days you report them missing to the police. I’m going to suggest that you emphasize that this isn’t the first time this has happened. I’m going to suggest that you return home and tell people you think they just went off on their own vacation.” Damien pressed.

“With any luck, we’ll never see each other again. Because the only luck that would bring me back around would be very bad luck for you.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Without waiting for response Damien turned and left closing the door behind him.

***

"Well if that isn't a sign we're in so far over our heads, and we don't know which way is up, I don't know what is." Renee muttered, after Damien closed the door behind him. She could feel the anxiety in the pit of her stomach.

"I wonder why he didn't say anything about..." Farrah waved at them, as if the nanobots were smeared all over them like paint.

"She said she had some way of turning it off to scans. Maybe she clouded his scans? I know as much as you do." Daniel answered, referring to Thompson.

Farrah sighed, "Are we going to get through airport security?"

"We need to do a lot more research." Daniel said scrubbing his hands over his face.

“System.” Renee said.

[Abrasax System}

“Can the nanotechnology in our bodies be shielded from someone with similar abilities?” Renée asked.

[Abrasax system has many stealth and stealth like technologies. Would you like to know more?] [Y/N?]

“Yes. Please display all stealth and stealth like technologies and their costs both to activate and to maintain.”

[Compiling.]

Several screens opened and started to scroll information.

“System. Stop.”

The flow of information stopped.

“Display information starting from least costly.”

[The Abrasax system has many active and passive ways of reducing its electromagnetic signature or detectability. The system tutorial covers all of the basic and intermediate aspects.]

“So, I should do my homework. At least before bothering the teacher.” Renee said knowingly,

“System?” Renée asked.

[Abrasax system]

“Maintain maximum stealth until tutorials are complete. Maintain maximum stealth until explicit instructions otherwise.”

[Abrasax maintaining maximum stealth.]

“System?” Farrah asked as a thought intruded.

[Abrasax system]

“Can you provide an alert or notification if costs of stealth system exceed current resources?”

[Abrasax system can provide notifications and/or alerts for any designated event or function.]

“Provide alerts any time stealth system is impaired or cost of any system activity exceeds available resources for any of us.”

[Alert status upgraded.]

“I guess it’s back to the books.” Daniel said. “At least one of you is helping in the kitchen from now on.”

The hours rolled by almost as quickly as the screens full of information.