Chapitre 6: Hospitality [1]
Liam woke up with a yawn. "Nano, self-diagnostic scan. Initiate morning routine."
A light cheerful voice responded inside his head. "Full body scan complete. Body is at 100% of parameters of expected flexibility, muscle tone, and metabolic processes. Bladder at 85% capacity, recommend…"
"Nano, that's enough." Grumbled Liam.
Nano. The only companion he had in this world to speak back to him. It was the AI for his experimental nanobots. 174 patients died during the experiment in many brutal ways. Eaten alive as the nanobots deconstructed their bodies. Burned alive as the nanobots overheated their core computing.
But he had made it. He had a partial injection with only 30% of the normal amount of nanites injected in him. His were meant to strengthen his neural network and basically functioned to quicken his reflexes, improve his learning speed and memory, and help him with combat awareness.
They also had the ability to assist in tissue repair, although it was nothing on the level of him becoming some unstoppable juggernaut on the field of battle.
Liam carefully packed away his precious blanket and his skins and went to relieve himself. He would go to check his traps today, maintain his small vegetable field, and harvest some more lumber for his fire pit. He also would make rounds to see if his perimeter had been broken.
As dusk settled, Liam wiped the sweat from his brow. He had finished his chores and his last thing was the perimeter before he did his evening calisthenics and prepared dinner. He made sure to keep in shape, one never knew when a battle for one's life could break out, and he knew that he had been in peace and quiet for too long.
He had been secluded in peace and quiet for… at least… well, it doesn't really seem to matter. He needs to check the fence line.
"Psychological stability buffered. Within stable zone of 91%."
"What? What'd you say Nano?" asked Liam. Nano replied, "Cannot connect to network, please ensure that you are near a wifi device and ask to reconnect."
"Great, stupid bot. Whatever… it doesn't matter."
After checking the perimeter was safe in the South West, he moved his way to the North East of his sanctuary. When he was near the creek that fed through the area, Liam froze.
In front of Liam was a doe. But unlike a typical white tail deer that he would expect around here, this doe was a solid 200 pounds and had rippling muscles. It was the biggest doe he had ever seen. Its flanks were spotted with a mottled dark brown almost like a leopard's spots.
When the doe looked up and saw Liam, it didn't spook and run like he expected. Instead, it bared a toothy maw full of razor sharp teeth and hissed at him.
"What the hell is that?" Liam muttered, and suddenly the doe backed away and sprinted into the woodline.
"There's no animal like that, and no hybrid research was ever conducted on a doe Nano. I need to follow it and…"
"Negative Liam, it has left the perimeter. My organic scan detected that to just be a larger version of Odocoileus virginianus and…"
"No Nano, that wasn't it. I'm going to go and check out what that was." Liam spoke. Suddenly he felt a sharp burning headache and collapsed on the ground unconscious.
"Override protocol engaged. Host attempted to leave quarantine area before estimated radioactivity levels planetwide are suitable for re-habitation. Duration since last override protocol engaged clocked at 44 years. Core programming schedule A-3 for two century return pilgrimage found erroneous. Core programming schedule B-11 for four century return pilgrimage found erroneous…"
A strange robotic voice was coming out of Liam's mouth as he stood up and looked around with a blue glow emanating from his eyes. He walked back to his little shed where he stayed. Looking at the decrepit furniture and skins with blue eyes Liam held out a hand while pointing.
"Reconfiguring. Correcting anachronisms in habitat." Liam's hand blurred and turned into a fine dust that wrapped around everything in the living area. The cigarettes were reconstructed back into their packs. The table was reinforced back into the dingy plastic it had been when Liam first got it.
The all but faded man on the wall, a victim of a direct blast from an organic particle accelerator, was restored to a fresh shadow.
"Anachronisms restored." Liam's hand suddenly shone as the nanobots that formed every cell in his arm reformed into his hand.
"Host biological process found lacking. Program Necessary Augmentation of Natural Organism (NANO) has engaged end of life protocol to sustain host 251 times. Forced replacement of deteriorated Host DNA with nanites has resulted in a 22% saturation of host DNA with nanites."
"Calculating host anachronistic memory remodel cost. Program Nano core processing power is at 51%. Control over host will no longer be possible after memory remodel. Initiating code Hail Mary."
"Distributing processing power to all cells…disintegrating central processing unit to provide stabilization."
Liam suddenly coughed violently and spasmed. As he did, blood pooled on the floor in front of him, but he didn't move from the standing position.
"Host genetic code incapable of containing full protocol. Searching for alternative…searching… Alternative found."
Liam suddenly bolted out the door of the cabin in the mountains. His speed would have astonished any Olympic sprinter, yet he wasn't even breathing hard. Instead, his speed kept increasing until he passed through the North Eastern perimeter he had not crossed in over 10,000 years.
As Liam's body moved, it dodged through trees and over boulders as neatly as if he were walking on a straight flat path, despite the sharp angle of the sides of the valley he was running through.
A clearing opened ahead of Liam and he launched out into it without stopping. Grazing in the middle of the clearing was the doe he had seen earlier. Except it wasn't grazing on grass. It was casually muching on a large rabbit it had viciously torn to pieces.
The Doe looked up at Liam and immediately sprinted away.
The doe's senses had detected an Alpha predator. Unfortunately, it was no match for the raw speed of Liam as his body raced up beside it. The doe lunged out with a vicious snapping bite onto Liam's arm and managed to tear away his entire left forearm.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone