Minding Eternity pt. 6

6 – the fall of nano-civilization 

Cancer, it had been generations since anyone, other than one studying in a medical or biological field, bothered to mention it in any context.  Cancer, a historical taboo of an embarrassingly backwards society the present population had come to dismiss.  It seemed that humanity still wasn’t beyond its innate ability to ignore history and ultimately repeat it.  

More often this word was being used and more often it had triggered various negative responses from the research scientists I dealt with on a daily basis.  I was still confused as to why this deemed a threat, since to my knowledge all cancers had been destroyed.  I attempted to enquire further into this but nobody was privy to divulge that information to me.

For months a strained network of emotion flooded the institute, the others were unaware of the full extent of my abilities and thus proceeded to attempt at hiding their troubles.  They were also unaware of the modifications I was making to myself.  I felt that whatever was troubling the researchers, it would eventually reach our sanctuary, and I had to be ready. 

One such clandestine modification was to the program set to disarm my prosthetic body and casing.  These heightened levels of erratic behaviour made me feel that I could not trust the rash decisions of the humans and I was also finding myself confused at their lack of reason.   I knew that I wasn’t one of them anymore.

Next, I took measures to make an attempt at contacting the outside world.  Without causing suspicion from the sensor grids I managed to manipulate the nano-shielding of the institute as a receiver.  Hacking in wasn’t the tough part, but maintaining a clear signal for a long period proved difficult.  Eventually I was able to piece together what little information I had collected.

From these electronic scraps I first deduced that the location of the institute was not on Earth, but embedded within the South Pole-Aitken basin, almost 1,500 miles across and more than five miles deep located on the southern hemisphere of the Moon.  My home, my species, my origins; all were distanced from me through space, time, and existence.   I could not have blamed them.  The impact created through the knowledge of my existence would have turned me into Frankenstein’s monster in their eyes.  However, no matter how isolated I felt from my kind, I still had compassion for them and wished to know what caused such fear.  I soon found out.                            

The much discussed epidemic had now grown into world-wide pandemic.  The chaos, the destruction that these contemporary humans had referred to as cancer, wasn’t of a biological source, but technological.  Mistakenly revered as the saviours of the earth, the nanites that had been given the ability to self-replicate had begun to develop errors in their programming.  Despite the great vacuum of space separating us from the Earth, there remained nano-tethers reaching far into space.  Orders had been made for their immediate disengagement but nobody was sure if they had yet been infected. 

The nature of the universe had once again dragged its laws of chaos and unpredictability to the doorsteps of humanity.