Part 1 of a story that may or may not develop further. Sort of a comic-book quality to the idea; I'll let you be the judge of how well it works.
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Sullivan Miles crept through the dark warehouse area, using only a small flashlight to see his way, and that under a heavy filter to keep it from being readily visible. He dodged between pipes, shining the light on several vats as he passed by, and continuing forward each time he found that it wasn’t what he was searching for.
His specialty, and the reason he was here, was corporate espionage. While most people thought of hacking the networks of opposing companies for information, Miles had always been a bit more proactive. He was a raccoon, and his natural instincts and light paws meant that he was great at actually breaking into the competitor’s factory to get a look at things up close.
This time, his job was extremely important. The competitor’s network had been hacked just a few days prior, and it was discovered that they were in the final stages of creating a new technology, codenamed “Grey Goo” in all reference files. It was unknown exactly what the technology was, but it involved controlled self-proliferating nanomachines. Whatever the intentions were for using the technology, everyone realized that a successful, safe technology involving such mechanisms could quickly change the face of the world market, and they knew that they needed to have a hand in it when it was all said and done.
Miles finally found what he was looking for; it was a large vat, towering several feet above him in the dark warehouse area. It was not clearly labeled, but Miles knew from what he had seen of the files that were found of the substance that he had found the right thing. He searched about the tank’s perimeter until he found a ladder, and slowly climbed to the top.
The vat was closed, but Miles carried just the tool for the job. It was a small datapad, equipped with all the technology he could possibly want. He set it alongside the panel that controlled the lid to the vat, and waited a few moments while the ‘pad went through several combinations before finally opening the lid at a slow speed, doing so intentionally to keep it from making much sound.
Miles shined his flashlight into the tank, whistling in admiration as he did. “Grey” didn’t do it justice. The surface of the liquid in the tank was moving as the vat performed an automated mix of the contents, and the movement allowed Miles to get a good look at the stuff. It shone in the dim light of his flashlight, casting a kaleidoscope of colors from its silvery surface. If it had not been moving, it could have been a match for the chrome finish on his boss’s Mercedes. As it was, the strange warping of the colors as the “metal” was constantly churned made it even more breathtaking. Miles licked his muzzle; he could tell he would be getting an amazing commission out of this!
He quietly reached into his pack, pulling out a small vial that would let him take a sample. He was already wearing gloves, so he carefully reached down into the vat with one hand while keeping a secure hold on the rim of the tank with his left paw. His tail kept him balanced as well, so he could confidently reach down the few inches between the metal and the top of the container. He chuckled as he dipped the vial into the Goo. It slid around the mouth of the vial, filling it at the speed of molasses. He waited until he had a good sample, and then pulled it out.
Only it didn’t want to come.
Miles frowned, pulling again at the vial. The metal seemed to have solidified; it wasn’t giving at all now, where before it had been thinner than liquid soap. That wouldn’t do at all; while it did mean that the strange metallic substance had possibilities for more than novelty value, it also meant that it had grabbed ahold of his gloved hand.
The raccoon let out a quiet breath and felt around for his pad. His left paw found it quickly enough; he had left it on the outside of the tank. Pulling it off, he held it above the strange substance, trying to scan it to try to figure out a way to get it to release him. It took him a moment to realize that his ‘pad was detecting an unknown interface device. A quick check confirmed it; the ‘pad was detecting the metal!
As odd as it was, Miles decided that interfacing with the nanomachines was as good an idea as any. He had his ‘pad connect to the interface device, and waited while it looked for valid options. The screen suddenly flashed, and before Miles had a chance to react, the substance around his right paw started to pull him towards the vat!
“No! Not good!” Miles pulled against it for a moment then tried to get his ‘pad to respond. All he got was a blank, white screen, however. He grunted as he pulled, but it was no use. While it wasn’t fast, the “Grey Goo” was far too strong to allow him to get away. Miles growled, but no matter how much he pulled, the Goo pulled harder. He had just enough time for one final cry before he was finally pulled headfirst into the tank.
Once it had his head, the goo pulled him quickly into it the rest of the way. It was too thick for him to swim against, and he began to panic as he felt his lungs burning already, since he had not been able to hold his breath long beforehand. He fought the urge to breathe; as he did, he tried not to think of how he was dying. His company wouldn’t recognize his existence, and their competitors were unlikely to be kind in their disposal of his body. More likely than not, no one would ever know what had happened to him.
Despite this knowledge, it was only a matter of time before he was forced to try to breathe. As soon as his mouth opened, the pseudo-metal tried to pour in, and it was too thick to even let him gag. He waited for the darkness to take him, even as he felt the horrible, cold sensation of the metal overwhelming him. There was a steady dull pain all around him, but he still didn’t black out. Even as the pain became worse, he was still aware, still praying that death would take him quickly.
Suddenly, he felt himself pulling free of the goo. Desperation took over, and he tried to scramble in any direction that might lead him out of the vat. The metal still clung tightly to him everywhere, and so he could not open his eyes to see what was happening. He was still unable to breathe, but his paws finally did find the edge of the tank. Not even considering how far he was above the ground, Miles pulled himself out, and felt the momentary weightlessness of falling before crashing to the ground. He thanked whatever providence was overseeing this process that his senses were being dulled by the pressing metal cocoon about him.
He could not concentrate enough anymore to move, and so he lay there, aware enough to know that he was somehow still alive, but not quite enough to realize that he had not taken a breath in nearly five minutes. Somehow, his body continued to function, even as logic dictated that he should have suffocated. As it turned out, logic was still dictating things, just not the way that anyone would have expected.
>.ERROR: REBOOTING TO SAVE DATA
>.ERROR: UNRECOGNIZED INTERFACE DEVICE
>.ALLOW (Y/N?)
>.Y
>.INTERFACE GREY.UNIVERSALCONTROLLER INTIALIZING
>….
>….
>….
>.INITIALIZED
>.INTERFACE IS REQUESTING FULL PRIVILEGES
>.ALLOW (Y/N)
>.Y
>….
>….
>….
>.INITIALIZING SYSTEM FUNCTIONS
>.OPTIC………..READY
>.AUDIO………READY
>.MOTORFUNC……..READY
>.RESPIRATE……..READY
>.NEURAL………READY
>.CAUTION: FIRST-TIME USER DETECTED
>.RECOMMEND AUTOMATED CONTROL
>.ALLOW (Y/N)
>.N
“AHHHHHH!”
All thoughts of his covert mission were suddenly lost as Miles suddenly regained the ability to move. His vision was blurry, and his lungs felt as though they had been inactive for ages. His brain was full of strange thoughts, symbols and messages running through it at a rate that made him dizzy. He cried out several more times, throwing in some color for good measure, before finally sinking back on his back. His brain was slowly catching up to speed, and as it did he suddenly realized that his thoughts seemed odd.
He recognized suddenly that the rapidfire series of messages that had come to mind with no warning had been his own thoughts, and he remembered vaguely responding each time the strange phrases asked for a yes or no answer. It had taken less than the time it would usually take him to blink an eye to process it all, and the fact that his mind had parsed it like an old text prompt just further assured him that something weird was going on. He reached up to his head with one of his paws, only to stop and look at it in wonder.
It was his paw, and yet it wasn’t. What he saw looked like something out of a strange science fiction series. It looked like a hand, but it was built out of metal, miniscule motors and servos acting in place of muscles and tissue, joints built in a mechanical approximation of a raccoon’s paw, the shining chrome-like color of the Goo replacing skin and fur. It responded as he thought, fingers flicking one at a time back and forth, then all at once, making a fist, making a peace gesture… Everything her tried to make his paw do, this strange construct did instead.
He sat up slowly and looked himself over. As he had suspected, the rest of his body was similarly altered. Everything tht could have identified him readily was gone, even his clothing which was nowhere to be found. Where ribs would have protected his vital organs now a pair of chest plates met in the middle, braced from within by several rib-like metal struts. Without even realizing what he was doing, he was suddenly seeing through his chest, looking with eerie calm at the mechanical devices that had replaced what should have been there. Another brief thought, and he again saw the outside of his body, plated wherever the extra protection was viable, and exposed at several more complex mechanical parts, especially complex joints. All in all, he looked like a robot of some sort, a fact that caused him no end of confusion.
Miles stood, footsteps eerily silent. He realized that his paws were still padded, despite their other changed, and he instinctively used the stealth to his advantage. He took a final stock of his body, stopping several moments to consider his tail, which was now made of a strange, flexible metal, plated in several sections to allow it to bend freely while still being protected. As he took a step, his tail still instinctively kept him balanced.
Altogether, although the change was odd, he somehow still felt at home in this body. In a strange sense, it was still the same body he had been born with. The meticulous detail that had been put into replicating every detail in this strange mechanical fashion was incredible, and his brain could interface with it as easily as it could control his old body. If he only still had fur and clothing, he could probably fool anyone into thinking he was unchanged from before.
>.SYNTHETIC SKIN ACTIVATED
As this strange message flashed through Miles’ mind, he found that his thought had apparently been recognized as a command by whatever structure now interfaced with his mind. Strangely, rather than using some sort of projection to replicate his fur, he watched in fascination as the nanomachines replicated themselves around his body, forming into a skin over his metallic skeleton, and then growing a healthy coat of furry strands. Miles knew that the strands were metallic, but he could not tell from looking at them. They took on the perfect color tones to match his old fur, and before long everything about him looked as it had before. Even his mask had returned to its familiar place around his eyes. Only one thing was missing, and with a thought, Miles was able to recreate the clothing he had been wearing on this mission. He stared dumbfounded as he ran a paw across the surface of the pseudo-cloth. It moved and felt like material, even though the metal had somehow synthesized it from the nanomachines that created its structure. He doubted that anyone would be able to tell that he had changed, no matter how well they knew him.
That would serve him well enough. No one needed to know what had happened here until he was certain himself. Miles looked around the dark room, and was pleased to find that his eyes now allowed him to see nearly perfectly in the dark. Flashlight forgotten, Miles started towards the exit. HQ would be displeased that he had been unable to find anything, but they would get over it. Perhaps once he knew what had happened to him, he would let them in on his secret. Until then, he would let them believe that nothing was different.
