DISUSED WAREHOUSE, PIERS PARK, BOSTON
The man sat in the semi-darkness. The warehouse had been boarded up for years and sat squat against the port authority fences in the old North Harbour district, unkempt and forgotten. It was cavernous and dusty inside the vast building, littered with rusty machinery, piles of rotting paper and thick with the atmosphere of abandonment. All, that was, except a small corner. In that corner sat the man. The chair he sat in was hard and plastic. Behind him was a bed, unmade and as tired as the building it sat in. There were two ancient and battered trunks by the bed and around the table behind which the man sat was strewn empty take-out cartons and soft drink cans. He could have been one of the hundreds of vagrants that lived in and around the maze of disused building in the North Harbour district.
Except he wasn't.
His suit was immaculate, as was his hair and his general appearance. Unlike the other residents of North Harbour, he chose to be here, using the areas bad reputation and the homeless as a shield to avoid prying eyes.
Next to his bed was a second desk and on it was a laptop computer. Leads from the computer led to a black box, about the size of a cereal packet. From the box came another set of leads which led to two barrels, both roughly the size of beer kegs. They were spotlessly clean and made of stainless steel, with a dinner plate porthole of plastic set into the side. Within the kegs, swirling and moving around the barrel was a liquid that glowed faintly blue. It spilled light over the immediate surroundings and every minute or so, the liquid inside would abruptly change direction and swirl around to form new and endlessly changing patterns, as if the barrels themselves contained a shoal of invisible, light-emitting fish. It was quite beautiful, and the man sat behind his desk would sometimes watch the patterns that formed and reformed in the barrels for hours.
The man slowly got up and lifted a bag which had sat by his feet onto the table in front of him. It was a flight bag and still carried the tags from that morning's return flight from LAX to Logan international on it. Inside the bag was a can of shaving cream. He took it out and unscrewed the top, taking out a tiny metal flask from inside the fake can. He set it down on the table next to a dozen similar cans. He then took out a book. Inside the hollowed out pages was a plastic flask, different in design from the first, more like a hip flask. He set that down on the table too. Carefully, he lifted a car battery onto the desk, and connected a couple of cables to the connectors. He then applied the live ends of the cables to both flasks, watching the arc of electricity pass across each flask twice, before disconnecting the cables and replacing the battery on the floor. He then took out a pre-paid cell phone, dialled a number. He waited for a second and spoke in a low, controlled voice.
"The field test was a success." He then snapped the phone shut. Satisfied that his work was done, he took off his jacket, took out his copy of that morning's LA Times, and by the light of the liquid shifting and pulsating in the barrels next to him, read of the disaster in North Hollywood subway station with a sense of satisfaction that came from a job well done.
MASSIVE DYNAMIC HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK.
Olivia was sat in Nina Sharp's office on the top floor of the Massive Dynamic building, coffee cup in hand, being scrutinised by Nina. After a few uncomfortable seconds she sat back down behind her desk and smiled.
"I'm sorry Dear, but with all that's happened, you can't blame me for making sure it really is you, can you?" Olivia frowned, but didn't answer. Any reference to her alternate drew fury in her, but that wasn't going to help this conversation any, so she stashed it deep beneath the surface of her calm exterior. If Nina had been trying to nudge a reaction, she didn't get one. "If it's any consolation, you do look better as a blonde." Nina leaned over her desk conspiratorially. "I thought the redhead looked a bit slutty, if I'm being honest." In spite of herself, Olivia smiled. "That's better. How are you Olivia?"
"Getting better." She found the lie came easily in this office.
"Good, good." Nina got down to business. "So, what can I do for you today?" Olivia set her coffee cup down.
"Nina, what do you know about nanites?"
"Massive Dynamic are the largest supplier of surgical nanite technology in the United States." Sharp slipped easily into the sales pitch. "Our nanites have been used in over a thousand surgical procedures and saved hundreds of lives." Olivia waited for her to finish.
"OK, but what are they exactly?"
"Microscopic machines. They're like mechanical viruses. You programme then to fix a detached retina, or a broken eardrum, inject them into the patient and they go to work. After they've done, they go inert and the body treats them like a foreign virus and the antibody system wipes them out. They're quite ingenious really."
Olivia studied Nina carefully, filtering out the sales pitch.
"Can they be programmed to do other things besides surgical procedures?"
Nina looked at Olivia carefully.
"I suppose, though they only work inside the environments they are designed for. Why do you want to know?"
"It's a case I'm working on." Olivia's natural distrust of Nina prevented her from giving the Massive Dynamic CEO any extra information, but she need to know more. "So you couldn't design a nanite that, say worked in the open air, or a nanite that attacked metal rather than a brain injury?"
Nina didn't respond immediately, however she picked up the telephone.
"I need to speak with Kurt at San Bernardino." She paused for a second waiting to be connected. "Kurt, tomorrow, you will be receiving a visit from an Agent Olivia Dunham of the Department of Homeland Security. I want you to extend her every courtesy and provide her with whatever she asks, OK?" She put the phone down. "Our nanites are grown at our medical research laboratory in San Bernardino, California. We have been working on an experimental nanite prototype that works external to the body, in the wider environment."
Olivia sat forward. "Is Massive Dynamics the only company working on this sort of nanite technology?" Nina laughed out loud.
"Oh good God no, Olivia. Nanites are this century's electricity. They'll revolutionise engineering, weapons design, electronics, the whole world in the same way electricity did." Nina sat back in her chair. "There are a dozen companies working on this technology. Nextel Inc, Albacore, JXI Pharmaceuticals….but I can't get you into their labs, can I?"
Olivia stood up.
"Thank you Nina." The older woman shrugged.
"Don't mention it. It's good to see you, Olivia."
Olivia went to leave, but before she got to the door, she stopped and turned round. She thought about whether what she was about to do was a good idea. Her history with Nina Sharp was…complicated but whilst they circled each other like sharks and Olivia was certain that Nina had lied to her, many times, she felt that this made her the perfect person to ask the question of, the one that she'd been so anxious to ask since she'd got back.
"What was she like?"
"Who?" Nina smiled at her, not making it any easier
Olivia spat the words out.
"You know who. How close was she to me? How difficult was it to tell she wasn't me?"
Nina regarded Olivia carefully, and Olivia began to regret asking the question at all. She only did so because she felt that Nina was likely to be the only person to give her a straight answer.
"I'm not really the best person to ask, am I? How well do you think I know you?"
"I'm sorry, never mind." It had been a stupid idea to ask. Olivia turned for the door and opened it.
"She was brittle." Nina's voice was lower, more hesitant, as if Olivia's question had affected her. Perhaps the obvious discomfort in evidence all over Olivia's face touched a nerve somewhere. "She made an effort, I'll give her that, but she was too hard. You can't really fake empathy, Olivia. I'm not sure she fooled anyone really, except perhaps herself."
Olivia listened silently, her features fragile like spun glass. She didn't really know if she liked the answer or not.
"Thank you."
MASSIVE DYNAMIC MEDICAL LABORATORY, SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA
"I was in San Bernardino once." Walter, Olivia, Peter and Astrid were walking along what appeared to be the longest corridor on the planet, lead by two Massive Dynamic security guards.
"Really Walter, it's not like going to the moon. It's San Bernardino." Peter was tired, and he and Olivia had hardly spoken five words on the flight over. Even Walter had picked up on it, making several wildly inappropriate comments, comments that previously would have drawn wry smiles. Now, they drew uncomfortable silence.
"Yes, it was a science symposium at the Sun Inn Conference Centre. 1977 I believe, the summer of Disco!" He threw a couple of John Travolta moves.
"Walter," Astrid ducked a flailing arm. "I'll give you twenty dollars if you never do that again."
"Excellent."
They stopped in front of a set of huge steel doors marked with the Massive Dynamic logo under which was written Micro Surgery Development Suite. One of the guards punched a pass code into a box by the door, and it swung open. They were met by a bearded man in a white Lab coat.
"Agent Dunham?"
"That's right. This is Astrid Farnsworth FBI, and Peter and Walter Bishop."
"I'm Kurt Saddlewell, I'm head of Micro-surgery research with Massive Dynamic. You'd like to know about our experimental nanite research. Follow me."
They walked through a set of labs, brilliant white and consisting of glass and steel, past white coated scientists busying themselves around equipment that Olivia found disorientating, but which Walter was staring in awe at. Eventually the room opened out into a huge semi-circular amphitheatre and along the back, curbing wall were six huge tanks, each the size of a greyhound bus. Each had a circular porthole six feet high in the side, and each was filled with a swirling, ceaselessly moving glowing liquid. Three of the tanks had green liquid in, three red. Walter walked up to the nearest tank and placed his face against the plastic.
"It's marvellous Peter, come and look. It's like looking into the best trip you'll ever have." Peter smiled at Dr Saddlewell.
"He's a bit weird before he's had his breakfast."
"These are nanites?" Olivia stared at the tanks, trying to equate the swirling liquid with the grey dust they found on the rail tracks and all over Franks body.
"No my Dear….Well yes, sort of." Walter didn't give Saddlewell time to answer.
"Great Walter, very helpful." Peter drew a disapproving glance from Astrid. Walter appeared oblivious.
"Step closer Agent Dunham." Walter was still staring into the shifting liquid, his face tinged green from the faint glow it was giving off. As Olivia moved next to him, she could see the wonder in his eyes. Simple and child-like. She smiled just a little. It was this side of Walter she had grown to like. It was this side of his personality that so clearly differentiated him from the calculation and cruelty of his alternate. She stared into the liquid.
"I must admit, it is a little freaky."
"Super-freaky." Walter added. "What you're looking at is billions and billions of nanites, moving around in an electrolyte solution. They are just reproducing themselves in this liquid, until they are programmed. Dr…" He leaned over to Olivia. "What's his name again?"
"Saddlewell."
"You!" He beckoned to Saddlewell, who walked over. "What are these for?"
"The nanites in the red vats are for micro-surgery. We raise them in artificial blood-plasma and they're made from copper molecules."
"Ah yes" Walter intoned. "There's copper in blood, it buys them more time before they are attacked by the immune system." Saddlewell nodded.
"The green vats contain our experimental nanites. They are grown in Saline."
"Grown? I thought they were machines?" Olivia looked puzzled.
"They are." Saddlewell continued as Walter puzzled over what had been said earlier. "It's a figure of speech. They behave very much like viruses. Some of the leading researchers in nanite technology are actually virologists. I myself graduated…"
"YOU FOOL!" Walter exploded.
"Walter!" It was Astrid who started to move forward. Walter ignored her.
"You are a small-minded imbecile." Walter continued. "You have no idea of the forces you are toying with. No idea!"
"Walter" It was Olivia. She placed a calming hand on his arm and it worked. He looked at her and the fury in his face calmed down just a little. "What is it?"
"This ignoramus is growing nanite technology in a neutral medium." Olivia looked over at Peter.
"What Walter is trying to say is that there's a reason that nanites are designed only to be used in a certain, very limited set of environments. Nanites can only do one thing. Reproduce themselves. As Walter said, they're a mechanical virus. If you can programme them to reproduce themselves using the material in a blood clot, they break up the blood clot. It's how they work. The thing is that the human body has a very effective antibody system, so the human body starts to attack them the second they are injected. Then it's a race. Nanites are designed to reproduce just fast enough to break up the blood clot, using the material to create new nanites, before they are destroyed. When the blood clot is gone, they have no more material to reproduce with, and the body's immune system wins the race."
Olivia looked even more confused than when he started.
"Look. The human body has a built in anti-nanite system. Imagine what would happen if you introduced them into something that didn't. They'd only stop when they ran out of whatever substance it was that they were using to reproduce themselves. Saline is a neutral medium – it's possible to grow nanites in saline that will reproduce themselves in almost any environment, using almost any material."
"Yes." It was Saddlewell. "Think of the applications. You could use them to clear blocked oil pipes, clean the engine of your car, consume the carbon monoxide in the engine – zero emission vehicles. It could revolutionise the world."
"Grey Goo!" Walter stared at Saddlewell, who dismissed him.
"That's science fiction nonsense."
"Grey what?" Olivia looked from Walter to Peter. Peter shrugged.
"I'll explain later."
Olivia's mind was already working.
"Walter, if you wanted to create nanites that reproduced using titanium alloy, what would you need?" The Scientist mulled over the question for a second.
"You'd need to raise the first nanites in a medium containing molten titanium alloy."
Olivia smiled.
"Dr Saddlewell, thank you for your time. We're leaving."
"We are?" Walter reluctantly dragged himself away from the vats.
"Yes Walter. We have work to do."