"Well, fuck me," Bones groaned. The look on his face was priceless when she and Gaila both mumbled, 'When and where?' at the same time. They looked at each other before Jamie chuckled.

"What happened?" she asked.

He shook his head at them before clearing his throat, "Some cadets with smoke inhalation were brought in, but they have that black chalky substance on them too."

He paused for a second, "One of them is Uhura." The woman watched him leave and then called for the nurse; there was no way in hell they were staying in this room while all their friends were in the waiting area, the older woman agreed to let them go sit with the guys as long as they took it easy.

"You guys know anything yet?" Gaila asked as they walked arm-in-arm into the waiting room, Gary, Kelso, Braxim and Glorak were there, so were Lieutenant Commander Spock and Doctor Telemark, one of the science department professors. Jamie had his astrophysics class, he was a good teacher and his love for science was captivating; he thought she was impulsive and nepotistic but she didn't hold it against him.

The group sat in the room for a few hours when Doctor Griffin, the chief medical officer of the Medical College, and Bones walked into the room.

"How are they, sir?" Jamie asked the doctor, Griffin told them that the three cadets seemed fine and they'll be keeping an eye on them. Uhura got the worst of it but she's a fighter.

"Her blood is outta wack but we're working on it. She's on a ventilator for now, but it looks promising. Of course, McCoy thinks the residue on her is still active," Griffin told them.

Spock raised an eyebrow, "Active?"

Bones nodded, "Yes sir. The samples I took from Cadets Kirk and Gaila yesterday are still active in the lab. If this is the same substance, and I think it is, there's no telling what it'll do."

Jamie looked at him, "You really think it's the same stuff that you found on us from the attack?"

He nodded again, "Looks that way, Jim."

Spock looked at her and Gaila, "Curious."

The Orion chuckled, "That's not even the half of it, sir."

It was a scary thought that the 'smoke' was somehow sentient but it was the only thing that made any sense. Uhura and the other cadets had no thermal damage and there was no fire in the lab where they were working. Jamie only remembered a little, but thinking about it she couldn't come up with a description of the figure other than it was big and black. What if the substance was a being?

Bones told Jamie and Gaila to head back to their room with a promise that he'd stop by later, Gary and Braxim walked back with them. "Once you lovely ladies are all out of the hospital, drinks are on me," Gary said to them.

Gaila batted her eyelashes and took his arm, "Is that so, Mister Mitchell?"

Gary turned on the charm and kept flirting with her, Jamie and Braxim just looked at each other in amusement as the pair had a very interesting conversation. Braxim hugged both women goodbye while Gary gave Jamie a kiss and then had a mini make-out session with Gaila; Braxim had to practically drag him out of the room.

"He is delicious. Please tell me you went there," Gaila said when they were alone.

Jamie chuckled, "A few times. That man has a very talented tongue." Gaila giggled, the girl was practically giddy; he asked her out. She wasn't shocked, Gaila and Gary were similar people; Attractive, smart and very sexual.

"Do I even want to know who you're talking about?" Bones asked as he walked into the room.

The girls looked at each other and said, "Gary." Bones rolled his eyes.

Gaila looked at him, "What was that look for Leonard? You don't like Gary?"

He shrugged, "I like him just fine, i just…"

Gaila smirked, "Don't like him for Jamie. I get it." Bones didn't say anything.

Jamie just looked at him, "Really?"

Bones looked at her, "Go to bed. You get released on the world tomorrow. God help us all." Jamie looked at Gaila who winked at her. "I'm gonna go check on Uhura and the others, I'll be back to check on you two in a little while." Her very tired best friend left the room.

"Told you he wanted you," the Orion told her. Jamie tried to ignore her but Jamie had to wonder if Gaila was right, even a little. They were Jim and Bones, she thought up crazy shit and he patched her up when it was all over, they would never work as a couple. Jamie said as much to Gaila who laughed, "Define a couple. Aside from sex, you two act like one. If both of your pheromones are anything to go by, you should just have sex with him, you both want to."

Jamie pulled the cover over her head and groaned, "Go to sleep Gaila."

The next day, Jamie was sitting in the lab with Bones. He punched up a holo-vid of an experiment they ran on the substance, "Watch this, Jim."

She looked at the screen, they split the samples up and then introduced an amoeba into the chamber. Jamie watched as the large intruder tried to engulf the substance, then they turned on it, attached to every bit of it and destroyed it.

"These things were in me? Wow," Jamie was stunned.

"Keep watching, darlin'," he said from behind her. She never took her eyes off the screen; the substance had replicated the amoeba in a perfect copy.

"I'm so glad that I'm not squeamish."

Bones nodded, "I comm'ed a friend to come take a look, I still haven't figured out what they are." A few minutes later, there was a knock on the lab door. Bones want to open it and returned with a man that Jamie vaguely recognized. "Doctor Parag Chandar, I'd like you to meet Jamie Kirk," Bones introduced her. She shook the man's hand as she connected where she knew him from. She couldn't believe that this was the man in charge of one of the best nanotechnology labs in Federation space, he was way too young.

"Jamie Kirk in the flesh, it's nice to finally meet you. Wow, he said you were beautiful," Chandar said.

Jamie glanced at Bones, "He did, did he? What else did the good doctor say about me?"

"That you were also brilliant and crazy," Chandar told her.

Jamie laughed, "True on both accounts but I'm more brilliant than crazy."

With that, the trio got to work, Doctor Chandar pulled a data chip from his pocket and plugged it in. A bunch of windows popped up and he selected one. It had a 3D image of a single particle, "Beautiful isn't it?"

Jamie tilted her head, "Only because it isn't on my body anymore." They both laughed at her, then Bones spoke.

"What is it?" he asked in amazement.

"Oh God," Jamie whispered. Chandar smiled at her and nodded, she figured it out. "Nanites? Any idea on who or why?" she asked him.

Chandar shook his head, "Not a clue, we're working on it." That just beat all, nanites were simply nanorobots or nanobots, molecule sided pieces of equipment. Someone had to build them and someone had to unleash them on San Francisco. They appeared to communicate with each other and they were designed to lock into the nanite next to it. Jamie was fascinated, it wasn't everyday you got to see something so small and yet so powerful.

"We better get this info to the investigators," she told the two doctors.