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LOCATION: KEPHRA TECH HQ
CITY: RALEIGH-DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
DATE: SEPTEMBER 5, 2026 | TIME: 6:00 AM
It really is amazing what people can accomplish when they're properly motivated.
Damian Crestwell tasked his engineering team with creating a mesh system capable of capturing particles on the nanoscale. And he gave them a single day to design it and mock up a usable prototype.
Since all employees of Kephra Tech were now inducted into the System, he was able to explain exactly why this was so urgent, and what was riding on their success.
The six-person team went immediately to the War Room to get started with the planning.
The War Room, obviously modeled after a similar high intensity space at the White House, was set up with the best technology the company could buy.
Large high-resolution screens filled the walls, and the low-level hum from the half dozen liquid cooled, high-powered workstations running advanced quantum computing chipsets filled the room.
Then there was the espresso machine. Starting with a very expensive model from Breville, they had added an extra feature that incorporated the nanite infusions that Colin's partner Leah had developed directly into the ground beans.
The result was a lab geek's dream workspace. Instead of stale pizza, flatulence, and stacked energy drink cans, the space was kept tidy and smelled of coffee and lavender from a diffuser.
The team brainstormed the mesh capture system based on a graphene sheet prototype they had been working on in recent months.
In the public domain, large cross-section graphene film could only be produced in polycrystalline form. These are not the single atom thick sheets that would be required to capture the nanites, however.
But deep inside the Kephra Tech skunkworks, they had made a recent breakthrough, and that breakthrough led to the largest single continuous sheet of true one atom thick, single-crystal graphene film ever produced.
Although, given the secretive nature of the work, it was never announced to the scientific community. It wasn't published in the journals.
So, for this particular prototype, it would be given its first true test run.
The Kephra Tech engineering team put together a small device that was so simple that they almost felt foolish for designing it.
It started with a temperature resistant stainless steel canister shell with a mouth that could mechanically swing open. The inside of the canister was lined with graphene film.
The opening itself overlapped with the film so that once it "swallowed a mouthful" of the nanites, it would be able to contain them until the drone returned to base.
The canister could then be transported back to Kephra Tech and opened within a contained vessel for study without losing any of its haul.
The team spent the afternoon hours designing it, then worked late into the night with the prototype production group to use parts they had on hand to mock-up the piece.
When Damian arrived at the office at 6:00 AM, there was a note on his desk to call them.
The team had finished their work at 3:00 AM and grabbed a few hours of rest while they waited to be summoned.
After Damian rang, they entered his office carrying two identical prototypes.
"First," Damian said, "I want to thank you for staying late to work on this. I'm glad you understood the urgency."
"No problem, sir," the team lead said. "We're always glad to test our abilities under pressure."
Damian nodded, and his attention turned to the products now sitting on his desk.
"Explain how you handled the challenges."
"We started with the single atom graphene from the skunkworks…"
The team lead explained the thought process behind the simplistic design.
"In the end, we decided simple was best, and since the canister can be hermetically sealed after inhaling a nanite swarm, we feel this design will work."
Damian picked one of the pieces up and turned it in his hands.
The gray stainless steel felt cold to the touch. He pressed a button and the mouth opened.
With his enhanced Perception, he saw the graphene sheet lining the inside. He pressed the button again, and the mouth closed.
"Yes," he said, "I think this should do the trick. You've got two days to design a chamber that can house these and study the nanites once we release them inside."
The engineering team lead laughed.
"We thought you might say that. We've got most of the design done already. Just a few tweaks left before we mock one up and test the seals."
Damian smiled proudly.
"Well done," he said. "Truly. I'll get these over to Kaylon to mount on the drones."
The team left, and Damian picked up his encrypted mobile phone. He dialed Richard Levens directly, and Richard picked up on the second ring.
"Good morning, Damian."
"Morning, Richard. We've got the prototypes ready to go. Got a courier leaving as soon as we box these up. He'll be there by 11:00 AM."
"Great," Richard said. "We've got the drones ready to go. As long as the mounting mechanism meets the specs we gave you, the birds should be up in the air by noon."
"My team never misses when it comes to meeting specs. Don't worry."
The two men chatted a few more minutes, and Damian hung up. He called in his driver.
Hale McLeod had been a Formula One driver until he injured his shoulder in an epic crash that still gets played on highlight reels.
He'd been driving for Damian for years now. Damian overpaid him because he'd always been a fan. And when Vitalyx and Rejuvenex became available to Voss company employees, Hale was one of the first in line.
He was still one of the smartest drivers Damian knew. And today, when time was of the essence, he could think of nobody better to handle the special delivery.
"Drive straight through," Damian said. "Take the Audi RS6. I'll cover your overtime, as always."
Hale laughed.
"You pay me enough, you know that. Anything else I should know?"
"You put all your free points into Dexterity and Perception as I told you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good," Damian said, smiling. "Feel free to break speed limits. Just don't get caught."
"See, sir, now you've let loose the Kraken. I'll text you when it's done."
And with that, Hale was off.
Hale and Damian carefully placed the two nanite containment canisters into vibration dampening cases specially designed by the skunkworks for transporting sensitive equipment.
Hale guided the Audi RS6 out of the underground garage and onto the highway, the twin-turbo V8 humming under the hood. He slipped into traffic naturally, his hands dancing lightly on the wheel.
He tuned to a classic rock station on the satellite radio. It always got his blood pumping for a long drive.
Dexterity wasn't just a number in a stat block anymore. For a professional driver like Hale, it translated into further developed instinct.
He threaded the car through narrow gaps between tractor-trailers, never once forcing another driver to brake. To Hale, the entire interstate was a living pattern waiting to be solved.
As he drove, his eyes scanned far down the highway, his Perception heightening every detail. The telltale shift of brake lights two miles ahead caught his eye, followed by the silver flash of a patrol car tucked behind an overpass.
He adjusted before anyone else even registered the threat, sliding into a middle lane, dropping speed for a mile, then surging back up once the danger was gone.
A grin crept across his face. He hadn't felt this alive since his days on the circuit, when a tenth of a second was the difference between victory or a long stay in the hospital. The System had given him his edge back, and then enhanced it ten times over.
By the time he reached the Virginia state line, Hale checked his dash clock and chuckled. He was nearly an hour ahead of schedule, and the car felt like it had barely stretched its legs. He thumbed out a quick text to Damian at the next fuel stop:
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Far ahead of schedule.
Will text when the birds are off.
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He chugged a bottle of water and slid back behind the wheel, the road unspooling before him like a perfect racing line.