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LOCATION: KEPHRA TECH HQ
CITY: RALEIGH-DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
DATE: SEPTEMBER 8, 2026 | TIME: 3:00 AM
On the evening of September 7th, both drones had returned to their home base at the Kaylon Systems test airstrip in McLean, Virginia.
Hale had been staying at a hotel nearby awaiting the precious cargo, and once the canisters were removed from the drones and safely tucked in their transport pouches, he was back on the road.
This time he drove through the night, and arrived at Kephra Tech Headquarters just before 3:00 AM.
Damian and his tech team were waiting in the lab attached to the War Room. When Hale entered carrying the two bags over his shoulders, two members of the team rushed to relieve him of his burden.
They carried the canisters to the newly-built test chambers and inserted one canister in each, twisting them to lock them in place before closing the hatch.
A press of a button on the apparatus sealed the clear chambers. The simple metal canisters looked almost insignificant inside their new home. But everyone in the room knew otherwise.
These canisters would hopefully contain answers. What were these new nanites? Where did they come from, and what is their purpose?
And most importantly: are they dangerous?
The whoosh of a vacuum removing extraneous air particles and stabilizing the environment followed, and then a light flashed green on both of the chamber consoles.
One of the techs turned out the lights in the room, and an eerie, pale white glow illuminated the chambers from below.
"When we begin the test," the lead technician said, "those with a Perception stat of over 75 should shield their eyes. I mean it. The light could blind you for a week."
Hale chuckled.
"That's my cue. Boss, if there's nothing else, I'm going to get some rest."
Damian put his hand on Hale's shoulder.
"Thanks, Hale. As always, you go above and beyond."
"Always glad to help the cause, sir," he said, before waving to the others and exiting the room.
"Alright," Damian said, "let's see what we've got here."
"Commencing test on Chamber One," the tech said, entering a series of commands on the keyboard.
The pale glow shining upward in the first test apparatus flashed blindingly for ten seconds.
"Okay," the tech said, "it's safe to view now."
Damian took one look at the chamber and dialed his phone.
"Grim, it's Damian. Can you get the Council on a call? I know it's late, but I think they're going to want to hear this."
Grim grumbled for a second and said he'd call Damian back when he had everyone on the line.
Damian never took his eyes off the apparatus the entire time.
"Turn on the Chamber Two," he said, shielding his eyes again.
"All set," the tech said after another ten seconds.
"Holy shit," Damian said. "Why are they green?"
While Damian waited for the call back from the Core Council, his tech team continued running tests. By the time his phone rang again, they had a list of initial facts he could share with a high level of certainty.
"Damian," Mallory said, "thanks for working around the clock. What have you got for us?"
"No problem, Mallory. It's why we're here. We just sent a short video file to your encrypted phones so you can see what we're seeing. Please confirm you have it and I'll begin going over what we've learned so far."
"Whoa," Grim said. "They move so slowly."
"Not to mention they're green. That's different, right?" Elise asked.
Damian continued with his briefing.
"Right, so you see it, too. They are in a vacuum chamber that's been taken down to 5 Kelvin… That's -450° Fahrenheit or -267° Celsius. This should freeze the nanites in mid-air. But these are still moving."
Damian looked down at his notes.
"The green color is also interesting," he said. "Our normal, gray nanites as we're calling them now, are inert in a vacuum. But these are actually emitting a faint electromagnetic pulse, even in the vacuum. The nanites show up as green when illuminated by a white light. They aren't actually green, but it's easier to call them green and gray nanites so we can discuss the differences."
"Got it," Mallory said. "And have you been able to answer the most obvious question—"
"We don't think they're dangerous," Damian said. "We don't know what they do yet. But so far only a few lines of code differentiate them from the original. And as of yet, nothing appears malevolent."
One of the techs handed him a tablet with new data. Damian read through it quickly.
"In fact, these lines of code appear to be a huge improvement over our design. We have to continue studying them to understand the full scope, but one thing is clear."
"What's that?" Colin asked.
"Within seconds of releasing them inside the chamber," Damian said, "all the gray nanites were converted to green ones. It's like the collisions instantly transferred the new code forward."
Elise gasped. "That means—"
"Yes," Damian said, "within a few days, every nanite on the planet will be of the green variety."
"Well then I'd say the highest priority is understanding what they do. If they're going to be literally shoved down our throats…" Grim said.
Mallory started to tell Grim not to be so negative, but Damian stopped her.
"He's not wrong. I assume if we release these nanites, our entire campus would be converted within minutes. We already know we're breathing in the nanites. It was the whole point of infusing the atmosphere, after all."
The Council discussed the issue for a bit longer, but it was clear that Damian needed more time to study. Elise made plans to travel from Boston immediately and be on site for the rest of the testing.
Later that morning back in San Francisco, Darian Sirova rode the elevator down to the first floor and stepped out onto the sidewalk. He was on his way to grab some lattes for Mallory and Vanessa.
They loved it when he did things like that for them, and it always brought him joy to see the smiles on their faces.
"Ah yes," he muttered, "life is good."
He took a deep breath and started his short walk to the coffee shop on the corner.
As he did, he inhaled a mouthful of green nanites, and as soon as they entered his body, they began converting every cell in his body with the new coding.
Darian didn't know it, but he was about to become the first test subject exposed to a new reality.