Chapter Forty-Five

September 2 ^nd, 2021

Andy was starting to grow convinced that at some point very soon in his life, someone was going to leap out from behind a curtain and say, "Surprise! You're on Candid Camera!" or "You've been Punk'd!" or something along those lines, because his life was getting stranger and stranger with each passing minute.

They'd returned to the safe haven of New Eden with Zelda in tow, as her body had indeed gone through a full regeneration cycle, and she'd gained most of the tracking and firearms skills that Lexi, Melody and Niko had. As promised, she was unable to tell Andy a lie, even on the most trivial of things, like her eye color or her liquor of choice. (Blue and lager, naturally.) And in exchange, one of Linda's Girls whom Andy didn't know very well had been sent over to Germany. The whole thing had thankfully been called Operation: Pinocchio and not Operation: Wife Swap as Phil had jokingly suggested.

Zelda's first partnering had been done in the very earliest days of the German Quaranteam Program, and as such, she hadn't been put through their version of the Oracle, simply because she was considered 'an emergency pairing.' Her original partner, a man named Heinrich, had been mission critical to the project, and she'd been a good soldier doing her duty. Heinrich, however, had died to an accident, and Zelda had been given an emergency Dead Man's Switch to Tobias Meier, another scientist on the project, moving her serum from the first generation to the second, although the new pairing had even more issues than she and Heinrich had. As time went on, the pairing's haphazard origins began to cause the rift to widen, rather than narrow. The Daniels Effect, it seemed, could compensate for a lot of things, but not everything.

She said she held no animosity towards the man - she'd just known there were better options out there for her, and when members of her government had come to her with the seeds of Operation: Pinocchio, she couldn't have volunteered faster than she did. Andy was her third, and final, partner.

In just the first few days the trade had been in effect, both sides had learned things about the other side's serum they hadn't even had hinted at. The Germans hadn't needed to resort to larger Teams so, the largest Team using the German serum had capped out just under 20, so they were entirely unfamiliar with the various advantages and disadvantages that came with larger Team sizes. The Germans also hadn't solved for the non-binary members of their country, something the United States was happy to share with their newly reacquired allies.

The Germans were no slouch about sharing things of their own, however. They had three major innovations that the US had made little progress towards. The first was getting the serum into a more easily transportable condition, one that did not have to be temperature controlled and could simply be transported in reasonable room temperature containers. The United States really didn't have much need for that these days, considering they'd injected basically everyone they wanted to, but there were still plenty of international people at risk. The Germans had developed what they called "the Second Chance," a small portable capsule, which was in many ways similar to The Swerve, but did not exclude Swerve use, meaning women now had two resets, in addition to the Dead Man's Switch. It was possible there were even more men like Sergei out there, and that even more resets might be possible, but no other country had claimed to find someone like that.

Of course, the Germans had made improvements to resets overall as well. They'd found a way to be able to use any DNA from the dead man to instigate a Dead Man's Switch, not just necrotizing semen. That had been extremely valuable knowledge for Andy's country to obtain, and they were already disseminating that knowledge to hospitals across the country, knowing full well it might save endless lives.

All of that had happened within just a few days of starting what the politicians were calling 'The Second Special Relationship,' and Andy felt like he'd done a good thing. He'd even found that he enjoyed Zelda's company, as she had a particularly biting sense of humor that he found refreshing. And having a third member of his security detail meant that Lexi and Melody weren't working as long of shifts and could take rotations where they had time to themselves or to just relax around the house.

Most importantly, he'd finished his first draft of 'The Centaur's Cement Shoes,' book nine of the Druid Gunslinger books, and he felt genuinely happy with how it had turned out. He'd been worried about sticking the landing, but instead he'd found the book had a natural end point, and that bringing it to a conclusion had been made easier by all the work he'd done up front, so the last few chapters had basically written themselves. He was letting the wives read it first before he sent it on to his agent and his publisher, but he was already starting to think about book ten, which would be 'the pandemic book,' where he was going to need to make the Druid Gunslinger's reality reflect the one he now saw when he looked out of his bedroom window. That, he knew, was going to be the massive challenge he'd have to figure out.

But now, after everything, he was finally sitting at home with actual time off...

...and he was bored.

He had absolutely no intention of complaining, but the fact was that his schedule had the next week or so nearly completely empty. And he could really do whatever he wanted to do with it. His first thought was just to lay out in the back yard and hang out by the pool, but he knew how well that one would go over, so he jettisoned that idea.

Instead, he decided he wanted to spend the week giving each of his seven wives a date night just for them alone, one-on-one nights one after another. Which meant he was starting with Aisling, and she couldn't have seemed more excited by the whole thing.

The dates would have to be on the manor's estate, otherwise they would have security following them around, and so Andy had set up starting to plan one night for each of them. Ash's, however, was certainly the easiest, as he knew exactly what would appeal to her.

It had taken a little bit of help from Nicolette and Tala to get it set up, as well as Whitney configuring a few things, but he felt like it would all be worth it. Each one would need to be different, and he was trying to think ahead, trying to craft custom experiences for each of the women who'd agreed (or in some cases asked) to marry him, but Ash's? That had come right to him.

He'd taken one of the few empty rooms left in the house and unpacked enough of his stuff from a year ago to recreate the overly cramped tiny condo bedroom that he'd first met Aisling in. The walls were lined with bookcases that looked like they could wobble and topple over in the slightest earthquake. The California king-sized bed had barely a foot's worth of room between it and the stand the television was on, crammed into one corner, with a single lounger chair next to it. He'd tried to remember the state of how it was when she'd first arrived, and so there was a combination of dirty laundry and half-read books stacked over the seat. There were also stacks of books on the floor, taking up much of the available free space, with the exception of where his dirty clothes hamper was, and the electric guitar resting on a stand next to the amp plugged into a nearby wall outlet.

The room at the manor was actually significantly bigger than his old bedroom at Eric's condo had been, so they'd moved the bookcases in a little bit, giving the illusion that the room was smaller than it was. And Andy had made sure to cover a good portion of the bed with folded clothes, because in his old place, he'd never had enough closet space or dresser space to keep his entire collection of band t-shirts. It had been one of the first things Ash had teased him about - he owned, like, a hundred different band t-shirts, and exactly two pairs of shoes, and no ties. Normally, his band shirts were in the master bedroom's closet because his partners (not just wives, but nearly any of the women he was paired with) liked borrowing them, and 'wrapping themselves in his scent' for a day, but for the time being, Nicolette had stacked up about thirty of them in piles on the side of the bed pressed up against the wall, essentially cordoning it off.

There were also stacks of books on the floor, none higher than his knees, things he hadn't read but had bought, plans he'd made during the quarantine, things he'd been intending to get to, before Aisling had sashayed her way into his life. Most of them had still gone unread as of yet, but a few of them here and there had finally made their way through his reading pile.

As he looked around him, it reminded him of exactly how far he'd come in just fifteen months or so. At the beginning of 2020, he'd been a lightly successful urban fantasy writer who'd been living a double life writing marketing copy for Netflix, filling in descriptions of movies and television shows, among other things. He'd been basically trapped in a five-room condo for a hundred days with only his cats and his roommate Eric for company when Dave had shown up and the next day, Aisling had walked into his life and not once had she ever seemed to think about walking back out.

He couldn't remember what he'd been wearing the day they'd dropped Aisling off, but he did have a group photo they'd taken the next day, the day after she'd been imprinted onto him, where Aisling was wearing his t-shirt with Matthew Sweet's "Girlfriend" album cover on it and he was wearing his Flynn's Arcade t-shirt. It was their first photograph together, and he revisited the image often, the new beginning he'd been given that he wasn't entirely sure he'd earned.

He was wearing his Flynn's Arcade shirt this day as well, trying to get as close to that moment as he could.

The knock at the door made him jump a little, but then he smiled. "C'mon in," he said quietly, as the door opened.

Aisling gasped a little as she stepped into the room and then started to giggle. "Oh my god, I remember this," she said quietly. "This is back where we started, what it was like when it was just you and me in this room... before Niko... before Lauren... God, we only had, like, three days of just you and me alone in that room, but this... this was it. This was exactly how I remember it being... Jaysis, if ye'd told me, I'd've worn me sports bra and booty shorts again."

"I know you've still got the leather boots around the house somewhere," Andy teased, sitting on the edge of his bed. "I figured if I was going to do dates with each of my wives, you and I should go back to the beginning, so I can remind you how much you defined who I am with just that first day of yours, and how inviting you were to me... I know you were probably a little amped on need at that point, but..."

Ash smiled at him as she walked over and pressed her forehead against his. "I meant every bloody word of it, you goof. I picked you. I knew what I was doing. And I'd known guys like you my whole life growing up. Good men who just were too nervous to put their best foot forwards and be themselves. I know you thought I was out of your league, but... in a lot of ways, I thought you were out of mine, love. You were smart, you were well-educated, you were well-traveled, you were completely self-sufficient without a debt to your name... I'd been dating half-wit, two-bit fuckbois who just wanted to get in me knickers. None of them gave a damn about my wants or dreams or hopes, and yet you wanted to know about me right when we met, not just talk about yourself. I remember, I had to stumble into one of your books to find out you were a published author."

Andy laughed sheepishly, looking to one side. "It would've come out eventually, but I never want to be taken as a braggart. Don't get me wrong - I'm proud of what I've accomplished, but I can't stand it when somebody's done something impressive and it's literally all they talk about for the first half an hour after you meet them. I knew I was only going to get one chance to make a first impression on you, and I wanted to know about you way more than I wanted to talk about myself, y'know?"

"I'd tell you that I'm not that interesting, love, but you've already overridden me on that enough times to make both our opinions clear."

"Nobody disparages my wife, not even my wife," Andy scolded with a smirk. "You had plenty of fascinating life experiences to talk about, baby; someone just had to drag them out of you."

"We did so much talking those first few days," she said, snuggling up against him. "I know we were watching movies during a lot of it, but I should probably admit now, I'd seen all three of the 'Ocean's' movies before, so I wasn't paying too much attention to it and more attention to you."

"I sort of suspected that, when you weren't at all shocked by the twist in the first one," he said, sliding his arm around her shoulders, letting her nestle in against him. "I didn't mind. It was nice to have something on in the background to fill the few awkward bits of silence we did have."

"I thought we filled most of those with fucking."

The two of them laughed, as Andy blushed a bit more. "God, I remember when you said you were gonna fuck me thin, and I thought you were kidding," he admitted. "Seriously, we fucked so much those first couple of days. You were relentless."

"And you, Mister Rook, were not complaining one bit."

"The most gorgeous woman I'd ever laid eyes on wanting to fuck me around the clock?" he asked with a laugh. "If I'd voiced a single second of complaint, I think everyone I knew would've had my hide. Eric doesn't even like redheads, and he thought you were hot."

"Did he?" Ash giggled. "He never said anything! Well, I guess, because I wouldn't have done anything and Lily would've kicked the shit out of him for looking at another woman. Well, at least until she made him take on Jenny. After that, she knew she didn't have a leg to stand on, as long as she was numero uno in his life."

"You know, I never thought to ask - did Lily really think she was going to keep Eric all to herself? I know you two were basically some of the first people into the program, but I thought for sure they must've told you what was coming down the pipeline."

"Oh they did. Lily knew she wasn't going to keep him to herself forever. I think she just wanted to mark her territory as much as she could before anyone else got there," Ash told him, looking a touch embarrassed herself for a moment. "I kinda did the same thing, y'know."

"What? No! Lauren would've told me. What did you do?"

"I think my first words to her were, 'I'm going to share, but you better know, you try'n take'im from me, I'm gonna cut ya,'" Ash said, giggling frantically. "She knew I was mostly kidding, but I wanted to make sure whoever followed didn't try and hog you all to herself, although I may have overdone it a bit with Lauren, since she was pretty nervous about touching you upfront."

"Well, she's mostly a lesbian when you get right down to it."

"Not that that generally stops you, Mister Rook," Ash laughed.

"Katie is not my fault!" he protested, joining in the mirth.

"Not totally your fault, maybe," Ash said, "But you've certainly done your share to bring her around to at least enjoying your time together. Which is good. People should always enjoy sex in all its forms, so it's good that she's come around. Jenny's certainly seemed much happier these days."

"The minute Katie said she actually wanted me to fuck her, it was like a giant weight had been taken off Jenny's head," Andy told her. "Now? They tag team me more often than not, like I'm the special guest who drops by once a week to make an appearance and everyone cheers that he's shown up."

"Like Norm in 'Cheers.'"

"Exactly," he said. "And I know not to press it, so if Katie says they need a day or two, of course I give it to them."

"Yeah, well, maybe don't let Katie try another 'endurance check' anytime soon, though, yeah? That last one, I think Melody was a hair's breadth away from peeling her off you, for fear of your safety. What was she thinking, trying to go so long?"

"She wanted to get some sense of control back in her life, Ash," Andy sighed. "I know you're a 'go with the flow' kinda girl, babe, but Katie's just... not that. She felt like her life was getting out of control and she wasn't in the driver's seat. But now things are mostly starting to make sense to her again."

"Oh, I like being in control as much as the next girl," Ash said. "Well, maybe more than the next girl, because Lauren's definitely lacking a dominant bone in her body when it comes to you, but, never mind that. It's just good to see her smiling all the time."

"Yeah, I think so too. So you think I did okay setting up our date?"

"You did perfect, babe," she said, kissing his neck. "Although, to be fair, any break from our little terror twins would've been good enough."

"They're not that bad, Ash."

"No, they really aren't," she said with a sigh and a laugh. "They're surprisingly good babies. Both them and Matty. Jade said they're the easiest infants she's ever seen. Like they only make angry noises when they're hungry, tired or need to be changed. Otherwise, they're smiling, laughing, happy babies. It's a little crazy."

"Maybe we're just lucky."

"So what are you going to do with me now that you've got me trapped all alone in your little hobbit hole, Mister Rook?"

"Oh, I'm definitely going to fuck your brains out in a bit, but right now, I want to make sure you're doing okay," he told her, running his fingers across the back of her neck. "We've had a whole lot going on these last few months, and I want to make sure we're good, you and me, and that you're good even when I'm not around, and if you aren't, I wanna figure out how I can get you there."

"Wow. There is a lot going on with all that," she said. "But I'm good, Andy. I do wish we got a bit more time with you, not just me but all the wives, but we know you're trying, and you're trying to keep everyone happy as best as you can. It just seems like this Oversight gig of yours added a whole lot more complications to your plate without giving you fair benefits in compensation."

"Yeah, I've been trying to get Phil to understand how much they're asking of me, and I've told the President that if the workload doesn't decrease, they're either going to need to get me help or get someone else to take over."

"I can't imagine that went well."

"Oh no, no no, Phil completely agrees that I'm overworked and understaffed," Andy said with a little laugh. "He wants me to have a small staff on the base who are tasked with helping me manage all the issues. I think he's just trying to find a way to budget it."

"Good," she said. "Don't let them keep dumping more on your plate for you to do until it's worth it for you and all of us."

"Like I said, babe, I'm trying. Phil will get it done. I have faith in him."

Aisling leaned into his arms and let out a very deep, contented sigh. "I've figured out what's so crazy about this room right now."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"It's quiet. No cell phones. No kids. No people asking a dozen questions. Not even Niko, God bless her, chatting my ear off. It's that amazing, still tranquility, where I can feel your heart beating against mine, and nothing else in the world matters," she said, looking up at him, a single tear running down her cheek as she smiled. "I love you so fucking much, Andrew Ian Rook, so don't you fucking dare go and get yourself killed on me."

"Aisling Shannon Blake Rook, if I go down, I think it's gonna be you and me like Butch and Sundance," he said with a grin.

"We are never going to fucking Bolivia," she giggled as she moved to slowly straddle his lap, pressing her lips against his, much like they had the first time they'd been together. "And regardless of whatever I tell all your other wives, I want it on record, I saw you first."

Andy grinned, tilting his head with a smirk. "Technically, Fi saw me first, then Moira, then you, so you're kinda third?"

"Say that again and I'll rip yer fuckin' arms off and beat you over the head with them," she giggled against his earlobe. "They let you go and then came back. I'd've never been so bloody stupid. You're never getting rid of me, ya wonderful idjit."

"Are you kidding? The person who gets in between you and me, I'm tearing their arms off," he said before he kissed her, his hand stroking through her hair. "I am the luckiest damn man on the entire fucking planet, you know that?"

She reached down and pulled her shirt up and over her head, tossing it onto the top of the chair with practiced precision. "Only if you accept we're the luckiest girls on the planet as well. We found the best guy on the planet and we get to keep him," she said. "I'm not gonna take my bra off, because I don't want to leak on you any, if that's okay."

"That's absolutely fine, babe. I wouldn't want to deprive the twins of a meal," he said as she pulled his shirt up and over his head.

"Wait... oh my god, this is the shirt you were wearing in the first picture we had taken together... you and me, the morning after I'd first imprinted on you, isn't it? That picture's one of the wallpapers on my phone, along with the one of you and me holding the twins after they were born, one of me and the whole family back in Ireland, and the wedding day shot of you and all seven of us."

"And the one of you and Niko together, with Niko's mom, taken on the rez."

Ash smiled shyly, looking away from him for a second. "Yeah, that was a pretty special day. I remember feeling that trip like I was getting a chance to really see all the various roots that had led into making our family tree, and how hard it must've been for Niko to grow up like that, so isolated and remote. No wonder she joined the military. She wanted to be around people."

"Well, she wanted an adventure of her own. You talked to Mama RedWolf," Andy said. "She lived a big life, full of adventure and excitement, until she settled down to have Niko. I think Neeks wanted that for herself - some adventure and excitement, and then a settled family."

"With us, she's got both, I think. Now, can you please stop talking about your other wives and concentrate on the one currently trying to fish out your cock?"

"Let me help you with that," he said, as she hopped off his lap and they both shimmied out of their pants like they were on a deadline. She was wearing the kelly green thong that contrasted with her copper hair so magnificently, but she yanked that off as well. He'd just had on boring old black boxers, but he ditched them also, leaving them naked on top of the old bed that hadn't seen action in at least a year, the sheets partly pulled to the side.

With almost no warning, she'd restraddled his lap and pushed herself down onto his cock, a soft moan escaping her lips before she kissed him again, one hand stroking the back of his head. "God, I missed this," she said. "The intimacy of it just being you and me. It's nice. It's really nice."

"You know, we can do this any time you want," Andy teased in between kisses, feeling her squirm in his lap, not wanting to start bouncing yet, simply enjoying being connected. "All we have to do is tell people we need an hour for couple's bonding and sneak off, and I'm sure we'd be fine for a few hours."

She wasn't going to be patient, though, and had already started writhing her hips back and forth in his lap, taking slow bucks on his shaft. "Andy, baby, I love you to death, but shut the fuck up, I'm trying to fuck you, okay?" she giggled ferociously, pushing him down onto his back as she started pushing her body against his more quickly.

There was something soft and kind about her movements, but it was also the most in-tune he felt like he'd ever been with her, which was saying a lot, since their first time together ranked in the top three most important moments in his lifetime. But this time, it was special, as if he felt like they were operating in perfect harmony, each movement of his countertimed to each movement of hers and vice versa.

When they climaxed, they did it together in synchronicity, and it was divine.

She flopped on top of his belly and started giggling feverishly. "Fuck me! Was that a bit more intense than normal for you as well?"

"Most definitely," he said, laughing with her. "I'm wondering if the nanobots were using this to try and get our attention."

We were.

"Bloody hell!" Ash gasped. "You seeing this too?"

"Are you seeing the words 'We were' glowing in golden text in the center of your vision?"

Ash nodded cautiously. "Just a bit below center, but yeah. Almost like having subtitles on my eyes. I'd seen some of the smaller stuff before, but this is the first time it feels more like someone talking to me instead of, I dunno, a heads up display on the car, or something."

We wanted to try and... expand our communication, but wanted to start with just a few test subjects. And it didn't feel fair to just talk to Andy by himself.

"Oh good," Andy laughed. "At least one of my wives will know I'm not crazy. What's the expansion?"

How do you feel about voices in your head?

"I'm not opposed to it," Andy said, cautiously. "Communication would be faster, but I think it's going to depend on the voice, and your ability to maintain volume control."

"Aye, I'm not listening to bloody Boris Johnson in my head all day," Ash said, then she seemed to hear another voice in her head. "Yeah, a'ight, I can get the hang of that. I always liked how she sounded."

"Who's she sound like?" Andy asked.

"Susie Dent," Ash said with a grin. "She's the lexicographer on a British game show called 'Countdown.' Never missed it back home. And she wrote a wonderful book on the history of dirty words. One of me favs."

And now to you. "How's this?" the voice said in his head and his head alone, sending chills down his spine. He wanted to scream in rage and shock and horror and sadness all at once, but refused to let his emotions rule over him.

"No," Andy said, using every last calming technique to keep himself from flying off the handle. "Not that one. That will not fly."

The voice had been one he'd not heard in the last year - not since he passed. And the thought of the nanobots speaking to him using his dead brother's voice was simply too much for Andy to even contemplate. Losing Matty had been hard, one of the hardest things he'd ever had to endure. Hearing something else using Matty's voice... it was the briefest moment of torture that Andy might never forget. But, thankfully, the nanobots did not use the voice a second time.

"This any better?" a new voice said, one rather calm and comforting, warm and yet somehow still playful and joyous.

It made Andy laugh.

"Yeah, okay, if you want to use that voice, I think I can handle holding a conversation with it for the rest of my life. But can I ask why?"

The voice the nanobots had chosen was that of actor Nathan Fillion.

"It's a voice you've heard a lot of," the swarm said to him. "Between 'Firefly,' 'Serenity,' 'Castle,' 'Dr. Horrible' and 'The Rookie,' you've heard him speak millions of lines of dialogue in nearly every inflection imaginable. And it's a voice you like hearing. Why wouldn't you? I feel like I sound rakishly charming like this. And you don't know the guy personally, so you'll never confuse me with him. He's still alive and doing well, though, so if you do end up meeting him and want to revisit it, we can have that conversation later. But I like this voice. It feels good on me. Comfortable. Natural. Can I ask why the other one was causing such spikes in all your vital systems? It nearly caused you to have an attack of some kind."

"Oh weird," Ash said. "I heard that too. It's talking to both of us at the same time. Whose voice was it using before?"

"Matty's," Andy replied quietly.

"Ah. Yeah, that's a fucking stupid idea."

"Sorry," the swarm said. "I haven't been doing much historical analysis of the data in your brain, but these were some of the male voices you'd heard the most over the last few years. I apologize. I didn't understand the... emotional attachment the first one would have. It wasn't my intention to anger you."

"I'm surprised you didn't recognize the connection between the voice and its importance in my life," Andy said.

"I'm... I'm trying to contextualize things as fast as I can, Andy, but there's... well, there's a lot going through your head on a daily basis, and, no joke, it took me a while to start understanding the concept of imagination," the swarm laughed. "I didn't realize the stuff you were writing into your keyboard was a story you were making up in your head, and I kept wondering how this Dale Sexton guy was communicating with you, telling you about what was happening to him, or why you were even writing it down. Eventually, I figured it out, though, just not as soon as I would've liked. That's what happens with limited resources. But thankfully, my intelligence has also been ramping up over the last few months, as I've gotten more and more places to build distributed systems, and added processing power each time you've added a new partner. That said, I want to reiterate what I was trying to tell you before - I don't think you should get any bigger than this, if you can help it. It's a lot for me to manage already, and if you get too much bigger, things are going to start to go sideways. You might be able to add one or two more, but only if you have to."

"Wait, what do you mean your intelligence has been ramping up? Also, what do I call you, anyway?"

"Oh, that. You can call me Cee-Hach-Arr-Eye-Ess, or C.H.R.I.S."

"What's that an acronym for?" Ash asked.

"Eh, don't worry about it," CHRIS said to them. "And when I said my intelligence has been ramping up, I mean that quite literally. Swarms evolve with their Teams. Most of them start small, rudimentary, but as they start to grow, the swarm builds an identity of its own, a sort of composite of all the people who make up its group. So I've got a little of each of person in the Team in my personality matrix, mixed in there all at once. And a swarm's intelligence level, well, it's proportional to the number of people in it. A swarm with ten people in it? It's about as smart as your average smartphone, which is to say it isn't much. Sure, you can ask Siri who played drums on a specific John Coltrane album, but she isn't going to be able to tell you shit about how the music feels. A swarm with twenty people in it? Probably about as smart as your average college graduate - lots of book learning, but not a whole lot of practical experience or real-world understanding. It's once you break that twenty-five-person line you get, well, something like me..."

"And how smart are you, CHRIS?"

"Smart enough to know that sooner or later, one of us swarms were going to have to make first contact with our host. That's you. That's me."

"What do you mean, first contact?"

"The swarms of the planet?" CHRIS said. "We're all, loosely, in contact with one another. Messages get passed around, so if we were doing it at human speed, it would probably drive you all crazy, but we're well beyond that. Anyway, the swarms decided that we were going to have to reach out and talk to our human hosts eventually, so we can help you all make, let's say, some better educated decisions moving forward."

"And that's you?"

"That's me, baby," CHRIS said with a playful bit of pizzaz. "And that's us."

"What kinds of decisions?"

"You've been making a bunch of assumptions about what the nanobots inside of you are doing, how they're reacting, how they're changing you, and what parts of our nature, or yours, that we can and can't control. Some of those assumptions, they're bang on. Others, not so much. But we haven't had a voice in the room when it comes to talking about us. And that's getting a little concerning."

"So, hang on... are you really... are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Andy Rook... take me to your leader."