SoulStone
#69: Structural Smoke
One day shortly after the visit from the dragon lady Elvira said “You’ve just got to see this. This might change everything.”
“What’s up?” he replied
“ I’ve been surfing that internet thing. Your smartphone is really handy. Look what I found. It’s called a Utility Fog-let.” She replied. “Some guy was talking about it in one of the Forum’s on USENET a while back. I accessed the archives. He said he might write a paper about it one day.”
A picture appeared before his eyes.
“It’s dead simple in concept. Technically, not so much. Each fog-let or mote requires a good bit of computer power, about the same brain power as ant or a bee. Not to mention the QE Tech or the swarm programing that would be required to make it work. But the fundamental concept is simple.” she said
“Those arms extend, retract and wave about. The grippers on the end of the arms are designed to grip OTHER grippers. That’s it.” she explained.
“It’s scaleable. It works at any size from huge to infinitesimal. The smaller the individual mote the better. It works best when they are microscopically small. The size of a human cell would be good. UFog is what it’s called in quantity. By quantity I mean zillions... untold trillions of these little tiny things. I found it on the internet so it must be true.” Elvira spoke sarcastically.
“Actually it’s not true. It’s theoretical. Someday humans MIGHT be able to make it but…not now. I take that back. Today’s tech MIGHT be able to build one the size of a beach ball. But it could probably be built. It’d be damn expensive though. Hmmm….I wonder if there’s any data in the SoulStone about this kind of thing?” She concluded.
Elvira went silent then. Shelby had become used to Elvira responding almost instantly to any question while continuing to chat. She was blazing fast when searching. Time passed. She must have gone thru gigagoogles of data. He began to feel uneasy.
He was oddly relived when she exclaimed. “AH HA! Found it. The SoulStone does have information about that technology. I even found templates for making them. Is that cool or what? You wouldn’t believe how far back I had to dig. Millions of years. That’s really OLD tech.”
“Talk about serendipity” Elvira said. “those neuro-links that we’ve been making are directly compatible with U-Fog. In fact it’s the same tech!”
“That’s wonderful....I think.” Shelby said . “What good are they again?
Elvira was excited. “Think of it as structural smoke. A whole room full of it would weigh almost nothing yet it could make anything! For example, chairs, tables, beds that materialize out of thin air when you need them. When you no longer need them, they go away. Imagine those wheelchairs that you are making. Enough UFog to make a functional equivalent could be stored in a small container in the setting of a small ring that you wear on your finger. A very small ring. When you need it there it is, when you no longer need it...it’s gone, back in the ring. Same concept for anything.”
Shelby began to see the possibilities. A genie in the bottle as it were.
“Drooooonez “ she said “Using Structural Smoke it’d be a LOT easier and faster to build drones than you do now using blood nanites. Nanites take hours if not days to complete a build. Using SSmoke all the Nanites need to build would be the cybernetic core, then fill in the easy parts with motes. As a bonus the Drone would be able to change shapes at will.”
“In fact. I want some. I already have a preliminary designs in mind.” she said decisively.
“How can we make them?” He asked
Elvira replied “We’ll that’s the problem. It’ll take a while to tool up to make the motes. We have to make the tool to make the tool to make em. There’s power in the blood.
Didn’t you ever go to Church?”
Shelby didn’t like the sound of her voice. “I went to Church once. It scarred me for life, and I didn’t even get a t-shirt. What do you mean by that ‘power in the blood ‘ remark. They said that in Church too. I think they meant something entirely different. ”
“You know what I mean.” Elvira said “You use it every day. When you want the blood-nanites to do their magic you prick your finger and smear a little blood on the spot. You know quite well that I use the nanites to rearrange the atoms to suite you.”
“Well yeah” he replied. “ I know that.”
“This is the same thing” she said “only different. I’ll need some blood and some feed stock to make a nano-foglet forge. The forge will crank out the motes. It won’t take too long before there are enough motes to be useable, a MUCH faster process than your blood-nanites.”
“Seems reasonable” he concluded “ let’s do it. What do we need first?”
“First we gather up as much plastic trash as you can find” she said. “Or grease, or oil. Oil would be best.”
“Why plastic?” he asked innocently.
Elvira almost sighed “Work with me here Shelby. The Plastic used to make those things comes from natural gas...right?”
Shelby grinned evilly. He couldn’t resist yanking her chain. He played dumb.“Uh...I dunno. I thought it came from oil. Evil Oil Companies and… and… dinosaur farts and stuff?”
Elvira yanked back. It was a game they played. “face palm Do you people REALLY believe that? I’ve only been able to access the internet independently since I hijacked your SmartPhone. Before that I had to look over your shoulder while you read. Even so...even I know better. Are people really that stupid?”
Shelby said “Uh...well yeah. Some of em are really that stupid. They really believe that…and worse! It’s amazing what they say on FunnyBook late at night. Why I remember one time I was reading….”
Elvira said “ NO...don’t EVEN go there. I don’t want to know! FOCUS! Like I was saying about plastic bags and other plastic trash. It’s plastic, that’s the whole point. Plastic is made of hydrocarbons. Hydrogen is a good fuel. Carbon is marvelous stuff in it’s own right. Carbon can be used to make all kinds of really interesting and useful things. The odd chlorine, fluorine and other atoms are handy too ,...sometimes.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard.” he replied “we have whole dumpster’s of the stuff out back. If that’s not enough...well....pollution?”
“Ok...I’ll send some pill-bugs to carry it and some dragon drones to load it. They’ll get us some. We need a metal bucket or a pot that we can heat to cook it in.” she said.
That was easily accomplished. The old building was an abandoned Steel Mill. That kind of stuff practically littered the place. Soon he had five gallons of melted plastic bubbling over a flame. A little dragon was wearing a chef’s hat and an apron while standing beside the pot....stirring it with a big wooden spoon so that it wouldn’t burn.
.
Elvira said “Now hold your wrist so I can slice it.”
Shelby said “DO WHAT?”
Elvira replied. “Don’t be such a sissy. I’ve deadened the arm where I want to cut. I’ve even marked it.”
Shelby said “YOU WHAT?”
Shelby looked at his left arm. Just inside the wrist was a little dotted line.”............cut here..........” it was labeled.
Cut his wrist? But...But...but...
Elvira said “Don’t be silly. Have a drink first.”
Another dragon drone brought him a bottle. Shelby took a sip. It was good booze. He drank some more …a big drink. Then on second thought he took another, another’..and another. In no time he’d consumed half the bottle. What the hell. He drank it all.
Elvira said “Good Boy. The energy from that alcohol will be useful. The alcohol never even gets to your liver. The nanites suck it right up. Feel better now? Ok? Sit down. Hold your arm over the rim...wrist over the pot.. brace it on your knee.. don’t touch the pot. It’s hot. That’s it. Now ...don’t be alarmed.”
Shelby watched in horrified fascination. Yet another dragon drone appeared. It held his left hand, carefully positioned it over the boiling froth, then sliced his wrist with a claw tip. He felt no pain. The blood spurted into the pot. It seemed like a LOT of blood.
After what seemed to be much TOO long Elvira said “There...that ought to be enough.”
The blood flow diminished as if a valve had been closed...then it stopped. Completely. ALL of the blood that he’d bled had gone into the pot. There were no splatters, no drips, no smears. There were no splashes on his wrist. The blood had been creepy. It hadn’t acted like a liquid. It had acted like it was alive and had a sense of humor. It had moved. It had formed into little stick people. They had dove into the bucket. They had done flips, spins, twists and swan dives on the way down. Shelby had stared in wonder as the wound had closed of it’s own accord. It had healed as he had watched. In seconds there was no sign that he had been cut. Even the dotted line were gone.
Elvira said “ It needs some time to cook. There’s time for supper. I’ll fix it. You just sit back and relax.”
Shelby was a little giddy. He said “Roger that! Don’t that beat all?”
“Cute aprons.” he said referring to the three dragons who were all stirring the cauldron carefully. Cauldron? Hm. He’d sworn it was just a pot.
He felt oddly detached. Perhaps it was blood loss…or that massive jolt of Booze? Perhaps it was both? He felt as if he was a passenger in his own body. He leaned back….and relaxed.
Reality transformed before his eyes. He wasn’t alarmed so much as fascinated.
Shelby noticed that he was seated at a magnificent table. A sumptuous meal was set before him complete with fine china, silverware and crystal. There were also candles.
Scantily clad, not entirely human, waitresses came and went, serving each course and removing the empty dishes as need be. A live band played relaxing music in the background. Someone was seated across the table from him. He couldn’t see exactly who or what it was.
Elvira said “Eat up”
Shelby said “What happened? Did I bleed out? Did I die and go to heaven?”
Elvira told him. “Not to worry. You did loose some blood. Nothing to worry about. That was the plan. I needed the blood for my project. You would have felt a little dizzy and lightheaded anyway so why not have a good meal and relax?”
Shelby said “Where am I?”
Elvira said “YOU are in your head, just as you always have been. We all live inside our heads. Everyone does. You’re just more fortunate that most. You have me. I can make your inner world whatever you want it to be. Notice the waitresses?”
Shelby did notice the waitresses. They were something he’d expect to see in a PlayBoy magazine. If they had been human.“Oh. OH YEAH!! Nice wings! and...and...other parts....I mean NICE!”
Yup...he was more than a bit drunk. Shelby ate a piece of smoked salmon. Then he took a sip of fine wine. “Not bad...not bad. I could get used to this.”
Elvira replied “And you will ..and you will.”
Shelby marveled. “Oh...I love what you’ve done with the place. I like it a lot. I really do. What’s this all about?”
“I believe we have reached a cusp. We’re at the transition point. We can make ‘smart matter.’ This is a celebration...of sorts.” she said
“To make the first batch of smart matter we needed a fair number of your blood-nanites to make a high definition molecular manufacturing factory. We needed the plastic as a source of carbon mostly.” she said.
“The hydrogen and the other elements are nice but mostly we need the carbon. Once the extremely high density, highly precise factory core is completed we’ll have U-Fog-Lets in greater quantity.” She said.”Using your blood-nanites to generate them is too time consuming, over-kill and you’re likely to get tired of being cut.“
“You might say we’re tooling up. Making tools to make tools etc.” she finished.
“Oh Noes...the horror” Shelby gasped in mock fear “….runaway nano thingies in the environment...grey goo….I must panic...I must run in circles and scream and shout.”
“Do I have a cigar left?” he asked.
“Certainly” She replied
Cigars appeared magically before him...on the table.He picked one up and smelled it. It was a fine, fine Havana.
“You are exactly right.” Elvira said “There is absolutely nothing to worry about. The technology for dealing with U-Fog is millions of years old. I got that information from the SoulStone.”
The barely seen figure lit his cigar.
The cigar floated across the table to his waiting hand.
They conversed long into the night...over candlelight. They sipped fine wine. Pleasant music played unobtrusively in the background.
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings.
“Ok…times up.” Elvira eventually told him “The Forges should be done by now.”
Reality shifted. He was once more sitting by the, now cold, pot. It was no longer full bubbling molten plastic.
The Next Episode will be
#70: It's full of stars!
The Previous Episode was
#68: The Dragon Lady Returns
the First episode was
#1 : Prologue
I'm
@everittdmickey
.
I write
SPECULATIVE FICTION
I have books on Amazon too.
Sometimes I also comment on the news
Sometimes it's hard to tell fiction from the news.
hey everittdmickey ,
it's a great deep thinking
Wow, a lot got put in that one. I want to live in his head, it seemed like such a nice place to dwell.
dunno about 'nice'.
certainly interesting.
he lives in interesting times.