The Optimum Project

Chapter 34

A form of bio-manipulation

I sat down in a chair down in the engineering lab, it's only been a few days since I last saw my father, and already I've accepted the fact that I probably won't see him again. I leaned back and looked around the room, not much had changed since the last time I was here, the computer and programming tube were still there, though now pushed into a corner; and a small vial of grey liquid sat on the central table. I looked at it, calling up an analysis HUD, a trick I learned while spending time with Tom. It took a moment, but Tom eventually identified the vial as a sample of nanites, though their exact use was unknown. I sighed and waited for pix to show up, he was late, which was actually quite new for him.

It was at that point that Pix walked in, pushing a hover cart full of the same grey, nanite filled vials.
"Sorry I'm late," he sighed "I had to go pick this thing up myself!" He slapped a hand on the handle of the cart, turning it parallel to the table and grabbing a vial.
"Now," he showed me the vial, "do you know what this is?"

I nodded, "it's nanites." He seemed surprised, then realized I wasn't exactly normal anymore.

"Alright smartypants, you know what they're for?" I conceded and shook my head, preparing for one of his speeches.

"We're going to give centralized shots in all your muscle groups, then these nanites will begin taking your muscle strands and bunching them together, making them more dense." I nodded.

"Why?" I asked, he seemed to stop at that, "what do you mean? I just explained it to you."

I shook my head, "you explained what it does, not why we have to do it."

He sighed, "apparently because the alliance said so."

"But," I said before he could continue "won't I need to produce more muscle? Because even if they are condensing the strands, that's only using the muscle cells I've currently got, those won't increase my strength."

Pix nodded, "you've got a point, the condensing just allows for more muscle to develop, so you're max strength will increase drastically, but your current strength will still be the same, so at the end of the day, after lots of exercise you will be much, much, stronger than a normal human." I nodded and Pix grabbed an auto injector, "now, this is going to burn."

And with that he jabbed me in the neck.

"Owww! Man that hurts!" I couldn't help but whine slightly.

Pix snorted, "well, you've got a lot more to come." He patted the cart and I groaned.