Biomech

Chapter One

Lana Highvale's brand-new lab-issue rubber-soled boots squeaked on the pristine floors of the DynaCorp Institute. She was being escorted on a tour of the building by the lab's director, Dr. Dylan Steele. She was a fair skinned, dark haired graduate student interning with the leading energy company as a biochemist, eager to be on the cutting edge of 22nd-century innovation.

Steele led her around a corner, swiped a lab card, presented his iris for scanning, and said, "This is what you're waiting for. This is where the magic happens." This statement doubled as the voice print that was the final key to opening the obviously blast shielded door.

The room that was revealed by the opened door had a stark white ceiling but was otherwise completely coated in stainless steel and glass panels. Actually... it looked a bit like... a laundry?

"Oh, hmm. Must be the other door." Steele repeated the process on a door on the other side of the hall. Odd building plan they have here... Lana thought.

This room looked a lot like the other, white and silver, but with bunsen burners atop steel tables and rubber grounding everywhere. Much more like a laboratory. A spot of blue and white caught her eye in her peripheral vision.

"Neandra Amari! You're early," Steele addressed the blonde girl lounging in a chair in the corner of the room. "We weren't expecting you for another few days."

The girl pulled herself up out of the chair in a way that didn't seem to be how muscles were supposed to work. "Er, I broke a vial, so I thought it would be prudent to present myself here earlier than usual. Who's your girlfriend?" She smirked. Neandra exuded an aura of confidence that implied that she thought she owned the place and everyone in it. Lana didn't like her on first sight.

"Lana Highvale. I'm the new chemistry intern."

"Ah. Well, you'll be wanting this, then." She retrieved a glass ampoule from a pocket and threw it in Lana's direction. The intern barely managed to catch hold of the slippery surface. Steele exhaled sharply.

"You know better than to play with that! If that were to shatter it would be our lives!"

"Well, I'll be all right, anyway. Remember, my body's resistant to it."

"You think you can be reckless because we need you, but there are three other biomechs out there and we don't need you specifically-"

"Hold on." Lana interrupted. "Maybe you'd better tell me what's going on here. What's this," she held up the vial, "how does she get it, and what the heck is a biomech?"

Neandra folded her tall frame back into the chair, slouching again. Dr. Steele rubbed at his eyes as if he had a headache. "Biomechs are biological organisms, usually humanoid, that augment their systems with nanobots. Neandra was Kendrii, you've heard of them, yes? before a serious illness required her to implant the nanobots to survive."

"It was a little more complicated than that, I wasn't dying or anything, but, you know me, d'you think I would have made it as a quadriplegic?" She turned to Lana. "Basically, virus destroyed most of my nervous system, we managed to cure the virus, but even my genetically enhanced healing can't repair that much nerve tissue, so, nanobots. Got any food around here?"

Steele pulled open a hidden drawer from a panel on the wall. "Have at it. The nanobots in a biomech's system can process the waste their biological systems produce for energy, but in turn, they produce this." He held up the vial. "A highly energetic chemical slurry. The nanobots can't do anything more with it, but we can. It's the basis of everything we do here. From energy production, to brand new materials, it all comes from this. And we have the only source of it in our control, the four biomechs in this sector of the galaxy."