Chapter 12: We Built Smaller

I began another dangerous long-term research project. It had to do with Nanites. We'd had medical nanites that could simply deposit medications where they were needed--at cancer sites, for example. Our progeric treatment was based on them. They were debugged, efficient and reliable. However, they were extremely limited. They were microscopic syringes, period.

I wondered if we could first create biological reconstructive nanites that could reconnect nerve bundles, heal bones and aid in the replacement of muscle tissue, organs, skin or even a limb. We'd learned to do a speedy structural decoding of DNA from a bone marrow or a reproductive tissue sample. However, controlling and enhancing the body's regenerative capability to that degree was an unrealized dream.

Miriam quickly agreed that I was out of my depth. We collaborated at a deep level on the project. I soon discovered that I had to delve into the darker secrets of biochemistry to get anywhere. This project was so dangerous that we did everything in a level 4 hazardou biological containment environment. If anything went truly wrong the lab would be sterilized with gamma particles and microwaves then vented to vacuum. We didn't want to risk our skins so we worked through teleoperation equipment. It was old hat to me from my field generator research days. I was patient with Miriam and guided her through the dexterity exercises to properly take full advantage of the equipment.

The process of scaling down the nanites to be able to work with sub-cellular components, then with molecules was a real exercise in blood, sweat and tears. I learned to use photolithographic processes with much in common with microchip manufacture to create microscopic field effectors which became the core of our nanites. We had to power them externally with low level microwave radiation specifically tuned away from the frequency bands that would excite water molecules or human proteins. Our software design borrowed heavily from Merry's maintenance drone project, especially in the design to cope with massively multiple simultaneous operations. When in operation the nanites developed so much waste heat that the blood had to be cycled through miniature refrigerated heat exchangers. While the blood was outside the body we also ran it through artificial kidneys to remove most of the load from the host's system. Specifically marked packets of proteins, minerals and sugars were then injected into the blood supply before it re-entered the body.

We got to the point where our animal testing worked beyond our initial project goals. We could fix anything short of a massive cerebral incident in which some of the brain tissue had been crushed or died from a lack of perfusion. In those cases the tissue was regenerated but the subject exhibited infantile responses. All we could do further was to reprogram the nanite controlling server with a human template and hope for an accident that didn't kill anyone.

We received permission to work on a man that had a pressure suit blow-out, which destroyed the alveolar tissue in his lungs. He was looking at being on an oxygen perfusion system for the rest of his life, so he agreed to be our lab rat--even after we told him the risks. Hell, he was all in. He bet his last dime and the damned thing came through for us. Within a week and a half he was off the machine and breathing on his own. His vital capacity and O2 perfusion were not only acceptable, they were very good. He was a very, very happy man.

The nanite protocol was approved for emergency medical aid. There were still a few troublesome issues focusing around how the nanites manipulated the genetic material in the cells, but under lethal conditions the protocol was judged to be sound.

A woman working with the refining of radioactive ores was subjected to a severe radiation burst when the wrong two containers were merged. She came to us so severely compromised that I didn't give her a chance, but Miriam refused to give up on her. The fields were engaged that powered the nanites and a huge dose of them was administered, through a feeding tube, through an enema and through access-ways threaded into her aortas. The tissue death in her brain had to be addressed as quickly as possible. We stayed with her, sitting in vigil. By morning the bruising was gone, the fluid was gone from her lungs, her heart had a strong beat, the cataracts were gone from her eyes and her blackened gums looked healthy. She no longer had blood in her urine or her sputum. We had four feeding tubes dropping nutrients into her blood at full drip, and she still lost over twenty kilos. However, she lived. She was aphasic and had to be re-taught, but she lived and was happy for the chance to live.

I was well past amazed. We sold it to every factory at L5 and the great ship graving yards at L4. It would save lives by the thousands who previously would have died in industrial accidents.

Then we worked on the big one. Limb replacement. our nanite server was programmed with the ontogeny which an embryo and then a fetus exhibits in its maturation from the bud stage to the finished limbs including nails and prints; be it legs, arms or an entire torso. If we could keep the blood flowing and the oxygen perfusing the brain our goal was to be able to rebuild and regenerate an entire body, including a truncated spinal column.

The only way we could figure out to do it was to place the victim in a circulating bath rich in several types of nanites. One type would feed the tissues, one type would trigger and guide growth while yet another type was tasked with removal of waste and toxins. Essentially it became a high-speed cloning process using the original brain. The structure of the bones had to be carefully controlled as limb, tarsal and phalange bones under gravity undergo nearly continual microscopic stress fracturing before the bones cap, which when naturally healed provide extreme strength. This is why the microstructure of two people's bones will never match.

We savagely dismembered animal after animal fruitlessly before we began to see our hoped-for results. Finally we achieved success in rebuilding their bodies, but the animals were hopelessly traumatized by the process. They refused to eat, did not sleep, chewed on their own limbs and eventually died.

We realized that the pain we'd inflicted so overwhelmed them that it was truly unendurable. We had no method of aiding the animals, but the sleep teachers could be set to take a person into a fugue state during which no memories would be recorded.