Corrupting Power
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Quaranteam: Book 2, Chapter 45
🕑 Added 2025-08-11 21:33:02 +0000 UTCChapter Forty-Five
September 2nd, 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, âSurprise! Youâre on Candid Camera!â or âYouâve been Punkâd!â or something along those lines, because his life was getting stranger and stranger with each passing minute.
Theyâd returned to the safe haven of New Eden with Zelda in tow, as her body had indeed gone through a full regeneration cycle, and sheâd 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 Lindaâs Girls whom Andy didnât 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.
Zeldaâs first partnering had been done in the very earliest days of the German Quaranteam Program, and as such, she hadnât been put through their version of the Oracle, simply because she was considered âan emergency pairing.â Her original partner, a man named Heinrich, had been mission critical to the project, and sheâd been a good soldier doing her duty. But, as time went on, the pairingâs 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 â sheâd 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 couldnât have volunteered faster than she did.
In just the first few days the trade had been in effect, both sides had learned things about the other sideâs serum they hadnât even had hinted at. The Germans hadnât 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 hadnât 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 didnât have much need for that these days, considering theyâd injected basically everyone they wanted to, but there were still plenty of international people at risk. The Germans had developed what they called âthe Second Chance,â 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 Manâs 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. Theyâd found a way to be able to use any DNA from the dead man to instigate a Dead Manâs Switch, not just necrotizing semen. That had been extremely valuable knowledge for Andyâs 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 âThe Second Special Relationship,â and Andy felt like heâd done a good thing. Heâd even found that he enjoyed Zeldaâs 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 werenât working as long of shifts and could take rotations where they had time to themselves or to just relax around the house.
Most importantly, heâd finished his first draft of âThe Centaurâs Cement Shoes,â book nine of the Druid Gunslinger books, and he felt genuinely happy with how it had turned out. Heâd been worried about sticking the landing, but instead heâd found the book had a natural end point, and that bringing it to a conclusion had been made easier by all the work heâd 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 âthe pandemic book,â where he was going to need to make the Druid Gunslingerâs 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 heâd have to figure out.
But now, after everything, he was finally sitting at home with actual time offâŚ
âŚand 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 couldnât have seemed more excited by the whole thing.
The dates would have to be on the manorâs estate, otherwise they would have security following them around, and so Andy had set up starting to plan one night for each of them. Ashâs, 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 whoâd agreed (or in some cases asked) to marry him, but Ashâs? That had come right to him.
Heâd 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 heâd 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 footâs worth of room between it and the stand the television was on, crammed into one corner, with a single lounger chair next to it. Heâd tried to remember the state of how it was when sheâd 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 Ericâs condo had been, so theyâd 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, heâd 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 â 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 bedroomâs closet because his partners (not just wives, but nearly any of the women he was paired with) liked borrowing them, and âwrapping themselves in his scentâ 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 hadnât read but had bought, plans heâd made during the quarantine, things heâd 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 heâd come in just fifteen months or so. At the beginning of 2020, heâd been a lightly successful urban fantasy writer whoâd been living a double life writing marketing copy for Netflix, filling in descriptions of movies and television shows, among other things. Heâd 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 couldnât remember what heâd been wearing the day theyâd dropped Aisling off, but he did have a group photo theyâd taken the next day, the day after sheâd been imprinted onto him, where Aisling was wearing his t-shirt with Matthew Sweetâs âGirlfriendâ album cover on it and he was wearing his Flynnâs Arcade t-shirt. It was their first photograph together, and he revisited the image often, the new beginning heâd been given that he wasnât entirely sure heâd earned.
He was wearing his Flynnâs 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. âCâmon in,â he said quietly, as the door opened.
Aisling gasped a little as she stepped into the room and then started to giggle. âOh my god, I remember this,â she said quietly. âThis 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 yeâd told me, Iâdâve worn me sports bra and booty shorts again.â
âI know youâve still got the leather boots around the house somewhere,â Andy teased, sitting on the edge of his bed. âI 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, butâŚâ
Ash smiled at him as she walked over and pressed her forehead against his. âI meant every bloody word of it, you goof. I picked you. I knew what I was doing. And Iâd 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⌠Iâd 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.â
Andy laughed sheepishly, looking to one side. âIt wouldâve come out eventually, but I never want to be taken as a braggart. Donât get me wrong â Iâm proud of what Iâve accomplished, but I canât stand it when somebodyâs done something impressive and itâs 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, yâknow?â
âIâd tell you that Iâm not that interesting, love, but youâve already overridden me on that enough times to make both our opinions clear.â
âNobody disparages my wife, not even my wife,â Andy scolded with a smirk. âYou had plenty of fascinating life experiences to talk about, baby; someone just had to drag them out of you.â
âWe did so much talking those first few days,â she said, snuggling up against him. âI know we were watching movies during a lot of it, but I should probably admit now, Iâd seen all three of the âOceanâsâ movies before, so I wasnât paying too much attention to it and more attention to you.â
âI sort of suspected that, when you werenât at all shocked by the twist in the first one,â he said, sliding his arm around her shoulders, letting her nestle in against him. âI didnât mind. It was nice to have something on in the background to fill the few awkward bits of silence we did have.â
âI thought we filled most of those with fucking.â
The two of them laughed, as Andy blushed a bit more. âGod, I remember when you said you were gonna fuck me thin, and I thought you were kidding,â he admitted. âSeriously, we fucked so much those first couple of days. You were relentless.â
âAnd you, Mister Rook, were not complaining one bit.â
âThe most gorgeous woman Iâd ever laid eyes on wanting to fuck me around the clock?â he asked with a laugh. âIf Iâd voiced a single second of complaint, I think everyone I knew wouldâve had my hide. Eric doesnât even like redheads, and he thought you were hot.â
âDid he?â Ash giggled. âHe never said anything! Well, I guess, because I wouldnât have done anything and Lily wouldâve 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 didnât have a leg to stand on, as long as she was numero uno in his life.â
âYou know, I never thought to ask â 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 mustâve told you what was coming down the pipeline.â
âOh they did. Lily knew she wasnât 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,â Ash told him, looking a touch embarrassed herself for a moment. âI kinda did the same thing, yâknow.â
âWhat? No! Lauren wouldâve told me. What did you do?â
âI think my first words to her were, âIâm going to share, but you better know, you tryân takeâim from me, Iâm gonna cut ya,ââ Ash said, giggling frantically. âShe knew I was mostly kidding, but I wanted to make sure whoever followed didnât 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.â
âWell, sheâs mostly a lesbian when you get right down to it.â
âNot that that generally stops you, Mister Rook,â Ash laughed.
âKatie is not my fault!â he protested, joining in the mirth.
âNot totally your fault, maybe,â Ash said, âBut youâve 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 itâs good that sheâs come around. Jennyâs certainly seemed much happier these days.â
âThe minute Katie said she actually wanted me to fuck her, it was like a giant weight had been taken off Jennyâs head,â Andy told her. âNow? They tag team me more often than not, like Iâm the special guest who drops by once a week to make an appearance and everyone cheers that heâs shown up.â
âLike Norm in âCheers.ââ
âExactly,â he said. âAnd I know not to press it, so if Katie says they need a day or two, of course I give it to them.â
âYeah, well, maybe donât let Katie try another âendurance checkâ anytime soon, though, yeah? That last one, I think Melody was a hairâs breadth away from peeling her off you, for fear of your safety. What was she thinking, trying to go so long?â
âShe wanted to get some sense of control back in her life, Ash,â Andy sighed. âI know youâre a âgo with the flowâ kinda girl, babe, but Katieâs just⌠not that. She felt like her life was getting out of control and she wasnât in the driverâs seat. But now things are mostly starting to make sense to her again.â
âOh, I like being in control as much as the next girl,â Ash said. âWell, maybe more than the next girl, because Laurenâs definitely lacking a dominant bone in her body when it comes to you, but, never mind that. Itâs just good to see her smiling all the time.â
âYeah, I think so too. So you think I did okay setting up our date?â
âYou did perfect, babe,â she said, kissing his neck. âAlthough, to be fair, any break from our little terror twins wouldâve been good enough.â
âTheyâre not that bad, Ash.â
âNo, they really arenât,â she said with a sigh and a laugh. âTheyâre surprisingly good babies. Both them and Matty. Jade said theyâre the easiest infants sheâs ever seen. Like they only make angry noises when theyâre hungry, tired or need to be changed. Otherwise, theyâre smiling, laughing, happy babies. Itâs a little crazy.â
âMaybe weâre just lucky.â
âSo what are you going to do with me now that youâve got me trapped all alone in your little hobbit hole, Mister Rook?â
âOh, Iâm definitely going to fuck your brains out in a bit, but right now, I want to make sure youâre doing okay,â he told her, running his fingers across the back of her neck. âWeâve had a whole lot going on these last few months, and I want to make sure weâre good, you and me, and that youâre good even when Iâm not around, and if you arenât, I wanna figure out how I can get you there.â
âWow. There is a lot going on with all that,â she said. âBut Iâm good, Andy. I do wish we got a bit more time with you, not just me but all the wives, but we know youâre trying, and youâre 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.â
âYeah, Iâve been trying to get Phil to understand how much theyâre asking of me, and Iâve told the President that if the workload doesnât decrease, theyâre either going to need to get me help or get someone else to take over.â
âI canât imagine that went well.â
âOh no, no no, Phil completely agrees that Iâm overworked and understaffed,â Andy said with a little laugh. âHe wants me to have a small staff on the base who are tasked with helping me manage all the issues. I think heâs just trying to find a way to budget it.â
âGood,â she said. âDonât let them keep dumping more on your plate for you to do until itâs worth it for you and all of us.â
âLike I said, babe, Iâm trying. Phil will get it done. I have faith in him.â
Aisling leaned into his arms and let out a very deep, contented sigh. âIâve figured out whatâs so crazy about this room right now.â
âOh yeah? Whatâs that?â
âItâs quiet. No cell phones. No kids. No people asking a dozen questions. Not even Niko, God bless her, chatting my ear off. Itâs that amazing, still tranquility, where I can feel your heart beating against mine, and nothing else in the world matters,â she said, looking up at him, a single tear running down her cheek as she smiled. âI love you so fucking much, Andrew Ian Rook, so donât you fucking dare go and get yourself killed on me.â
âAisling Shannon Blake Rook, if I go down, I think itâs gonna be you and me like Butch and Sundance,â he said with a grin.
âWe are never going to fucking Bolivia,â she giggled as she moved to slowly straddle his lap, pressing her lips against his, much like they had the first time theyâd been together. âAnd regardless of whatever I tell all your other wives, I want it on record, I saw you first.â
Andy grinned, tilting his head with a smirk. âTechnically, Fi saw me first, then Moira, then you, so youâre kinda third?â
âSay that again and Iâll rip yer fuckinâ arms off and beat you over the head with them,â she giggled against his earlobe. âThey let you go and then came back. Iâdâve never been so bloody stupid. Youâre never getting rid of me, ya wonderful idjit.â
âAre you kidding? The person who gets in between you and me, Iâm tearing their arms off,â he said before he kissed her, his hand stroking through her hair. âI am the luckiest damn man on the entire fucking planet, you know that?â
She reached down and pulled her shirt up and over her head, tossing it onto the top of the chair with practiced precision. âOnly if you accept weâre the luckiest girls on the planet as well. We found the best guy on the planet and we get to keep him,â she said. âIâm not gonna take my bra off, because I donât want to leak on you any, if thatâs okay.â
âThatâs absolutely fine, babe. I wouldnât want to deprive the twins of a meal,â he said as she pulled his shirt up and over his head.
âWait⌠oh my god, this is the shirt you were wearing in the first picture we had taken together⌠you and me, the morning after Iâd first imprinted on you, isnât it? That pictureâs 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.â
âAnd the one of you and Niko together, with Nikoâs mom, taken on the rez.â
Ash smiled shyly, looking away from him for a second. âYeah, 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 mustâve been for Niko to grow up like that, so isolated and remote. No wonder she joined the military. She wanted to be around people.â
âWell, she wanted an adventure of her own. You talked to Mama RedWolf,â Andy said. âShe lived a big life, full of adventure and excitement, until she settled down to have Niko. I think Neeks wanted that for herself â some adventure and excitement, and then a settled family.â
âWith us, sheâs 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?â
âLet me help you with that,â 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. Heâd just had on boring old black boxers, but he ditched them also, leaving them naked on top of the old bed that hadnât seen action in at least a year, the sheets partly pulled to the side.
With almost no warning, sheâd 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. âGod, I missed this,â she said. âThe intimacy of it just being you and me. Itâs nice. Itâs really nice.â
âYou know, we can do this any time you want,â Andy teased in between kisses, feeling her squirm in his lap, not wanting to start bouncing yet, simply enjoying being connected. âAll we have to do is tell people we need an hour for coupleâs bonding and sneak off, and Iâm sure weâd be fine for a few hours.â
She wasnât going to be patient, though, and had already started writhing her hips back and forth in his lap, taking slow bucks on his shaft. âAndy, baby, I love you to death, but shut the fuck up, Iâm trying to fuck you, okay?â 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 heâd 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. âFuck me! Was that a bit more intense than normal for you as well?â
âMost definitely,â he said, laughing with her. âIâm wondering if the nanobots were using this to try and get our attention.â
We were.
âBloody hell!â Ash gasped. âYou seeing this too?â
âAre you seeing the words âWe wereâ glowing in golden text in the center of your vision?â
Ash nodded cautiously. âJust a bit below center, but yeah. Almost like having subtitles on my eyes. Iâd 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.â
We wanted to try and⌠expand our communication, but wanted to start with just a few test subjects. And it didnât feel fair to just talk to Andy by himself.
âOh good,â Andy laughed. âAt least one of my wives will know Iâm not crazy. Whatâs the expansion?â
How do you feel about voices in your head?
âIâm not opposed to it,â Andy said, cautiously. âCommunication would be faster, but I think itâs going to depend on the voice, and your ability to maintain volume control.â
âAye, Iâm not listening to bloody Boris Johnson in my head all day,â Ash said, then she seemed to hear another voice in her head. âYeah, aâight, I can get the hang of that. I always liked how she sounded.â
âWhoâs she sound like?â Andy asked.
âSusie Dent,â Ash said with a grin. âSheâs the lexicographer on a British game show called âCountdown.â Never missed it back home. And she wrote a wonderful book on the history of dirty words. One of me favs.â
And now to you. âHowâs this?â 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.
âNo,â Andy said, using every last calming technique to keep himself from flying off the handle. âNot that one. That will not fly.â
The voice had been one heâd not heard in the last year â not since he passed. And the thought of the nanobots speaking to him using his dead brotherâs voice was simply too much for Andy to even contemplate. Losing Matty had been hard, one of the hardest things heâd ever had to endure. Hearing something else using Mattyâs 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.
âThis any better?â a new voice said, one rather calm and comforting, warm and yet somehow still playful and joyous.
It made Andy laugh.
âYeah, 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?â
The voice the nanobots had chosen was that of actor Nathan Fillion.
âItâs a voice youâve heard a lot of,â the swarm said to him. âBetween âFirefly,â âSerenity,â âCastle,â âDr. Horribleâ and âThe Rookie,â youâve heard him speak millions of lines of dialogue in nearly every inflection imaginable. And, itâs a voice you like hearing. Why wouldnât you? I feel like I sound rakishly charming like this. And you donât know the guy personally, so youâll never confuse me with him. Heâs 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.â
âOh weird,â Ash said. âI heard that too. Itâs talking to both of us at the same time. Whoâs voice was it using before?â
âMattyâs,â Andy replied quietly.
âAh. Yeah, thatâs a fucking stupid idea.â
âSorry,â the swarm said. âI havenât been doing much historical analysis of the data in your brain, but these were some of the male voices youâd heard the most over the last few years. I apologize. I didnât understand the⌠emotional attachment the first one would have. It wasnât my intention to anger you.â
âIâm surprised you didnât recognize the connection between the voice and its importance in my life,â Andy said.
âIâm⌠Iâm trying to contextualize things as fast as I can, Andy, but thereâs⌠well, thereâs 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,â the swarm laughed. âI didnât 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 wouldâve liked. Thatâs what happens with limited resources. But thankfully, my intelligence has also been ramping up over the last few months, as Iâve gotten more and more places to build distributed systems, and added processing power each time youâve added a new partner. That said, I want to reiterate what I was trying to tell you before â I donât think you should get any bigger than this, if you can help it. Itâs 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.â
âWait, what do you mean your intelligence has been ramping up? Also, what do I call you, anyway?â
âOh, that. You can call me Cee-Hach-Arr-Eye-Ess, or C.H.R.I.S.â
âWhatâs that an acronym for?â Ash asked.
âEh, donât worry about it,â CHRIS said to them. âAnd 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 Iâve got a little of each of person in the Team in my personality matrix, mixed in there all at once. And a swarmâs intelligence level, well, itâs proportional to the number of people in it. A swarm with ten people in it? Itâs about as smart as your average smartphone, which is to say it isnât much. Sure, you can ask Siri who played drums on a specific John Coltrane album, but she isnât 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 â lots of book learning, but not a whole lot of practical experience or real-world understanding. Itâs once you break that twenty-five-person line you get, well, something like meâŚâ
âAnd how smart are you, CHRIS?â
âSmart enough to know that sooner or later, one of us swarms were going to have to make first contact with our host. Thatâs you. Thatâs me.â
âWhat do you mean, first contact?â
âThe swarms of the planet?â CHRIS said. âWeâre 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 weâre 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, letâs say, some better educated decisions moving forward.â
âAnd thatâs you?â
âThatâs me, baby,â CHRIS said with a playful bit of pizzaz. âAnd thatâs us.â
âWhat kinds of decisions?â
âYouâve been making a bunch of assumptions about what the nanobots inside of you are doing, how theyâre reacting, how theyâre changing you, and what parts of our nature, or yours, that we can and canât control. Some of those assumptions, theyâre bang on. Others, not so much. But we havenât had a voice in the room when it comes to talking about us. And thatâs getting a little concerning.â
âSo, hang on⌠are you really⌠are you saying what I think youâre saying?â
âAndy Rook⌠take me to your leader.â
Comments
Todd Garrison
I enjoyed the chapter it was very good, however it was very very weird.
Nick J
That loveable rogue Nathan Fillion was an amazing choice lol
