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Woman: 365 Erotic
Seal: Creative Commons: Kelly J Kane
Everyone knew of the nanite problem. They'd been created to help concentrate low grade metal ores by an international mining conglomerate ten years earlier. And they'd worked and worked well in their first big test. Of course not one of the G8 nations would let it be tested in their domains so the mining conglomerate had to go to the third world where a bit of money (for them anyway) could go a long way to smooth the permission needed for a test. At any rate, the nanites had performed flawlessly. They'd fragmented the rock, absorbed the minerals and returned to the home site to excrete the resulting concentrate. The mine had tripled production literally overnight. The conglomerate was ecstatic (or their P.R. people were) heralding a new world without any mineral shortages.
That was before the reports of strange, fragile rocks began to circulate. No one connected the rocks that would disintegrate at a touch with the mining nanites for many years. By then, it was far too late. Coastlines and mountains were eroding at vastly accelerated rates. Fifteen years after their first test, nanites had reduced most mountain ranges by 50 to 100 meters and had cost the world half its land surface. Mankind rose to the occasion and learned to protect its constructions, at least. What was needed was something to stop the rogue nanites, something to reprogram them back to their original purpose. Researchers everywhere were pressed into service on the problem. But still the continents shrank.
Not all of mankind could work on the nanite problem. Most simply kept going with the business of keeping life and the economy going. Part of that business was tourism. Sandra, whose normal job was as a teller in a bank, was exploring another small backwater town in New England. She enjoyed the small town atmosphere, the friendliness. She hardly paid any attention to the low white building three kilometres away. Universal Micro Machines Inc had created the original nanites, though. It's researchers were hard at work at a solution. Sandra would be one of the first affected by the second Nanite Disaster (as the press termed it). A group of UMMI's scientists had decided that, until the original nanites could be tamed, mankind's burgeoning population would need to live on the vastly expanded continental shelves. Mankind would need to be able to live in the seas. They programmed a set of nanites to give mankind the lung capacity and oxygen holding capability of the dolphins and seals.
At the inquest later, it had transpired that they'd not intended to release their nanites. Much testing had to be performed (and government permission obtained). Unfortunately, they had had little to say in the matter. Another group of researchers less than 50 meters away in another lab had been working on the original nanites. They'd created a strain of hunter-killers which had gone amok, damaging vital control systems.
Sandra hadn't noticed anything amiss as she'd walked down main street. Just a strange bluish rain. Within minutes, though, everyone in town was noticing changes. None of them conducive to work in any way. Those inside noticed everyone outside fall to the pavement like they'd been gassed (close enough to the truth). Anyone brave enough to go to their aid discovered that mere contact with the strangely oily feeling paving stones was enough to guarantee they too became victims. Sandra, one of the closest to the accident due to wind and weather, was also one of the first to feel the effects. Minutes after the brief rain fell, so had she. It was as if her legs could no longer hold her upright. Lying dazed on the pavement, unable to move, she watched as her body began to change shape. Fine fur grew on her forearms, abdomen and legs. It was a pattern she'd seen before - seal fur. As she watched, her legs shortened into flippers and her hands grew the webbing and claws of a seal's forelimb. She felt suddenly cold and discovered the nanites had used her clothing as raw material for the change, too.
Cold, hundreds of kilometres from the sea, Sandra found herself aching for the warmth of the ocean. She hardly noticed the hundreds of others who, like herself, were completing their own sea changes and making their way to the town's river, to make their run for the sea.
Seal: Creative Commons: Kelly J Kane
Everyone knew of the nanite problem. They'd been created to help concentrate low grade metal ores by an international mining conglomerate ten years earlier. And they'd worked and worked well in their first big test. Of course not one of the G8 nations would let it be tested in their domains so the mining conglomerate had to go to the third world where a bit of money (for them anyway) could go a long way to smooth the permission needed for a test. At any rate, the nanites had performed flawlessly. They'd fragmented the rock, absorbed the minerals and returned to the home site to excrete the resulting concentrate. The mine had tripled production literally overnight. The conglomerate was ecstatic (or their P.R. people were) heralding a new world without any mineral shortages.
That was before the reports of strange, fragile rocks began to circulate. No one connected the rocks that would disintegrate at a touch with the mining nanites for many years. By then, it was far too late. Coastlines and mountains were eroding at vastly accelerated rates. Fifteen years after their first test, nanites had reduced most mountain ranges by 50 to 100 meters and had cost the world half its land surface. Mankind rose to the occasion and learned to protect its constructions, at least. What was needed was something to stop the rogue nanites, something to reprogram them back to their original purpose. Researchers everywhere were pressed into service on the problem. But still the continents shrank.
Not all of mankind could work on the nanite problem. Most simply kept going with the business of keeping life and the economy going. Part of that business was tourism. Sandra, whose normal job was as a teller in a bank, was exploring another small backwater town in New England. She enjoyed the small town atmosphere, the friendliness. She hardly paid any attention to the low white building three kilometres away. Universal Micro Machines Inc had created the original nanites, though. It's researchers were hard at work at a solution. Sandra would be one of the first affected by the second Nanite Disaster (as the press termed it). A group of UMMI's scientists had decided that, until the original nanites could be tamed, mankind's burgeoning population would need to live on the vastly expanded continental shelves. Mankind would need to be able to live in the seas. They programmed a set of nanites to give mankind the lung capacity and oxygen holding capability of the dolphins and seals.
At the inquest later, it had transpired that they'd not intended to release their nanites. Much testing had to be performed (and government permission obtained). Unfortunately, they had had little to say in the matter. Another group of researchers less than 50 meters away in another lab had been working on the original nanites. They'd created a strain of hunter-killers which had gone amok, damaging vital control systems.
Sandra hadn't noticed anything amiss as she'd walked down main street. Just a strange bluish rain. Within minutes, though, everyone in town was noticing changes. None of them conducive to work in any way. Those inside noticed everyone outside fall to the pavement like they'd been gassed (close enough to the truth). Anyone brave enough to go to their aid discovered that mere contact with the strangely oily feeling paving stones was enough to guarantee they too became victims. Sandra, one of the closest to the accident due to wind and weather, was also one of the first to feel the effects. Minutes after the brief rain fell, so had she. It was as if her legs could no longer hold her upright. Lying dazed on the pavement, unable to move, she watched as her body began to change shape. Fine fur grew on her forearms, abdomen and legs. It was a pattern she'd seen before - seal fur. As she watched, her legs shortened into flippers and her hands grew the webbing and claws of a seal's forelimb. She felt suddenly cold and discovered the nanites had used her clothing as raw material for the change, too.
Cold, hundreds of kilometres from the sea, Sandra found herself aching for the warmth of the ocean. She hardly noticed the hundreds of others who, like herself, were completing their own sea changes and making their way to the town's river, to make their run for the sea.
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