Nanobots, Murder, and Other Family Problems

Tue 10/04 11:19:24 PDT

"Anyone seen Chad yet?" Evan asks as he comes into the lab.

I disconnect my tenth eye and let the wave of nausea recede. The headache lingers but stops getting worse. I might be able to talk if I give myself a few seconds. I got plenty of practice on the trip, but I'd forgotten how painful really pushing myself on the implant can be.

"I haven't seen him yet, but Erik said he did," Louise says before I can get my mouth to make words. "Said he saw him in the hospital wing of the Residence this morning."

Erik. I think I know him. Shorter guy in one of the older classes, or am I thinking of Albert? I really need to get my console database project done, there's too much junk to remember on my own without it.

"What was Erik doing in there?" Evan asks.

"He broke his finger while he was spotting Phil on the bench press," Louise tells him. "Poor guy had his hand in the wrong place when Phil dropped the bar."

It's been a different couple of days for everyone since Chad disappeared into Father's lab. Phil apparently had to find a new workout buddy, and the rest of us have had the unmitigated pleasure of not dealing with Chad.

"Interesting," Jeff says from his seat in the corner. I glance his way with a spare eye. He doesn't seem too disappointed that this disproves his latest theory that Father killed Chad and disappeared his body. "Perhaps Father needs to keep him concealed to prevent us from recognizing the alterations in personality that the procedure has induced."

"Maybe," I say, the throbbing in my head finally down to where I can talk again. "Or maybe he's just recovering from surgery."

Jeff sighs. "I suppose that we don't have sufficient evidence to predict whether there should be any overt effects at this stage."

My eye out in the hallway spots Chad coming this way. He's still got his same old swagger. If the implant update did anything to change his personality, it's sure not showing in his stride. He's got a device in his hand that looks like one of the implant appliances, but much bigger. Is that the replacement for the bot phone after the upgrade? I need to look into pants with bigger pockets. Or maybe I'll just keep it in my satchel and carry that all the time.

"We'll find out soon enough," I say just before the sounds of his footfalls reach the computer lab. Louise and Andrea both get up to go look out the door.

"Well, we knew it couldn't last," Evan sighs before Chad gets close enough to hear.

"Hey, welcome back, Chad," Louise says. Good for her for being polite, I guess. I know she didn't miss Chad any more than the rest of us did.

"Thanks," Chad says as he clears the doorframe. "I know you were probably all worried about me. Well, you don't need to worry anymore. Thanks to Father's brilliance, I'm back and better than ever."

Yeah. No personality changes there. Still the same old arrogant, sycophantic Chad.

"The upgrade is amazing," he continues. "You can't begin to imagine how much better the controls are." He glances at a chair and it slides his way, circling around behind him and swiveling to accommodate him exactly as he sits down. That's new. He's never had that kind of fine control without a lot of careful gesturing. "It was a little overwhelming at first, but I guess you'll all see for yourselves soon enough."

"Yeah, guess we will. Come on, Noah," Evan says. "Let's get lunch."

I let my ninth eye dissolve and get up without even needing to steady myself on the table before I follow him. My balance is good even with eight still running. I give Chad a nod on my way out that he returns without even glaring at me. Maybe he's in a good mood. Or maybe we're really not hating each other anymore.