A small bell rings overhead as I meekly pace into the almost oppressively empty cafe, the offering of stale muffins and the coffee stains coating the display cabinet doing quiet a bit to show me just why the place seemed so dead. I catch movement from behind the counter in the corner of my eye, a large man wearing a poorly fitted hair net quickly poking his head through from small window leading to the kitchen before scowling at me.
"Girl not in" he barks in a thick Greek accent, nodding his head towards the heavily worn and tape covered seats dotting the dimly lit cafe. "Thirty minute, you wait and she serve once here."
Swallowing hard I give the man a nod, slowly shifting towards a nearby table as the man watches. However, as he slips back into the kitchen proper and out of sight I quickly shift my path, inching closer and closer towards a dark booth nestled right in the back corner. Pacing closer and closer I pull my phone from my pocket, quickly opening up my messages in the hopes of double checking I had gone to the right place.
As I slide into the booth, the cheap plastic table creaking beneath me as I lean my weight on it, I feel my leg bump something tapped to the central slender metal leg holding the sticky slab of plastic aloft. Reaching down I place my phone on the tabletop, the glowing device almost locking in place thanks to the sickening residue coating the tables surface as I grasp as the warm metal device tapped to the leg. With no small amount of twist and peeling I finally pull the cylinder free, the weight constantly shifting as the contents slosh around inside and a heavier weight jostles affixed to the bottom.
Heaving the object up I find myself staring at a fairly non-descript thermos, at least until you see the strange box tapped to the bottom. As I peel off the tap I'm soon met with a blinking light, the flashing red LED flickering ominously on the bottom object. A seam runs around the length of the box, though try as I might I can't seem to pry it open.
"Could just be that easy" I mutter under my breath, my gaze slowly turning to the thermos and my unlocked phone beside it as I read the last message.
FGM: 13 Edwards Avenue, 7:10AM
FGM: Drink the Nanites like we agreed to get your reward
FGM: I'll meet you once you're done
The introduction of smaller and smaller robotics slowly revolutionized the world of medicine. At first, these short lived devices were used to assist with difficult procedures, allowing for a controller to navigate cramped spaces or interact with parts of the body that were unfeasible for human hands.
Over time however, as the robots found themselves growing smaller and smaller and towards becoming true nanobots , these teeny tiny devices quickly found themselves needing more and more automation to work in concert as they weaved, cut and mended flesh. The human eye simply could not interpret what these robots were looking at, nor could the human hand control the thousands upon thousands of robots with any amount of coordination.
Rather than simply programming these robots another system was used. Via letting these devices learn from the healthy person's body they could merely 'replicate' what a undamaged organ or limb would otherwise appear to be. However, this was a rather difficult process requiring the nanobots to not run out of power and to be transferred between two people before they simply fizzled out
The last major development was a relatively one. By using the pulsing rhythm of patients heart and the pumping of their blood, the tiny little robotic swarm could slowly recharge their limited power reserves and allow for longer or even potentially permanent implantation. While first used for long term after surgery care for patients requiring constant monitoring, it did not take long for other's to find more 'interesting' uses for the tiny robots.
With the right person to learn from, and a small fortune to purchase your own set of nanobots , the rich soon found they could alter nearly anything about themselves. From flat tummies and chiseled jawlines, to singsong voices and massive cocks the ultra rich quickly found their easy replacement to standard plastic surgery. With the right training you could seemingly change anything so long as the microscopic robots could interact with it, with knowledge and mental traits even being on the table so long and the right neural pathways could be mapped out.
However, this cosmetic hay day could not last. With growing concern over learning machines, especially those floating around in people's bodies, Government's around the world quickly cracked down on any private ownership of these machines outside medical organization and heavily restricted the tiny robot's overall internal lifespan.
Despite these best effort's, where there was money to be made, there was always a way to get access to the now illicit devices.
Firstly, someone could always try and find a set of the nanobots from the height of their technological prowess. These of course ran with a hefty premium, the overall effect was simply seamless. When linked to a third-party app they could essentially alter anything they had learnt with just a few taps of a screen without any real issues beyond needing to have trained them on others beforehand.
Importantly, they seemingly had a limitless lifespan and could even be retrieved with the right devices or with enough time to be reused on more and more people over and over again. With this feature, a single set could be shared amongst a group, which would likely be needed to afford the nanobots if you could even find a set.
However, for those with a lighter wallet and less morals another option existed. While the newer and less capable nanobots seemed incapable of being used for these more cosmetic purposes they could be cracked to reopen their capabilities. With only a few downloads soon people could find themselves in possession of a set of nanobots for only a fraction of the price, though still something out of reach for most near everybody.
Unfortunately, to rewire and override the internal program to allow for the nanobots to function as they once had something else had to be lost. A large sum of power and time was spent learning from a source body, pulling it apart cell by cell and putting it back together in a manner that left the subject oblivious to what was going on inside them. However, in an effort to save time and storage space these hacked nanobots would merely deconstruct the source body to learn from it.
Before long, really a matter of minutes, the once vibrant and unassuming human would be nothing more than a puddle of goop and a small shimmering pile of nanobots to be collected. However, with the added power efficiency in this destructive learning these nanobots could be used over and over or even just be left inside someone for months to years.
Beyond merely using the devices to improve one's own body, those with more money than sense quickly found all manner of uses for these illicit machines. More regularly than one may expect, the owner of a batch of there rarefied robots may choose not to just us them one themselves, or even not use them on themselves at all. Instead, they may offer someone else all manner of riches and benefits in order to use the nanobots for one reason or another.
Sometimes you need, or just merely want, to be in two places at once. Through copying their own body and then foisting it onto someone else, people with the more expensive and hard to find nanobots can do just that, soon finding 'themselves' with twice the time in the day or merely having an extra body to go to work or classes for them while they get to sit back and relax.
Other times it's not the purchaser wanting a double of themselves, it's wanting a less frigid and more fun wife or a smarter daughter to attend her exams. In less familial circumstance, sometimes a person needs a copy of their mistress or maid to be out an about or make appearances while they fuck off in the Bahamas.
Sometimes, and often in far less than perfect circumstances, a pure replacement is needed for someone. At it's best, perhaps an individual merely wants to start up a new life and needs someone to keep their shoes filled and bed warm.
Worse it involves the less than consensual wholesale replacement of the individual. A wayward daughter being replaced as she is left as some amnesiac in an old folks home, a wife on the verge of divorce finding herself replaced while she wakes up as some foreigner in her own home country, or a daughter's bully soon finding herself staggering awkwardly around a paddock along with her fellow dairy cows on the family farm. At it's worse it may even be used to cover up a death, or even cause one, the family maid needing replacement after an 'accidental' fall or a boss being turned to slurry so a more agreeable person can take over the promotions committee.
Sometimes, if the Sims has taught us anything, people just like to control and curate those around them. With an app on their phone and a collection of traits loaded into the nanobots, a person could easily start up a new life for a willing subject along with a new appearance. Often times they remain in contact and watch from afar, making requests and challenges of the subject or even editing them on the fly to twist their personal Sim in the direction they want.
On the other hand, if the Sims has taught us another thing, some people simply like to mess with and humiliate others. Once they nanobots are in their system these unfortunate subjects soon find their prized traits stripped, language or speech muddled, libido soaring, or flab piling on as their control taunts and messes with them in exchange for no small amount of money.
Sometimes, it's just hard to find the right workers with the right skills and looks for the role. A less than scrupulous employer however could merely build a collection of traits to apply with a 'hopefully' high end set of nanobots. While one set could build up an entire workforce, removing the tiny robots from each person once they had been mentally and physical molded into perfection, others may simply wish to leave a set in one person as they are tweaked and altered to customer tastes.
Other times, often with the more destructive variety, the subject is expected to take over for a preexisting employee who is currently working their way down a drain. This rarer option is more often used with people in more established positions or who already pull in money based on their physical traits but who are less than cooperative in earning continued income.
Sometimes, there is just something missing in life. Be it a barren executive missing a child in their home, a twin for an only child, or a nanny who can just make the baby be quiet for a minute. With the nanobots flowing through someone's blood they can easily slip into this role, at least in a physical sense.
With the right connections, or simply the application of enough money, these new people often built of a mixture of traits can son find themselves with all the documentation required to cement these new lives.
Sometimes, you just need a fresh start with the right people around you. With enough nanobots, or even just a single set passing around, a group of people can soon find themselves molded into an entirely new familial unit or friend group. Rather than divorcing a couple could merely turn into friends or siblings, rather than slowly passing into nursing homes a group could refresh themselves as a newly minted family.
Often times there is some member of these groups that no one really wants to be. The angsty daughter, the foreign maid, the tired single mother, or the bottom rung of a polycule can always be filled by some willing helper for the right compensation.
My mysterious benefactor had reached out to me only a few weeks ago, seemingly knowing about my rapidly dwindling savings and need for money. They had been more than upfront in their encrypted messages, in exchange for following through with their instructions I wouldn't have to worry about money for quite some time. They had even sent a gift as an down payment for my cooperation, a gaming PC so far beyond my budget it looked completely out of place in my cheap apartment.
It was how I had ended up sitting in this cafe, the last set of instructions sent by the mysterious benefactor before the point of no return.
"This is..." I whisper, reaching out to the thermos as I slowly twist off the lid. Heat emanates from within, a solid warmth billowing out in the cold dank air around the empty shopfront as I tilt the container to peer inside.
My eyes bulges I stare within the metallic thermos, my gaze locking to a roiling mass of silver that appears to shimmer vibrantly no matter how I look at it. Nanobots, built up and trained rest in the bottom of the container as they eagerly look for biological material to integrate with.
"I can't seriously..." I wheeze, bringing the thermos to my lips as I notice the faint copper scent of blood in the rapidly shifting sea of seemingly liquid metal. Placing my hand on the seat to heave myself up and leave I spot the container with the blinking light and my phone, my stomach singling as I find my will rapidly breaking under the promise of further rewards.
"Shit..." I huff, slumping into the seat before weakly bringing the thermos to my lips. "Bottoms..." I begin to sigh, my words cutting off as the used blob of tiny machines quickly fling up to coat my lips and force their way into my mouth.
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