Nanowar: Nanoverse, #4

By Theophilus Monroe

The enemy has learned how to replicate in the nanoverse.

 

His plan remains the same.

To usher in the next chapter of human evolution. To convert all of humanity into a digital species, inhabiting a digital world.

The government has fallen.

The resistance is in turmoil.

If I'm going to save humanity I have no choice but to destroy the nanoverse.

But can I do that without also destroying myself?

Nanowar is the fourth book in Theophilus Monroe's Nanoverse, an action packed dystopian sci fi thriller series. As a former soldier, suffering from PTSD, Brian Goff is not only a threat to the new system, but his very injury has given him control over the nanobots. Like Neo, in The Matrix, Goff is an unlikely hero whose "technomagic" makes him the the last hope for human liberty, freedom, and justice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Theophilus Monroe
• Release date: Aug 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223583592

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Nanowar

Theophilus Monroe

Copyright © 2022 by Theophilus Monroe.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. 

 For information: 

www.theophilusmonroe.com

1

Cocoons

Everyone, get up! Brian shouted, holding Susie in his arms as he ran down the hallway of the resistance headquarters. It was the middle of the night.

What’s going on? Liza asked, peeing out of her room.

It’s Flat. I don’t know how the hell he did it, but he’s out there. I can feel it. And he has maybe a hundred men in his control all closing in on our location.

Goff is right, Seneca said, panting, as he ran down the hall from the direction of the control room. I don’t know how he did it. But Flat has assumed control of hundreds of bodies, those left behind by people assimilated into the nanoverse. Somehow, he knows where we are. From what I can tell, they’re only a few miles away.

How fast are they moving? Liza asked.

Not fast, Seneca said. What would you say, Goff? Do you have any sense how soon they’ll be here?

Brian shook his head. I’d say they’re moving on foot. Either that, or they’re closing in on us carefully. But Flat’s in control of all of them. There isn’t a lot of coordination he has to do since every person’s body he’s inhabited is absorbed in the nanoverse, oblivious to what he’s doing.

Keith Bonecrusher Koontz was already in the hallway, his rifle in his hand. He’d only made it back to the resistance a few hours before. Larson insisted, after he rebooted Bonecrusher’s bots and healed his body. It wasn’t surprising that Keith was already armed. After the trip back, as the few conscious humans who remained were one-by-one assimilated into the nanoverse, the entire country turned into something like a war zone. Cars driving down the road suddenly lost control when the drivers were integrated into the system. Thankfully, a credit card was all he needed to activate gas pumps. Otherwise, Keith couldn’t have made it back. Larson insisted that the resistance needed him. Protecting Goff was now the primary objective. He was the key to stopping Flat. Even if it meant leaving Larson vulnerable in Washington, D.C., he had to get back. The first thing Keith did was debrief the resistance on all that went down in the nation’s capital, how the government had fallen, and how Larson had received the injections that bestowed him with executive power over the nanoverse’s emergency protocols. Then he headed straight for bed, hoping to get a few hours of shut-eye. He would not get much sleep. No sooner did Bonecrusher head to his bedroom than Flat found them. Had Flat followed Bonecrusher there? Did he find them some other way? Brian didn’t know. No one knew, yet. Perhaps Seneca could sort it out later, if they fended off this impending assault.

Goff, any chance you can take over the nanobots? Blast Archimedes Flat out of their bodies?

Brian nodded. I can. But I don’t know if I can handle that many at once.

We’ll have your six, Liza said. Between Bonecrusher and me, we can buy you the time.

Brian nodded. I’ll do what I can. Where’s Eloise?

She’s still asleep, Seneca said. I’ll wake her up.

Brian nodded. Seneca, Father Ezra, you take Susie and Eloise and get out of here. Liza, Keith, and I will try to slow them down. We’ve been compromised. We need to evacuate. Even if I can fight them off, Flat knows our location. I might be able to stop this wave, but he’ll keep sending more after us.

Keith shook his head. The whole world’s been compromised. The government has fallen. Now our base of operations isn’t safe.

Larson is still working with Fuentes to pick up the pieces, Brian said. But you’re right. For now, we can’t win this fight on the ground.

You have to take on Flat in the nanoverse, Seneca said. You’re powerful in the real world and also in the nanoverse, but even if we take out every one of these men that Flat has possessed with his nanobots, he’ll just replicate again and find more bodies to inhabit. Short of finding every single nanobot, in every place or host where Flat might hide them, there’s no way to defeat him in the real world.

Brian huffed. It’s ironic. The only place I can defeat Flat is in the nanoverse, the world he’s trying to defend. The only place he can defeat me is here, in the real world. He and I are both most vulnerable in the worlds we’re trying to protect.  

Can you go into the nanoverse now and take him out? Keith asked.

Brian shook his head. If I did that, my body would still be vulnerable here. With Flat encroaching on our position already, there’s no chance. Not until we can get somewhere he can’t find us. That’s the only way we can move the battle into the nanoverse.

Brian kissed Susie on the cheek. I need you to be brave, baby girl. Go with Father Ezra, Seneca, and Eloise. I’ll catch up with you soon. I promise.

Susie shed a tear. Daddy, be careful!

Brian nodded at his daughter, took a deep breath, and watched her leave.

You two can go, too, Brian said.

Like hell, Bonecrusher said. Someone has to watch your back.

We might not be able to access the nanobots, Liza said, but I’m not about to let anything happen to you.

Brian sighed. I get it. If I fall, Flat wins.

And Susie needs you, Liza said. I do, too.

Brian took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. I wish we knew how Flat found us here.

Bonecrusher snorted. He’s in the nanoverse. Any nanobots, anywhere, could serve as his eyes and ears.

Yeah, Liza said. But we all have inhibitors. Our entire facility is lined with lead.

Brian sighed. There’s no way we can know for sure how he found us. But with millions of nanobots out there, and thousands of people now absorbed into the nanoverse, it was just a matter of time.There was an emergency exit around back. They’d planned for this long before Brian was a part of the resistance. Larson hadn’t predicted that a digital replica of Flat’s consciousness would claim hundreds of bodies and march on the resistance headquarters. When the escape plans were initially hatched, the bigger threat was likely the government.

Now, Larson was the closest thing to a government that remained. And the people marching on the resistance weren’t people at all. Their consciousnesses were all digitized, absorbed into the nanoverse, and these bodies were little more than remotely controlled zombies doing the bidding of a program that thought itself to be Archimedes Flat.

Still, while the threat had changed, the evacuation plans were still the same. Seneca, Ezra, and Eloise would leave with Susie out the back. They all wore inhibitors so the nanobots wouldn’t detect their movements. If anyone saw them,