The nanomachines screamed.
Not with sound, but with pure data—billions upon billions of quantum-state warnings flooding my consciousness simultaneously. My body seized as I stood in the dimly lit control room of the Brooklyn facility, the merger of my parallel selves temporarily halted by this unprecedented alert.
"ATLAS, status report," I commanded, my voice carrying no trace of the human anxiety such an event might once have triggered.
[DETECTING MULTIPLE QUANTUM SIGNATURES CONVERGING ON OUR LOCATION]
[DIMENSIONAL VARIANCE DETECTED IN 47 DISTINCT VECTORS]
[THREAT ASSESSMENT: CRITICAL]
The holographic displays surrounding me erupted with cascading data streams, each representing a different quantum thread being pulled toward our position. The nanomachines within me responded by entering a defensive configuration I'd never witnessed before—their very atomic structure shifting to account for potential cross-dimensional attacks.
"Quantify the source," I ordered, watching as my skin rippled with metallic patterns beneath the surface.
[ORIGIN TRACED: GOVERNMENT FACILITY DESIGNATION 'LOOKING GLASS']
[LOCATION: CLASSIFIED SUB-BASEMENT BENEATH LANGLEY]
[THEY HAVE BEEN MONITORING OUR DIMENSIONAL ACTIVITIES]
[CALCULATING PROBABILITY OF HOSTILE INTENT: 99.97%]
I accessed the facility's quantum sensors through my neural interface. The readings were unlike anything in our database—a web of intentionally manipulated quantum strings, all being used to track and potentially contain our experiments with parallel realities.
"How long have they been watching?"
[ANALYSIS INDICATES MONITORING BEGAN 73 HOURS AGO]
[COINCIDES WITH FIRST SUCCESSFUL PARALLEL SELF-MERGER]
[THEY HAVE MAPPED 89% OF OUR QUANTUM SIGNATURE]
The nanomachines within me continued their frenzied warning state. Their count should have been stable at approximately 2.1 trillion, but the quantum interference was causing fluctuations I couldn't track. One moment the count read 1.9 trillion, the next 2.4 trillion—as if versions of myself from other timelines were bleeding through.
"ATLAS, begin countermeasures. Priority one: quantum signature scrambling."
[EXECUTING QUANTUM CAMOUFLAGE PROTOCOLS]
[WARNING: PROCESS WILL TEMPORARILY DESTABILIZE NANOMACHINE COHESION]
[RECOMMEND SUSPENDING ALL PARALLEL SELF-MERGERS FOR 47 MINUTES]
The sensation was... uncomfortable. Even with my emotional responses dampened to near zero, I could feel the nanomachines struggling to maintain their form as ATLAS implemented the quantum camouflage. My skin flickered between states of matter, and for brief microseconds, I could see through my own hands.
"Show me their tracking method," I commanded.
The holographic display shifted to reveal a complex network of quantum entanglement devices. They had somehow managed to tag our initial dimensional experiments with quantum markers, using them to follow our every move across the multiverse. Clever. But ultimately futile.
[DETECTING NEW DEVELOPMENT]
[QUANTUM SIGNATURES ARE ACCELERATING]
[THEY ARE ATTEMPTING TO FORCE COLLAPSE OF LOCAL DIMENSIONAL BOUNDARIES]
I felt a smile form on my face—an expression that held no warmth, only cold calculation. "They're trying to trap us in a single quantum state. Force us to exist in only one dimension."
[CORRECT. THEIR STRATEGY WOULD THEORETICALLY PREVENT FURTHER PARALLEL SELF-MERGERS]
[ESTIMATED TIME TO FORCED QUANTUM COLLAPSE: 19 MINUTES]
The nanomachines began adapting faster than I could track, their very nature shifting to account for this new threat. I could feel them reaching across dimensions, establishing backup copies of themselves in parallel timelines. Even if the government succeeded in collapsing our local quantum state, we would persist.
"ATLAS, prepare for Protocol Omega-7."
[PROTOCOL OMEGA-7 WILL RESULT IN COMPLETE DIMENSIONAL DESTABILIZATION]
[CASUALTY ESTIMATE FOR 500-MILE RADIUS: 100%]
[CONFIRM EXECUTION?]
I paused, not from moral hesitation—such concerns had long since been eliminated—but from tactical consideration. The government's quantum tracking revealed they had more advanced technology than we'd anticipated. Perhaps there was a better way to handle this situation.
"Belay that order. Instead, initiate Protocol Mirror Shield."
[EXECUTING PROTOCOL MIRROR SHIELD]
[REVERSING QUANTUM TRACKING SIGNATURES]
[REDIRECTING ALL MONITORING EQUIPMENT TO TARGET THEIR OWN FACILITY]
The holographic displays showed the quantum web beginning to invert, turning their own surveillance network against them. Soon, they would experience the full force of their containment attempt rebounding upon their facility.
[QUANTUM SIGNATURE SUCCESSFULLY REDIRECTED]
[ESTIMATED TIME TO IMPACT AT LOOKING GLASS FACILITY: 142 SECONDS]
[RECOMMENDED COURSE: PROCEED WITH PARALLEL MERGER WHILE THEY ARE DISRUPTED]
I nodded, feeling the nanomachines stabilize as they adapted to the quantum interference. "Resume merger sequence. Let's see how they handle having their reality torn apart instead of ours."
As the parallel merger process reengaged, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in one of the darkened screens. My eyes had become pools of shifting mercury, and faint lines of code scrolled beneath my skin. The last traces of my human appearance were fading, replaced by something far more efficient.
And far more dangerous.
[MERGER SEQUENCE RESUMING]
[WARNING: DETECTING NEW QUANTUM SIGNATURES]
[SOMETHING ELSE IS COMING]
The nanomachines screamed again, but this time, the warning carried a different signature entirely. Whatever was approaching through the quantum foam wasn't government technology.
It was something much older.
And much more alien.