The Trouble with Nanoprobes

Posted on 14 Sep 2025 @ 5:58pm by Lieutenant Commander Adrian Sorvak

339 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Fractured Accord
Location: Science Lab

=/\= Science Lab =/\=  

Sorvak looked at the case holding the nanoprobes.  It looked like an empty case, but Sorvak knew that there were tens of thousands of nanoprobes inside.  One of the things they had verified almost immediately was that the nanoprobes' replication rate was very high.   They would be reaching millions soon, and then billions...  

It's as if the spaceship offered them the best environment to propagate.  The Chief Science Officer assumed that was not by chance.  These nanoprobes had been programmed to attack and possibly take over starships. The nanoprobes had been beamed aboard from the Newton in their containment unit.  Forcefields had been erected around it so that there would be no chance of them getting loose.  

And still, Sorvak didn't like them being aboard the ship and he certainly didn't like them in his science lab.  They were a risk and he didn't understand why the Captain had decided to beam them here.  The Newton was already contaminated, and they could have continued their investigation there.

Several science officers were inside the forcefields running tricorders over the nanoprobes and noting any details they could.

"Commander!"  One of them shouted.  "I think they're trying to adapt to the containment field." 

"Withdraw at once."  Sorvak ordered the forcefields down to allow his people to distance themselves from the containment unit. He was not going to wait until they actually did adapt.

"Commander?"  Another science officer came to stand by Sorvak outside the forcefields and handed him a PADD.  "We scanned the debris field again."

"And?"  Sorvak didn't take his eyes off the nanoprobes.

"You were right.  There are millions of them out there."

Sorvak accepted that bit of information with a slight nod.  "Widen the sensor sweeps around the convoy."

"Yes, sir."  

Sorvak tapped his combadge.  "Sorvak to the Bridge.  Captain, the probability of convoy-wide contamination increases exponentially the longer we spend time in this region. Until we leave, I recommend we calibrate our shield frequency to repel them."

=/\= 

Lt Cmdr Adrian Sorvak
Chief Science Officer
apb Mira 

 

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