That was interesting, but there was implied information there as well. For this process to work, for the host to be able to duplicate him and run multiple instances, Ivan had to be running as a virtual machine on top of some other computing layer. So there was a computer, for want of a better word, hosting Ivan. And, therefore, a lot more in his head than just him.

Scary thought. It meant Ivan was not the owner of his own body, but a tenant. A guest. And he could be suspended or even deleted.

Best be polite to the landlord.

* * *

Ivan carefully watched the video of a computer being disassembled. This was the third run-through, which he hoped would clue in his host to pay attention. As soon as the video finished, Ivan lay down on the bed to stare at the ceiling. This was his signal that he was waiting for communications.

Within moments, an image appeared. Ivan recognized it as one of the nanites that Dr. Kemp and Chief Engineer MacNeil had identified. As he watched, the nanite was joined by others of its kind. Then the image zoomed in on one particular nanite, scrolling inward until the edges of the nanite were off-screen, so to speak. An image of a CPU and memory modules from Ivan’s video appeared, overlaid on the nanite’s innards. Then the picture zoomed out to show that every nanite had the same parts.

Oh, wow. Alien computers 101. I’m getting a guided tour.

The first takeaway was that there wasn’t any kind of centralized processing. Each nanite contained a full computer system, which meant everything ran on a distributed network. There was no “brain” as such. Ivan might not even be, strictly speaking, in his own head anymore.

The train of images continued, becoming more and more detailed, and less comprehensible. Ivan quickly realized that lesson two was going to involve new technology, if not outright new physics. This could take a while.

36.Discussion

36.Discussion

Dr. Kemp had been dozing off when his phone rang. He sat up and grabbed it. “Kemp.”

“Hi, Doc. You busy?”

It took Kemp a moment to recognize the voice, with the sleep fog still making his thoughts fuzzy. Finally, it clicked. “Oh, hi, Ivan. What’s up?”

“Well, last time we talked, you said to let you know if things came into focus. Or if things changed.”

“Okay. Of course, I’m not really in charge of your care, anymore. But I’m still interested.”

“That’s okay, Doc, I think I’m just looking for a familiar voice. The ICDC doctors are all business, all the time. I’m a specimen to them.”

“They’ve never known you as a human, Ivan. They probably aren’t quite sure how to deal with you.”

“Well, maybe, although I get the feeling they’re all about the disease and not so much about the patient.”

“Could be. But that’s their job.”