Mod Superhero

Chapter 5.30 - Cheating the System / Clara 2

Emmett stared at the notes he'd scrawled in the nanites on the kitchen table.

"TINA... There are different types of manufacturers, right? Some for blood, some versatile, etc?"

"Yes."

"Are the manufacturers limited by a total number or does each subtype have its own limit?"

"Each subtype has its own functions, and therefore its own limit."

"Can we create new types of nanites?"

"Yes, with enough time and research."

"Can I create more subtypes?"

TINA didn't answer. He wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. Could TINA break herself with logic?

"It appears that you can create more subtypes..."

Emmett smirked. Both Athena and Clara had stopped to stare at him. An episode of Full Throttle Heart: Redux was paused on the TV. Al, the foul-mouthed barbarian, was frozen with his axe in mid-swing.

Clara asked Emmett, "What are you trying to do?"

TINA interjected, "Each subtype will require resources to control. Creating more subtypes will take even more resources."

"And that would be a problem, but we can stack subtypes. Stack them and create a subroutine to run them all the same way. We can bypass the manufacturer limit!"

Athena raised an eyebrow. "What are you on about?"

Emmett drew out diagrams on the table as he explained. "TINA and I are generals on a battlefield. Manufacturer nanites are colonels. Controllers are majors. Builders are soldiers. There are technically limits on how many of each TINA and I can support. But there's a loophole...

"There are different types—different units—of nanites. The ones in my blood are different from those in the table. I have a unit for each of these functions.

"The important part is that none of Dr. Venture's limits matter. The only part that matters is all of the limits are based on the unit. He left room for us to create more units—more types and subtypes. If I wanted to, I could make fifty different types of blood nanites."

Clara was leaning over the back of the couch now. "Yeah, but I think you missed the part where those limits are for your own safety."

"That's the thing—the danger isn't from making fifty different types of blood nanites, it's from trying to coordinate all of those fifty different types. I'm not going to do that though. I'm going to pretend I'm making fifty different types of my regular nanites to get around Venture's limits, but in reality, they'll just be doing the same task. We're still coordinating a bunch more colonels, but only giving them one set of orders."

The group stayed silent, and all eyes fell to Emmett's phone—to TINA.

"It will be inefficient, but it should work," she replied hesitantly.

"Better than being completely stalled."

"You'll quickly run into problems with scale and complexity."

Emmett nodded. "The more nanites we control, the less complicated our commands can be."

"Correct. We will need to do more testing. Trying to control a large swarm could still compromise other units of nanites, such as the ones that maintain your bodily functions. Again, there is also the chance of irreparable damage to your brain and mine."

"No worries, TINA. We'll be careful." Emmett met Clara's eyes, and her cheeks flushed. TINA wasn't the only one he was being careful for.

"You better be careful," Athena replied. "What about Gray Goo...? Isn't there still a risk of a runaway whatever you mentioned earlier?"