Chapter 6: Sound & Color, Page 22: Cheers & Jeers - Bite Mark
Posted January 28, 2022 at 12:00 pm

Donna Turner was part of a research team working on a way to regenerate brain cells using nanotechnology. Organic nanobots would be able to restore damaged neural pathways returning the brain to a healthy state. The applications were endless. But a breakthrough always seemed out of reach. The nanobots never seemed to focus on just damaged areas but also would significantly affect healthy areas as well. There were programs that could potentially solve this issue but Donna and her team soon discovered that the best results would come from someone piloting the nanobots. 

Consumer telepathic interfaces didn't really allow for fine control of anything. The team had to build an experimental rig to best achieve their goals. Donna volunteered to be the first to use it for the first test. The rig seemed to be working better than expected. Not only could she guide the nanobots with her thoughts but it was like she was actually inside of them. It was almost as if they were a part of her. She was ecstatic.

Unfortunately, this joy didn't last. The rig overloaded setting off a terrible feedback loop that left Donna braindead. But Donna also lived on. The sudden severance of her human mind from the nanobots left her consciousness within the bots. Donna wasn't even the first person to have their consciousness transferred into a network or machine(s). John Stevens is widely considered the first one to do it having uploaded his mind to the Internet in 1997.  Of course, this is often something of a lossy process. It definitely was lossy for John but given the circumstances, it was even lossier for Donna. Donna was still missing a lot of what made her Donna. She had fewer inhibitions for one thing. 

The nanobots couldn't last forever. They had to be constantly replaced. They were typically grown. But if you fed them organic matter it would accelerate the process. Donna soon realized it didn't really matter where that matter came from. And now having less qualms about certain things it didn't take very long for her to set her sights on her team. 

Donna came to the conclusion that her existence wasn't going to get any better unless she made it so. She saw no reason not to just do whatever she wanted. To follow every whim. To satisfy any urge. She'd simply eat anyone who got in her way. 

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