"Terminating Nanites are a safe and effective. I simply do not understand why they haven't become the only game in medicine. Over the next hour, I will hopefully convince you, my dear doctors, that simple chemical adjustments are the stuff of cartels and witch doctors. With nanites, we are truly in God's playground. And isn't that what being a doctor is really all about?"
~Professor Vahn Kopeland, MD, PhD
Self Terminating Nanites
Terminating nanites are simply nanites with a time limit. At the end of their lives, they tear themselves into graphene oxide, which is harmlessly flushed out of the body if they were injected or leave behind a barely noticeable black dust. While it is possible for AI and Cybernetic connections to update nanite programming on the fly, this is a high-end feature and extremely rare. The majority of terminating nanites are purpose built and generally only good at the thing they were made for.
Uses
Terminating nanites are useful for both aggression and medicine. They can fight infections, patch injuries, diagnose problems, break down cell walls, build a small bomb, infect and destroy electronics, and dozens of other uses.
Nanodrugs
Antitox: This nanodrug consists of nanomachines programmed to break down toxic molecules. Because the bio-nanomachines can seek out, recognize, and actively destroy the toxin, this is more effective than chemical antidotes. It immediately gives another HT roll after injection to resist the effects of most poisons, with a +8 bonus. If given prophylactically, it grants Resistant to Poison (+8) for 24 hours. $400/dose. LC4.
Blankkit: This stimulates the metabolism to boost heat production, while also causing mild peripheral vasoconstriction to reduce heat loss. This confers Temperature Tolerance 2 for cold temperatures but also gives a -1 DX penalty and Increased Consumption 1 (double food requirement). Long term (one day), injection. $1,100/dose. LC4
Destruct Nano: These “khaki goo” bio-nanomachines disperse throughout the body when injected, then wait in a dormant state until triggered. The trigger depends on the exact brand of destruct nano, but various possibilities include: eating a specific food; sexual arousal; the touch of a particular person (whose genome was programmed into the poison), a particular chemical scent, or even the use of another type of drug or nano (either a specific type or any type). Once the destruct sequence is triggered, they immediately begin the job of sabotaging and dismantling cells. The victim gets an HT roll to resist every minute; failure results in 1d damage. This continues indefinitely until the victim is dead, or the poison is stopped by a nanotech counteragent such as Guardians.
Most insidiously, the nano can be switched off by another pre-set biochemical trigger. $100 for a customized dose with a particular trigger. LC1.
Focus: Focus is a common nanodrug used by workers in hazardous conditions such as wearing vacc suits in space or diving underwater. It makes the job safer by increasing the user’s awareness and reducing panic reactions. It can also make users too cautious to perform a job. Grants Perception+2, Fearlessness 2, and Careful. Medium term ([25 - HT]/4 hours), pill (HT-6 to resist). $160/dose. LC4
Hepaclean: This quickly removes the aftereffects of too much alcohol, curing hangovers and drunkenness by converting the acetaldehyde produced by the liver’s metabolism of alcohol into B-group vitamins and easily removed byproducts. It also restores normal brain chemistry to reduce hypersensitivity to noise and light. The pill cures all effects of alcohol and hangovers 15 seconds after being taken with several glasses of water. Often called "Please No" because the process is extremely unpleasant. $30/dose. LC4.
Veritas: This powerful drug gives the recipient the Truthfulness disadvantage for (25-HT) minutes. It can be resisted on a HT-4 roll. Injection only. $16/dose. LC2
Meddick: This tube of nanites flow along blood streams painfully fast, looking for damaged tissue. When damage is found, they put up bioplastic latticework and fill it in with their own bodies. The process is painful, as the nanites are self-propelled and travel faster than your blood, sometimes pushing past valves and stoppages seeking an injury. In HT-5 seconds, the nanites have found any ongoing damage and solved it, albeit with a patch than any sort of cure. The injury remains, but obstructions introduced into the body (such as lodged bullets) have been eaten away and any bleeding has been stopped. Meddick stops wound and bleed damage from accumulating, though the HP loss and any injury remains. Severe injuries (50% of Max HP) trigger a Shock roll if the recipient is capable of feeling pain. $28/dose, LC 4.
Transformational Nano
Aside from the
Necrotube and
Nanofab Tube, there are other ways to interact with a body using nanites.
Disassembly Nanovirus: Disassembly nano dismantles a person in a more precise and thorough manner than crude “gray goo” nano weapons. It also reports back to a central computer with coded and compressed data representing the arrangements of the molecules in the body. Storing this information requires at least a million terabytes for a human. The brain and genome maps require the most data, followed by distinctive physical features such as scars, fingerprints, and retina patterns. Bulk body tissue such as muscles and bones can get by with sparser data sampling. The nano will also record the presence and configuration of any implants. By itself there is nothing that can be done with all this data, other than running an extremely hi-def ghost mind emulation. Still, it can be a method of preserving all information about a deceased individual for future use. Applied to a corpse, disassembly is disconcerting enough, as the body slowly melts into a pool of writhing goo over 24 hours. A living person infected with disassembly nano suffers a high fever and agony. Once unconscious due to loss of FP, the victim loses 1 HP every 10 minutes until dead. An Aegis Nano may be able to fight off the Disassembly Nanos. $100,000, LC 0.
Reassembly Nanoproteins: With a complete molecular map of a body, supplied either by disassembly nano or a full body HyMRI scan, assembler nano can reassemble a copy of the body from raw materials. This requires a supply of organic matter and trace minerals twice the weight of the final body – dead bodies or compost work fine. The assemblers must have continuous access to the stored body data for the week the process takes. At the end of this time, the nano will have created a body indistinguishable from the original by any means short of a comparison at greater resolution than the data map. The body is not alive and will not respond to standard resuscitation techniques, but that can be overcome. $500,000. LC 2.
Reanimators: These nanomachines can resurrect dead bodies. Reanimation nano is smart enough to make subtle changes to body structure and chemistry to reverse any immediately fatal conditions. As well as returning the body to a viable state, it restarts neural impulses beginning with the autonomous nervous system that controls heartbeat, breathing, and other reflex actions. Once life support is established, the nano begins switching on brain activity and finally the voluntary nervous system.
This nano can be used in two ways:
Bringing a dead person back to life: If the nano is applied within 10 minutes of cessation of breathing, it can stabilize the brain and restore vitality without brain damage. After 10 minutes, the revived patient must make a successful HT roll to avoid brain damage, at a -1 penalty per hour of delay. Brain damage results in reduced IQ, and possibly mental disadvantages. Once the body has begun to decay significantly, the nano cannot restore life.
Reviving an inert body constructed by reassembly nano: Reassembly nano can keep the brain in a state identical to when it was stored after the assembly process has finished. Injecting reanimation nano at this point restores the body to life, in the same state as when it was recorded. Assembly and reanimation functions can also be combined in one set of nano for the combined cost.
$1,000,000, LC 2.
Nanite Weapons
Aside from those presented in the entry on
Nanite Swarm Weaponry, there are other options for doing bad things with nanites.
Nanoburn: A weapon using a suspension of nanomachines designed to invade the body and break down bodily functions, Nanoburn is effective against all carbon-based life forms. A HT-6 roll is required to avoid being paralyzed for three minutes x the margin of failure. If paralyzed, the victim takes 1d-1 toxic damage every three minutes over the next 30 minutes. Normal nerve poison antidotes are ineffective, but the drug Torpine stops the damage once taken. Aegis Nano is effective. $5 per dose. LC
Splatter Nano: Each “dose” contains thousands of cell-sized nanobot
S-C60 microbombs that circulate through the bloodstream. Upon command or after a programmed time delay, they explode and rip apart the victim’s arterial system. Splatter inflicts 1d toxic damage after it has circulated for at least a minute through the body. Each extra minute spent circulating in the body adds an extra +1d damage, to a maximum of 30d. Multiple doses increases the damage, e.g., three doses do 3d per minute to a maximum of 90d. Splatter comes in either timed or remote-control versions. Remote versions are triggered by receiving a specific coded radio pulse. Aegis nano may be able to hunt down the splatter nanomachines before they detonate. Roll a Quick Contest of Skill each minute, with both nano types having a skill of 12 if they are TL11 or a skill of 14 if they are TL12. Each time the Aegis nano win a contest, the detonation damage is reduced by -1 per die. If the Aegis nano win six times, the splatter nano are exterminated. The splatter nano may also detonate before the
Aegis nano can extinguish them. For instance, suppose a dose of splatter is set to go off after a delay of five minutes. The Aegis nano get five contests of skill. They win three and lose or draw two. That means that damage becomes -3 per die, or 5d-15 instead of 5d. $100 per dose. LC2.
Shrike: Shrike nanomachines track down and eliminate defending Aegis nano, clearing the way for other intruders. Each minute that shrike nanomachines are in the body, roll a contest of skill between the shrike nano and the Aegis nanomachines. If the Aegis nano wins, one dose of shrike nano is killed. If the shrike nano wins, the Aegis nano in the target’s body is killed. Otherwise, they are still fighting. Aegis nano defends with a skill of 10 at TL10, a skill of 12 at TL11, and a skill of 14 at TL12. Shrike nano have skill of 12 at TL10, a skill of 14 at TL11, and a skill of 16 at TL12. Their skill can be upgraded by doubling the number of doses the subject is injected with. Each doubling adds +1 to skill. If a user is impatient, shrike can be used simultaneously with other forms of invasive nano, in the hope that the shrike kills the Aegis nano before Aegis destroys the invaders. $500 per dose. LC2
Dominator: These nanomachines enter the body, trick their way past the blood-brain barrier, and reconfigure deep neural structures in the subject’s brain, altering his personality. This technology is similar to Instaskill. Each dose of dominator nanomachines is designed to permanently instill (or erase) a specific mental disadvantage or set of mental disadvantages. It only affects mundane mental disadvantages that are not self-imposed and that do not require a particular subject or object. Dominator nano often instills Amnesia, Cowardice, Non-Iconographic, Pacifism, Paranoia, and Slave Mentality. Dominator nano has a six-hour delay and requires a HT 6 roll to resist. Failure results in the victim gaining (or losing) the programmed disadvantage. Superscience (TL12^) versions of dominator nano take effect after only a minute’s delay. Dominator nano’s effects are permanent, but can be canceled by other nano, psych implants, etc. The attack has no effect if the user already has that disadvantage, or if he doesn’t have the disadvantage that is to be erased. Dominator nano costs $100 times the combined value of the mental disadvantages. For example, erasing or adding a-5-point disadvantage would cost $500 per dose. At double cost, dominator nano can reverse the changes it has wrought after a specified duration has passed. Some types of dominator nano erase disadvantages that a society finds offensive, or add those it considers desirable. Such types are LC 2 and may be available to licensed physicians. Other types are LC1.
Parasite Seed: A parasite seed is a template for a
Bioplas Nanomorph. To be activated, the apple-seed-sized capsule must be injected into or swallowed by an organic life form. It then releases nanomachines that begin transforming that being, using its body mass as raw material to construct a nanomorph. Each hour, the subject makes a HT-4 roll. Any success kills the parasite seed. Any failure reduces the victim’s HT by 3. When HT is reduced to 0, the victim dies and his body is transformed into that of a nanomorph: apply the nanomorph template. The parasite seed includes the nanomorph’s own AI, which overwrites that of the host’s mind. It may also trap and store his mind as a ghost program. $10,000 per dose
($100,000 for mind-trapping seeds). LC1.
Biohack Aerogel: A black gel made of lighter-than-air terminating nanites that establish clusters around certain glands and nerve clusters, allowing remote access and partial vulnerability to
IMPs, ECHOs, and H.Exes even in fully organic people. When the target is explosed to a dose of the aerogel, they must make a HT-4 roll to resist it. On a failed roll, it takes the Aerogel 1 minute to set up, at which point the target must make a HT-1 roll to avoid being infested. The Aerogel remains in their system for 25-HT hours. Biohack Aerogel has no effect by itself, but can be interfaced with wirelessly to upload
Malicious Software.
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