"Nanobots. The scientists were experimenting with nanobots. Microscopic robots that can be programmed to perform tasks that would otherwise be impossible. One of the applications they were experimenting with was disposal of hazardous chemicals. Because the nanobots were created from a material impervious to virtually every known substance, they could be programmed to break down the chemicals on a molecular level, changing them into harmless substances like nitrogen, oxygen, water... They were even able to build more of themselves with the component molecules.
"But something went wrong. And they didn't stop. They stopped being able to recognize the substance they were neutralizing from any other substance. And so they set about to neutralize everything. Metal, wood, glass, plastic, even flesh. They started breaking down everything in accordance with their programming. And they kept building more and more nanobots with the same faulty instructions.
"The only thing they didn't seem to destroy was each other. By the time the scientists figured this out, three million people had been killed and over a third of the planet was reduced to that... wasteland that we saw. The only solution they came up with was to fool the nanobots into seeing everything as one of them. All the buildings, the tools, the machinery -- everything had to be built with a certain percentage of the particular metal the nanobots were made from. Plants and trees, the water supply, even the people are all inoculated with it as well.
"Everything on this planet, everything that you see, has it inside them, protecting them from the nanobots."
no subject
"Nanobots. The scientists were experimenting with nanobots. Microscopic robots that can be programmed to perform tasks that would otherwise be impossible. One of the applications they were experimenting with was disposal of hazardous chemicals. Because the nanobots were created from a material impervious to virtually every known substance, they could be programmed to break down the chemicals on a molecular level, changing them into harmless substances like nitrogen, oxygen, water... They were even able to build more of themselves with the component molecules.
"But something went wrong. And they didn't stop. They stopped being able to recognize the substance they were neutralizing from any other substance. And so they set about to neutralize everything. Metal, wood, glass, plastic, even flesh. They started breaking down everything in accordance with their programming. And they kept building more and more nanobots with the same faulty instructions.
"The only thing they didn't seem to destroy was each other. By the time the scientists figured this out, three million people had been killed and over a third of the planet was reduced to that... wasteland that we saw. The only solution they came up with was to fool the nanobots into seeing everything as one of them. All the buildings, the tools, the machinery -- everything had to be built with a certain percentage of the particular metal the nanobots were made from. Plants and trees, the water supply, even the people are all inoculated with it as well.
"Everything on this planet, everything that you see, has it inside them, protecting them from the nanobots."
He looks away from her, then.
"Everything but us."