Chapter One
Will held her grandfather’shand as he smiled at her.
His voice was whisper-thin.“We made it.”
“We did.”Will pressed his wizened hand to her cheek.
“I created something amazing.”
She chuckled.“You did.The Terran repair nanites are amazing and work so well to repair and replace.Nebel is really impressed with your inventions.”
“I am glad.It is good to leave you with a legacy.You know what to do?”
“I do, Grandpa.”She kissed his hand.“I will do it as soon as I am sure you are gone.To do it before would just be rude.”
He chuckled and smiled.“My little third.I love you more than anything.”
“I know.And I love you enough to stay with you through two years of hell and eighteen months of being on a world with mostly naked people.You didn’t have to go native.”
He grinned.“It was fun.”
“I know, Pop-pop.And I wanted that fun for you.”
“You need silence.”
“Solitude.There is a difference.”
“Your mother was like that.She loved quiet, and my boy was all mouth.”
“Well, that’s how I got here.”Will smiled.
“And you haven’t been paying attention to how kids are made,” he whispered.
“I read the pamphlet.”She chuckled.“I chose to disregard it as implausible.”
He smiled.“My Third.I have always been proud of you and your stubborn streak.”He cupped her cheek with a hand gone icy.“Will you miss me when I am gone?”
“No, because you are going to be with me all day and every day.”
He sighed and leaned back.“Good answer.”
He exhaled and inhaled slowly.It repeated, and she listened to that slow sound for an hour and a half.Eventually, the man she had spent her life supporting exhaled a rattling breath, and his heart stopped beating.
Will leaned back and folded his hands over his chest.She leaned over and flipped a switch, sending a notice across Bellen that William Armitage had breathed his last.
She took the vial around her neck and held it until Nebel and Lily came in.Nebel said, “His time here was short, but there was a tremendous impact on the population.His approach to nanomachines was inspired.”
Will nodded.“Yes, it was.Thanks to your use of his designs, he will live on.”
Lily smiled, her gold skin gleaming.“The basic repair is being used on several worlds already as a test.It is doing well.Humans are finally getting straightforward medical care that can undo what some of the more rural repair units have done.”
Will smiled.“With your permission, Nebel?I will finish his dispersal.”
The overlord nodded.“Thank you, Will.”
Will uncorked her vial and poured a fine sand over her grandfather.The body began to glow, then it went transparent, and then it was gone.The original nanites returned to the vial, and she closed it.“Thanks, Boss.”
Lily looked at her.“Boss?”
