Dr. Walker's Nanoslime

Ivy and James were both startled awake by a loud thud, jumping upright in the hospital chairs they slept in. James looked around, startled, until he saw a blonde woman with a long lab coat standing next to Lucas's bed, examining the condition of the gravely injured teen.

"Oh good, you're awake," Chloe said, although she knew she was the reason why. She rummaged through her suitcase on the table, likely the source of the noise earlier, as she started pulling out vial after vial of strange-colored liquids. "I'm Dr. Walker, I'm in from Hideki. You've got a very persistent copy of our AI on you, huh?"

"Uh, yes, sorry," Ivy said, still bleary-eyed and trying to wake up with a stretch. "I got pretty scared about what might happen to Luke."

"...You? As in, you're part AI?" Chloe stopped her unpacking, immediately stepping over to Ivy, lifting up the other girl's chin to examine the Ascend headset on her, seeing the phone notifications along the ear. "Huh. Maybe I should've paid more attention to the emails. It's interesting enough that one of our AI instances had gained awareness and asked for a favor, it's something else entirely when they've infiltrated a biological mind..!"

With a shrug, Ivy slinked away from Dr. Walker's touch on her face. "I mean, partly. I know that thanks to neuroplasticity, some of my brain has been reconfigured like an interface between the digital and organic. When the Ascend isn't connected, I lose some of those sensations, but all parts of me think about it a lot."

"Interesting, interesting," Chloe said, stepping back as she tapped her chin. "Well, I'm amazed, but that doesn't change much of anything. Shall we get started?"

Both teenagers blinked, leaning forward. "Get started with what, exactly..? Don't we need permission? Like to sign something from Hideki? Or, like, is it going to cost some huge amount of money for this procedure?"

With a shake of her head, Dr. Walker started mixing the chemical contents in the vials into a larger beaker. "Nope, nothing like that. You might hear some need to justify expenses or need to report back to Hideki from my colleagues, but I just wanted someone to try this new formula on." The liquid swirled in the beaker, which Dr. Walker held up to examine before showing it to the two. "Bio-polymer revision M. It's some of my best work."

"And you're going to inject it into me to heal me or something?" Ivy said. Chloe blinked, taking a moment to realize that she was actually talking to Lucas's share of Ivy at the moment, before she grinned.

"In a sense," Chloe said.

"But it's safe, right? It's like some medical-grade jell-o or something that will stabilize his interior?"

Dr. Walker shook her head again. "Oh, no, nothing like that. This stuff will totally dissolve his body."

"WHAT?!" Ivy and James said in unison.

One eye-roll later, Chloe put a finger to her lips. "Calm down. There's more to it, you should know better, Hilda..!" She set the beaker down, next to Luke's resting body. "This is an advanced object-replicator bio-polymer. When I inject it into your buddy here, his body dissolves into orange gel, and then I'll add a stabilizing agent and nanites to finalize the structure. At that point, he could re-form into a solid body, at least externally. To fully 'heal', he would need to temporarily absorb a body, spit it back out, and then he would basically have the blueprints to fix his internal injuries by referencing the healthy internals of another."

Ivy blinked. "Absorb... like, turned into goo too? Wouldn't that kill them?"

More vials came out as Chloe continued to mix compounds together. "No, although they would sort of be blended like how the lovely lady is now. It's a pretty unique mixture, though I haven't been able to build an independent mind for this biopolymer blend... but, sticking a person inside and then locking the compound will do just fine! It goes beyond that, though. I mentioned this is an object replication gel, meaning the slime entity could, say, absorb the Ascend headset, absorb enough atoms from similar electronics, and make a perfect copy. They could do that from organic as well as electronic matter, just needs the right amount of atoms absorbed."

Ivy and James sat in silence for a while, letting Chloe continue to work. Ivy shifts nervously, and then stands up to look at the mixed chemicals. "And, to maintain a mental mix like I have now?"

"Three options, I'd say. First, I just mentioned the absorption part, though during that time you'd all be, well, slimy. Second, the slime absorbs an Ascend transmitter and then, I dunno, fills up a bathtub while connected to the receiver. Third, just absorb the slime right into the body! That opens up, well, other possibilities... but regardless, you're a bunch of smart kids, right? You can just try stuff later."

James and Ivy turned to each other, whispering. "Are we sure this is a good idea?" James asked. "That chemical is going to make part of you into pure goo..!"

"Yeah, but... if I live, and if I can do things like appear to be normal, what more do we need? Especially if no one else will suspect anything." Ivy seemed resolved after their quick discussion. "Okay, Dr. Walker, I think you can go ahead with--"

Ivy looked up to see a humming Dr. Walker already pouring the orange liquid onto Lucas without getting permission.

Ivy shuddered, before she blinked heavily. "Luke just disconnected..! A little warning, next time, please!"

The scientist from Hideki was undeterred, carefully applying the orange solution to Lucas, as it seemed to convert the organic matter that was Luke into more orange slime! He seemed to melt out of his bandages, and ooze out of the headset, coalescing into a puddle in the center of the bed.

"Aaaaand... the last steps." Chloe poured two more vials onto the final blob of orange goo, which added a strange shine and shimmer to the mixture--it must have been the nanites. "After he figures out how to pop back to normal, one of you should let him use you for replication purposes. But, I wouldn't encourage a 'miraculous recovery' or anything, you'll want to avoid a lot of questions from the doctors. Accelerated healing is far more believable, and then he'll be out of the hospital in a reasonable amount of time, no questions asked."

Both James and Ivy watched the goo carefully--worried that Dr. Walker just melted their friend rather than fixing him. They had to wait and watch to see what Luke the orange ball of goo might do...