Page 27 of Ensnared By the Rabbit Genius
“Same,” Owen said.
Squire was chewing, but he nodded and held his hands up as he did a little dance.
“My mate,” Quincy said, “has a self-thrusting cock. I will never not hop on that thing every chance I get.”
That revelation startled a laugh out of the rest of us, and I’m pretty sure we all paused to imagine it for a moment.
Owen cleared his throat. “Back to the task at hand, what if the commander could provide something like the nanobots that was actually for everyone?”
I frowned at him. “The nanobotsaren’tfor everyone?”
“Well, no. Some people don’t need them.”
“And they can’t help other people,” Quincy added and knocked his knuckles on his thigh.
Right, I remembered now that Quincy had a prosthetic leg and the nanobots couldn’t help with injuries like that if they weren’t brand new.
“Okay,” I said, “so something that wouldn’t hurt anyone—obviously—but that could benefit literally everyone on the entire planet.”
“Yeah, like…” Squire looked down at his plate. “A food maybe? Something easy to grow anywhere?”
“A way to easily make clean water?” Logan offered.
Quincy pointed at Logan. “Like from saltwater.”
“Or a new way,” Owen offered, “to make something that isn’t environmentally friendly now but could be if we made it the Norlon way.”
“Oh!” Squire exclaimed. “Did you know they grow the rock used to make their buildings on Nor? And when it’s cut really thin, it’s flexible enough to also use to make ships like this? They grow it in all sizes and shapes for each individual project.”
“Well, damn, that’s cool.” I thought about that for a second. “Actually, that’s something that might make both NASA and theFBI happy. You know? They asked for tech, but that’s kind of close.”
“And,” Logan added, “once they learn how to make the engines and fuel and whatever else, they’ll have the stuff to make the ships ready to go.”
“Fuel,” Squire said. “Lord, I can’t tell you how often I was stuck walking somewhere because I couldn’t afford to put more’n a gallon or two in my car. And the Norlons are out here making theirs from sea water.”
“Hold on,” I set my fork down with a clink. “They’re making fuel—rocket fuel—from sea water?”
Squire gazed warily back at me and nodded.
“They could still gate-keep that,” Quincy said as he munched his toast. “Not everyone lives near the coast and can scoop up a gallon of saltwater because they need to go to the grocery store two towns over.”
“And if you can’t make it in your kitchen,” I said with a nod.
Logan added, “Plus, what about converting all the engines to use the new fuel?”
“It would get everybody out of the Middle East, though,” Owen said with a one-shoulder shrug.
My mind was racing with the possibilities. “Adding pumps to the nanobot distribution centers could be a thing, couldn’t it? They’ve got lots of them all over the place and could add more. Then they control the production and distribution.”
“The engines, though,” Logan reminded me.
“Sure, but if the fix is easy and any mechanic could do it…”
“They’d want to get paid,” Quincy said. “Some people would be shut out of it then.”
I sighed and we sat in silence for a while then, finishing our breakfasts. The food was actually really good. I hadn’t expected much, equating it to being on a plane, but it was tasty stuff.
“They’re not using, like, food synthesizers, are they?” I asked the table in general.
