Nano Contestant - Episode 1: Whatever It Takes by Leif Sterling Page A

turned it over in his hand. “What is it?”
    “It’s a carbon alloy material. It’s extremely strong, but can it can also be reformed. Press with your index and thumb.”
    Roland pressed. The cylinder telescoped to be five feet long. Roland looked surprised. “Wow. Cool! It’s light too.”
    “Yes, it is. Now press with your middle finger and thumb.”
    Roland pressed again. This time half of the cylinder telescoped back up into the bottom of the handle, but the top half grew wider and thinner. Roland turned it to look at it. It was flat and thin, like a blade. “Now it’s a sword?”
    Lincoln nodded. “Yes, it can be programmed to nearly any shape. I’d like Skylar to take a look at it and see how we can integrate it into your systems. I think with your ability to create 3D models quickly and accurately, this weapon could be a real game changer for you.”
    Roland changed it back into a regular handle. “Does it have a receiver?”
    Lincoln shook his head. “No, but we’ll order one for it.” He went over to an old dry erase board that was on the wall. “Every day from now until game day, we’ll work on running, climbing, fighting, strength and mental. Skylar tells me you’re not at full replication yet.”
    Roland came over by the board. “Yep, that’s right. Every day I’m gaining percentages of improvement.”
    Lincoln drew a grid on the board and wrote down the categories. “Roland, every day I’m going to push you to your limits. If you aren’t training, then I want you to be eating to give that nano cell replication the maximum amount of nourishment. If you aren’t doing those two things, I want you to be sleeping. Nothing else matters.”
    Roland crossed his arms and nodded. “Train, eat, sleep. Nothing else matters.”

C HAPTER S IXTEEN :

    755

    TRAIN, EAT AND sleep was all Roland did for next the twenty-seven days. Skylar and her friend Angela worked out the communication issues and got a private network set up that could communicate via radio or satellite. They were even able to experimentally send data through light pulses.
    Angela developed a new interface that allowed Roland to control nearly all the aspects of his nanotech system from within his brain. He could direct thoughts and commands to the system to be instantly executed.
    Roland trained hard every day. Each day he got faster and stronger. Coach taught him the exact spots to inflict maximum damage to his opponents with the least amount of effort. His carbon alloy weapon was always with him. Once the new receiver was installed, Skylar and Angela were also able to create an extra interface for controlling the weapon. It now interfaced directly with his nano system. Most of the time, he could easily change the weapon by thinking of the 3D shape he wanted, but sometimes, it seemed to have a mind of its own. Coach said it was good enough for the time they had and suggested he name the weapon. The carbon alloy then became known as Charlotte.
    Finally, the day for the Pinnacle Tech Games arrived.
    Roland, Skylar and Coach went to their team’s area at Pinnacle’s headquarters. It was a plain white room, but it was quiet and isolated from the other teams. They all toted in the computer equipment from Roland’s house.  
    Skylar had it plugged in and set up in a few minutes. “Comm check, comm check.”
    Roland inhaled deeply. He could hear Sky in his head. “I hear you, loud and clear. How’s my other signals?”
    The english accent of Hobbes could be heard. “Good morning, everyone.”
    Skylar went to typing on her holographic terminal before Hobbes could finish. “Hi, Hobbes.” She studied the graphs of the signal outputs. “All right, Roland, all your signals look good.”
    Coach was also looking at the graphs. “Your heart rate is elevated, Roland.” Then he smiled.
    Roland bent his leg up and stretched his thigh muscles. “Yeah, I’m nervous.”
    Coach nodded. “I know. It’s ok. It means you’re human. This is a