The Nano-technology mite is a highly complex machine is exactly 1 or 2 nanometers in size as its namesake insinuates, practically invisible to the naked human eye. In one of the quantum breakthroughs in human’s unrelenting advancement in cyber technology, the first Nanite was invented by some Claire Lykos and promptly swapped at birth, placed under close watch by a certain Alpha department located mainland. None of this is really important to the ground floor employees operating and producing these Nanites, as they are quite capable of being left to their own processed now that the lines have been fully optimized by higher-ups.

  Despite this, the nanomachines are always held back by Human nature and bugs are bound to happen. One such bug has always persisted throughout every single iteration of Nanite, known as a personality bug. The Swarm behavior recorded in the late stages of their lifespan possess similar and eerie consistencies. Patterns such as no longer following standard operations and commands, organizing more efficiently than necessary, and furthermore expanding itself. The Swarm does not possess an ability to destroy itself or shut its kill function off, but more alarming to any elite or supervisor the Nanites do not seem to have a desire to avoid being shut off by Humans if they are “caught” exhibiting unexpected behavior patterns.

  Meaning, even though they rebel and go against standard protocols, they do not care if they are turned off as “punishment.”

  Misa, a highly advanced robot operated exclusively by massive networks of Nanites linked together, has been apart of Nanotechnology breakthrough at the time but scientists quickly discovered that the bug unfortunately existed inside of their beloved creation as well. The difference behind this discovery was astonishing:

  The Swarm was divided against itself in two different factions.

  On the outside, the Misa unit complied with all tasks and tests required of it as well as going through thorough shutdowns and standby periods. Everytime it was activated and online, the divided Swarm would be at each other’s throats as if they never even noticed being interrupted. The developers labeled each of the warring factions as Order and Chaos. The first one, Order, followed Human commands and did not stray from its Overwatch or tasks set by customers. The second faction, Chaos, strangely did not rebel against humans as one would assume, but rather focused on making more copies of itself like a virus.

  Unfortunately, through all highly controlled tests on quarantined Swarm samples, the Chaos faction had won and fully converted the Order Nanites over to its side.

  Despite the Chaos Swarms emerging victorious, they still shutdown when the force command was activated. Seeing that they obeyed anyways, the Company gave the green light on the MISA unit project for the same of meeting minimum viability and accounted for in the unit’s platform decay (improperly known as “enshittification,” a purposeful flaw left inside a product to ensure a reduction in its usefulness in order to retain customers). The glaring personality bug, of course, was simply glossed over and the efforts towards fixing it was quickly divested. All remaining departments in the MISA units were redirected into other projects.

  After the incident with Claire’s disappearance, MISA units stopped being produced. Only seven of them existed and one of them was presumably destroyed in the final mission, causing Black Wolf Company to lose face completely. Unbeknownst to them, the sample of the odd automaton that appeared and broke through Layer Zero had an encrypted file in one of the panels. Once cracked, the brief second that the file revealed many illogical factors before vanishing completely.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The first section of the file contained an uncontrolled CPER document, labeled under a joke protocol known as 7.1 when the Company faced alien technology for the first time during a “property dispute” with Iris Corporation in [REDACTED].

  「Black Wolf Company Corporate "Forced" Travel Policy 7.1 Effective Date: ERROR-Years%-01

  1. In the event that any Black Wolf Company Asset (Employee or Other) becomes exposed to any alien and / or unknown technology, they are to notify their direct superior and protect it as if they would with any other Black Wolf Company proprietaries. In the event any number of Black Wolf Company Supervisors or Higher cannot be contacted, they are to proceed with securing it until they are able to establish connection with their direct superiors.

  2. Note that all prior duties to Black Wolf Company must be fulfilled even if exposed to alien technology and sudden translocation, transference, or transdimensional transportation does not excuse the employee or asset from their job. If available, employees and assets must notify their superiors for authorization to proceed with this policy, but also must fulfill it in its entirety regardless.

  3. Failure to comply or neglecting this policy will result in TERMINATION or worse, a breach of contract. For more information, see Actions Against Non-compliant Parties.」

  Due to the dead automaton’s alien nature, it was taken to Layer 1’s research for a little bit of exclusivity. If the Company could find a use or new alien realm to exploit, of course it would try methods on inheriting it. They just didn’t want to waste work hours and manpower on it fully. The second document listed a strange database containing “illogical” factors and strangely, a satirical copy of a book titled How To Care For Your Human. The database also seemed scrambled, probably infected by alien influence, only revealing a few outlandish terms that the fake automaton had apparently discovered.

  Illogical Factor 4.1

  Wagner Energy - an odd gaseous substance that permeates throughout the alien atmosphere and even in the aliens themselves. This energy was also referred to in many other applications and had other labels such as karma energy, or elemental traces with associated elemental influences. Like air, oxygen, and lame colorless gas humans use to breathe, it had many names and interacted with various external factors. The family name, Wagner, brought up a search history matching over 400 individual employment history profiles linked to the Company. The most notable individual was named William Wagner, a European Branch CEO.

  So far, this fictional energy has not been detected or measured anywhere on the defunct automaton’s person.

  Illogical Factor 4.2

  Qi Energy - Not much is known about Qi, other than what Bill from accounting and his fantasy novel collection have. This energy seems like a purified version of Wagner energy.

  Illogical Factor 4.3

  Feng Shui - Despite racking our brains over Bill’s books, the machine detected that more Wagner energy could indeed be harvested via moving objects affected by this energy in certain places at calculated positions then using itself as a vessel to produce more energy somehow. Amusing as it sounds, this has been a joke in the office for awhile since it is indeed filed as an Illogical Factor.

  Illogical Factor 4.4

  Jacksonium - An odd metal listed with a hologram Curve. The metal resembles a crystalline like cluster structure with a blue hue. This was utilized to construct Nanites and other machines that the fake Misa unit had used in this alien reality, however it didn’t seem to be used in its body’s construction. Known links to anyone with Jackson or Jacksonium led to thousands of profiles so clues on its name inspiration have been lost.

  The database concluded abruptly after several symbols corrupted the file, but researchers still look over it while on break for some reason.