"Jim, we need to talk," Sarah said sheepishly. "Sharon here caused an accidental breach in our nanite security. We only caught on just now as we were talking about our clothes. We've determined that we were both 36Cs just the other day, and today we're more like 40Gs."
Jim nodded, noting (as dispassionately as possibly) the increase in their busts, but as he face Sharon she asked "Jim? Have you been working out?"
"You had better take off your shirt, Jim," Sarah advised.
Jim obeyed and was startled to see, not only that his overall muscle tone was clearly improved, but that he now had substantial pectorals.
"Men have breasts too, so it's happening to you too ... but at least it's more evenly distributed through your muscles, starting in your pectorals."
"Maybe this has stabilized ... ?" Jim hoped in vain.
"Maybe," Sarah hedged, "but we need to be sure. If we can contain this somehow without causing a panic, that would be ideal. I've punched up ID files of everyone in this building, so that we can decided whether they've been affected or not."
Because the nanites were partly radioisotopic, yielding a gentle but distinct radiation signature making them fairly easy to detect, and magnetic qualities making them susceptible to be magnetically shepherded back into a container, the researchers were soon satisfied that their equipment had safely corraled their own nanites. Now they had to see if any stray nanites had managed to find anyone else. They each took the necessary equipment and split up three ways with a gentle cover story of simple scientific precaution.
Jim felt odd as he went out into the complex. Galatea Pharmatechnic prided itself as "advanced health by women for women," and he knew full well it was probably some politicking on Sarah's part that got him to be the token male in this otherwise all-female headquarters. Under other circumstances he might have been intrigued by the task of comparing his fellow employees to their online ID photos, but this was both delicate and serious ...
Sun Apr 10 10:46:08 2011