Backstory: At an intergalactic scientific conference, Dr. Julia Drake presents her Ph.D. thesis on nanite-mediated genetic modification and falls for Dr. Brandon Smyth, a renowned expert on cleaning up polluted planets. They are offered a job to save the planet Laced whose inhabitants face near extinction. But before they land on Laced, Brandon reveals he belongs to a band of anti-genetic modification radicals who overrun the ship and attempt to destroy the mission. Julia chooses to stay aboard with the doomed crew and miraculously survives. She has now returned to her home in Nairobi.

* * *

No stranger to dive bars, Julia looked around the dumpy hole in the wall and shivered. Dark, minimally furnished, and dirty, it screamed clandestine meetings to humans and aliens alike. The status of Laced must be worse than she imagined for her best friend to insist they meet here to talk. Shay's scientific, government, and family connections ran deep and Julia had made a serious mistake.

"Julia," said Shay with a look of concern then sent Julia's stomach into a knot.

Shay, a born leader, cut to the chase. "There are rumors that a group of murderous hoodlums on a five-solar-system killing spree landed on Laced and witnessed a fate far worse than their own brand of psychopathic horror."

Julia stared at Shay unable to speak, trying desperately not to vomit.

"Your nanites are out of control," said Shay. They are replicating at unprecedented numbers and taking over any life form they come across. Like mechanical parasites, they invade their host and restructure its DNA. They rebuild the host's body with any material they come across which renders its brain dysfunctional.

The resulting biological-mechanical hybrids are virtually indestructible, rerouting damaged body parts through bizarre encrypted circuits. The hoodlums shot them with every weapon they had. But, in the end, all but one of their gang were overrun. The lone survivor turned himself into the authorities after over a decade on the run."

Oh, God, though Julia cradling her head in her hands.

As if reading her mind, Shay replied, "You've created monsters, a planet of nanite zombies."

"I just wanted to save the Lacedian race from extinction," sobbed Julia. She had created the nanites to help sixty Lacedian embryos survive in their planet's polluted atmosphere. It was intended to be a temporary measure until a formal cleanup process could restore the planet to its former health. Lacedians were self-sufficient after birth, but nannies were supposed to stay on Laced to keep the nanites in check.

"After my ship crashed, killing the nannies, I panicked and just left the embryos," said Julia. She'd been so idealistic and naive. She had to admit she had acted selfishly too, wanting to prove her nanites, could succeed in such a large undertaking.

"I need to fix this," said Julia. "If it's the last thing I do."