Nanobot flies. The concept was radical, so much so that hardly anyone else believed it was even remotely possible. They weren't flies, of course - these were micro machines that had the potential capability to rebuild or recreate anything, organic or inorganic. Marcus had devoted the past three years to patiently working out the obstacles. The biggest issue was programming - he had almost cracked the problem of complex coding by adopting a hive mind concept from insects. The microscopic nanoflies did not have the capacity for the trillion trillion details involved in restructuring at the atomic level. However, by linking them into a giant computer farm, the capacity and capability grew exponentially. Now he was only limited by the number of nanoflies, and even that issue was rapidly solving itself. He had programmed the machines to duplicate themselves, breaking down available matter into needed materials. If his estimates were correct, he would have enough nanoflies created in another two weeks to actually try something. For now, he pulled out the heavy thermos that contained his life's work and just stared at it.
"Whatcha got there?" Marcus was startled as Alex came into the room. Billy followed, his green hair a stark contrast to his brother's red mohawk. The once identical twins had taken great pains to be different from each other, literally if you considered the many piercings.
"Oh, nothing. Just some soup if I got hungry." Marcus didn't want to admit he was sneaking research out of the lab.
"Sorry you got roped into watching us." Alex sighed. "Mom and Dad are freaked by our punk look, and last time they went out Billy got a tattoo. So we're grounded." "Hey, you got one too!" complained Billy. "We just didn't tell them about it."
Marcus grinned. "I'm glad to see you guys, anyway. Howze things going?"
The three talked about school and piercings and work, though Marcus was careful not to reveal too much. The twins sat on either side of him, occasionally tracing his ear or nose with a finger and saying how great a piercing would be there, or a cool tattoo here. Marcus' hair got tousled into a mess, and while he felt a little awkward with the two teenagers hanging off him, the young man was glad they still felt close to him. "You guys still have any Legos?"
It turned out that both still had big collections - Alex had just finished a Lego Bugatti and Billy was working on a James Bond Aston Martin Lego kit. He was led upstairs by Billy while Alex went to the kitchen to grab some sodas. On the way back tot he bedroom, Alex stopped to check out Marcus' thermos. He was sure there had to be booze in it, but when he twisted the top open, it seemed empty. Sighing in disappointment, he left the open thermos on the table and went to rejoin his brother and Marcus.