Nano Religion

Chapter 1

The other side of the wide canyon glistened. It was wet with rain from the night’s storm and waterfall rainbows decorated the far Arizona cliffs opposite of him.

With the early morning sun at his back, Josh looked down into the canyon with a smile. The well-built 6'1" thirty-year-old held his black Stetson on tightly as the relatively warm updraft hit him in the face. His dark-brown hair undulated with the wind where it stuck out from under his hat and just over his ears. His brown eyes continued to admire God's artwork.

The air was strong and tried to lift the blue and orange ultralight off the ground that was next to him. The gusts were also blowing the dry brush and dust around. A few small tumbleweeds rolled by Josh and around his craft unnoticed.

Flying an ultralight wasn't just his hobby, it was more than that. It was one of the few things that gave him moments of freedom that he could enjoy. He was usually so busy with work that he really didn’t have much time for a personal life. At this point, he wasn't even thinking about his latest case. The city and his work as a detective were far from his mind.

He looked over at Mary. He was glad to have Mary there with him. They had been together for over two years, and they were very attached to each other.

She was pretty adventurous as well, with a climb to the top of Mt. Everest as one of her credits. She was accustomed to extreme sports and had tried everything with Josh from rock climbing to snowboarding. She was still working on flying, but a few more lessons from the local flight school, and she would receive her ultralight certification.

Josh shared his unsymmetrical smile with her; the right corner of his mouth raised just a fraction more than the left corner. It was a birth defect of some kind, which made him all that more attractive and charming for her.

And Mary was a sight to see. She was young, tan, and vibrant. Her short hair was made up of colors and highlights that went well with the red-brown canyon walls. Her large blue eyes popped out from her face. They were her most noticeable feature and Josh fell into them often.

The snug black leather motorcycle jacket, that she was wearing, highlighted her thin athletic form. At 5'10" and heels, she could look at Josh in the eye.

Some men are intimidated and feel insecure about tall or independent women. Not Josh, he loved Mary the way she was, strong and capable. She smiled back at him and tucked her hands into the front pockets of her Wranglers to keep them warm. It was a bit cool because it had reached about forty degrees overnight, and with it still being early in the day, it had only warmed up to about fifty five. She started to wade closer to Josh.

Some people consider flying ultralight aircraft as an unsafe hobby. However, technology has improved dramatically over thirty years, and it has made them extremely safe and reliable. They could now do things that people wouldn’t think were possible years earlier.

Ultralights were now made with various metal alloys and carbon-fiber materials which were lighter and stronger. These advances allowed a pilot to travel faster and handle tougher maneuvers. They would even allow someone to do what Josh was about to do.

Josh had performed loop the loops, twist, and rolls with his ultralight. He could also do a stand up, stall, fall, glide, and restart the craft with enough altitude. He was good, but this stunt would be a little different. Cliff face jumping an ultralight would be exciting. Josh figured that the 2600 foot sheer drop would give him plenty of room.

He threw the Stetson into the truck and went to set up the ultralight’s take-off position. He pushed his craft to the edge of the canyon, while unwinding the steel winch cable from his old black and dented 95' Ford F150 4x4.

At one time, the F150 with its V8 engine, had been the best-selling vehicle in the country. With recent government legislation and the agreement of the manufacturers, hybrids and electric vehicles would replace just about all the gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles within another six years. Hydrogen vehicle legislation was in the works as well. The tree huggers seemed to be getting their way.

Josh had a real attachment to this truck. Worn and battered as it was, it had been his for over ten years. It was his late father's before. He couldn't believe that this old piece of the American way of life was about to disappear. Damn politicians! Always caving in to some activist group, he thought.

Josh had already switched the gas-powered engine out with a less powerful battery-powered motor in the ultralight. No power at the higher end, but at least it had pretty good low-end torque. Josh never could get used to the quietness of an electric motor. A prop spinning at high RPMs would still be loud, but it wouldn't be the same.

He put his yellow battle scarred helmet on and climbed into his craft. He quickly checked his flight controls, gauges, and shook the main wing supports up behind his head. They looked good.

He turned the system on with a small brass key and flipped the red run switch upward that was next to it. The prop behind him started to spin. He moved the throttle forward. In less than two seconds he was at a full throttle. The hair from under his helmet fluttered backwards towards the prop. The restraining cable was pulled taunt as the ultralight struggled to pull free from the truck.

Mary looked at him, cupped her hands together around her mouth, and started to yell something. Josh, did you do the flight check?

He couldn't hear her over the prop. She repeated the question louder. Did you do a complete flight check? Josh still didn't hear her.

Josh was notorious for rushing things a bit. One time when they were parachuting in New Mexico, Mary checked their secondary chutes. Josh's wasn't packed properly and may not have worked if he had ever needed to use it. It could have been a disaster, an accident waiting to happen. Josh just brushed it off. Mary would typically double check things from that point forward. She didn't get a chance to check over the ultralight.

Josh nodded his head a couple of times, as if he heard her. He pulled the Plexiglas face guard down on his motor cycle helmet, took a look at Mary, and gave her a thumbs up. She gave a small wave and a thumbs up back to him with one hand. She mouthed, I love you, and motioned that she would see him at the bottom of the canyon.

He took a deep breath and pulled the lever which uncoupled the winch hook. The craft moved forward, tipped, and fell over the edge. He would need a few moments to pick up enough air speed to maneuver. Even though his heart raced, he wasn't really worried.

His speed quickly started to pick up. This was the equivalent of cliff face diving, and the face of the cliff was now becoming a blur underneath Josh’s feet. The bottom of the canyon was coming up fast as well.

Josh pulled on the yoke. He was surprised when it wouldn't move. He pulled harder, and nothing happened. Josh's stomach knotted and he looked around fast.

The controls had worked up top when he checked them earlier. He looked back underneath the left side of his seat and saw that a small piece of brush was lodged into the flight control linkage.

The throttle was fly-by-wire but the flight controls weren't. He didn't totally trust that type of technology.

If he stretched, he might be able to pull the brush out and free the linkage. He took a quick swipe, but it was out of reach, so his only alternative was to push the yoke forward for a second and hope that the linkage would free up. The thought of hitting the cliff face crossed his mind.

Josh pushed the yoke forward, and the brush flew free in less than a second, but he was already out of time and way too close to the face of the cliff.

The understructure of the ultralight hit hard off of the uneven cliff surface. A small outcropping removed most of his landing gear and forced the craft to angle crookedly. Josh pulled back hard on the yoke, and he started to get some lift from the face. It wouldn't be enough though, his altitude was running out, and the bottom of the canyon was coming up fast.

As the ultralight's nose came up, rocks and brush from the floor of the canyon ripped other pieces from under the ultralight that the cliff face had missed.

For a moment, Josh thought about a terrible motorcycle accident that he had seen on the web. A daredevil rider had cart wheeled over three hundred feet in the air after his Kawasaki had fallen short and hit the last car of a seventeen car jump. He would have flown further had it not been for a low-hanging cable which cut him in half during his flight. It had been the rider's last stunt, and he was dead on impact. Josh hoped he wouldn't suffer the same fate.

Josh then thought of Mary as a large boulder reflection filled his eyes. He said, Oh Mary. The ultralight hit the boulder hard. Its entire left wing was the first part removed as the ultralight made its impact.

The ultralight disintegrated as it flipped sideways and then rolled and tumbled across the canyon floor. Josh's body flew out at some point as his safety harness lost its battle with the stress and strain of the event.

Then, there was a muffled thud as his mangled carcass landed onto the side of a two lane paved road that ran close to the canyon walls. Parts of the craft were now strewn and scattered for over a few hundred yards, and Josh's body didn't move.

In a few minutes, a black Lincoln with dark tinted windows pulled over to the side of the road by Josh. Two men in dark pants, black shirts, and pastor collars got out and rushed over to Josh. The younger, red headed, recent graduate of the Seminary knelt down next to Josh and looked for a pulse around his neck.

Is he alive? the older standing man said.

The young man needed another moment and responded. Barely! What do we do?

Let's take him to the infirmary. It's his only chance.

Yes Father.

The two men made crosses over their chest and gathered the contorted pile that had been Josh a few minutes earlier. They dragged Josh over to the car and then rolled him into the back seat. The two men jumped into the front seats and accelerated quickly down the road past a large billboard.

Chapter 2

Mary had rewound the winch cable and secured it after Josh had taken off over the side of the cliff. She then threw some gear into the space behind the driver's seat of the F150. She turned around and looked over to where Josh had gone over the cliff. She wondered why Josh wasn't up above the canyon rim. She thought that maybe he was flying low.

She walked over to the edge of the cliff. She scanned over the canyon for a few moments and then looked down into its bottom. From that distance, it was all blue and orange confetti. No smoke or fire. There were just a few clouds of dust circulating above where the heavier parts of the ultralight had landed.

She recognized the debris immediately.

"Oh my god!" she yelled.

She ran to the truck, fumbled with the keys for a moment, and fired it up. She couldn't swallow as she spun the F150 around, hit the 4WD button, and headed down the dirt road. Her mind blew through all the thoughts that one has when an accident occurs. What went wrong? Is he hurt? Is he dead? Was it my fault?

She floored the pedal and took her chances on the narrow dirt road that lead down to the canyon floor. She was a good driver and lucky enough not to become a victim herself by driving off the side of the road and off a cliff. Mary was a very confident woman.

By the time Mary got to the where Josh had been, the Lincoln was gone. From her prior vantage points, coming down the canyon road, she had seen the sedan and could still see a dust trail pointing her in the right direction.

The F150 almost rolled over on its side as Mary turned onto the main road and raced after the sedan. Josh had maintained the F150 and had replaced the ball joints and most of the suspension just a week earlier. The new parts had done their job and had allowed Mary to keep from flipping the truck and becoming another casualty.

As she headed after Josh, she didn't notice the fairly new billboard on the side of the road that said Our Father, Our Lord, Ty Roman. There was also a larger than life image of Father Ty Roman in white and gold trimmed religious garb holding a cross. It was the older gray-haired man from the sedan. The large bold text underneath him on the billboard said Hospital of the Apostles, 5 miles straight ahead on the left. The latest in medical technology for maintaining and improving lives. Stop in for your next checkup.

Ahead, the Lincoln's tires struggled to maintain their grip on the road as the car swung into the hospital emergency entrance. Several orderlies ran from the building with a gurney. They had been notified earlier and had been waiting by a Welcome to Hospital of the Apostles of Roman sign for the Lincoln to arrive with its battered patient.

Josh was still unconscious and unmoving as he was transferred onto the gurney and rolled inside of the hospital. He was bruised and broken, and it looked like he was covered in several yards of wet, red tapestry. He was bleeding out.

While on the way to the operating room, various medical personnel attached machines, tubes, and instruments to him. The staff rolled Josh into an operating room and moved him onto an operating room table where doctors started working on him as soon as he was secured.

They immediately cut his clothes off with scissors and scalpels and started checking his vital signs. His bloody clothes were thrown into a red toxic waste bag for safekeeping.

The older man of the cloth, Father Ty Roman was watching from an observation room. He was calm and standing almost still. The Seminary Graduate brought him some green tea in a ceramic tea cup. He took the cup and saucer from him and nodded a thank you. He stirred his tea with a teaspoon in his aged spotted hand.

So, who is he? Roman said. He kept stirring his tea.

We pulled his wallet. His name is Josh Campbell. He's from Vegas.

Next of kin? Roman said.

We haven't found any yet. Cell phone’s got a password on it.

Keep looking.

Yes Father.

Two white mature male doctors were working frantically on Josh. They were trying to stop the bleeding, but they weren’t having much luck. Fluids were coming out faster than they could put them in.

A dark-haired portly nurse pushed a few buttons by the set of six large flat screens on one wall. As the skeletal images from different angles came up, the doctors looked over.

The x-rays displayed five broken ribs, three broken or shattered vertebrae, a femur broken in four places, and a mangled left forearm where the total damage was unclear. There were countless fractures in his skull along with swelling of the brain. Several of his organs were damaged and hemorrhaging, but because of some miracle, Josh was still alive. At least, that's what the monitors and computers said.

The doctors looked through the large glass window of the observation room, directly at Father Ty Roman. They held up their hands, asking what to do. Their patient would die in minutes if they didn't take extreme measures to save him.

Father Roman gave an approval by a simple nod and a soft wave of his hand. He would save the man's life and make him a member of his congregation over the next few days.

The doctors and staff moved quickly. One of the doctors made adjustments to the respiratory mask over Josh's face and then hit a bright green button on a control panel that was a few feet from the operating table. The mask fogged and glittered with the induction of nanos. Nanos are described as microscopic machines. With the extent of Josh’s injuries, he would need more.

Two other emergency staff members stripped off any coverings from Josh and threw an aerated translucent sheet over him. They then sealed it to the table with blue medical tape. Within the next minute, nanos, in a gaseous form, were pumped into the plastic cocoon. It swelled slightly in size around Josh. Nanos would permeate throughout his body in minutes. What the nanos would do once inside his body was a miracle of science and to some a miracle from God.

Mary took a chunk out of the cement barrier with the front end of the truck as she slammed the F150 in the compact parking space in the hospital parking lot. There were no air bags to deploy, because Josh's father had removed them a long time ago. It seems there had been a problem with the bags and true off-roading. A good landing off a mound or hill could result in inadvertent deployment. It was safer he had figured, especially if he had young Josh in the front with him, to remove the bags all together.

It was a tight spot, and Mary may have figured that the 09’ Civic LX on her right didn't need a driver’s side mirror either. It dangled by a few wires as Mary ran away from the truck towards the emergency-room door.

Once inside she ran up to the ER attendant. She was shaking. Josh Campbell was brought in here! Where is he?

Are you a relative, the attendant said. She tried to stay calm.

"I'm his girlfriend!"

The attendant politely argued back. Unless you are family I can't give you any information.

Mary wondered for a moment and then responded in a tone that got everybody's attention in the room. Even those with hearing problems turned and looked over to where she was standing. "Get me your supervisor! Now!" She wouldn't take this nonsense, and the attendant was immediately intimidated by this mad woman.

The attendant quickly dialed a few numbers and waited for an answer. Over by a large window was the seminary grad that had been taking a break and saying a prayer for Josh. He headed for Mary when he heard her shout.

Excuse me. I overheard you asking for Josh Campbell?

Yes? What's going on? Where is he? She started to cry as she spoke and the words choked off in her throat. Is he alive?

He looked over at the attendant. I've got this. You can hang up. It's okay.

The attendant placed the phone down, and the young man pointed to a hall.

Please come with me, he said.

Mary followed him over to a consultation room to speak in private.

Consultation rooms usually mean bad news. Mary had received the news of her late father's death in a room like this. She couldn't help but feel worse than she was already feeling.

Mary's eyes watered more, and she started to tremble slightly as she went into the small dimly lit room. She was guided to a plain brown cloth sofa chair by the young grad. He sat next to her in a small side chair. She was looking down as he took one of her hands in his.

He's alive, but he's not out of the woods yet, he said.

She looked into his eyes. He was telling the truth, but she was having a hard time digesting what was happening. The ether she was going into was normal. Some call it shock, but everybody who's lost someone suddenly, whether by natural causes, by an accident, or an act of God, would understand what she was going through at this moment. Her head felt full, her knees were weak, her lips dry, and her stomach knotted. She would fall down if she tried to stand back up.

He continued. My name is Brian McFadden. I'm a pastor for the Church of the Apostles of Roman. Father Roman and I found Josh on the side of the road. We saw the crash and rushed to get to him. He was broken up pretty badly, but he had a pulse.

Did he say anything?

No. He was unconscious. At last check, he still was. The doctors are working on him right now. And there was no next of kin, so Father Roman authorized extreme measures to save his life.

Mary's mind was gliding along and taking it in, when the words extreme measures sent up the panic flag. It confused her momentarily.

Her questions came in rapid fire. What are extreme measures? He wouldn't want to live as a vegetable. He told me not to do that!

McFadden interrupted her. It's not like that! It's not like that!

What then? What do you mean? Mary said.

Have you ever heard of nano-technology? McFadden said.

With a big question mark in her eyes, she answered. Yeah, little motors, no?

Exactly! But they've become extremely advanced. Advanced to the point where they can repair a body from the inside. That's what I'm talking about. And quite frankly Mary, it was the only way to save him.

Oh... Will it save him? Mary said.

We don't know yet. We could be too late. His injuries were pretty severe, and he's lost a lot of blood, he said.

Mary looked over at him with whatever hope she had. Her tears began flowing from her eyes and down her face. She started to shake and tremble.

McFadden leaned forward, and threw a comforting arm around her.

She buried her wet face