Sitting in the bus he remembered the day he got his powers. His whole world changed, his friends distanced themselves in an instant as if he was a plague. His parents lost a bit of their light, though they still remained supportive.
His power fell under Technomancy Grade F which was the lowest among the 8 known grades of power. The power was in itself very interesting, he could control all devices smaller than a quarter. He could do this to anything that was 3 feet from him. He was a God to all the chips in the world. No electronics were immune to his control within the 3 feet. But the farther he was from the object less power he had, his power worked best if was touching the object.
In a world where people could shoot fire from their palms, he was a glorified smartphone. That was 10 years ago. Raj could increase his grade but that was too expensive for even the mayor of the city. Even Bridgette could not afford the Power up treatments.
Even with all the limitations, Raj was happy to have been born now in this age where technology bloomed. Cell modification and Nanotech had reached levels that 400 years ago were fantasy. With so many powers, science had bloomed into unheard levels.
With an IQ of over 200, Raj believed there were only Trash people and not Trash powers. He started researching how to improve his powers. Part of his research into improving his powers led him to read many academic papers from the past.
He experimented with Nanites. Since Nanobots were smaller than his limit by millions of times, he was sure they would work. He failed when he realized he could not give them the energy they needed to run. Also, above a certain quantity, they were poisonous to humans.
His solution to this came from a dead technology from the past. It was Synthetic Biology. The concept was simple, create an artificial cell that can self maintain, reproduce and evolve. These cells will have Nano batteries inside and engines that would allow them to move in his body. These cells will have Nano weave in their structures that would allow them to be flexible and near indestructible.
His initial experiment was to create a small batch of these cells in his body and replace all his skin, muscles. He would then move to his bones and other organs.
Raj reached home in another 20 - 30 minutes.
"Mom, I am home," Raj shouted entering his home.
"I cooked dinner and it is on the table" shouted his mom from the backyard garden.
He had his dinner in minutes before rushing to his room. He found the apparatus with the Synthetic cells he had programmed this morning. There was also a syringe on the table. It looked gray and almost alive.
Inside this syringe were 15 million synthetic cells. Each of these cells was controllable due to their electronic control components. This was the moment he had been waiting for his entire life. This pill contained his hope for a future. He would either be a dragon among men or a fish in a small pond becoming food for others.
He sighed and injected the grey liquid into his arm and sat on his bed. As soon as the cells entered his bloodstream they came alive. He could hear almost 15 million devices in his body reacting to his power. To these cells he was God.
He directed the cells to both his palms. Once there, he focused on the center of his palms where it started replacing the top layer of his skin. Small skin flakes started falling from his palms. He commanded the Syn cells to replace all the cells on his palms.
He should have indestructible skin on his palms if things went according to his plan. His palm started getting Grey as the Syn cells started taking over them.
Three hours later, both his palms had a grey sheen. His initial tests were successful. He concentrated on his palms to turn the synthetic cells transparent. His palm returned to its normal color. The synthetic cells allowed him to do more than to change colors, and have extra tensile strength.
By his rough estimates, his palms were bulletproof and tear-proof. He should also get a certain level of temperature resistance as well. Raj picked up a knife and swung at his palm. The knife could not cut through his palm. He still felt pain because the nerves and muscles underneath his skin were still normal human cells. He felt gratified by the progress. The next thing he needed to do was to do this with the topmost layer of his skin comprising of dead skin cells.
He needed to get a lot of carbon for the nano-structures and some trace minerals and nutrients. He would be able to find this in a lot of the nutritional supplements and he can get more of these materials. He went to the garage downstairs for some of the nutrition media he kept around for his experiments. Although his parents were Grade F, they worked as middle management at small firms. They allowed him to conduct his experiments without any issues as long as he used his pocket money for them.
Each of his experiments used basic materials and was inexpensive. This would change but for now, it was cheap. He went to the cell media he had prepared for the experiment. It was in a tub. He would sleep in the tub tonight. The nutrition media will get absorbed into his body with the synthetic cells in his palms. The speed of assimilation exploded as the number of synthetic cells in his body grew. To not interrupt the process, he would be under deep sleep with the help of drugs for anesthesia.