Dai Stihó

"Did it have to look like an apple?" he asked, looking at it with some apprehension.

"The designers have a sense of history, I suppose. Heracles and the Golden Apples from the Tree of Life, the apple from the Tree of Knowledge..."

"You mean the forbidden fruit," he interjected. "The one that was responsible for original sin?"

"Ah, well…that was most likely a pomegranate, and regardless, it was still from the tree of knowledge, just acquired…poorly. Now lay back for a moment, while the trace scans complete."

He shrugged and lay down. "Then there are the popular legends of poisoned apples, the apple thrown by Eris that started the Trojan War..."

Trailing off, he turned his head to the side and stared at the unassuming looking fruit sitting on the dull metal tray. On the surface, it looked every much its namesake, red and full, looking like the ones he used to pluck from the trees in his family's orchard. But this specimen in front of him wasn't the fruit that had sustained humanity for millions of years, but something completely new, something different.

Advancements in nanotechnology and genetics were responsible for the ‘fruit’ in front of him. The name was chosen quite deliberately - the apple was packed with nanoparticle sized robots that were supposed to go through his body and remove all the toxins and combat any foreign substances, restoring him to the pinnacle of health.

It was meant to usher in a new age of humanity, one free from disease – and possibly, from death itself.

 “Okay, Martin. Looks like everything checks out, the scans are active, and the cameras are rolling. Go for it.”

He reached for the apple. It was quite smooth to the touch, and heavier than a normal apple – denser, he supposed, because of what was inside. He saw his distorted image reflected back at him, and he paused, trying to discern all possible futures.

“Martin?”

He bit down, then, and tasted the acrid flavor. Nothing like an apple, this – and so foreign from something that looked so familiar that he almost vomited. But he forced himself to chew it normally – the scientists told him it wouldn’t hurt the nanobots – and swallowed. A bite, and then another, until most of the snow-white flesh was in him.

And then a burn, spreading from his abdomen, upwards and downwards. Convulsions. And finally, a blessed darkness.