After a rogue scientist interfered with the orders of nanomachines in orbit, they still lived, attempting to execute their incomplete orders. Thought to have been destroyed by a meteor headed towards them, they were still there, attempting to fulfill their incomplete order, exterminate, return to life, and reproduce. They eventually fell from orbit, designing themselves to become a virus. They succeeded. The virus, newly christened as the 'zombie' virus, continued. Their zombies were strong, fast, had quick reaction times, and thermal vision. They were designed for combat. When flesh was lost during the changing, it was to make more nanites.

But, forty floors beneath the Stass Industries lobby, those many years in the future, there was a scientist who had been brought from suspended animation. Over time, he did many things, but his crowning achievement was dimensional heterodyning. He might not be able to save anyone else, but humanity's achievements would be known.