“The operating theatre was illuminated by blinding lights, from the very same robotic tendrils which had rotated around Elizabeth’s head a decade earlier. But now she was awake, and she could sense what was happening with a greater perception than any of the humans in the room. The printing nibs were building up a base and support structure which would hold the form as it manifested. Edward leaned down to whisper, “The first stage is going to be an injection of fungal culture into the speech centre of the brain. Did you know fungus can grow in the brain? Fungal threads can interlace with neural pathways. They can stimulate and even control thought. Insects can have their minds displaced entirely by germinating spores. Until the Internet happened, fungal webs were probably the most information-dense networks on the planet…”