"Messed up knee, broken rib," I began. "Bloody nose, probably broken too. Bruises and cuts all over, and a nasty bite on my right arm."

"You feel really hot?" she asked.

"Yeah," I began, blinking in surprise. "You know why?"

"That shot I gave you to heal your foot," she continued. "The heat means the nanites are still active. They repair damaged tissue by burning body fat to extract hydrocarbons and energy from the process. It's simply to keep from having to inject stuff into the host that's self-powered and actually has more potential energy than they do. The heat's the side effect. You'll have to be careful for a while."

"Explain," I all but ordered. Warnings in relation to me had a tendency to mean problems I didn't like.

"I geared them to your metabolism, and for your foot." Washu instructed. "Not anything larger or more complicated than that. I had them programmed to repair the damage at the optimal speed for the foot injury without causing impact to your system. Based on the injuries you just described, I calculate you'll be sweating half a quart of water an hour and will probably burn through four pounds of body fat by the time the damage is repaired."