Crime in the 26th Century

In my book, Virgo, I describe an assassination where the assassin injected nanites into the bloodstreams of the victims. These nanites used the victim’s own blood as a feedstock to manufacture the toxin that killed them, the nanites eventually dissolving and leaving no trace of their existence. Is this possible? I believe so.

Nano-particles are being developed for many uses even now to perform various functions including targeted drug delivery for cancer treatment, regulated dispersion of drugs into the bloodstream for other medical issues and to assemble microscopic structures.

In fact, our bodies already contain nanites. They are called ribosomes, and they assemble DNA and other complex proteins for our bodies to function.

Scientists have conducted experiments that replace genes in a cat to produce genetically modified behavior and GM seeds for cereal and other food production are common in the world today.

So it’s not inconceivable that people will misuse nanites to the detriment of humanity in the future, including the crime I described above. But other crimes might be for mass murder — spray nanites over the opposition’s army to wipe them out.

Drug dealers might use nanites to synthesize designer drugs for the black market.

Could nanites be used to change people’s features, fingerprints and other biometrics so they imitate someone else while they commit a crime and revert to their original appearance and biometrics afterwards? They might use nanites to construct microscopic machines to pick locks or eat away barriers to gain entry to secure locations.

Spies might use nanites to relay secret information from one location to another. The person might carry it to their contact in their bloodstream.

But using nano-technology isn’t the only innovation criminals might use in the future. They might strap rockets, or whatever propulsion systems humans end up developing in the future, to asteroids to kill others traveling in space. A rather crude and low-tech crime, but I’m stretching my imagination here.

Venturing into more outlandish crimes, maybe criminals could hide the proceeds from a heist in inter-dimensional space until “the heat cools off.”

Could someone teleport to a location by producing a clone of oneself at that location to commit the crime, the clone dissolving into dust afterwards to cover up who committed it?

I’m sure I could brainstorm more crimes for future criminals to commit, but I’ve used enough creative skill for now.

I hope these devilish ideas don’t get me in hot water and get me locked in an inter-dimensional prison!