Eventually, Jack and Mae realize that everyone in the facility except themselves have been infected by a symbiotic version of the nanobot swarms. These nanobots, although evolved alongside the other swarms, do not show aggressive predatory behavior. Instead, while they seem to invigorate their hosts' physical attributes and their emotional perceptions, the nanobots slowly devour and take over their hosts to produce more nanobots, and in the process affect their decision making and then the bots control them, while allowing them to travel and contaminate others.