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1.42% Evolutionary Liberator / Chapter 1: Chapter 1 Leaving, Or Running?
Evolutionary Liberator Evolutionary Liberator original

Evolutionary Liberator

Author: Sdrawkcab

© WebNovel

Chapter 1: Chapter 1 Leaving, Or Running?

Panting hard, Dustin dodged the punch and slammed his shoulder into a pillar behind him, causing him to grunt in pain, and throw his hands up in surrender.

"You're getting slow, old man," said the boy in front of him with a wide grin. Kit was grown, a man in his own rights, and the people followed him like a true king.

Dustin took off his gloves, annoyed that he had lost, and threw them onto the bench. The pain was already gone, his healing having taken care of it already.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" asked Dustin, taking a swig of his water.

"I could ask you the same thing," said Kit, taking his gloves off and setting them down.

"I'll be fine."

"It's mom, isn't it?" Kit didn't look at him, but it was obvious the topic was not a good one.

"Don't mention Olivia. I don't want to talk about her."

"Alright. I understand. How about we go one more round before you have to leave?"

"No, I've put this off for too long. It's been fifteen years! If I don't go out and start getting the rest of our people, there won't be any more to get."

"The nanobots have been doing an awesome job retrieving them without you."

"Look, Kit, I know you don't like me going out and doing this, but I am not king material. All these people constantly needing their hands held drives me crazy. I have to go."

Kit looked down at his water bottle, seeing that it was almost empty. "You should ask her to go with you."

"No. She can rot in hell." Dustin tossed his bottle onto the bench, next to his gloves, and headed for the door.

"Dad," called Kit, and Dustin paused. He hadn't called him dad in a long time.

"What?" he asked, not turning around. He couldn't see the lost look in his eyes that he knew was there.

"I'm telling mom."

XxxxX

Dustin sat in the pilot seat of his new ship. He had finished building it last week and the preliminary tests had all come back that morning in the clear.

"Computer, how many locations do we have lined up?"

The voice that answered was the voice of a station AI that had been rescued by Dustin before its station had been blown up by aliens, "There are forty-three locations left where Uz'En have been identified and labeled irretrievable by the nanobot overmind."

"Forty-three? I thought there had been forty-five?"

"One location suffered a setback during an altercation between the two races that claimed the planet, and all life was lost. The other location has gone missing."

"Missing? Like the whole planet is gone?"

"Yes, and the star that was in the solar system as well. I believe it may have exploded, though there were no signs for such. Perhaps it was helped along?"

"Maybe. That sucks. I should have left last week, when I finished this boat."

"It's a good thing you didn't," came a voice from the back of the bridge.

Dustin cursed as he jumped out of his seat.

"Get the hell off my ship!"

Olivia stood in the doorway, with her hand on her hip.

"Or what? You're going to kick me off?"

"Yes!"

"Too late, I sealed the door. You'll have to restart the countdown and that could take another week, unless you don't mind messing up some of your precious city leaving?"

Dustin gritted his teeth in frustration. This was Kit's fault! That damn brat couldn't keep his nose out of places it didn't belong!

"If you threaten Kit, I'll kick your ass out the airlock and make you fly back home," she growled.

Swallowing his words, because that was exactly what he had been going to do, he weighed his options. Every since Kit had said he would contact her, Dustin had been hoping she ignored it. The fact that she was here confirmed that she still cared.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, softer but still in a growl.

"I plan to accompany you on this little adventure, and make sure you survive to see your grandkids."

"It's too dangerous. You know I don't plan to come back. This place is perfect for our people, but it's not the place for me."

"Don't you think I know that? It's going to take you years to get all of these people rescued. Especially now that the nanobots can't be used like before. You know that you can't do this alone. These AI's are smart, and useful, but they don't compare to me. I can't be shut down with an EMP, or whatever that new device they've come up with is."

Dustin ran his hand through his hair and glanced back at the waiting computer terminal he had been sitting at. He had originally designed the ship for two people. If Granny were here, he would have asked her to go with him, but she was still gone trying to find others of her kind.

"Look, I know you hate my guts, and that's my fault. I'm sorry. I should never have done what I did. If I could undo it, I would, but I can't."

Dustin refused to look at her.

"I had hoped," he started then stopped himself, shaking his head.

"I know. I never did get those memories back. The original Olivia is well and truly gone. I'm sorry."

He turned to look at her, hoping his eyes weren't red. He had only cried once, but he would be damned if he told her that.

"Can we be friends?" she asked.

"Hell no, get off my bridge," he said gruffly, turning and throwing himself into his seat.

Olivia stood there, watching him for a while, before turning and leaving the bridge. He waited to hear the door slide shut before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked the AI, softly.

"No, start the engines. Let's get off this planet and save some people."

The countdown began and he felt himself pushed back into his seat. This was a horrible idea. He should have restarted the countdown and waited another week instead of allowing her to come along. She had left him, and now she was forcing her way back into his life.

The truth of the matter, that he never intended to return, was the reason she came with him, not because she had any feelings for him.

"I am preparing to jump," said the AI.

Nanobots streamed out of special ports in the front of the ship, forming a ring very quickly. He watched as they activated and a portal to the other side of the galaxy opened up. It was time to get serious about his promise to save everyone who was Uz'En.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Sdrawkcab Sdrawkcab

This is the third in a series, so if you haven't read the first two books, please look for them. The first is Evolutionary Prison, the second is Evolutionary Convict.

This is the preliminary chapter, to let readers get the story into their libraries. Expect more chapters to begin June 10th, 2019.

Chapter 2: Chapter 2 On The Edge

The ship floated in space, no close planets or stars were in sight. Dustin studied the diagram that was floating in front of him, trying to decide which planet to go to first, when the door behind him opened.

He didn't move his body, to let her know he heard her, but he closed his eyes for a moment.

"Where are we?" she asked, as if walking on egg shells.

"On the edge of the galaxy," he answered, harsher than he knew he should have.

"Because…?" she asked after a moment.

"There are forty-three planets that still have Uz'En on them. I'm trying to decide which one to go to first."

"Only forty-three? I thought they were scattered all over?"

"I was able to send the nanobots to rescue a lot of them, before the nanos became blockable."

"That's pretty cool, though I still don't understand how anyone could block the nanos."

Dustin looked at his diagram, obviously annoyed by her series of questions. She waited patiently for him to answer, then sighed and sat in the second seat.

"Look, I'm with you through all of this, whether you want me to be or not. I need to know things to be able to help."

"You didn't need to know anything ten years ago when you left!" he snarled, turning in her direction. His face gave away his feelings, and he knew it.

She averted her eyes, and he stormed out of the room. She wasn't too worried about him, because there were only a few places he could go to.

"Computer, tell me what happened, please?"

"Two years ago, it was determined that the nanobots the A'Dfukl used, had gone rogue, due to the problems with their home planet. All of the galaxy's governments began to develop ways to override, block, and destroy the nanobots. Dustin was able to get around a lot of these problems, but forty-five planets have been too difficult for him to deal with at a distance. Two of those planets have ceased to hold Uz'En, but that still leaves forty-three."

"Thank you," she said, sitting back in her seat for a moment to think. "How's he doing?"

"I'm sorry, Olivia, but he has forbidden me to talk about him to you."

Olivia chuckled at that. That was the Dustin she remembered. "Does he talk about me?"

"I'm sorry, Olivia, I am forbidden to talk to you about him," the computer repeated.

"Fine," she said, standing up and looking over the diagram that he had left up. "Which planet is closest to us?"

"The trash world of Uvojic."

"Tell me what you know about it."

"The Uz'En were dumped on the planet, in the hopes that the nanobots would not go to their home world, but the protection they have placed around their solar system to inhibit the nanos encompasses the trash world. Personal intervention was required to retrieve the people."

"Sounds simple enough. If they threw the people away, then they shouldn't mind if we liberate them."

"It's not that simple," said Dustin, standing in the doorway, watching her.

Olivia frowned. She hadn't heard the door open.

"Why not?" she asked.

He walked up, without answering, and double tapped the icon for the planet.

"The Uvojic throw away everything to this planet, and yet still see it as an important part of their space. Everyone who has gone there, has been killed without a permit. I've been working on getting a permit, but it's incredibly difficult to do."

"Since when do you ask permission to take things? The Dustin I remember would waltz in with his cloaked ship, grab the people, and blast his way out."

"You left that Dustin, remember?"

"So, you changed for me?"

"Hell no!"

"Then?"

"I'm not the same. I have people I care about now."

"Kit."

"Yes."

"Yet, you weren't planning to go back…"

He didn't answer, only sat in his chair and began to type into his console. She watched him for a moment, then sat in her chair and strapped in. She could see on her console that he was typing in the commands to take them just outside the Uvojic space.

"Cloaking," said the computer. "Initiating jump sequence."

A few moments later, they floated just outside the space of the Uvojic. The solar system had three planets that were habitable, and five that were not. One of the five was marked as the trash planet.

"They've only been able to survive because of the PED's I was able to get to them. They've been surviving on the trash itself."

"Sounds awful," she said, zooming in the best she could on the planet. It wasn't close enough to pick up the actual surface, but she could see that there was very little atmosphere, and no water.

"It is. I'm still not sure how many survivors are left."

"Let's zoom in and grab and run."

"The laser fields they have positioned around the solar system are designed to detect nanobots. I can't fly the ship in at all."

"Could we go, ourselves? Or would our nano PED's be detected?"

"I think we could."

"The space worm form?"

"The energy eater."

As they stood up to head to the air lock, Dustin realized they had fallen back into the old pattern of survival. Watching Olivia head to the airlock excited for the challenge, he suddenly realized why they had separated.

Being king meant he had to deal with the people, and stop living. There was no adventure, no challenge that caused the adrenaline rush that she had always craved. She may not have the memories of their past, but he did, and he could remember all the times she did stupid dangerous stuff, just for the fun of it.

Knowing the truth of the matter, didn't change what had happened. He knew she didn't love him. She loved the challenge of surviving, and there had been no challenge. He understood all of this because he had missed the rush too. Kit was probably the only one who had understood.

Damn, why did the kid have to be so smart?


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