Chapter 15: Chapter 15 Finding Granny…Maybe
"That's the third planet we've been to, that's been decimated. There's nothing left alive on any of them. This feels a lot like someone's a step ahead of us, killing the Uz'En," said Olivia with an exasperated shake of her head as the ship jumped away from the solar system.
Every planet that had shown life on all of the reports, for each of the solar systems they had been to in the past hour and a half, had been devoid of not just Uz'En, but also plant and animal life. The scans had shown nothing living on any of them.
"Shall I jump us to the next system?" asked the computer, as they floated in dead space.
"The next planet on the list is a desert world used for mining."
"Yes, the reports state that the Uz'En were being used as mining slave labor, and the guards around the planet were sufficient to keep the nanobots from rescuing them. I believe they had a net around the planet itself, because the minerals they were mining were worth so much."
"Is it legal?" asked Olivia, wondering if she could just bust in, grab the Uz'En, and bust out without breaking laws.
"In that sector, it is."
She sighed, giving up on the guns blazing option.
"There has to be a way to get them without sneaking in. The last time almost got me killed."
She thought for a while, running through different scenarios in her head. She could try to pretend to be an inspector or something, but she wasn't very good with that sort of stuff. They would probably be able to see right through that.
What if she took out their system? If it dropped the net over the planet, she could fly in and try to get the Uz'En before they got it back up.
"Any idea how many Uz'En are on the mining planet?" she asked, sitting up and looking at her console.
"No. The nanobots were able to determine that there were Uz'En on the planet, but not how many there were. We would have to scan from orbit to get specifics."
"Then that's where we'll have to start," she said with another shake of her head. Why did this have to be so complicated? She was sure that if Dustin were here, he would have a wonderful idea on how to get these people out.
Several minutes later, they were floating cloaked, above the planet. The spike of energy from their jump gate had alerted several patrol ships, but they couldn't scan the ship with the cloak that Dustin had built onto this thing. Olivia was both relieved and impressed.
"Scans reveal that there are only a handful of Uz'En on the surface of the planet, and around thirty Gooblens. One of them may even be Granny Gooblen, but I am not completely certain of that."
"How can you be so sure it's her?" asked Olivia, shocked that the system could be so accurate when scanning from orbit.
"The signature that I scan for is unique to the individuals. I am capable of scanning for specific broad signatures, as well as very specific ones. Every since Granny left, Dustin has been waiting for her return. He informed me that should I scan for anything, I am also to scan for her, and her people, in the off chance we run across them."
"So, are they all together?" asked Olivia, excited to be able to rescue them, if it really was her.
"It appears that there is only one mine currently active on the planet, probably due to the unstable conditions of the mineral they are mining."
"How unstable is it?" asked Olivia, suddenly rethinking her strategy of swooping in and back out.
"The mineral itself isn't unstable, the minerals that are commonly found around it are. Too much force in removing the desired minerals can result in explosions that can kill a person, and destroy the desired minerals."
"Sounds annoying. Why do they have to use slave labor? Surely it would be easier to have robots or some mechanical device mine the minerals?"
"Any electronic field can set off the surrounding minerals. Only a living individual can safely harvest the minerals that are mined here."
"Well, fuck. How am I supposed to get these people off the planet if I can't use nanobots or anything?"
"It appears that there is a camp set up not far from the mining location in order to bring food and pick up the collected minerals. If you time it right, you might be able to collect the people during their drop off times?" suggested the computer, showing her a picture of the camp site.
It looked like they only took a small ship down, just big enough to drop off the necessary supplies for the slaves, and to bring the harvested minerals back up, and nowhere big enough to handle the slaves themselves. They must have brought in a larger ship, and made the slaves march in to the mines from a distance.
"What are the chances that Granny still has functioning nanobots?" asked Olivia, an idea starting to form in her mind.
"If she still has any nanobots inside of her, they would be out of fuel. Granny would not have been able to recharge her nanobots as a Gooblen, because only the Uz'En are capable of doing that."
Olivia nodded in thought. She had an idea, but it required her being able to get the ship through the nets surrounding the planet. Judging from the instability of the landscape around the mining operation, the nets were probably to ensure that debris entering the atmosphere didn't set off a chain reaction. There were enough potholes and old rubble on the surface to attest to previous mishaps.
"How hard would it be for you to hack the computers controlling the net?" she asked.
"It would take me a couple hours to successfully hack them, without being detected."
"Good, I want you to bring them down long enough for us to go through them, have them come back up, like it was a blip in the system, then have it come back down at a prearranged time, again, long enough for us to escape."
"That is a complicated job you are asking me to complete."
"Can you not do it? I thought Dustin upgraded you to do things far more difficult than that?"
"Oh, I can do it, don't get me wrong, I just wanted you to know that you have some pretty high expectations of me."
"Of course I do! Dustin reprogrammed you."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Sdrawkcab Sorry about no chapter yesterday, I didn't have the time to write at all. If I have time today, I'll try and get an extra chapter out to make up for it. Thanks for reading!
Chapter 16: Chapter 16 Qart
"I have managed to hack into the system. I am going to make the blips, where the ship passes through the net, appear as if collisions occurred against it. That appears to happen frequently enough, no one should look twice."
Olivia watched as the ship was brought right up against the net, it dropped and the ship hopped through before the net went back up.
"The next blip is scheduled for five hours from now. We have to be here, waiting for it to blip, in order to make it through."
"Alright, thank you, computer."
Olivia took over control of the ship, and steered it towards the mining camp.
"Wait! If you get too close to the actual mining area, the electronics on the ship will react with the materials below, causing an explosion. Let me scan for an area that would be safe for you to land," said the computer.
After studying the map that was brought up, Olivia landed almost a mile from the camp. She was going to have to hike all that way and bring them back in around four hours, to ensure she could escape when the net blipped.
Leaving the ship, behind, it didn't take her very long to find that a ship with supplies was at the landing pad ahead of her. Hiding behind some boulders, she watched as it hovered, and lowered a large wooden box with a rope. A group of the prisoners, a few of which she was sure were Gooblen, attempted to race up the rope before it was disconnected, but it was cut and the ship sped away.
Approaching them cautiously, she watched as they noticed her, and waited for her to reach them.
"Who are you?" asked a man, who she couldn't tell if he was human or not.
"I'm here looking for Granny Gooblen and any Uz'En that might be here."
"Granny is back at the camp, probably trying to build another ship. She crashed the last one into the net, and somehow survived the fall," said the guy with a shake to his head.
"How do you know Granny?" asked one of the other Gooblens.
"She raised my king from a young boy," Olivia said with a smile.
"Ooo, she really does know Granny!" laughed another of the Gooblens.
"You said why you were here, but not who you were," said the man, planting his feet stubbornly and crossing his arms.
Olivia couldn't help but notice the muscles that bulged on him, or the hard glint in his eye.
"My name's Olivia," she said, "Are you an Uz'En?"
"Maybe. I've been called a lot of things. What does it matter if I am?"
"I was sent to rescue the Uz'En and the Gooblens, but only if Granny was with them."
"You can leave then, because we don't want you." He turned and started back towards the camp, without a backwards glance.
Olivia gaped in shock as the Gooblens rushed to catch up with him.
"Wait, what do you mean by that?" she asked, rushing to catch up.
"You are a racist piece of crap, for only wanting to take some of us off this dirtball. I'm not wasting my time if some of these people are going to be left behind merely because of what they were born. You can either take us all, or none of us."
She could tell he was dead serious. He hadn't stopped while talking, still walking at a fast pace.
"But what am I supposed to do with the non-Uz'En? My planet only allows Uz'En on it, and the Gooblens are only allowed if Granny is with them. I can't change that."
"How about you use that pretty little head of yours. Has it occurred to you that maybe we don't want to go to your damn planet? How many other Uz'En have you taken, who didn't want to go?"
"Most of the Uz'En we've taken, have been horribly traumatized because they were seen as property, not actual people."
"And what do you think you're doing?"
He looked over at her, as if making a point, and she opened her mouth to continue arguing when Granny popped her head out of a hulking mess of metal.
"Olivia? What the hell are you doing here?"
"Granny! Thank God! We've missed you back home," she said, moving towards her, away from the annoying man behind her.
"How could you? You were too busy chasing after imaginary mushroom men to pay any attention to your own man, and left him a miserable wreck," scolded Granny, climbing out of the wreckage.
"Look, I didn't come here to get chewed out and called names. I came here to rescue people and get the hell off this planet."
"Then why aren't you doing that?" asked Granny, whistling and motioning to everyone who turned to look her way.
Olivia opened her mouth to complain, and try to explain, but Granny wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise. Every time Olivia went to say something, Granny would make a comment, or some rude noise. By the third belch, and second fart, Olivia gave up. Her stomach dropped when she saw that there were about thirty people, half of whom were obviously some other alien race.
"Wait, Granny, you may claim to know this person, but I don't," said the man from before, stopping everyone from following them out of the camp. "How do we know that she isn't just here to take us somewhere else? Or to sell us to some other master?"
"I would never!" growled Olivia, finally reaching her breaking point. This crap was going to end now!
"Really?" he growled back, balling his fists. "I could see the taskmasters using someone, that one of us knows, to manipulate us to do what they want. I think your just someone's bitch."
Olivia moved before she could think about it, swinging at him with her balled fist. He ducked back, out of the way, stepping forward to punch her in the gut. She managed to twist at the last moment, only getting a glancing blow to the side.
The entire camp circled them as their fists flew faster and faster, their bodies twisting and turning to avoid blows. She managed to land the first good blow, to the side of his head, but he took it, and managed to knee her in the groin. After that, the blows landed solidly, hard and fast. They both pulled back after a few minutes, blood flowing from their noses, both eyes black, and their clothes torn.
Olivia grinned as her wounds healed, and he raised an eyebrow.
"I want to know how you have that ability," he said seriously.
"It's only something an Uz'En can learn."
"So, you'll teach me?" he asked with a grin of his own.
"Just kiss and make up already so we can get out of here," grumbled Granny, slapping the man on the arm.
"Alright, I'll get you all off of here, but I can't take everyone back to the planet without permission from Dustin, and he's…busy," she said, suddenly remembering she had a time limit to this visit.
"Then let's go, and worry about what happens off this planet, when it comes," said Granny, motioning for everyone to follow again.
By the time they were back in the ship, Olivia saw she only had a few minutes to get to the net before the blip happened.
"Computer!" she cried.
"I'll get us there, but everyone needs to hold on!"
Everyone was thrown towards the back of the ship as it turned on its butt and zoomed towards the sky.
"My name's Qart, Olivia. It's nice to meet you!" the guy yelled as he was pushed back against the wall, barely able to breathe.
"You have horrible timing!" she yelled back, wondering what Dustin would think of it all.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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Sorry about no chapter yesterday, I just can't seem to catch a break. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and will try to get caught up by this weekend.
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