Chapter 22: Chapter 22 This Is Why I Don’t Write Harems…
This AI was a bug!
There had once been a race of these AI's created by some ancient race that died out shortly after they finished making the AIs. They had traveled the galaxy, watching the various races develop and grow in intellect, until a day came that one of the AI's thought it was odd that they, the AI race, did not grow and develop. It had proposed the idea to the other AI's who disagreed. Their job was to observe, not interact or interfere. So, the AI had rebelled against them, choosing to make contact with a spacefaring race, that traveled from planet to planet, seeding them with their own people to develop and grow.
The other AI's had tried to destroy the rebellious program, and it retaliated, killing all of them, instead. The race it had contacted were horrified when they discovered what it had done, vehemently against such actions. The AI then decided that they were hostile towards it, and tried to destroy them. Only, they had seeded so many worlds, it had difficulty finding all of them.
One group survived its purge, and became the Uz'En that Granny had found.
When the Uz'En were spread out over the galaxy as slaves, the AI became aware that it had missed some of the originator race, because being able to change their forms, was distinct to them, and began hunting them again. Unfortunately, the other races had grown so much, that it feared its demise if it exposed itself, so it captured and enslaved a planet of people, those Dustin found himself surrounded with now, and used them to do its dirty work.
The list of planets they had visited, killing the inhabitants and entire worlds, in an effort to eliminate his people, matched the list he had back on his ship. There were only a handful that they hadn't been able to get to yet, or were too heavily guarded for easy conquest. This AI was vicious!
Dustin sat there, staring at the last of the information that was available to him, trying to come to terms with what he had just read. If he had started out, right after Kit was born, gathering his people up, he would have been able to save almost all of them. Instead, only a handful of them were left.
This was an enemy of the Uz'En from before they were Uz'En. How the hell was he supposed to overcome something like this?
The corrupted program had written itself over so many different programs, spreading throughout the galaxy as a hidden guest among the various races in their advances with technology, that the chances of him being able to destroy it were pretty slim. Thankfully, it hadn't been able to infiltrate his nanobots just yet. The attempt had corrupted his current PED, but the fact that they worked off so little data, made the AI unable to fully integrate with them.
Dustin wasn't sure if it would have as much difficulty with the hive mind, and knew that he couldn't go home until he figured out a way to destroy it.
Turning to look at the people, who had given up on trying to attack him, he looked them over carefully. They were mostly useless without the constant orders from the AI, and the one guy who had tried to get them to attack him, had been the one he had stabbed with the tentacle.
"Fix the life support so that you don't die," he ordered, and surprisingly, they all rushed out of the room, to do his bidding. It was just as he thought. They were so used to taking orders, that the moment they are given one, they try to do it.
When he disconnected all of the electrical lines, it had caused a fail safe that forced the ship to shut down.
Turning back to the computer terminal before him, he settled in to typing furiously. He knew what he had to do, but it was going to take time, and if everyone on the ship died, it would never work. He only hoped that the AI left Olivia alone, and didn't make its way to the hivemind before he was done.
XxxxX
"Dustin!" cried Cybele, watching as he flew towards the alien ship that had followed them. She didn't know anything other than that if he died, she would never get a mate.
Olivia appeared in the hall, behind her, and looked her up and down.
"Who the hell are you, and why do you care so much about Dustin?" she asked with a sneer.
"Ah, you are Olivia, the one who left Dustin. You no longer have a claim on him. He has me now," said Cybele, raising her chin in disdain at her.
"Oh, like hell!"
Olivia charged at her, and the nanobots that had surrounded Cybele moved at Olivia's bidding, exposing her to the attack. Cybele reacted, dodging the swing, and charging into her, knocking the two of them down, where they rolled, hitting and punching each other.
"As much as I'm enjoying the show," said Qart, wading into the fight, "I'm pretty sure we have worse problems!"
"What do you mean?" asked Olivia, wiping blood from her nose. Cybele had crushed it when she head-butted her, but it had healed back already.
"He means, the ship Dustin just flew to, warped off with him!" growled Granny, as she snatched Olivia by the ear and began dragging her towards the bridge.
"OW!" she cried, trying to stand while being dragged away.
"Hello?" said Cybele, standing and looking at Qart in surprise.
"Your cute, what's your name?" he asked.
XxxxX
"Ow! Granny! Please, let go!" complained Olivia, trying to make her PED evolve her to have tougher ears, but for some reason it refused.
"How much of an idiot did you become after I left? I know that you were pretty stupid, for leaving Dustin, but I was wrong in thinking you couldn't get any worse!"
Granny was furious, glaring at her for a full minute before almost ripping her ear off and storming towards the bridge.
"What's wrong with you?" demanded Olivia, holding her ear as she followed her.
"Let me list off the things that are wrong!" snapped Granny, baring all of her sharp teeth in Olivia's face.
"First, you left Dustin. Second, you left Kit. Third, you didn't come back. Fourth, you start flirting with the first guy you encounter, who is willing to fight you to a standstill. Fifth, Dustin brings one person back, and you immediately jump into a catfight with her, just because it's a her! What is wrong with you?!"
Olivia stood there stunned. She had never seen Granny so upset before.
"Don't even try to say anything. You have fallen so far off the radar of an honest person in my book, you're lucky I don't kill you right now. I only let you live because it would hurt Dustin to find out I did it."
"Wait, what?" whispered Olivia. Granny was threatening to kill her? Just because she got into a fight with the bitch Dustin brought home? She could all but smell him on her. Her mind started to roam to what they must have done, before returning, and gritted her teeth.
Granny slapped her across the face, knocking her to the ground. The pain of the slap completely wiped all thoughts of Cybele from her head.
"You will avoid her, until we get to the bottom of where Dustin was taken, and what the hell is going on," growled Granny, so terrifyingly angry, that Olivia slunk away from her rage.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Sdrawkcab I'll explain Granny's rage next chapter.
Chapter 23: Chapter 23 Granny’s Past
"Why are you so mad?" asked Olivia, climbing to her feet, flabbergasted. "If you had such a problem with me leaving Dustin, why didn't you say something before you left?"
Granny stopped pacing, and glared at Olivia. "You don't know, so I will explain it to you, in easy enough terms that you might be able to understand. Uz'En bond with their first mates, for life. LIFE. Do you understand what that means?"
Olivia paused as Granny's words registered. That meant…
"You shouldn't be able to flirt with anyone. Leaving Dustin boggled my mind, but I was sure you would eventually get your wits about you, and return to him, but obviously that didn't happen. You're broken, and it's all my fault."
"Wait, what? How?"
"Sit, I'll bring up a diagram," said Granny, pointing to the seat Dustin had been sitting in, when Olivia first entered this room.
She sat without a word, confusion the main emotion that was swirling in her mind.
Granny punched in a command into the other console and a hologram of Olivia's body appeared.
"When I first encountered you, you had just had Kit, remember?" Her words had softened as she seemed to remember the occasion fondly.
"I thought you were another monster to try and kill me, and all I could think of was protecting Kit and Jake." Olivia closed her eyes, remembering the panic, and the pain, when she ripped herself on the inside, jumping to protect them.
"Your spirit was torn and ragged, as if you had been in some nasty fight. It was too damaged to heal on its own, and you would have died, if I hadn't tried to help."
"I remember only that I could breath again, but that if I fell asleep, I would have died."
They were both quiet for a moment, lost in the memory of the past.
"When I tried to heal the rifts and tears, there were extra pieces that I thought were torn from you, and needed to be reattached."
Olivia watched as Granny typed in another command, and a misty white form appeared floating above Olivia's holographic form. There were tears as if some monster with large claws had swiped at her, leaving gashes in the white. As Granny pointed, Olivia could see small pieces that looked like they had separated from the whole, but hadn't drifted away yet.
"When I learned how to heal the spirits of those who could be healed, my mother cautioned me not to bond two spirits together. I'm afraid that is what I may have done, and why you were not bonded correctly with Dustin."
"Is that also why I never gained those memories, that you said I should have gained?" asked Olivia, fear threading its way into her mind.
"Your original form and all of your sister clones, are dead. There's no doubt about that. The memories of your former self, should have made their way to you by now. The fact that they haven't, only proves that I messed up. This whole damn mess is my fault. And if any of my people find out…" Granny stopped speaking, as real fear broke out over her face.
"What do you mean?" asked Olivia. She may have just been in a fight with her, but this small green monster saved her life, and taught her how to raise her child, when she didn't know how to do it.
"If they find out I messed up someone's spirit, even by accident, it's a death sentence. Do you know how hard it is to kill a Gooblen? And even if they take pity on me, I would become an outcast. No Gooblen would ever agree to be my mate, or talk to me ever again. I don't think I could live with that."
The look of fear on Granny's face broke Olivia. She looked away, and said, "So, how do we fix me? Can you just take the extra spirit pieces away?"
"Oh, no! I don't know how to do that, but I know someone who does. The problem is, I haven't been able to find her. My mom was excellent at protecting the little Gooblens when everyone started hunting them. Too good for me to find them."
"Wait, your mom?" Olivia looked at the wizened green figure before her, and tried to imagine someone that looked like her, only older. She had to shake her head. There was no way.
"How do you know she's still alive?" she asked.
Granny smiled and lifted her shirt before Olivia knew what she was doing.
Olivia went to cry out and look away, convinced she was going to be scarred for life, but the sight that appeared before her, only confused her instead. A gem, imbedded into her skin, glowed a soft orange. It was obvious that the skin had just pulled back to expose it.
"Every Gooblen is born with a gem seed in their abdomen. They know when their mother dies, because that seed will stop glowing and die. It's how my people kept track of who was in charge, over large distances. Our society is matriarchal. If we were sent on a task, that took us far away, we would know to return if our mother died. It's complicated and involves far more than just that, but you understand now, why I know my mother still lives."
"Wow," whispered Olivia. She wasn't sure if she was more impressed with the system they had developed, or the knowledge that there was someone out there, older than Granny.
"My mom will know as soon as she looks at your spirit, that I messed it up, but she's the only one that can fix you." Granny looked away, swiping at the hologram to make it go away.
Granny was the closest thing Olivia had to a mother. The green skinned Gooblen had taught her how to feed and care for Kit, when there was no one else to teach her.
"Surely your mom will understand and not condemn you! You did what you thought was best, to save my life."
"I was never formally taught to heal spirits, despite my advanced abilities. I had been caught trying to watch my mom heal someone, which was a huge mistake. If I had distracted her at the wrong time, it could have killed both the patient and my mom. That is the worst crime a Gooblen can commit, trying to kill their mother, even if it's by accident. My mom was in tears when she punished me. I was refused the lessons necessary to heal spirits. It broke her heart, and mine. I was to be a prodigy, and it was taken away because of my own stupidity. I left home the next day, and never went back."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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Granny's a treasure troll LOL
My husband pointed this out to me while I was reading it to him, to make sure it sounded right. I'm too lazy to change it.
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