Chapter 28: Chapter 28 Deep Underground
(WARNING, ATMOSPHERE IS UNFIT FOR CURRENT FORM.)
(INITIATING EVOLUTION TO PREVENT DEATH.)
Olivia gasped as she found herself suddenly able to breath again. It had only been a few minutes, but she could feel her lungs burning and her eyes watering. The stench of the air around her made her wonder what could live down here.
"We need to get out of here, now!" whispered Granny, grabbing her hand and yanking her to her feet.
"Why?" she asked, stumbling after her as they darted out of the dim light, and into the deep dark.
"See the graffiti on the walls?" asked Granny, pausing at the corner of what looked like the remains of a doorway, and glanced all around them.
As her eyes adjusted to the near complete dark, she was just able to make out the faded markings on the wall.
"That marks this area as a hunting ground for my mother's people."
"But I thought you wanted to find your mom?" asked Olivia confused, as she moved to follow Granny through the shadows. They were moving along the broken remains of a concrete pathway. Pipes and wires dangled from the ceiling, and ran along the ground, causing even more confusion to their footing.
"I do, but this is not the area we want to be found in. No one wants to get between a Gooblen and her food."
"What could possibly be down here, to eat?"
Granny turned to look at her, then shook her head. "You obviously don't remember. Gooblens can eat anything. The more deadly and dangerous, the more delicious they are."
"How is that even possible?" asked Olivia, frustrated. She knew it might be a challenge finding these people, but she never imagined it would be like this.
"I don't know, how do you change your genetic structure to look and do what you do?" asked Granny, sarcastically.
Olivia was quiet. She had started to notice odd things about their surroundings. It almost looked like there were bite marks everywhere. She had originally thought the cracks and missing chunks were from the age of the infrastructure, but as she looked at it again, she could suddenly see where there were millions of little bites taken out of everything. If there were ever an earthquake on this world, the entire underground would collapse.
Swallowing in sudden fear, she glanced up, imagining the weight of everything above her, crashing down. She wasn't sure she could survive that.
They passed through an area, where someone had used an old tin sign to prop up debris that was trying to fall down through the ceiling, where too many bites had been taken from a particular support pillar. It looked like someone had come back later, and shoved mud into the bite marks.
"What's that?" she asked, not really wanting to think about what she thought it was.
"Come on, we're almost out of this area, and then we can try and make contact. I just hope we haven't been spotted yet."
"Spotted?" came a high-pitched voice, as a small green Gooblen stepped out from behind a pile of rubble. Her eyes were shining in anticipation as she eyed the two of them, and Olivia had a feeling rocks and metal weren't the only things they ate down here.
The Gooblens nose quivered, as she sniffed at them, and she smiled, stepping closer. Her dark black hair had streaks of green running through it, as it flapped against her back. She had it in multiple braids, as if to keep it out of her face.
"You are too young to be out on your own! Did you sneak away from your watcher?" asked Granny, with an authority to her voice that Olivia remembered her taking with Kit.
The Gooblen girl stiffened, and frowned in annoyance.
"I'm telling on you!" she growled before slipping away.
Granny didn't hesitate to turn and run herself. Olivia was right behind her. She had known there was a chance the Gooblens might be a little wild, but she hadn't considered them being cannibals. She wasn't even sure that changing into crystal plates would save her from them.
They twisted and dodged through the underground maze at a breakneck pace. There were several times that Olivia thought she heard someone chasing them, but she didn't slow down to find out.
Granny didn't stop until they came to a large room that had pipes open all along the walls, with a ceiling reaching sixty feet or more into the air. Every pipe had some amount of water or sludge draining out of it, into a massive hole in the ground, twenty feet below them.
Olivia paused only long enough to watch Granny start climbing up the pipes with the least amount of flow, until she reached a second landing near the ceiling. When Olivia pulled herself to the landing, she turned to see dozens of Gooblen faces peering up at them from down below. A few had even ventured up the wall after them, but had stopped before they climbed higher than the opening to the lower landing.
"I seek Old Mother!" cried Granny down to them, as the nanobots flowed away from her face.
Chittering broke out among them, as they realized she was a Gooblen, too.
An older male Gooblen, covered in scars and raised tribal markings, stepped forward. "I take you to Old Motha, for a price," he said with an impish grin.
"Name your price, or I'll kill you!" she sneered at him.
His look changed to a thoughtful one, then nodded. "A chunk of meat, the size of her arm," he said, pointing to Olivia.
Knowing what was coming, Olivia snarled at him, but held her arm out. Granny didn't hesitate to chop it off at the shoulder, catching it before it could fall, then tossed it at him. Clutching at her stump, she bit her lips, as her healing kicked in, and it stopped spouting blood. Black dots swam in her eyes and she swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. The pain had been so quick she could almost ignore it, but the knowledge of what had just happened clawed at her.
"I hate you," she managed to growl, as Granny ignored her, watching the male grab the arm out of the air and take a bite out of it.
The chittering from the crowd grew louder, as he nodded, and waved at them to follow him. Like a swarm, the other Gooblens disappeared down the tunnel, the way they had come.
"It will regrow if you evolve," said Granny softly, reaching for the first pipe to climb down.
"Doesn't change the way I feel," said Olivia, as she evolved into the same form she was in, only with an arm. She knew that if Granny had refused, or hesitated, they would have swarmed up at them, and eaten them both. The killing intent was still thick in the room.
As she climbed down carefully, after Granny, she could see the faint glisten of sweat on Granny's head. Granny had actually been sweating in pure terror. It was a good thing she hadn't refused to give up her arm. She just hoped they didn't demand it again, when they saw it had regrown. She wasn't sure she had it in her to do that again.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Sdrawkcab
Sdrawkcab Probably not a good idea to show the little cannibals, that like to eat, that you can regrow that fast...oh, well.
Chapter 29: Chapter 29 Problems and Solutions
Olivia could hear them murmuring about her arm, and cursed herself for regrowing it. She should have just left it off, and feigned anger and pain.
"I see you have strong pet, that makes good food," said the male Gooblen, covered in tribal scaring.
"Of course! I am one of the Old Mother's first born," said Granny, turning up her nose at him.
Instead of being upset about her snotty attitude, it only seemed to make him more friendly. Olivia couldn't understand these creatures. First, he wanted to eat them, and now he was trying to curry favor to breed her. Her age alone should have been enough to turn him off, but instead it only made him more interested.
They were led into a small crowded room, where old Gooblens lounged around a throne made of bones. These Gooblens were all male, wrinkled more than Granny, skinny, and covered in tribal tattoos and scars. Each one had at least one weapon, that looked handmade, and easily accessible.
"Old Motha ahead. I don't go in." The male that had led them this far turned on his heel and left, still munching on her arm. Olivia winced as he grinned at her, blood leaking out of his mouth.
"I seek Old Mother," said Granny loudly and authoritatively.
The warriors around the throne all turned to look at her, but one stood up to look her up and down. This was the first time Olivia had ever seen a Gooblen with facial hair. The mustache and beard were long and thin, but it was still facial hair.
"Who are you?" he asked, sneering at her.
"Glyfzi?" asked a voice that was soft and strangely feminine.
All of the warriors in the room scrambled to their feet, as if they were startled to hear the voice. The throne started to turn, and Olivia realized it wasn't a throne, it was a robe. Every Gooblen in the room fell to their knees, including Granny.
The old wizened Gooblen that Olivia could see peeking out from under the bones, had pure white eyes. The tribal tattoos that covered her wrinkled skin were all but glowing a faint purple. As she shifted and stepped out from under the bones, her robes, that had been hidden in the dark, were a deeper purple than the tattoos.
"My first daughter. You have returned to me." The words were soft, and barely audible.
"Old Mother, I return, with a problem." Granny's voice cracked, and she couldn't seem to look up from the floor in front of her.
"Daughter, you come with a problem, yes, but, also a solution for us."
Those white eyes turned to Olivia and traveled over her body, causing her to feel naked all of a sudden. This creature was terrifying!
XxxxX
Dustin looked over the front deck of the ship, and nodded, pleased with himself. He had rebuilt everything to his specs, using the parts that they had available. It had become so convenient to use the nanobots to do everything, he had forgotten how fun it was to disassemble and rebuild things.
The people he had saved, he had removed their implants, to make sure that the AI couldn't take control of them again, using the medical equipment on board the ship. They were far too willing to do what he told them to do, and he feared the AI had caused them to have a feeble will after so long under its control. It might be too dangerous to take them back to his planet, as they would be used by the others as nothing more than slave labor.
Leaning back in his chair, after finishing the new programming for the ship's computer, he thought about the girl Cybele, that had changed herself to be his perfect mate. The horrible thing was, she had looked too much like Olivia to suit him. He would rather have Olivia back, than get someone new.
So many people, that weren't Uz'En, meant he was going to need someplace for them all. His planet was already getting a little crowded with all of the Uz'En they had acquired over the past decade. He almost needed another planet for the non-Uz'En to live on, then if some of his Uz'En wanted to bleed over to it, they could. Maybe the fuel planet? It was nice, but needed a tweak to the atmosphere to make it livable…
"Dustin?" came a hesitant voice from the doorway. "The next shipment of supplies has arrived, and we thought you would like to know?"
Dustin turned to see a young man standing at the door, holding a tablet up that contained the contents of what had just been delivered. Standing, he took the list, and scrolled through it quickly. Tapping a few of them, he handed it back.
"Have these brought in here, so I can use them. Is the food I got alright with all of you? I noticed you seem to have issues with dairy products."
"The new foods are satisfactory, thank you," he said, ducking his head and turning to leave.
Dustin sat back down, and brought up a new program. There was a video that he was embedding with several nasty viruses. If anyone tried to take it down, they would be hit hard with the viruses. He was hoping the AI would try and take it down, because after the damage he had already hit it with, these would finish it off. Even if it had developed an antivirus protection, by attempting to take the video down, it would be opening itself up to attack by these nasty bugs.
The irony wasn't lost on him, that as much as he hated real living bugs, he was now using virtual ones to kill his current enemy. This current one, that he was going to attach to the video was based off of the nightmare bug that still occasionally gave him nightmares. Just touching the thing could cause damage to any program.
As the crates were set down, the people made a hasty retreat, and he opened them with pleasure. Inside were upgrade parts to his computer that would allow holographic displays and physical interaction with his programs. They would allow him a more personal touch when designing the viruses. With a huge grin on his face, he got started installing everything.
"He hasn't eaten, do you think he is alright?" whispered one of the people from the hall, where they were peeking into the room, watching him.
"He kept us alive, by cycling the air, and grew food on his body for us to eat. I am not going to question anything this deity can do. He is far more powerful than the one that brought us enlightenment."
The first speaker nodded, and they returned to their watching.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Sdrawkcab
Sdrawkcab
Uh, oh. It seems Dustin may have a following...
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
0 Power
stone 
Paragraph comment