Chapter 30: Chapter 30 Purge?
Chapter 30 Purge?
Dustin stood and looked at his virus one last time, then closed everything down and held up the thumb drive that contained the end to the AI. With a small smile on his face, he headed towards the airlock. It was time for that AI to get its ass kicked.
XxxxX
Old Motha took them into another world when they went through the doorway in the back of the room. Olivia actually had to turn and make sure there wasn't some kind of teleport technology going on.
Everything had been dim, and dirty, tribal and uncivilized, but when they followed her into the 'back', they had stepped into a clean, brightly lit room. The floor was unblemished tiles, and the walls were smooth, and unmarked. It almost reminded her of a hospital.
"You broke the rules," said Old Motha, glancing over at Granny, who seemed to shrink in on herself. Olivia had never seen Granny like this, and it was kind of intimidating.
"I was only trying to save her life…"
"I know, which is why we are talking here, away from the others. They would want to kill you, you know," said Old Motha.
The inflections she had in the other room had disappeared, too, and Olivia wondered what was going on.
"It was hard to come, but she will die soon," said Granny, pointedly not looking at Olivia's stunned look.
Old Motha chuckled, noting the look on Olivia's face. "She's always been a pain in the ass, child, so don't look so startled. Though, that tough hide of hers has kept her alive," said Old Motha, reaching out a hand to touch Granny's cheek softly.
Olivia wondered if she needed to say something, when Old Motha swirled towards her, and grabbed her wrist.
"Come on, we need to fix your spirit before it kills you. I'm surprised you've stayed in one piece this long."
Olivia was dragged, against her will, towards a low table. The strength in the hand that held her, was terrifying. She was shoved onto it, then Granny started strapping her in place.
"It's to keep you still. If you move while this is going on, you could die."
As if she didn't have enough to worry about, Olivia closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing. It would be alright. Granny would never let anything happen to her. She loved Dustin too much to take her away from him.
Old Motha started to mumble something, and she felt a cool touch that started at the top of her head, and traveled down to the tips of her toes. Olivia was sure it wasn't a hand that touched her, because it felt like it was touching her skin, through the clothes she was wearing. There was a moment of physical pain, as if her skin was being ripped open, and then she felt like she was floating in the air. There was no pain, no feeling at all.
Her eyes flew open as she felt something poking and prodding her, and the sight before her, completely mesmerized her. There were lights all around her, that were colors she didn't recognize, shapes that looked impossibly precise, and things, that she knew were alive, somehow looking at her, as if she were something tasty.
There were no sounds, no smells, it was as if she was cut off from her body, floating in another dimension, and it was terrifying. She wasn't sure how long she had been floating, when suddenly she was falling, and everything went black.
Opening her eyes, she looked up at both Old Motha and Granny. They were blinking their eyes down at her, and she was struck by how similar their eyes were.
The smile on Granny's face, as Olivia sat up, was enough to bring a small smile to her own face.
"It worked! You are now complete, with no tag alongs!" cried Granny, clapping her hands together happily.
"What did you see, child?" asked Old Motha, curiously, having noted the subdued look in her eyes.
"There were things watching, and they were hungry…" said Olivia, shuddering at the memory.
"Yes, they would have eaten you, had I not protected you. They are why it is forbidden to attempt Spirit work, without training," said Old Motha, glancing at Granny.
"You said I brought a solution?" said Granny, trying to change the subject.
Old Motha nodded, moving over to a stuffed recliner, that looked like it had just left the factory where it was built.
"You have found a home, but my Gooblen are too rough and tumble to take anywhere else. I have been too lenient on rules. I think it is time for a purge."
Olivia glanced over at Granny quickly, when she gave a hiss of surprise.
"There are too few of us left in the whole galaxy! Why would you recommend something like that!"
"I sent out a call to all of my remaining children, and you are the only daughter to have returned. I have only males left. The few daughters that have been born in the last couple of years, are unable to produce crystals…"
Granny's head swiveled so fast at that, turning towards Old Motha, Olivia thought it would fall off.
"They can't produce crystals?! That would mean…"
"Yes. It is time for a purge. The gene pool is too depleted to produce any new daughters from those I have here. If I were to leave them, they would go rogue, eating everything until the above falls in and alerts those above of us to our presence."
"What's a purge?" asked Olivia, wondering if it meant what it sounded like.
"We would take material inside of us, of all those who are down here, and kill them," explained Granny with a sad tone to her voice. "If none of the new daughters are able to produce crystals, then it means they will never be able to bear young. They are sterile."
"We can go to this new home you have, and start fresh, with the material from here, and those you have there," suggested Old Motha.
"The knowledge of our people will be lost if we do this. All the other clans are gone. The last three sisters I was able to find, had to purge as well, because of this. They were not able to recover."
Old Motha studied Granny's tired face and sighed. "We are old, daughter. Perhaps it is that our people are not meant to continue."
"Dustin might be able to help?" suggested Olivia, honestly not sure if he could or not.
There was a knock at the door, and Old Motha pushed a button on the arm of her chair, letting the door be opened. A young Gooblen stood there, looking terrified, holding what looked like a tablet. Olivia could see it was currently playing a video of some kind, and Dustin was the one on the screen.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Sdrawkcab Poor Granny! She's been trying to find her fellow Gooblen's and now she may have to kill them and move on...
Chapter 31: Chapter 31 Nightmare Virus Released
"To all those that can hear this message, I have very important information. A rogue AI has been detected, and is believed to be behind the massive genocide and destruction of entire worlds and civilizations. The well known issue with nanobots has been tied to this newfound threat.
"Chances are that if you are watching, or listening to this recording, your entire system has already been compromised by the AI. Should this message be taken down, I assure you, it is because of the AI.
"I urge all of the nations, kingdoms, and governments of our galaxy to heed this threat and do everything possible to take out and eradicate this AI.
"Thank you."
As the message started to repeat, Dustin leaned back in his chair in satisfaction, until the station suddenly went dark. He scrunched his brow in confusion. He knew that he had placed a virus on the video, but it should only have attacked when it was attacked itself. Surely the station had a sufficient virus protection?
Heading towards the station, he heard the crew freaking out.
"The entire system is down!"
"We can't get it to reboot!"
"Well, keep trying! We'll die out here, if you don't get it back up!"
Dustin jumped in to help, and was soon deep inside a corridor, inside the computer for the station, changing out parts that were all but melted, impressed, despite himself. This wasn't supposed to happen. They ran out of parts, before he had it fixed. There was never a time he missed his nanobots, nearly as much as he did now.
"That's it. We're dead in the water, so to speak," said one of the engineers, sitting down on the floor next to the open hatch.
"Mind if I try to jury-rig it?" asked Dustin, looking over the scattered parts they still had left.
"Sure. Unless someone comes along to help, we'll be dead before the weeks up. Assuming we can get the air tanks to release the stored emergency air."
Nodding in understanding, Dustin crawled back into the shaft, and started looking around. Over the next couple of hours, people watched him tear into the electronics, replacing and rewiring everything. By the end of the first day, he had the life support back up. None of them could believe it. They celebrated, and started helping him, as he asked for certain tools and materials.
"It's not very safe, but it's working again," he said with a grin. Dustin hadn't had that much fun in years.
"Man, you have just saved our butts!" cried the owner of the station. "We shall allow you to use our facility at any time, as long as our station is still functioning, for free!"
Dustin just chuckled, shaking his head. As he turned to return to his ship, the smile disappeared. If this station was hit this hard… Surely there would be races in this galaxy capable of defending his virus?
XxxxX
Olivia watched the figure of Dustin as he explained the situation, and chills raced down her spine.
"We have to get off this planet, now!" she cried in horror.
Granny looked at her for only a split second, as she realized what Dustin was doing as well.
"Old Motha! She's right!"
Old Motha nodded without a second of thought, waving at the Gooblens that were looking in at them.
The Gooblen holding the tablet hit the delete button to get rid of the video, and it immediately went dead. Everyone froze as the implications hit them.
"It dead," said the young Gooblen, dejected, throwing the tablet over its shoulder and turning to leave.
"Run!" screamed Granny.
As Olivia charged for the door, it amazed her that both of the old Gooblens were more than able to keep up. All pretenses of moving slowly from age disappeared. When they raced through the room with all of the male Gooblens, their panic was chaotic. Olivia followed behind Granny, who seemed to know exactly where to go, to get them back to the hole they had fallen through. With rumbles and crashes sounding all around and above them, the Gooblens created a living ladder, for the group of hundreds to climb and race for the stairs. Olivia took over the lead, with the Gooblen horde following behind her.
The people they passed, already panicking from the destruction of the electronics failing all around them, screamed even more, fleeing mindlessly from the Gooblen horde that raced through the area. The buses that they had taken to get here, were no longer floating. Olivia could see one crashed down on the support rails, but the rest were gone.
"What happened?" asked an alien, in too much shock to realize he was surrounded by Gooblens.
"A video, talking about some AI, seems to have had a virus that killed everything that was electronic," said Granny, looking around.
"Oh, well that can't be good. The entire planet is kept stable with computers that vent various stresses that develop, to prevent destruction of the mega-city," said the alien, scratching his head, and turning to look at them.
His face was frozen in shock, unable to process the destruction going on around him, or to whom he was speaking. "I guess we'll need to find new homes dear," he said towards a pile of rubble. Two feet, that matched his own, were sticking out from under it, but he didn't seem to notice, turning back to the bus stop.
"Is there another way to the parking garage for space ships?" asked Olivia, feeling bad for him, but knowing she wanted to survive, and he might be the only one who could answer.
The platform they were standing on, shuddered, and the Gooblens grabbed onto whatever was nearby to keep their feet.
"The walkway is over that way, but no one ever does that. The walk is far too long," he said, pointing to the barely visible.
Before anyone could say anything more, a taxi cab crashed into the platform, and the alien was gone.
"Time to go," said Old Motha, not waiting any longer, and they were all soon rushing down the walkway. The Gooblens formed living bridges, much as ants do, whenever they came to broken spots, and Olivia didn't hesitate, despite the squishy feel of them, as she scrambled across.
By the time they had reached the parking garage, there was a thick crowd, trying to similarly reach their ships, in order to escape. The Gooblens helped to clear the path, pushing people over the railings to their deaths, to make room for Old Motha, and subsequently, the rest of the Gooblens and Olivia. When they saw that the gates had been closed in panic, by the guards, Granny laughed.
"Eat your way in!" she cried gleefully, chomping down on one of the bars, and taking a bite of it, as if it were merely chocolate.
The other Gooblens cheered, and swarmed the gates, and the walls, and some of the people… Olivia was just glad they knew better then to attack her. By the time they got inside, the guards were long gone, and there were deep ominous rumbles, from far below them.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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All the Gooblens better use the bathroom before they get on the ship, after eating some of that...
So let's hope they break the antennae before they turn the ship on.
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