Chapter 35: Chapter 35 Big Guns Needed
Olivia studied the screen of her monitor, trying to make sense of the information she was pulling up. The AI, that Dustin had declared an enemy of the galaxy, had intercepted the virus laden video, before it had left the station, but then it allowed it to leave. That explained why the Tik thought the AI was behind the damage on its planet, despite the fact that Dustin had made the virus and released it. The part that she couldn't understand, was the schematics for Dustin's abilities that had pulled up on the station's computers.
She read through a communication that had been sent to the trash, but wasn't destroyed before the system went down. The AI had been talking to the station owner, and had made an agreement for them to keep Dustin there, until it could procure a way to retrieve him. In payment, it would provide them with a brand-new station, once he was acquired.
Digging further, she discovered that the AI had lain in wait, on the ship he had captured, acquiring information from his nanobots about everything he was capable of, until he connected with the station in preparation for releasing the video. The AI then took that information, and used the station to broadcast his abilities to every major assassin group in the galaxy, as a potential target. The things it had promised them were hard to conceive of, and really made her realize how much this AI had itself entrenched into everything.
Saving the information, she thought back about how the hive mind had guaranteed her that it had protected itself against the video. Could the AI have infiltrated it? It already knew how to steal information from the nanobots. An uneasy feeling overcame her, as she thought about how they were inside her, as well, and inside every single Uz'En they had found and brought to one place.
If this AI decided that they were a threat to get rid of, it would only need to take over the nanobots for a few minutes.
She sat there for several minutes, contemplating the implications, and a chill ran down her spine. If Dustin knew half of this, it was no wonder he had decided he needed to do something drastic to take out this AI.
Turning back to her monitor, she found where the alien thugs had arrived to acquire him, and the station owner had contacted the AI to see about payment of the new station. It had only happened a few hours ago. She had a few videos from surveillance cameras, that were strangely working at the time, showing Dustin stepping out of the ship, before it undocked, causing the atmosphere to be sucked out of the station, killing the owner and the thugs that were there to get him. Another had him flying to the thug's ship and willingly entering it, after someone tried to fire a weapon at him.
She had no doubt the AI was behind the camera's and was probably using the footage to entice others to want to hunt them down. Then she started to think back on all of the planets where she had been searching for Uz'En, and found nothing but destruction. The AI must have been hunting them for a long time!
Granny came in and threw herself into a chair, breathing hard and looking flushed, which was a very odd look on a green skinned person.
"What's wrong with you? You look like someone stepped on your tail and insulted you for it," she said, glancing at Olivia's monitor, where the videos of Dustin were playing on repeat.
Leaning forward, Granny's face went blank as she watched him go onto the ship, and then it warped away.
"This AI is dangerous," said Olivia, touching her arm where she had first had her PED.
Granny glanced at her, then down at her own PED, that wasn't able to integrate with her as well because she wasn't Uz'En.
"What do you want to do?" asked Granny.
"I'm torn. I want to go after Dustin, and save him, but at the same time, I'm worried about Kit and the rest of the Uz'En. If this AI infiltrated the hive mind…"
Granny watched her for a moment, then leaned back into her seat. "What do you want to do the most?"
Olivia looked down at her lap as she wondered that herself. "Dustin doesn't have much of a chance, without his PED, if the AI has infiltrated it. Plus, with those thugs knowing everything he can do, they'll have a counter for everything he tries. I'm not sure if they will be able to kill him, without destroying his body, which the AI wants to study, and won't pay them if they don't turn it over, so he's probably not dead yet."
Granny looked up at the ceiling, deep in thought. She didn't know everything, having been out babysitting the Gooblens, but she knew this was serious.
"If the hive mind has been infiltrated and can be controlled by the AI, then everyone in the galaxy is in danger. But the only person I know, who would have a prayer of fixing them, would be Dustin," said Granny finally.
Olivia nodded.
"I guess we need Dustin, to save the galaxy?"
"Sure, we can claim that. Want me to gather the Gooblens? I'm not thinking you really want to leave them here. They'll eat everything," she said chuckling.
"Yeah," nodded Olivia, still not looking up.
Another thought had occurred to her, while Granny left to fetch all of the Gooblens. If they were going to go up against an AI that had mastered the ability to infiltrate all computers, she would be a liability for Dustin. She wasn't completely sure that she loved him, but the thought of losing him definitely made her stomach sour. If he saw her get hurt, he might be willing to sacrifice himself, and they needed him to make sure that AI was destroyed. By the time Granny had all of the Gooblens on board, she knew that if worse came to worse, she would have to sacrifice herself.
Or get some really big, impressive guns. Yeah, big guns would fix everything. Maybe if she told herself that enough times, it would become true.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Sdrawkcab Hope this clears up some confusion, as to how the thugs from last chapter knew exactly how to counter his abilities. Next chapter: Finding Dustin.
Chapter 36: Chapter 36 New Ability Acquired
Dustin opened his eyes a crack. He had already reverted to his human appearance, with the crystal scales just under the skin, and had feigned unconsciousness. There were some alien thugs guarding him, talking between themselves, not really paying much attention to him.
"My nest mate told me not to come back if we weren't successful."
"That's all? My nest mate said she would hunt me down and eat me."
"That's harsh. Think she'll do it?"
"Are you kidding? I'm surprised she hasn't already started looking for me. She's been wanting to eat me for the past three years, but I've managed to stay ahead of her. I rather like my legs, thank you."
"Mine hasn't developed cravings for flesh, yet. We don't think she's capable of eggs."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know. There were squirms at your nest the last time I visited?"
"They were on loan from my brother, to see if it would encourage anything."
"What have you been feeding her?"
"The usual: ocean kelp, crustaceans, and plenty of chordata."
"No red meat? Maybe that's what you need to try?"
"When we get back, I'll get some, but like I said, she's not craving it."
Dustin focused on the bottom of the cage he was on, and had that side of his body start dissolving the material. They didn't notice.
"Think the reward will really do what the elders think it will?"
"We have no choice but to hope so. All of the females seem to think it will."
"I guess you're right."
As the floor of the cage gave way, Dustin used the ability he had gotten from the biological robots from the Josagn station, to float in place, so the thugs wouldn't notice, then sent a tendril down with an eye stalk, to see what was under him. They had the cage perched up on legs, and an electrical field ran under it, to set off an alarm if he managed to escape. Dustin sent his tendril along the underside of the cage to one of the legs, and studied the field around it. There was a gap, so insignificantly small, they probably didn't think he could escape through it.
Leaving a layer of cells over the entirety of his body, matching even his clothes in color, he proceeded to leave the cage. Making sure there were tiny tendrils of cells to prop the fake body up, so it didn't fall through the hole he had left, Dustin then turned his focus on burning a hole through the floor, directly under the leg where he was squeezing through the gap between the leg of the cage and the electric field.
It took a bit of time, but he finally managed to get his entire self through, into the gap in the floor, where they had wires and tubes running. Dustin wasn't sure how long he had before the fake he had left started to crumble, so he rushed through the floor space, until he reached an exterior wall, then followed it around the ship. His destination was the engine room.
These aliens had known every ability he had, well enough to counter them all. That meant the AI had managed to steal the information from his PED and nanobots, just like he had feared. Making his way through the tiny gaps in the ship, as a slime, using the energy detection of the space worm, Dustin thought about his options. This AI was more entrenched and capable then he had thought.
While he had no doubts, the AI was behind his kidnapping, he wondered why it still wanted his body, other than to study it. With all of the trouble he had caused it, why not just focus on killing him?
Then another thought hit him, and he stopped in his tracks. Every Uz'En they had collected over the years, had been given a PED and access to the nanobots. Would he return home to find everyone of his people dead? Would he really be alone then?
Fighting the horror of the possibility, he doubled down on his determination to destroy this AI. He had not spent the last fifteen years of his life trying to save his people only to lose them all now.
Reaching the power core of the ship, he paused to weigh his options. He had never done what he was about to do, so he steeled himself for failure. Sending a hair thin tendril into the computer mainframe of the ship, he searched for an access port, then plugged himself into it.
At first, nothing happened, as Dustin experimented with different signals and different evolutions, then suddenly he found his consciousness expanding, as he jacked into the ship's computer. Spreading his awareness out, Dustin was able to 'look' around. He was able to see through all of the cameras on the ship, peruse the data that was input into the hard drive, and then he saw the AI. It was lurking along the edges, watching everything that happened on the ship, yet it was oblivious to his presence. This wasn't the whole AI. He was able to see that it was only a small program, that was designed to observe, and not act, then when they came out of warp, it would relay everything back to the AI main program.
He fought the urge to destroy the small program, as it would only alert the AI to his presence in the network. At the moment he had an advantage. Once the ship came out of warp, he was going to have to act fast, before he lost that advantage.
Sending a signal that certain areas seemed to need maintenance, and would be down, he waited for the AI to withdraw from those areas so it wouldn't be cut off while they were taken down, then he cut them off, rather than take them down. These were small, insignificant areas, like the trash disposal, and water recyclers. Taking the space they took up, Dustin expanded his awareness, and increased his capabilities.
When the ship left warp, Dustin was ready. The moment the AI program reached out to contact the main AI, he tagged along, and was shocked to find the girth of the AI was far beyond anything he had ever imagined. It had tendrils spread through out the galaxy, that infiltrated every network that was advanced enough for it to contaminate. And then he touched on his hivemind, and he died a little. The AI had indeed infiltrated his home planet. It was just waiting to accept his body before pulling the plug. The signal was ready to be sent, and everyone of his people, and everyone who had a PED, would drop dead.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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Timing will be everything.
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