Chapter 49: Chapter 49 Water Water Everywhere
"This doesn't make any sense," said Dustin, looking over the reports of the planetary scans from the ship's computer.
"What's wrong?" asked Olivia.
"The scans aren't finding any Uz'En anywhere."
"Could the AI have gotten them?" asked Granny.
"No, the last few places the AI had been, it had wiped out the entire population of everything living on the planets. There's a thriving civilization down there, just no Uz'En showing up," said Dustin shaking his head.
"Then let's go down and investigate," said his father, thoughtfully.
"We can't send out the nanobots to look for them?" asked Olivia.
"No, they have a strange field that knocks them out. I had to come personally to check out the field, because I was wanting to investigate it. I'm wondering if the initial reports of there being Uz'En may have been wrong."
"Only one way to find out," said Granny cheerfully.
Dustin nodded, and guided the ship into the atmosphere of the planet. Below them, sparse land, thickly covered in plant life, dotted what appeared to be a mostly water covered world. The few cities they saw seemed to be built into cliff facings, probably to survive the wild storms that occurred.
"Those weird readings are popping up all over the place," he said, trying to figure out what they were.
"What weird readings?" asked Kitteral.
Everyone could see the same things on their monitors that Dustin could see, but none of them could make heads or tails of what he was looking at. It just looked like lines of letters and numbers, all jumbled together.
"I'm getting readings of Uz'En in the water, but unless…they must have gone aquatic!"
"Aquatic?" said Olivia, startled.
"It's odd, but I could see it," said Kitteral.
"Are you still going to grab them?" asked Granny.
"Of course! I have oceans on my planet."
Dustin avoided all of the cities and landed the ship on a deserted beach.
"I'm going to go check them out. Olivia can come with me, since she can change, and you two can keep an eye on the ship, in case the locals decide they don't like us, assuming they can find the ship while cloaked."
"Alright," said his father, leaning back in his chair, as if he was going to take a nap. Granny gave him a look of annoyed disgust, before waving at them to go ahead.
Stepping outside, they glanced at each other, then darted for the beckoning waves. Dustin changed himself the moment he hit the waves, giving up his legs for a strong muscled tail, with fins on either side. Olivia's legs flattened out, but remained two separate appendages, growing long flippers on either foot. A long spine protruded along her back, waving in the gentle pull of water.
Keeping to the floor, they made their way out, listening to anything that might give away the Uz'En Dustin was sure was out there. It didn't take them long, before they found themselves on the edge of a large underwater city. It spread out over a vast underwater plain. Plants swayed in the currents, and if he didn't know any better, he would have thought he was looking down on a city above the waves, rather than one below them.
Buildings climbed from the ground up three or four stories, with entrances instead of windows. There were roadways between the buildings, with patches of 'gardens' where they grew plants. There were also large groups who moved large schools of fish like creatures, much like a shepherd would move sheep along a mountain pass. It was all very surreal.
"Are we sure we want to try and relocate these people? It looks like they have a very good setup already," said Olivia in short bursts of noise.
Dustin hated the idea of leaving any Uz'En off his home planet, but he had to agree with her. These people looked to be the masters of this ocean, and were thriving.
"Maybe some would be interested in relocating?" he wondered, moving towards the nearest group of them, who had seen them and were approaching in interest.
"Hail, strangers. You are not known by us, but we welcome you," said the nearest, in a certain method of sonar and sound manipulation, that Dustin found particularly interesting, as he could understand it perfectly well.
"We come with an opportunity for your people, if you are interested," said Dustin, quickly modifying his vocals to be able to replicate the sounds they had made.
"We would listen, but it must be spoken before the king," he said, turning and leading them all to the center of the city.
Dustin was curious that they had a king. Could it be someone distantly related to him? Had another royal bloodline survived? There were definitely some of the people who took after the warrior class here, who were acting as guards as they approached the king.
His hopes were dashed the moment he saw the king, who was merely another of the warrior class who had risen to fill a role that was vacant.
"Welcome to our city, stranger. We have never seen you here before," said the king as he floated in a space decorated in bright coral and lively small crustaceans.
"I come from another world, with interesting news and an opportunity for your people," said Dustin, glancing around at the numbers that had gathered around them to listen in. Had some kind of signal gone out to have so many show up so quickly? If so, he had missed it.
"I am interested in hearing what you have to say."
"I am not sure what you call your people, but we all come from a race known among the stars as the Uz'En. I have been on a quest finding all of our people, who have been scattered among the many stars, to bring them all together to one planet, that is safe for them. You are one of our people, yet you call the waters your home, whereas the rest of our people do not. While I am not sure how that came to be, I would still offer all of you a home on our planet, if you are interested. We have great waters, that you would be allowed to claim, if you wish to remain in the waters, though I must admit, I have not explored them fully, to ascertain their safety."
"This is very interesting information you have brought us," said the king, thoughtfully. "Our story tellers tell of a time when we did not call the waters our home, so there may be truth to your words. As for belonging to your people, how are you so certain that we belong among those you claim as yours?"
"Do any of your people have the ability to change themselves?" asked Dustin, looking around. "Perhaps, changing their looks, or colors, or completely changing their entire bodies?"
There was a lot of murmuring among the people, and they all seemed to be disturbed by the question.
"That is a very serious accusation you have made," said the king, flaring his gills in agitation and thrashing his tail against the sand on the ocean floor.
Dustin could only wonder what he meant. How could being able to change be a bad thing? This didn't bode well at all.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Sdrawkcab Try to find all his people: Check.
Destroy aliens trying to stop him: Check.
Try to acquire all his people: Halted.
Destroy killer AI: Check.
Finish acquiring people: In Process...
Chapter 50: Chapter 50 The Change
"What do you mean?" asked Olivia. "Is it an insult to be able to change?"
"It is," confirmed the king, turning to the first old looking aquatic Uz'En they had seen so far. "Tell them, old one, of the evils of changing."
The old Uz'En nodded in thought, almost in sync with the water current, and for a moment, Dustin thought the old guy had died.
"All those who begin to change, die. It is forbidden now, for fear the young will die when attempting it, punishable by death."
"But that doesn't make any sense," said Olivia, looking around. "Do you think that we have always been aquatic, like you are?"
"Olivia," said Dustin, shaking his head, "Calm down and let me handle this."
Turning back to the old one, while the king frowned at them from her words, Dustin asked, "What do you consider a change? Perhaps we are merely misunderstanding you."
The old one went through the motions of moving with the current for a while, then spoke up again.
"Stories told to me by the last old one, tell of a time when our people did not live beneath the safety of the waves, that we once lived above. Our people were treated like animals, beaten and starved. The great leader Oaer, fought back against our oppressors, and led us to the waves. He taught us how to change, to be able to survive here, beneath the waves. It was difficult and dangerous, and many died in the attempt. All those who refused to try, he would beat worse than those who oppressed us. Once we were down here, he guided and led us to build our great city and home. Every generation since has been taught the dangers of changing, that it can kill us if we attempt it.
"In my youth, it was thought to be the fun thing for kids on the cusp of adulthood, to attempt; changing. Every single one that attempted it, ended up dying, no longer able to survive beneath the waves. I watched many perish. It was so terrifying, that a law was enacted. Any who attempted to change, would be killed, for fear of losing more of our youth."
"My father enacted the law, and I fully stand behind it," said the king, glaring at Olivia.
Dustin could only shake his head in shock. They were losing their gills and drowning. The sad thing was, that because they needed to change quick enough to survive going under the waves, everyone down here probably had a stronger ability to change, than any other Uz'En he had come across.
"I fully understand what was happening, and why so many died. Though I feel that your law is restricting because your people are so gifted. More gifted than any others of our people I have come across, I believe. The fact that so many were dying, is because you are not educated in what changing entails. The first thing I have to do, when bringing new people back to our planet, is to teach them of the change. It is what makes out people unique to the whole of the galaxy. No other race in all of the stars above, have our ability, I believe, to change into something else."
"If you encourage this change, then I will have to decline your offer to travel with my people to your planet. The well being of my people is far too important to risk allowing them to go through this change you promote."
"Then how many more of your people are you willing to lose?" asked Dustin, holding up a hand to Olivia, who looked like she was about to explode.
"What do you mean?" asked the king, narrowing his eyes at the threat.
"If my assumptions are true, that your people are stronger in the ability to change, than any other I have come across, telling them not to do something that is so natural to them, will not be very successful. How many children have you already lost during your reign as king to this change. Just because you make something a law, doesn't mean your people will follow it from the moment they are born. And what of your older population? I see very few as old as the old one here. How many of your people are you having to kill, in a veiled attempt to keep them safe from themselves?"
The crowd around him had started murmuring again, and the king looked like Dustin had just told him he was going to castrate him. Before anyone could do anything, Dustin held up his hands and continued.
"I do not mean to insult you in front of your people, your majesty, but I worry about your people, as you claim to. I know why the change is causing their deaths, and I can help you overcome that problem. Before you make a decision, I only ask that you take the time to think on my offer. I fully believe that your people could be the most powerful, with an opportunity to learn how to use this ability."
He watched the king back away from the impulse to just have them killed. Being from the warrior class, Dustin knew that the potential for these people being the most powerful at anything, was a strong draw for the king.
"We have struggled with this for a long time," said the king, as he looked over the crowd of people. "How can it be that you know how to keep my people from dying while changing?"
"Normally our people do not live under the water. It is only your people, who have come here, to get away from those above, that have learned to live here. When they change, I believe they are losing the ability to breathe under the water, and thus are dying from lack of air."
"So, we would lose our ability to live under the water?!" exclaimed the king in horror.
"Only until your people could learn to control the change better. I fully believe they could learn to go back and forth with ease with a little guided practice."
"Your majesty! You can't be serious about this!" cried the old one, looking panicked.
"Shut up! My father listened to you, as have I, and see where it has gotten us? We still have half of every school group lost from the change, and none have made it as old as you. I think it is well worth looking into."
The king snapped his teeth at the old one, and the old one immediately backed down. Dustin was finding this whole encounter incredibly interesting. To think they were losing so many to the change, it made sense why he was so afraid of it.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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Sorry for the late chapter today. Hope you enjoyed it.
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