Chapter 51: Chapter 51 Complicated Lies
After much discussion, the king relented, and decided to allow all of his people to be moved, after Dustin showed them a demonstration of how he could change back and forth easily. Olivia also showed them, and after he made sure they all had nanobot PED's, he started guiding them through the process too.
Olivia took over helping people, when they discovered she was much better at explaining what they needed to do, and what to expect. Dustin watched those who were wandering around on the beach in curiosity, and saw a flash of light in the distance. With a sinking feeling, he changed his eyes to see what it was, and saw that it was an approaching ship from one of the cities along the coast. They probably only had a few minutes before they arrived.
"These people won't all fit on our ship," said his father, noting the ship as well.
Nodding, he took a breath and guided a few of the nanobots from the ship to start harvesting materials to make more nanos. They were going to build another ship, and they were going to do it fast. Then he turned to his dad, who had no idea he knew how to do that, and smiled.
"Let me do all of the talking, okay?"
"Sure, I'm just going to stand back and watch. Hopefully they don't mind us taking away these guys."
Dustin walked up to the ship as it settled onto the beach, in a clearing on the other side of his ship. Their ship was tiny, obviously only large enough for a couple people. That could mean they were only interested in seeing what was going on, or they could be a scout ship, relaying information to a larger fighting group.
"Hello?" called a fat guy, climbing out of the cockpit of the ship. His triple chins quivered as he looked around at all of the people. Other than the purple hair, he could easily have passed for a human. Dustin figured the hair could have been dyed, but he didn't really think it was.
"Hello," responded Dustin, approaching him with an easy gait.
"I'm afraid I'm not familiar with you? What's going on?" asked the man with a raised eyebrow.
"Our crew felt the need to stretch their legs after our long flight," said Dustin with a smile. "I hope we aren't intruding. We'll be gone, with no harm to anything within the hour."
"Your crew?" he asked in confusion, watching more people climb out of the water with looks of astonishment on their faces.
"We just needed to stretch out and breathe for a few minutes. Like I said, we'll be gone within the hour."
The guy opened his mouth a couple of times, and it was obvious he didn't believe him, but Dustin just stood there with a smile as if daring him to refute it.
"All right, well, my commander just wanted me to check on things, so I guess if you're gone in the hour, there shouldn't be a problem. You sure you're not interested in trade of any kind? We're always open to such things…"
Dustin laughed, as if the thought hadn't occurred to him, and shook his head. "Sorry, but we're on our way to our new home planet. We still have quite a ways to go, and don't really have much in the way of free things to trade. Thanks for the offer though."
The man nodded, watching as yet more people climbed out of the ocean, then looked around at all of the people on the beach already. It was pretty apparent there were too many to fit into his little ship that sat there beside them.
"How do you get everyone to fit?" he asked, perplexed.
"Oh, this isn't our only ship. The other one is below the waters, where everyone is exiting to come up here. Our atmosphere can be a bit harsh to other planets, so we've taken to releasing our people in a controlled manner, under water, that protects whatever planet we happen to be on. You don't have anything to worry about. The loading procedure is much simpler, as my people will be able to walk on board. Unloading is always a bit more stressful, as they can't always use their legs immediately."
The man's face made it clear he believed all of this crap, and Dustin had to fight not to break out into a laugh. His father had given up, and walked away. The people were wary of this guy, so they were too far away to hear what was being said. Eventually, the man nodded and turned to leave without another word. He struggled into the cockpit of his ship, and then fought with the seatbelts that didn't want to go around his girth. Once he finally lifted off and left, Dustin heaved a huge sigh of relief.
The nanobots were scrambling to gather enough materials, and he knew it would be close to that hour mark before they would be able to leave. As the last of the people left the waters, with the king choosing to be last, the new ship rose up out of the waters behind them and settled on the last bare patch of sand. It was easily twice as big as his, and he understood why the nanobots had such a hard time.
As the doors opened to let the people start boarding, Dustin went up to the king to speak to him one last time.
"My son, Kit, is the king of our people on our home world. I'm sure you will get along with him very well, once you arrive. He will probably allow you to remain king over your people, and he will understand that you lay claim to the entire waters of the world. If there are any problems, I am sure you will be able to settle them quickly. He is a much better king then I was."
"I had wondered if you were a king. I could feel the urge to give in to your words. Our people have many stories of another world where we had come from, but one can never be sure which are real, and which are merely made up."
"Did the old one choose not to come?" asked Dustin, noting that he hadn't seen him on the beach."
The king frowned. "Not everyone could be convinced to come along, despite the fact so many were leaving. There will remain a pocket of people here, for you to bring later, once I am gone. If it were up to me, I would leave them here to die, but I understand that you are now the one my people will turn to, or your son rather, as we feel the pull to follow those of royal descent, rather than of warrior descent, as I am."
Dustin gaped at him, not knowing what to say. He had tried to be so diplomatic, and this guy was basically telling him that he would have done whatever he requested because they could feel his kingly aura? If only every other Uz'En on this trip acted this way, his life would go so much better.
"I will have them moved, against their wills, as soon as your ship leaves," said Dustin, with a nod.
The king nodded back and then proceeded to order his people to board. They didn't hesitate, though it was obvious many were nervous. Sending a few more nanobots out, Dustin quickly had the few remaining Uz'En loaded in pods and leaving to head back. They would merge with this ship, that held the majority, and travel with it.
Sliding back into his seat, after they had all left, Olivia turned to him. "Where are we going next?"
"How many other worlds do we have now?" he asked.
"Twenty-one," said Granny.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Sdrawkcab That worked out well...
Chapter 52: Chapter 52 Zombies
They sat in their ship, cloaked, watching alien ships assemble just outside a solar system.
"So, what's going on?" asked Kitteral, entering the bridge after a nap.
"There's Uz'En on the planet these guys are getting ready to decimate," said Granny, without taking her eyes off the screen.
"And why are they getting ready to decimate the planet?" he asked, sitting in his chair.
"Apparently, there's some kind of virus that got loose, and they can't seem to figure it out. Their communication channels are full of talk about zombies and other trash," said Dustin, tapping the console in front of him thoughtfully.
"Should we go ahead and check it out?" asked Olivia.
"We need to. If there are any Uz'En left, we need to get them out before they start bombing the surface."
"Can't you just get some nanobots going, to collect them, like what you've done before?" asked his father, leaning back in his chair and stretching.
"They've got some of those damn nanobot jammers on the planet, like I was telling you about?" said Dustin, guiding the ship past the ships towards the planet.
"Whatever for? That seems like such a waste of resources," said Kitteral.
"Those who lived on the planet before the virus used the jammers to protect themselves against rogue nanobot swarms, and no one's been able to get a drone close enough to shut them off," explained Olivia.
"I suppose that makes sense, but doesn't that mean…" started Kitteral.
"That Olivia and Granny can't help out this time. And I can't take the ship very close either," said Dustin, not looking at his dad. The man just wasn't everything he had thought he would be. He was actually really lazy, and often went out of his way to avoid work.
"Will you be okay?" asked Olivia, obviously not happy with the situation.
"I'll be fine. We only have a few planets left to get Uz'En off of, and then we'll be done."
No one asked him what he planned to do once that happened, because they weren't sure they wanted to hear his answer. Dustin hadn't been quiet about the fact he wasn't interested in returning to the increasingly more and more crowded planet.
"I'll head for the jammers first. It will take too long to try and find every Uz'En that's hiding on the planet. Once the jammers are disabled, we can send the nanobots to grab them all."
"We'll be scanning from orbit, to try and figure out what's going on, so we don't accidentally take some horrible virus home with us," said Granny, typing a few things on her console.
"I also have the nanobots scavenging from the trash floating around the planet, to start making the extra nanobots for the grab and go mission."
Dustin nodded his thanks to Olivia, as she sent the orders through her console. Not looking at his dad, who was particularly quiet, he headed for the airlock.
Getting to the surface wasn't a problem. He was in the form of a large bird, soaring over the city below him, towards to the site of the first jammer. Below him he could see what honestly looked like real zombies, but there was no way, right?
"Dustin?" came Granny's voice in his ear. The communication device he had, was working. It was made from nanobots, but wasn't a nanobot anymore, so they hadn't been sure if it would work in the jammer's range.
"It looks like the people who are zombies, are actually infected with a parasite, instead of a virus," she continued, since he had no way to respond.
"Unless you want to get us a sample, to double check the readings," said Olivia, "then, every Uz'En we grab will probably have this xeno-parasite. The computer scans say that they become unstable when they infect the aliens that lived on this planet, causing the host to become aggressive as the parasite starts to die. It puts off pheromones to deter other parasite-laden hosts from attacking each other, giving the parasite an opportunity to transfer to a new host, which doesn't seem to have worked out for them."
"It looks like the Uz'En might kill and absorb them, when they become infected, but the scans can't tell how long it takes, or if there are side effects when they do that. Be careful down there," said Granny.
Dustin spied the building that had the jammer, and dived for it. Avoiding the front lawn, that had several zombies stumbling around, he landed on the roof. Changing into his crystal lizard form, he ripped the roof door off its hinges and entered the building. The entire second story building was taken up by a massive coil, that was emitting a jamming signal. He stood on the railing overlooking the coil, studying its design for a few moments before heading for the stairs.
Two zombies were in the building, too far gone to be able to figure out how to open a door. He sidestepped the one that lay on the ground, weakly reaching for his ankle, and slammed a chair into the other one when it turned towards him. The chair slammed into its face, causing blood to splatter everywhere, and it fell to the ground dead.
With a grunt of annoyance, Dustin stepped up to the control panel and quickly shut off the jammer. Someone was intelligent, having designed an off button, so he didn't have to do ninja computer things to get it to turn off. Shedding the blood splattered crystals, so he didn't accidentally become infected, Dustin transformed into his bird form, and flew back up out of the building.
There were two more jammers he had to disable before the nanobots could be released to grab up the Uz'En on the planet. Changing into a faster bird form, he prepared to travel as fast as he could, when he spied a man fighting off a zombie on the roof of another building. A crowd was forming around the building, which meant the man was trapped. If he didn't save him, the guy was doomed.
Changing his form to that of a half bird, half human, Dustin flew over.
"I'm going to grab you, raise your arms out so I get a good grip!" he shouted, swooping for the guy.
Without pausing, the guy, held his arms out and Dustin grabbed his arms, close to his body, and pulled him away before the next zombie could land a blow.
"Who are you?" asked the guy breathlessly, as Dustin swooped back towards the jammer building's roof.
Setting him down, Dustin thought about how to answer that.
"Look, I don't have time to explain, because they're about to fire bomb the planet. I have to shut down the other two jammers so we can send in a nanobot swarm to grab the survivors," said Dustin, turning to leave.
"Wait! I can help you! I know how to shut them all down from here!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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Only a few planets to go...then what? Any ideas?
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