Chapter 56: Chapter 56 A Giant Seized
Dustin inched along the path, his senses heightened to make sure he didn't stumble upon any predators or traps. Ahead, just under the floorboards of the giant's house, he could see them huddled together. His ears could just barely make out a whispered argument, and then they all turned as one, to look up, as a crash sounded through the night.
Rushing forward, Dustin arrived where they had been, as they scrambled away, and the giant board above his head lifted, to show one of the giants looking down at him. Dropping the food, he had brought along with him, he jumped up at the face, growing his claws longer, and lacing his personal venom along them. Slashing at the cheek, he twisted in the air, and managed to push off from the hand that swung up to grab him. Landing in a crouch, back in the hole, the board above him slammed down, throwing dust and dirt into the air, and making a loud whoomph noise, that threatened to burst his eardrums.
Knowing that the venom worked quickly, he shouted at the Uz'En survivors to follow him, before darting away from the house. He glanced back, worried that they wouldn't follow, and saw them grabbing the food he had dropped and the other belongings they had already gathered together before darting after him. No sooner had they left the underfloor, then there was a huge crash, where the giant fell, breaking through the floor, then started spasming as it had a seizure.
Only a few paused to glance back, most of them continued running, following him as he left the giant garden and made his way towards the crash site.
"How are we going to get them on board the ship?" asked Olivia, joining him as they left the garden area.
"The ship can come into the atmosphere if it keeps the shields up, but not for long. We'll just have to hope that they see we've got everyone, and come down to us."
"If you're not slavers," panted one of the women following them, "Then who are you?"
"I'm honestly here to rescue you guys. I don't know how you came to be here, only that you are here."
"But why do you care?" asked another guy, catching up to them.
Dustin stopped running, so the others could catch up too. Looking over them, he saw that they were in peak physical condition, and were all around the same age.
"You are all Uz'En. It is my job to collect all of the Uz'En from around the galaxy, and take them to our new home world, so we can all live in safety. My scans picked up your presence, so here I am," Dustin explained. He really couldn't wait until he was done with all of this, so that he didn't have to keep trying to explain himself.
"That makes way more sense, then what we were thinking. So, you really don't know anything about the slavers?"
"I know that a lot of us were used as slaves, and some were even bred in slave breeding programs, while others were used as experiments. I'm just trying to get all of you back to our home world."
They looked at each other, seeming to have a conversation with just their eyes, and then they nodded and turned back to him.
"We are very grateful and are willing to come along with you. The threat of the slavers coming back for us, after we crashed last year, has almost been too much."
"They probably did come back for you, only the atmosphere here causes metal to be eaten away, so it's really not safe for any ships."
"Then how about yours?" asked the first woman, confused.
"We have a shield that protects our ship for very short periods of time. As soon as the ship lands, you are all going to have to board as fast as you can."
They nodded, as one pointed out the approaching ship. Behind them, they heard the giants yelling and carrying on. Dustin hoped the ship arrived before the giants did. He didn't want to see what they did to murderers.
The ship landed right in front of them, and Dustin urged everyone inside. He jumped in last, as the shields flashed back up, and watched as a group of the giants rushed at them.
"Hold on!" he cried, as the door shut and the ship flew sideways.
People went flying in every direction, trying to grab ahold of anything they could. The ship flew the other way, then down, then back up, and Dustin wondered who was in charge of flying. Making his way to the bridge, just as the ship settled itself and flew normally, he saw that Granny was controlling the ship alone.
"This would be easier if that lazy father of yours were in here helping," she grumbled.
Dustin sighed and threw himself into his seat.
"We got everyone, so as soon as we're in orbit we can send them on their way and head to the last planet. I'm tired of all of this. I think when we're finally done, I'm going to take a nap!"
Granny chuckled as Olivia made her way to her seat. "But you don't need to sleep," Olivia said.
"So? After all this crap? I think I deserve a rest."
"Oh, let him dream. We both know that as soon as we're done with the last planet, he's going to come up with something else he wants to do."
Olivia nodded in agreement and they were soon in space, looking down at the strange planet below them.
"Let's just fly these guys back, instead of using nanobots, and check up on Kit," suggested Olivia before Dustin could command the nanobots to do anything.
He thought about it for a moment, then decided there wasn't any reason not to. There wasn't really enough materials to make extra nanobots anyway.
"So, we overthrew the ship and escaped," finished one of the men that they had just saved as he stepped onto the bridge with Kitteral.
"Wow, sounds like you guys had that all figured out," he said, sitting in his seat.
"Well, everything except crash landing on that planet. We really hadn't planned for that."
"I don't imagine anyone plans for a crash landing," said Granny, not looking at him as she typed something into her console. Dustin thought she might be playing some word game, but he wasn't sure.
"We'll be home in just a few minutes," said Olivia, as they left warp and the planet appeared before them.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Sdrawkcab Sorry, I've been sick, but here's the chapter, and I have a chapter for tomorrow, so no worries there.
Chapter 57: Chapter 57 Enhanced Security Systems
"Dustin, it is good that you have returned. We have had a few interesting encounters with the one AI you previously thought destroyed. We are not sure exactly what happened, and are still investigating, but it seems that it is attempting to wipe out all of the last traces of itself," said the nanobot hive mind as soon as they came out of warp.
"That's good. I discovered that it wasn't all gone, and reprogrammed it to do that. I'm glad that it's working."
"If you are the one behind this new activity, then we shall cease our efforts to understand it, and allow the AI to die in its own way. We have had no other attempts to hack our system, since you repaired and upgraded us."
Nodding, he ended the communication with it, and opened the one that his son was trying to contact them on.
"Dad! I'm so glad I got a hold of you! I had this horrible vision that you were in some science facility, and were in a coma, or something." Kit's face was red and blotchy, and Dustin realized he must have been crying. It wasn't a look he was used to.
"No, I'm fine son, and we have some more people for you. It could have been a vision from the past, before you were born?" he asked, thinking back on the Josagn ship he had been on so long ago.
"Maybe…that seems right, that it was in the past. Okay," he seemed to get himself under control and started typing in the orders for a ship to come fetch the people on board. "I will need another planet jumped in, to handle many more people. At the moment we barely have extra room for growth."
"I can do that. I'll keep an eye out for a good planet."
Checking the coordinates, after the people were safely transferred, they made the jump to the last planet that contained Uz'En.
"I can't believe we're almost done," said Olivia, excitedly as their destination popped into view.
"What do you plan to do after we're done?" asked Kitteral.
"I think a vacation is in order," said Dustin, glancing over at Olivia. She smiled and nodded.
"That would be good," agreed Granny, looking down at her console at the stats of the planet below.
"Dustin," she said, with a frown, "I think we have a problem."
"What?" he turned to check on his own console, and immediately had to grab the controls to dodge an incoming missile. Several more followed that one, but thankfully, they couldn't steer in the vacuum of space.
He flew the ship over behind the moon and cloaked, before peeking out to see what was going on.
"How were they able to react so fast?" asked Kitteral. "We just arrived!"
"They have an orbital security system. It attacks anyone who approaches the planet," said Olivia, reading from her screen.
"I bet that's why the nanobots never managed to get on planet. The security system blows up everything larger than a fist sized rock, and an electric field pretty much destroys everything else," said Dustin, rather impressed.
"I'm receiving a communication request," said the computer.
"Hello?" said Dustin.
"You are in restricted air space. All unauthorized vehicles are to leave immediately, or suffer the consequences." The voice on the other side sounded very mechanical, as if it were a preprogrammed message.
"We have citizens of our people on the planet below, based on scans, and would like to request permission to retrieve them," said Dustin, fully expecting no response.
"One moment," came the mechanical voice, surprising him. "By what rights do you claim these people of yours?"
"I am the king of my people, and I am here to reclaim the last of them."
They waited for a response, and soon it came.
"We will grant you access to landing strip two. Please do not defer from your flight path directly to it, or we will be forced to respond with force."
"Understood, thank you."
Dustin gave a small laugh and guided the ship towards the planet. When they got close, he uncloaked and the field from the security system went down. The moment they were inside the field, it went back up, and the ship rocked a little.
"That's pretty impressive. We're going to have to see about getting one for our planet," said Olivia.
Dustin nodded as he guided the ship down to the landing strip with a huge two painted on it. A group of people waited as they landed.
"Greetings, King, I am the Chancellor of the people of this planet. It has come to my attention, that you seek your people? May I ask by what means do you recognize them by?" she had a simple smile as she led them to the small building next to the landing strip.
"My people are known as Uz'En. We have a unique ability to change our forms, though many have lost that ability due to not using it for several generations," Dustin tried to explain.
She nodded, as if she understood, or to encourage him, he couldn't tell.
"Our people were scattered from their home world many generations ago, by slavers. I have been trying to get all of my people gathered back together, now that we have a safe place to call home. This is my last destination, throughout the entire galaxy."
"That is fascinating. I have never heard of the term Uz'En, but we do have a penchant for change physically. Perhaps you have a better way of determining who is from your people?"
Dustin scratched his head. He had never encountered a race that could change like his, so another method of telling them apart from other races, other than using the nanobots, didn't exist. He tried to explain that to her, and she was incredibly curious about the nanobots.
"They are a technology unique to our people, that several other races were able to steal and try to utilize. We really don't wish to trade the secrets to it," said Olivia, as Dustin fell silent.
"That would explain the rumors that have been traveling around about the nanobots going rogue," nodded the woman.
"Do you mind if we use some of the nanobots to see how many of our people are on your planet? I promise they will all return to me, once they are done scanning the people here."
She thought about Dustin's request seriously. "I don't think that would be a bad idea, I'm just not sure it would be allowed. We have struggled for many years to gain freedom from those who would enslave us. Is there any way you can guarantee that these nanobots won't go rogue and cause trouble? I have already overstepped my authority in allowing you to enter our atmosphere."
"Then why did you let us land?" asked Dustin, convinced there was something else going on.
"We have managed to keep ourselves free from oppression for fifteen years now, unfortunately, we are struggling with genetic inbreeding, from a lack of fresh bloodlines. I had hoped that you might be able to provide a solution if we are of the same race."
"That seems pretty farfetched," Olivia said, narrowing her eyes.
"I had honestly hoped your males would be willing to donate for the cause," she said with a smile.
Olivia frowned, and Dustin just managed to step in before she attacked her.
"While at least one of us might be interested, I could provide a better solution if the population of your people are Uz'En."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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