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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Chapter 58: Chapter 58 A Planet of Uz’En
"Dustin," growled Olivia, obviously not following along with his reasoning.
"It's alright Olivia, just let me explain," he said, giving her a smile.
She seemed to calm down, and he turned back to the woman who was looking back and forth at them, amused.
"If I can verify that the people on this planet are all Uz'En, then I would be fully capable of helping you with your inbreeding problem. We have many Uz'En back on our home world, who would be interested in forming life bonds with your people, I am sure."
"But I am certain, that none of those in power would be interested in having our people leave the planet, or have your people come here," she said, cautiously.
"I can fix that, too," he said, pleased that he could fix so many problems all at once, assuming the people on the planet were all Uz'En.
She seemed to mull over the thought for a while, pacing back and forth as she thought, then finally, she nodded. "If you can make sure that none of the people on this planet are aware of being tested, then I will give you the go ahead to test them. If you can fix the main problem our people struggle with so easily, then I am willing to suffer the wrath of the council."
He nodded, and Olivia sent orders through her PED to release the nanobots to search the planet over.
"Do you know how long it will take for your testing to be complete?" she asked, as Dustin started to receive reports from the nanobots. He listened to their electronic signals, as if they were tiny bugs singing him songs.
"So far, every person tested has come back positive for being an Uz'En, but it may take several hours for the testing to be complete," he warned her.
She chewed on her lip as she thought about that. "I can not be away for that long. If there are people who are not Uz'En, then what do you plan to do?"
"We already have a handful of individuals on our planet who are not Uz'En, so as long as there is an overwhelming number of Uz'En to non-Uz'En, then I don't think it will be a problem. Would you like us to contact you when our testing is complete?"
She nodded; relief evident in her haste to agree. Dustin wondered if anyone in power knew what she was doing, and decided to check it out after she left.
"Here is the private channel you can contact me on. I will be waiting for your message. I look forward to seeing what solution you have." She handed Dustin a card with a series of code written on it, and he was impressed to see the level of encryption they had. This was the first time he had seen a group of Uz'En actually using technology to their advantage, and the implications were exciting.
As she left, they all returned to the ship, where Granny and Kitteral were waiting.
"I think this may be where my mother's people came from," he told his father, as he moved to his chair."
"What do you mean?" asked his father. "Your mother was a warrior class Uz'En. She wouldn't have had anything to do with these people."
"Of all the Uz'En I have encountered in the entire galaxy; this is the first time I have seen any actually using technology. Their security system around their planet is the best I've seen, and I've seen a lot. This communications channel is so secure, I might not be able to hack it. This is just the kind of thing I would have done."
Kitteral thought about that for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't understand how she could be related to these people, and I'm certain we didn't have any Uz'En classes that focused on technology. Perhaps there are some non-Uz'En people behind the technology here?"
"Or," added Granny, "Your people have developed a new class with the changes that have happened to them over the generations. You can't deny that we have seen some rather interesting things occurring because of the situations they have been placed into."
Kitteral shrugged and finally gave up. "Whatever. So, can you hack their system, or not?"
Dustin chuckled as he shoved his finger into his port and dived into the system. The security they had was very impressive, better than any system, other than his own, and the new hivemind, that he had ever seen. Moving past the security programs, that couldn't see him, he began to check up on how their society was doing.
It looked pretty impressive, stable and well developed, which would explain why they didn't really want outsiders messing it up. It soon became obvious what had happened.
Whenever an Uz'En bred with someone, rather than the child being half, it would be a full Uz'En. These people had basically bred themselves to a full Uz'En population.
Diving deeper, he found that they had a council set up to deal with any problems that occurred. Perusing through their documented laws and regulations, he saw that the woman chancellor who had allowed them onto the planet, had broken at least half of them. She was looking to suffer a lot of grief if they discovered what she had done.
Pulling back, he turned to his crew and smiled. "I know what we need to do, to legally get this planet moved to our solar system," he said.
"What? Since when was that your plan?" asked Olivia.
"Since I discovered that the planet had mostly Uz'En on it, and they are needing new blood. Kit asked us to bring in a new planet to let the people not be so crowded. I imagine he wants to build better cities, and needs a place for the surplus to bleed over during construction."
"You don't think he's having trouble feeding everyone, do you?" asked Granny.
"No, there's plenty of food there. Besides, he would have asked us for help, if he wasn't able to handle everything. The kids really good at this whole leadership thing. Way better than I ever was."
"He gets that from me," sighed Kitteral, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes so that he didn't see the eyes rolling or the looks everyone threw his way.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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