Chapter 65: Chapter 65 New Game Plus
"You are going to have to start at the beginning," said his mother, sitting down with a huge bowl of noodles.
Olivia was busy slurping her own noodles, and Dustin was blowing on his, to cool them. They were one of his mom's best dishes, from when he was little, and she had just happened to be making herself some of them, to eat over the coming week.
"Good, because I still need to know a few things," he said. "I was sentenced to a year on a death planet, only there was a problem of a time dilation, that ended up lasting twenty years instead."
"What?!" exclaimed his mom and Olivia together.
"I overheard the orderlies talking about it," he said, looking over at Olivia guiltily.
"Those jerks!" she fumed, taking another bite of her noodles.
"You spent twenty years on that horrible place?" his mom said, anger and outrage on her face.
"No, actually. That's what I need to talk to you about. Do you have any experience with Gooblens?"
"What?! How have you heard about them?" asked his mom.
Olivia had paused in eating her noodles to listen.
"Do you?" he asked again, ignoring her question.
"Actually, when I was very young, a Gooblen came along and took care of me. Your father found me, because of her, and she left me with him. I'm not sure whatever happened to her…" his mom said, trailing off as she remembered her past.
Dustin nodded thoughtfully.
"What did you call her?" he asked.
She looked embarrassed before answered. "Granny."
"Are you aware of any Uz'En having an ability to access other Uz'En memories? Past or future?"
"There are stories…" his mom said, obviously struggling to remember any of them.
"I've heard of an ability like that. It was called chrono skimming. There was a lot of interest in it, in the military, and everyone was tested heavily for it. What do you know about it?" Olivia asked, forgetting her noodles until he took a bite of his own.
"Okay, look. I think I have that ability," he said, watching the looks of surprise on their faces. "While I was under, I met Olivia, escaped from the death world, killed the Josagn," he said, starting to tick things off on his fingers as their looks of surprise climbed and climbed.
"I found a new homeworld for the Uz'En, moved it to a safe place, developed nanobots, perfected the PED that Olivia is wearing now, we married, had a child, found my dad hiding, met up with Granny, collected the Uz'En from all over the galaxy, fought several alien races and one rogue AI before… before I was woken up," he ended, not sure he wanted to add that everyone died in the end.
"I'm not sure I believe all of that," said Olivia, looking dubious.
"I know how to prove it," said his mom, setting her empty bowl down. "What is your real father's name?"
"Kitteral," he said, without hesitating.
While his mom's eyes immediately began to tear, Olivia jumped in.
"Sorry to break your bubble, but I can't have kids. They sterilize us before we can…"
Dustin jumped in before she could finish.
"They always sterilize you, but you can regrow your missing bits with that PED."
She glanced down at it thoughtfully as his mother gave a massive sob.
"We have to find him! Please!"
"Calm down, he went into hiding to keep the AI from finding you and killing you, but I've already dealt with the AI."
"How?" asked Olivia.
"A simple reprogram and it believed that it was a threat that needed to be dealt with before anything else. I also sent a little care package to every alien race that ever tried to eradicate us, that can't be traced back to the humans."
"Are you sure?" asked Olivia with a worried look on her face.
"Relax. The worst that can happen, is everyone thinks the Josagn sent them, and then they will be wiped out."
"That's harsh," said his mother, still wiping her eyes and blowing her nose.
"No, it's brilliant!" exclaimed Olivia. "I hate those disgusting bird creeps!"
"So, what are we doing now?" asked his mom, sitting forward in her seat to hear his answer.
Dustin thought about that. "I can hack into the network and get us tickets off the planet, so we can start looking for dad and Granny. Do you guys want me to check on the planet I made our home? I named it Haven, by the way."
They discussed their options over the next thirty minutes, and finally decided to get his dad and Granny first, before heading for the planet Haven. He explained to them that his time in the virtual world had been dated two hundred years into the future, so things were bound to be interesting for them.
When they heard of the time difference, he had to explain the bits about learning how to stop aging, and being frozen in the cryo-units. Olivia drilled him on what he knew about her, and ended up being rather impressed. He was just glad he remembered as much as he did, though, he did leave out the bit on her being a clone. He wanted to wait and see if Granny thought she was one, before worrying about that.
Building a second PED for his mom, who couldn't change her facial features to save her soul, he then gave both of them quick lessons on using them. Finally, three hours after they arrived, they were climbing into the back of a taxi, on their way to the space port. They all appeared to be businessmen, safe from the scrutiny of the unmarked car at the gates.
Pausing at the ticket kiosk, they acquired tickets to be allowed onto one of the newest and fastest ships currently docked at the port. The funny thing was, as they arrived at the boarding desk, their tickets were the only ones that worked. Even the pilot and flight attendants were denied access by the robot guard.
Dustin couldn't help giving them all a grin as the doors shut on the angry group of people.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Sdrawkcab He probably shouldn't have grinned. Oh well. At least he knows how to fly it, right?
Chapter 66: Chapter 66 Too Early
"You know how to fly this thing?" asked his mom, as they reached the ship.
Dustin checked it out, and was pretty disappointed with what he found. It had three private cabins, with two beds in each, a table with two chairs for work or eating, and a couch to lounge on while watching tv, or browsing the limited entertainment that was available. There was a small kitchen to prepare snacks and small meals during the flight, and a small resting area for the staff. There was also a seating area for those who couldn't afford a private cabin, much like a commercial flight in an airplane. The cargo space was small, and the bridge was overly complicated.
"I can fly this, but I'm designing and building my next ship," he grumbled, slipping into his seat.
"By all means, just don't forget a doggy door for Fido," laughed Olivia, sliding into the second seat, to watch him.
Dustin turned to her with a surprised look on his face, "I never knew you wanted pets."
"It was a joke," she said dryly, giving him a look.
He turned back to the controls and shook his head. This thing was set up like a plane, nothing like the ships he remembered. Sending a tendril into a jack, he hacked into the system.
The control tower was trying to get ahold of him, because they were trying to reset the system, where he had programed it to not let anyone else on the ship. Seeing that they were sending another ship over to forcefully take it back, he quickly disconnected, making sure that the system looked like he was doing everything right, and warped a short distance away. Enough space separated them, they would never be able to find them, and yet next to no fuel had been used.
Now he could focus on trying to figure out how to find his dad. He knew where the asteroid belt he had found him was, but this ship couldn't get that far on the fuel it had. And without his nanobots reconfiguring things, he couldn't use the alternate fuel he had learned about from the AI. There was nothing else to do, but hit up a refueling station.
"Where are we going first?" asked his mother, sitting down on a stool she must have found somewhere.
"To the 245-SEDG hyper gate. It will get us halfway, and then we can hit up a refueling station and warp the rest," he said, pulling out of the system and turning the ship towards the gate.
"The authorities won't stop us?" asked Olivia, worry evident in her voice.
"I just changed its owner registry and gave it a new id number. They'll never be able to trace it," said Dustin as they entered warp. While it was smoother than some of the ships he had been in, he was really starting to miss the ship he had designed and built in the virtual world.
As they approached the gate, he was hailed.
"Please transfer the amount of 250 credits for use of the hyper gate, and you will be entered into que."
"How are we going to do that?" asked Olivia with a frown.
"250 credits? That's robbery!" exclaimed his mother with a shake of her head.
"No problems," Dustin said, diving into the system. It only took a moment to convince the system he had plenty of money, and then transferred the required amount.
"That's a handy skill," said his mother, astonished.
"Can we go shopping?" asked Olivia.
"Later," said Dustin, moving the ship forward to jump. He also told the system that he was a wonderful person that needed to be first in que. While this may have ticked off those who were already in line, he didn't care.
Traveling through the gate was vastly uneventful. Checking the surrounding fuel stations, he found on just inside their current range, and set the ship to head there. They should be able to get fuel and be at the asteroid belt within the next six hours.
Despite the PED's reducing their need for sleep, both the women went off to find beds, because there wasn't really anything else to do. When they arrived at the fueling station, he used the same hacking trick to pay for a full tank, and headed off for the asteroid belt. He couldn't wait to meet up with his dad again.
Stopping the ship just outside of the asteroid belt, he searched for the asteroid he had followed his dad to. Just as he spied it, he noticed his dad in his space creature form, flying towards them. Fearing his dad would attack them, he quickly ran to the airlock, and started the timer to open the door. This ship had an automatic door, that would open as soon as the air was fully out of the air lock chamber, so he began changing his form to the same as his dad. It was more difficult than he thought it would be, because this body didn't remember doing it, like his mind thought it should.
When the door popped open, Dustin flew out, and looked around. Turning, he went flying towards the ship, as his dad barreled into him. Seeing the long stinger whip out, Dustin suddenly realized this wasn't his dad, it was an actual space creature, and it thought he was invading its space.
Dodging the stinger, as it glanced off the ships shielding, Dustin changed to have claws all over his body, tipped with his own mix of toxins. The next time the creature bashed into him, in preparation of stinging him, he sliced it open with his claws and watched it seem to wither and flutter in death throes.
Flying towards the asteroid that had his dad's ship, he soon realized it was actually a nest, full of eggs from that creature he just killed. His dad must not have come here yet, and Dustin didn't have a clue where to find him.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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So, I did type yesterday, but not enough to actually release a chapter yesterday and one for today. We just started school, and I homeschool, so until I get my schedule ironed out, things will be hit and miss.
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