"Dustin! We have incoming!" cried Olivia.
"I know, we have time," he said, watching the jump gate come online and stop in space. It was awesome to watch from the surface of the planet.
He had returned to his body, and had the front screen showing them what was visible in the night sky. The ring gate glowed in so many different colors, they looked like they were pulsing as the planet approached it.
The council had an emergency meeting, as the method of his relocation had not been discussed. They had all assumed he would provide that next, not immediately jump into actually moving the planet. He wasn't about to let them back out of it now, and was intentionally ignoring all of the communications efforts they had tried, to inform him of such. In their meeting, they decided the only thing left to do, was to attack his ship and force him to stop. The only problem with that, was that he had cloaked the ship, and moved it out onto a small island in the middle of the ocean. Their sensors couldn't find him, because he had placed a bug in, that ignored the few traces they could detect.
"Is everything going alright?" asked Kitteral, looking up from his game as everyone went quiet.
The scene on the screen was going to get too big to show, so Dustin jumped up and headed for the airlock. He wanted to see this from the outside, even if the scout ships found them. It was far too late to stop anything at this point.
Granny and Olivia rushed to follow him, as Kitteral gazed at the screen in silence.
They stood, leaning against the ship, as the gate got closer and closer. Only moments remained, before they would fly through and be in the next system. Dustin was ecstatic. He was almost done. Kit could handle whatever drama that came, and he could finally take that nap, knowing that there wasn't anything more for him to do.
"Dustin! Quick! Get back on the ship!" cried Kitteral, looking crazed.
A whine in the air was the only warning they had of the blast that came next.
*KABOOM*
XxxxX
Dustin opened his eyes to darkness. The first thing he did was heal himself, before he even checked to see what damage he had taken.
The room was dark, so he hadn't been blind. Outside he could hear children laughing as they played some game. The smell of vegetable soup, his son's favorite, wafted in the air.
Sitting up, Dustin looked around, and saw that he was in his old room, on Haven. What had happened? Climbing out of bed, he moved to the door and listened as he heard voices. It sounded like Granny was talking softly to Kit at the dinner table.
"What happened again?" asked Kit, as the sounds of bowls being set down reached his ears.
"Kitteral jumped at us, blocking most of the blast, and Olivia was just able to move in front of Dustin, taking the rest. I think the missile must have hit the ground right in front of us, because the damage to the ship was pretty severe. The nanobots were barely able to patch it up enough for us to escape the rest of the incoming missiles."
"But I don't understand how mom and grandpa didn't make it," whispered Kit.
Dustin froze. He hadn't been moving, but suddenly the world froze around him. Did he need to breathe? Did his heart really need to beat? How could they both be gone? The old man wasn't much of a father, but he had been his dad. And Olivia? Maybe he had misheard…
"I was barely able to scrape enough of your dad together to drag onto the ship. There wasn't enough of the others to grab anything… I'm sorry…" Granny's voice trailed away and there was silence. Not even the sound of spoons moving in the imitation of eating.
Dustin sat on the bed. The world was a haze. Nothing seemed to make sense.
He looked around the room, not recognizing any of it as his. Had Kit reorganized? No, there was the desk the nanobot hivemind had made for him from wood bits pieced together. Over there were the pictures that Kit had drawn when he was very small, organized in no particular order. Next to his closet was the hamper he only sometimes used.
"The tranquilizer I gave your dad should be wearing off soon. I think I'm going to go, before he wakes," said Granny, as the sound of a chair gently scraping across the floor echoed in the silent apartment.
"Thank you for bringing back my dad," choked Kit, who was obviously crying.
Tears were no where for Dustin. Hearing his boy cry meant nothing to him. He was too numb to even register the outer door softly opening and shutting. Granny had known he was awake, and left anyway. She had told him what had happened, and left. Even that wouldn't register with any emotions.
Laying back down on the bed, Dustin looked up at the ceiling, trying to find the tears that should have been falling, and was reminded of all the times he had stared at that ceiling, thinking of where Olivia might be, and why she wasn't with him.
A nap. He had accomplished everything he had sought out to do. He had brought back all of the Uz'En from around the galaxy. They had a home that was safe, whether they wanted it or not. The hivemind was there to study the galaxy and to keep them safe. And as far as he knew, there wasn't any aliens out there who wanted to hunt them down and kill them. A nap sounded just fine. That was what he had told Olivia he would do when he was done, so why not?
Closing his eyes, Dustin willed himself to fall asleep, and the sounds of the children playing outside drifted away.
XxxxX
"Prisoner 313564, has completed his sentencing of one year on the virtual planet 3.54365. Commencing waking sequence."
The mechanical voice echoed in his ears as the sounds of rustling filled the silence.
"His stats look good, he should be fully awake in thirty minutes," said a deep male voice.
"Holy crap, did you see the time dilation?" exclaimed a raspy male voice.
"Shit! How the hell did this guy survive twenty years?! We have to do something!"
"What? Why?"
"This guy was sent to the Death World for a year! If this is true, he spent twenty years there instead! He's going to be a fucking psychopath! We'll lose our jobs over this!"
"But it's not our fault he reacted this way! How can they blame us?"
"We were supposed to keep an eye on him over the past year. This should have been caught on day two! They'll know we've been skipping out, and not doing everything!"
"Shit! You're right!" cursed the raspy guy.
Maybe only a chapter or two left! I hope you have enjoyed this wild ride of Dustin's. Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on this plot twist!
"What are we going to do?" asked the raspy voiced guy.
Dustin couldn't move anything, but his hearing was getting better. Could it have really been a virtual reality? No, he refused to believe it!
"Grab the information from the guy next door, that we are planning to release tomorrow. We'll copy it over to this guy's data. No one's going to notice."
"Okay, but I'm not going to be here when this guy wakes up. If he's been on that death world for twenty years, then he'll kill us the moment he's released from his straps. Should I get a psych eval set up?"
"No, that might tip off someone that we think something's wrong. Let's get that new girl, Olivia, in here to deal with him. I hear she's used to dealing with the Josagn. This guy shouldn't be as hard to deal with as those nasty birds," said the deep voiced guy.
"Shit! Did you see the blood results? It looks like they crashed the machine. What do I do?"
"Stop panicking! You're going to give us away. Take a breath and I'll handle this. Need some more smokes?"
"No, I got some. Thanks," said the raspy man as he apparently left, the door shutting softly behind him.
"Freaking idiot," grumbled the deep voice as the sound of keys tapping reached Dustin's ears.
"There, now to get Olivia."
The room was quiet after the two left, and Dustin forced his body to start responding. By the time the door opened again, he had managed to sit up on the side of his bed. Glancing up, his breath caught in his chest. It was Olivia. She was younger than he remembered.
"Awake already? I'm sorry it took me so long to get here, the other orderlies had an emergency to deal with. Let's take a look here," she said cheerfully, stepping up to the console with his information.
"Looks like you just finished a six-month stint at a low-level prison, so we'll get your records updated and you'll be cleared to leave. Do you know if you have anyone capable of picking you up?"
Dustin scrunched his brow at her words. He wasn't sure what was real. Was his mother still alive? Was she a drunk? Did he have a dad, still alive?
"Don't fret too much," she said, throwing a smile at him that caused his heart to jump. "I'll check our records, and see if you have anyone available. I know it's kind of rough coming out of the mind fog."
He watched her as she started typing on the console, letting his gaze travel over her hair and face. She didn't have the added weight of bearing Kit, but she had those muscles he remembered wrapping around him. Closing his eyes, he cleared his throat.
"Do I know you?" he asked, his voice rough.
She glanced up and smiled at him. "That can happen. The computer will take people you've see in your life and construct new people for you to interact with in the virtual world. I'm pretty sure you haven't seen me before, but maybe you saw someone like me?"
Dustin shook his head. "No, I mean… have you gone to see the general, yet?" he asked, remembering some of what Olivia had told him when they first met, so long ago.
Her hands froze in mid type, and a surprised look flashed over her face before it was gone. "I don't know what you mean."
"He's going to try and rape you," Dustin continued in a soft voice, trying to remember what she had told him. Had she killed him? Or had it been an accident where the guy died anyway?
"What?" she squeaked, before clearing her voice and shaking her head.
"Sir, I assure you, that you are merely struggling with fake realities. Please remain calm while I check back over your records. There shouldn't be anything about a general in your history…"
Dustin waited while she poured over the information before, watching as her small mouth frowned deeper and deeper.
"I'm sorry to bother you so much," he finally said, unable to bear watching that mouth frown. "Do I have anyone capable of picking me up?"
She glanced up at him as if trying to decide if he was capable of being released, then decided the small bit from before must have been leftovers from waking up and gave him a small smile.
"I have your mother listed, though it says she's not interested in picking you up. You seem to have a small apartment listed as a waiting residence for you. That's funny…" her voice trailed off as she read the address.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing. You just seem to be in the apartment next to mine. It caught me by surprise is all," she said, giving him another smile before going back to typing.
"If you're not busy, want to grab a bite to eat sometime?" he asked, with a smile.
"I'm not sure that would be appropriate," she said with a shake to her head.
"Fair enough. Keep me in mind, if you change your mind," he said, rubbing his face and stretching. The clothes they had laid out for him were scratchy and poor quality, but at least they weren't made of paper.
"You have been cleared to leave. I've arranged for a taxi to take you to your apartment, where they will have your key waiting at the manager's office. Have a nice day, sir."
She gave him a smile and held out her hand to help him stand.
"What? You don't have to wait for me to pee, or anything like that? No tests to make sure I'm physically and mentally stable to leave?"
She frowned. "You seem physically capable and our conversation, despite the little hiccup in the beginning, proves your mental stability is sufficient for release. Do you have any concerns?"
Dustin wanted to tell her about their relationship. How they had passionate sex that produced a wonderful boy, their falling apart for a decade, only to get back together in just enough time for him to lose her again. The words wouldn't come, and he found himself looking at her longingly.
"Can I ask a question?" he asked, looking down at his non-skid socks that would have to suffice until he got back to the apartment.
"Of course," she said with another smile.
"Can I have a hug? It seems like I just lost a lot of dear people." The words were soft, his look lost.
With a laugh, she held her hands open.
As he hugged her, he knew this wasn't the end. He would win her heart again.
I still have a chapter or two to go, so don't give up on me yet!
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