Chapter 23 Inside the Military Station

The room was full of random junk. Dustin was surprised that the place wasn't bare like every other abandoned station or base he had been in. Half started project littered the tables and desks. This looked promising.

Going up to one of the computer monitors, he sent a stream of nanobots into it, and started pumping juice to boot the system up. He chuckled when it asked for a password.

-Query?-

The word blinked on the screen. It was time to find some answers out.

-Uz'En-

-An alien race, discovered living among the human civilization. They have chameleon abilities to blend in and hide. All attempts to copy the ability have failed. Project Hybridization failed when it was determined that they breed true. Genetic samples were acquired from over 3,000 individuals and experimentation has commenced with new technology acquired from alien trade. This species is hunted by many for the threat they present.-

-Project Hybridization-

-Project hybridization was the attempt to incorporate the Uz'En chameleon ability into human subjects. Unfortunately, all attempt to create a hybrid failed. All the infants born with the Uz'En genetic material were born full Uz'En. It is unknown how this occurred, as funding for the project dried up during the war with the Josagn. A military outpost, 3687.7876 and scientific station, Osprey, were placed around an alien hostile world, to contain any possible outbreaks, but they were abandoned during the war.-

-3687.7876-

-A military outpost designed specifically to learn the secrets of the Uz'En alien race. They were discovered living among the human population and were used for multiple science experiments at the scientific station, Osprey. The outpost was abandoned during the Josagn war.-

-Osprey Science Station-

-Scientific station placed around an alien hostile world to conduct experiments on an alien race, the Uz'En. They were discovered to have chameleon and shape changing abilities, that were incredibly desired by the military. All attempts to steal those abilities failed. Numerous subjects were born in an attempt to hybridize the race with humans, but the aliens have a unique ability to breed true. All infants born during the experiments were raised in the military outpost 3687.7876 as military soldiers to be used at some point as weapons. The Josagn War ended the experiments as funds dried up. It is unknown what happened to the experimental subjects.-

Dustin read that last sentence several times. This was the most information he had found so far. Things didn't add up though. The AI he had taken from the station, and left in their escape pod back on the planet with Olivia and Jake had mentioned that it didn't know anything about him. It must have been lying.

He thought for a moment, then remembered it had said the bulk of its databases had been taken when the station was abandoned. Maybe all of the information about the Uz'En had been taken and it wasn't lying after all. Though that seemed weird. For the entire reason of the station's existence orbiting that planet had hinged on the Uz'En, it should have known something.

Uncertainty and fear boiled in his stomach, and he couldn't help but worry about Olivia and Jake.

-Osprey Database-

-All scientific database information would have been sent to the nearest military outpost when the science station was abandoned. The closest military outpost was 687387.538.-

Dustin studied the data that popped up on the maps. He wanted to make sure he could find this outpost when they got back. He had every intention of visiting it.

-Alien cloning with Uz'En-

-Cloning techniques were acquired through trade with alien species. The only species that has not withstood cloning well, were the Uz'En. When attempts were made to clone them, the original seemed to degrade after each clone attempt. All attempts to clone a clone failed utterly with nothing surviving. Only one specimen seemed to ignore all attempts to clone it, and it was earmarked Dustin, after the name of the scientist who first found it. Twenty infants were born from the same genetic material, in order to further study this phenomenon, but the project was halted before they could be grown to adults. Due to a lack of funding in order to move the specimens, the decision was made to leave them in stasis until the studies could resume at the conclusion of the Josagn war. Funding never presented itself and the projects were abandoned.-

Dustin stood there, shocked. Even among the unique Uz'En, he was special. But how? Licking his lips, he carefully typed in his name.

-Dustin Uz'En-

-Discovered by the human scientist, Dustin Smith, the subject earmarked 'Dustin' was discovered to be unable to be cloned. In an attempt to learn more about the subject, twenty specimens were grown with the same genetic material for study. The project was abandoned during the Josagn War due to lack of funds. It is unknown whatever became of the test subjects.-

-Olivia Uz'En-

-One of several thousand test subjects acquired during a mass search of several hundred human settlements. Olivia was especially resilient to all test conducted on her, proving to be far more difficult to deal with. 17 individuals lost their lives getting her contained. She is earmarked for cloning to see if her behavior is learned or genetic. She would have been bred to see if her children had the same traits, but she was sterilized when becoming an alien diplomat.-

Dustin chuckled at that. He couldn't wait to show her this information.

(DUSTIN, I AM SENSING AN ENERGY SIGNATURE NEAR HERE. IT IS VERY FAINT.)

Glancing at the map that jumped onto the screen, he saw that it was only a few halls over. Shutting down the computer after storing the information, he headed in that direction. The nanobots were fantastic at getting the doors open when there wasn't any power to them. It took him less than five minutes to get to the area with the signature.

This room was huge. There were glass cylinders lined up in rows, with electronic monitoring systems in front of each one. Each one was filled with a murky fluid. He could only imagine how long the things inside of them had been dead, with the power turned off. As he moved to the back of the room, he saw one cylinder was lit still. A small shriveled form floated in the center.

Touching the monitor in front of it, he saw that there wasn't enough power to do anything more than cycle the fluid inside of it. Sending the nanobots to provide power, he soon had it up and running.

-Subject 3874861. Unknown race. Backup power failing to all life support except fluid recycler.-

Typing in the command, he soon had the tank emptying itself in preparation for expelling its contents. As soon as the fluids began to empty, the shriveled form moved, and as he drew closer to the glass, to see better, its eyes popped open and turned to look at him.