The moment Dustin stepped into the dim room, the door shut behind him. Beds were placed in rows just like the incubation tanks had been, but instead of developing embryos, there were children here. They ranged in ages from newborn to seven or eight, he would guess.
Dustin sighed. He had figured this was what he would find.
Large shapes moved between the beds, keeping the sleeping forms comfortable, and tending to the few that were awake.
'Slowly have the lights get brighter, so they can start waking up,' he informed the PED, so it could relay the message to the nanobots that were controlling the station at the moment.
As the lights got brighter, he could see that the forms moving about were stick people from the death planet. They held diapers, spare clothing, snacks and bottles on their many appendages. Dustin could only stare as they all turned to look at him at the same time.
XxxxX
Olivia bounced off the wall as the ship came out of warp. Breathing hard, she stood up and stumbled into the room. The ship had been set up to warp home if it came under attack.
Checking over the computer, her eyes traveled up to the main screen that took up the entire wall before her. A planet loomed before her and she swallowed in horror. Ships matching this one, floated, in the thousands, around the planet. Several were heading her way, and she could see a light flashing where they were trying to contact her. Looking around, she knew there was no way she could hide. The ship only had dead A'Dfukl aliens on board.
If they found her, they would kill her without a second thought, then travel back to the station and kill Dustin and all of the Uz'En he had suddenly gained a responsibility for. The thing that bothered her the most, was if they found Kit. They could kill every other Uz'En in the universe, but if they attacked Kit, she would slaughter the whole race.
"PED, can you set this ship to blow up?" she asked out loud, not really used to talking to her PED as Dustin did.
(YES, THE NANOBOTS CAN INFILTRATE THE COMPUTER SYSTEM AND SET THE SHIP TO SELF DESTRUCT.)
"Have them do that. I want this ship to blow up just as those ships are getting here, so maybe they will blow up, too."
(I CAN DETECT UZ'EN ON THE PLANET BELOW, BUT NONE ON ANY OF THE SHIPS IN ORBIT.)
"Then I guess we need to see why there are Uz'En on the planet. Dustin would be pissed if I didn't at least try to save them."
(THE NANOBOTS ARE READY TO FLY YOU TO THE PLANET, IF YOU WILL PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE AIRLOCK.)
Glancing at the incoming ships on the screen, one last time, she turned and jogged, to get to the airlock before the ship blew up. She would probably be able to survive, but it would be better not to test that theory.
The nanobots wrapped around her, taking the form of a small emergency escape pod. She was struck with the similarities to the coffin she was thrown at the death planet in. Shaking that idea out of her head, she directed the nanobots to leave the ship. Before the incoming ships could detect her, or at least react to detecting her, the ship she had just left, finished whatever countdown it had going on, and blew up. The incoming ships had no chance to evade the sudden destruction, taking heavy damage themselves.
Focusing on the planet before her, she aimed for the area where the PED had detected the Uz'En. The debris from the explosion entering the atmosphere, hid her small ship really well.
As she zoomed in low, she saw that the planet had little to no plant life left on it. Everywhere she looked, stone and metal buildings covered the ground, teeming with life. She was really glad that Dustin wasn't here, with his fear of bugs, she could only imagine the girly screams he would be making at the moment. With a smile on her face, she flew lower to the compound the PED directed her to.
(INITIATE CREATOR PROTOCOL?)
"What is that?" she asked, studying the huge building she was coming up on.
(THE CREATOR OF THE NANOBOTS, DUSTIN, HAS PROGRAMMED COMMANDS INTO THE NANOBOTS, SHOULD CERTAIN CONDITIONS ARISE.)
"Do I have to do anything, and will it affect what I am trying to do?"
(IT SHOULD NOT REQUIRE YOU TO DO ANYTHING, AND IF IT DOES AFFECT YOU, I CAN NOTIFY YOU AT THAT TIME?)
"Sounds good. I don't think Dustin would have the nanobots do anything bad."
A small swarm of nanobots split off from her ship, and disappeared as they scattered to the wind. Olivia focused on landing on the roof. The building looked kind of like huge corn cobs sitting on top of a beehive.
Checking on the PED, she moved towards a door closest to where they were at. As she opened the door, she was surprised at the lack of security. Maybe these aliens were too sure that no one would ever attack them on their own planet. Hoping that the entire trip was as uneventful, she moved to a strange set of stairs that took her down to the floor where all of the Uz'En were apparently being kept.
Dodging behind the door, as an alien opened it, she held her breath, expecting it to notice her at any moment, but it kept going, mumbling something to itself, too absorbed to look over and see her. Shaking her head, she opened the door, and peeking inside, saw that the hall was empty. Maybe it was supper time, or time to head home?
Moving down the hall, she paused to peek into each room, expecting to find A'Dfukl ready to attack and try to kill her at any moment, but each room was empty. Though what she found in the rooms scared her. Scientific equipment littered the counters and tables, with a strong mad-scientist vibe. Beakers of strange colors bubbled, or sat silently waiting for someone to come and check on them.
The next door she tried to open, was locked. Placing her head next to it, she listened for any sounds. When she heard someone scream, she didn't wait any longer. Slamming her shoulder against the door, it gave way, popping open to expose three A'Dfukl aliens running experiments on a man.
The aliens were startled, and dropped the devices they were using to take skin and blood samples.
"What…?" one went to say, in confusion.
Olivia didn't give them a chance to notify anyone of her presence, forming a sword with her right hand and slicing through them. Only a moment later, she stood over their corpses, looking at the terrified man who was restrained on the examination table. Pieces had been cut from him, and judging from the screens that were still up on the nearby computers, they were trying to figure out a way to detect them when they were changed to look like someone else. Probably to hunt them in crowds of non-Uz'En.
'PED,' she thought, 'can you put a PED on this guy to heal him, like Dustin has done?'
(YES, IT WILL ONLY TAKE A MOMENT TO SYNC.)
"I'm here to save you guys," she said to the man, returning her sword arm to normal as she moved to undo the straps.
"Who are you?" he asked, still scared out of his wits, trying his best to avoid the blood that spilled when she had killed the A'Dfukl.
"My name is Olivia. Our king, Dustin, sent me to rescue you."
"King?" he asked in confusion as he glanced down to see his wounds disappearing.
"He can explain more when I get you home. For right now, I need you to stay quiet while I get the others, then we can get off this planet."
"When did we get a home?" he asked, wrapping a sheet around him. He seemed to be in shock, but Olivia didn't have time to coddle him.
Moving back to the hall, she moved to the next room, finding it locked as well. This time, the nanobots opened it for her, so she didn't make as much noise.
Inside were pens, like for animals, with Uz'En shoved into them. There must have been close to a hundred or more people. They didn't even have room to sit, they were shoved in the cages so tightly.
"This is Olivia, she's here to take us home to our king, Dustin," said the man, before she could even get to the first cage. The nanobots had the lock eaten away before she could rattle the door. As she watched, the other doors opened as well. Each of the people gained a PED, as she watched, and several had wounds healed.
'Are these all of the Uz'En?' she asked her PED.
(THERE ARE NO OTHER SIGNS OF LIVING UZ'EN.)
"If you'll all follow me to the roof, we'll get off this planet," she said, turning to leave.
(A SHIP WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU. THE CREATOR PROTOCOL IS ALMOST COMPLETE. BY THE TIME YOU HAVE LOADED ALL OF THE UZ'EN ONTO THE SHIP, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO ESCAPE WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS.)
'Thanks, I think,' she thought, moving to show them to the stairs. With their wounds healed, they didn't have much trouble following her. She was just glad they were all adults and that she didn't have to deal with any children or babies. Talking and leading people were not her job. She just hoped Dustin appreciated all this effort she was going to.
'Will the ship be able to jump us back to the station where Dustin is?' she asked, as they made their way to the roof.
(YES. I HAVE ALREADY HAD THE NANOBOTS INPUT THE NECESSARY INFORMATION AND PROCURE THE NEEDED FUEL FOR THE TRIP.)
'Good,' she thought, opening the last door and stepping out onto the roof.
Before her, a massive ship gleamed in the last rays of the sun. As she got closer, it became very obvious it was constructed of nanobots. How many nanobots had it taken to make a ship of this size? She couldn't grasp the concept, but moved to wave the people on board, anyway.
As she turned to motion them on, her eyes landed on the surrounding landscape. She had only been busy inside for many thirty minutes, but her eyes found a desolate wasteland, with no sign of metal to be found. In fact, the only building that looked untouched, was the one she was standing on.
'What am I seeing?' she asked, too awed to put her thoughts into words out loud.
(DUSTIN ORDERED ALL NANOBOTS BE UTILIZED AND CAPTURED BACK FROM ANY ALIEN CONTROL. I ALSO TOOK ADVANTAGE OF AN ORDER HE HAD MADE AT ONE POINT TO GATHER ALL USABLE MATERIAL TO CONSTRUCT NEW NANOBOTS, IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE THERE WAS A SHIP LARGE ENOUGH AND CAPABLE OF RETURNING YOU TO YOUR LOCATION.)