Chapter 61
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"The city has grown so fast!" exclaimed Granny, looking out from the roof of her apartment building. "It seems like only last week everyone was living in simple huts."
"They were," said Olivia rolling her eyes.
"It's a good thing the nanobots stole all the metal from the A'Dfukl home world. We would never have been able to build so fast otherwise," said Dustin, holding Kit in his arms. The boy looked almost five, and was fast asleep after playing hard all day.
"Everyone should have a home by this time tomorrow, and then we can start deconstructing the warehouses everyone's been sleeping in. I'm just glad you went ahead and made a subway for everyone to be able to travel around easier." Olivia brushed a lock of hair out of Kit's face.
"In a month I hope to have factories running, so people can start getting jobs. The schools will be done in a week, and then we can start on the recreation areas. I want everyone to be able to play around with changing their forms in safe areas."
"It's a good thing you gave everyone a PED, now they won't have to worry about doctors or hospitals."
Dustin smiled. Everything was running so smoothly; he couldn't help feeling that he had finally accomplished something good. The A'Dfukl race was decimated. They would have to abandon their home world, or risk death when the nanobots disassembled their ships. Those still on the planet would probably die because of the lack of resources left.
"Are you going to travel back to that death world to get the rest of the stick people?" asked Granny after several minutes of silence had passed.
"I promised them I would as soon as I got everyone from the station settled."
"So, tomorrow?" she asked, looking out over the city.
Dustin sighed. He didn't want to go back there, but he had promised.
"We can leave Kit with Granny, and it can be therapeutic for both of us."
Dustin smiled at Olivia. Anything therapeutic for her would definitely involve killing something. She just wanted to get her hands on some more of those guns the Josagn had. While he was there, it probably wouldn't hurt to wipe the rest of those things out. He was sure that they were located somewhere else and thus wouldn't really be wiped out completely, like the A'Dfukl, but he could look forward to a little more genocide.
"At least the brat can talk now. It was a nightmare trying to understand him when he wanted something."
"He's still not completely potty trained yet, but he's working on it," said Olivia with a grin.
Granny groaned. The last couple of days had been spent chasing after a bare butt, giggling little boy, who thought it was hilarious to pee on everything. Especially when the special cleaner nanobots showed up to clean up the mess.
"Still want a lot of kids?" Granny shot at Dustin; annoyance written all over her face.
Dustin opened his mouth to answer, then stopped. The urge was gone. As long as he could remember, from the time he was a little boy, he had wanted a ton of kids. But now, he didn't. How could that be?
"Actually, I don't."
"What?" asked Granny and Olivia, together.
"I've always wanted kids, but now I don't."
"Hmmm, well, when you made all of the human's into Uz'En," started Granny.
"Uzenated them," corrected Dustin.
"When you uzenated them, you did use your cells to change them, and thus made them your kids."
"That didn't weaken his spirit, did it?" asked Olivia.
Dustin looked at her. Instead of being mad he had a ton of kids, she was worried about him. He thought that he might just love her…
"Oh, no. They all had their own spirits. They didn't need any of his. They aren't clones, like you were. The urge to have more is probably sated now that he has thousands."
"But how does that work?" he asked, confused.
"It's all wrapped up in that chrono skimming ability you have."
"The memory thing? That reminds me, why haven't I been having dreams like before, if that ability is unique to my race?" asked Dustin.
"Probably because the mind crap that the Josagn did to you, messed the ability up, possibly unlocking it, then it went back into inactivity when I fixed the mess. My best guess is that you probably won't have that problem again. In fact, I'm pretty sure your mind is too messed up to be able to activate it."
"I kind of okay with that," he said, turning back to look over the city one last time, before heading downstairs. Kit was getting heavy.
The next day, as the last of the homes were being completed, he climbed onto the Nanobot Express. Two of the stick people were going to accompany him, in the hopes that it would make rounding up their people easier.
Olivia gave Kit one more kiss, making him squirm and giggle, before she joined him on the ship. His unhappy cries made her want to run back to him, but Granny quickly consoled him with some goo she had made that morning. How the kid could eat it, Dustin wasn't sure, but he sure seemed to love it.
The trip back was pretty boring, but Dustin paced the entire time. Memories of the killer creatures kept popping into his head. He couldn't wait to be done with this and on his way back home.
"Dustin," said Olivia, "we're here."
His head popped up to look at the screen. The sight he expected to see, wasn't there. Debris from the blown up stations had started to form a type of ring around the planet, but the green ball that he expected appeared brown and dead instead.
"What happened?" he asked, moving to a console. "Scan the planet!"
"Scanning," said the feminine voice of the ship. "It appears that several volcanoes have erupted, causing massive death of the natives."
Turning to the stick people, he could quickly tell from their expressions that their people were probably already dead.
"Do you sense any of them? I can fly the ship lower?" he asked softly.
"Yes, please," one of them answered delicately.
The ship entered the thick atmosphere, flying through the debris laden clouds, until the dead jungle could be seen. Everything that had been green, was now brown. The few things they could see moving about, were sluggish predators, rooting and searching for anything to eat. The waters were cloudy, with dead carcasses floating on the surface. A few scavengers could be seen tearing into the corpses that had washed up on the shore.
"There are none left." The two looked at each other sadly. "They perished when the trees that we eat died."
Dustin flew around the planet several times, even sending out nanobots to search, but they couldn't find a single living stick person left. A few Josagn had survived, in a few caves along the coast, but he ordered the nanobots to end them, without telling anyone of the discovery.
"Thank you for trying," they said as he finally left the planet. It wasn't the ending he had wanted for this planet, though it was strangely fitting. He had called it a planet of death, and now it truly was.
When they returned to Haven, Dustin set aside a large tract of land for the stick people to call their own. For as long as he was alive, they would not be bothered there. It was the least he could do for those who had taken care of his people when their own had died. They were very grateful, disappearing into the thick growth quickly.
As he turned back to contemplate his new home, and all he had done to get here, he knew his job wasn't done. There were many more of his kind out there, waiting for him to save them. And there were questions that still needed to be answered.
Olivia hugged him. Even though she hadn't gotten any Josagn guns, he had promised to make her, her very own power suit, capable of shooting something. He wasn't sure what just yet, but he knew it would be amazing.
Kit ran up to him, throwing his arms around him, and face planting right in his groin. Dustin gasped in pain, barely managing to not drop to the ground, and grabbed Kit up while Olivia fought not to laugh out loud. This kid was going to be a handful, but he was ready for it. Throwing Kit into the air, he started to laugh out loud as nanobots caught him and flew him up really high.
This was the life!
The author's note doesn't allow for more than 500 words, so here's the first part of it"
Thus ends book two of the Evolutionary Series.
Thank you all very much for sticking with me through the long journey of writing these stories. It really means a lot to me! I am currently in the process of figuring out the title for the next book, as there will definitely be another! As soon as I know what the title will be, I will post a chapter here, with the name, so you can search for it and place it in your library.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
"The city has grown so fast!" exclaimed Granny, looking out from the roof of her apartment building. "It seems like only last week everyone was living in simple huts."
"They were," said Olivia rolling her eyes.
"It's a good thing the nanobots stole all the metal from the A'Dfukl home world. We would never have been able to build so fast otherwise," said Dustin, holding Kit in his arms. The boy looked almost five, and was fast asleep after playing hard all day.
"Everyone should have a home by this time tomorrow, and then we can start deconstructing the warehouses everyone's been sleeping in. I'm just glad you went ahead and made a subway for everyone to be able to travel around easier." Olivia brushed a lock of hair out of Kit's face.
"In a month I hope to have factories running, so people can start getting jobs. The schools will be done in a week, and then we can start on the recreation areas. I want everyone to be able to play around with changing their forms in safe areas."
"It's a good thing you gave everyone a PED, now they won't have to worry about doctors or hospitals."
Dustin smiled. Everything was running so smoothly; he couldn't help feeling that he had finally accomplished something good. The A'Dfukl race was decimated. They would have to abandon their home world, or risk death when the nanobots disassembled their ships. Those still on the planet would probably die because of the lack of resources left.
"Are you going to travel back to that death world to get the rest of the stick people?" asked Granny after several minutes of silence had passed.
"I promised them I would as soon as I got everyone from the station settled."
"So, tomorrow?" she asked, looking out over the city.
Dustin sighed. He didn't want to go back there, but he had promised.
"We can leave Kit with Granny, and it can be therapeutic for both of us."
Dustin smiled at Olivia. Anything therapeutic for her would definitely involve killing something. She just wanted to get her hands on some more of those guns the Josagn had. While he was there, it probably wouldn't hurt to wipe the rest of those things out. He was sure that they were located somewhere else and thus wouldn't really be wiped out completely, like the A'Dfukl, but he could look forward to a little more genocide.
"At least the brat can talk now. It was a nightmare trying to understand him when he wanted something."
"He's still not completely potty trained yet, but he's working on it," said Olivia with a grin.
Granny groaned. The last couple of days had been spent chasing after a bare butt, giggling little boy, who thought it was hilarious to pee on everything. Especially when the special cleaner nanobots showed up to clean up the mess.
"Still want a lot of kids?" Granny shot at Dustin; annoyance written all over her face.
Dustin opened his mouth to answer, then stopped. The urge was gone. As long as he could remember, from the time he was a little boy, he had wanted a ton of kids. But now, he didn't. How could that be?
"Actually, I don't."
"What?" asked Granny and Olivia, together.
"I've always wanted kids, but now I don't."
"Hmmm, well, when you made all of the human's into Uz'En," started Granny.
"Uzenated them," corrected Dustin.
"When you uzenated them, you did use your cells to change them, and thus made them your kids."
"That didn't weaken his spirit, did it?" asked Olivia.
Dustin looked at her. Instead of being mad he had a ton of kids, she was worried about him. He thought that he might just love her…
"Oh, no. They all had their own spirits. They didn't need any of his. They aren't clones, like you were. The urge to have more is probably sated now that he has thousands."
"But how does that work?" he asked, confused.
"It's all wrapped up in that chrono skimming ability you have."
"The memory thing? That reminds me, why haven't I been having dreams like before, if that ability is unique to my race?" asked Dustin.
"Probably because the mind crap that the Josagn did to you, messed the ability up, possibly unlocking it, then it went back into inactivity when I fixed the mess. My best guess is that you probably won't have that problem again. In fact, I'm pretty sure your mind is too messed up to be able to activate it."
"I kind of okay with that," he said, turning back to look over the city one last time, before heading downstairs. Kit was getting heavy.
The next day, as the last of the homes were being completed, he climbed onto the Nanobot Express. Two of the stick people were going to accompany him, in the hopes that it would make rounding up their people easier.
Olivia gave Kit one more kiss, making him squirm and giggle, before she joined him on the ship. His unhappy cries made her want to run back to him, but Granny quickly consoled him with some goo she had made that morning. How the kid could eat it, Dustin wasn't sure, but he sure seemed to love it.
The trip back was pretty boring, but Dustin paced the entire time. Memories of the killer creatures kept popping into his head. He couldn't wait to be done with this and on his way back home.
"Dustin," said Olivia, "we're here."
His head popped up to look at the screen. The sight he expected to see, wasn't there. Debris from the blown up stations had started to form a type of ring around the planet, but the green ball that he expected appeared brown and dead instead.
"What happened?" he asked, moving to a console. "Scan the planet!"
"Scanning," said the feminine voice of the ship. "It appears that several volcanoes have erupted, causing massive death of the natives."
Turning to the stick people, he could quickly tell from their expressions that their people were probably already dead.
"Do you sense any of them? I can fly the ship lower?" he asked softly.
"Yes, please," one of them answered delicately.
The ship entered the thick atmosphere, flying through the debris laden clouds, until the dead jungle could be seen. Everything that had been green, was now brown. The few things they could see moving about, were sluggish predators, rooting and searching for anything to eat. The waters were cloudy, with dead carcasses floating on the surface. A few scavengers could be seen tearing into the corpses that had washed up on the shore.
"There are none left." The two looked at each other sadly. "They perished when the trees that we eat died."
Dustin flew around the planet several times, even sending out nanobots to search, but they couldn't find a single living stick person left. A few Josagn had survived, in a few caves along the coast, but he ordered the nanobots to end them, without telling anyone of the discovery.
"Thank you for trying," they said as he finally left the planet. It wasn't the ending he had wanted for this planet, though it was strangely fitting. He had called it a planet of death, and now it truly was.
When they returned to Haven, Dustin set aside a large tract of land for the stick people to call their own. For as long as he was alive, they would not be bothered there. It was the least he could do for those who had taken care of his people when their own had died. They were very grateful, disappearing into the thick growth quickly.
As he turned back to contemplate his new home, and all he had done to get here, he knew his job wasn't done. There were many more of his kind out there, waiting for him to save them. And there were questions that still needed to be answered.
Olivia hugged him. Even though she hadn't gotten any Josagn guns, he had promised to make her, her very own power suit, capable of shooting something. He wasn't sure what just yet, but he knew it would be amazing.
Kit ran up to him, throwing his arms around him, and face planting right in his groin. Dustin gasped in pain, barely managing to not drop to the ground, and grabbed Kit up while Olivia fought not to laugh out loud. This kid was going to be a handful, but he was ready for it. Throwing Kit into the air, he started to laugh out loud as nanobots caught him and flew him up really high.
This was the life!
The author's note doesn't allow for more than 500 words, so here's the first part of it"
Thus ends book two of the Evolutionary Series.
Thank you all very much for sticking with me through the long journey of writing these stories. It really means a lot to me! I am currently in the process of figuring out the title for the next book, as there will definitely be another! As soon as I know what the title will be, I will post a chapter here, with the name, so you can search for it and place it in your library.
"The city has grown so fast!" exclaimed Granny, looking out from the roof of her apartment building. "It seems like only last week everyone was living in simple huts.""They were," said Olivia rolling her eyes."It's a good thing the nanobots stole all the metal from the A'Dfukl home world. We would never have been able to build so fast otherwise," said Dustin, holding Kit in his arms. The boy looked almost five, and was fast asleep after playing hard all day."Everyone should have a home by this time tomorrow, and then we can start deconstructing the warehouses everyone's been sleeping in. I'm just glad you went ahead and made a subway for everyone to be able to travel around easier." Olivia brushed a lock of hair out of Kit's face."In a month I hope to have factories running, so people can start getting jobs. The schools will be done in a week, and then we can start on the recreation areas. I want everyone to be able to play around with changing their forms in safe areas.""It's a good thing you gave everyone a PED, now they won't have to worry about doctors or hospitals."Dustin smiled. Everything was running so smoothly; he couldn't help feeling that he had finally accomplished something good. The A'Dfukl race was decimated. They would have to abandon their home world, or risk death when the nanobots disassembled their ships. Those still on the planet would probably die because of the lack of resources left."Are you going to travel back to that death world to get the rest of the stick people?" asked Granny after several minutes of silence had passed."I promised them I would as soon as I got everyone from the station settled.""So, tomorrow?" she asked, looking out over the city.Dustin sighed. He didn't want to go back there, but he had promised."We can leave Kit with Granny, and it can be therapeutic for both of us."Dustin smiled at Olivia. Anything therapeutic for her would definitely involve killing something. She just wanted to get her hands on some more of those guns the Josagn had. While he was there, it probably wouldn't hurt to wipe the rest of those things out. He was sure that they were located somewhere else and thus wouldn't really be wiped out completely, like the A'Dfukl, but he could look forward to a little more genocide."At least the brat can talk now. It was a nightmare trying to understand him when he wanted something.""He's still not completely potty trained yet, but he's working on it," said Olivia with a grin.Granny groaned. The last couple of days had been spent chasing after a bare butt, giggling little boy, who thought it was hilarious to pee on everything. Especially when the special cleaner nanobots showed up to clean up the mess."Still want a lot of kids?" Granny shot at Dustin; annoyance written all over her face.Dustin opened his mouth to answer, then stopped. The urge was gone. As long as he could remember, from the time he was a little boy, he had wanted a ton of kids. But now, he didn't. How could that be?"Actually, I don't.""What?" asked Granny and Olivia, together."I've always wanted kids, but now I don't.""Hmmm, well, when you made all of the human's into Uz'En," started Granny."Uzenated them," corrected Dustin."When you uzenated them, you did use your cells to change them, and thus made them your kids.""That didn't weaken his spirit, did it?" asked Olivia.Dustin looked at her. Instead of being mad he had a ton of kids, she was worried about him. He thought that he might just love her"Oh, no. They all had their own spirits. They didn't need any of his. They aren't clones, like you were. The urge to have more is probably sated now that he has thousands.""But how does that work?" he asked, confused."It's all wrapped up in that chrono skimming ability you have.""The memory thing? That reminds me, why haven't I been having dreams like before, if that ability is unique to my race?" asked Dustin."Probably because the mind crap that the Josagn did to you, messed the ability up, possibly unlocking it, then it went back into inactivity when I fixed the mess. My best guess is that you probably won't have that problem again. In fact, I'm pretty sure your mind is too messed up to be able to activate it.""I kind of okay with that," he said, turning back to look over the city one last time, before heading downstairs. Kit was getting heavy.The next day, as the last of the homes were being completed, he climbed onto the Nanobot Express. Two of the stick people were going to accompany him, in the hopes that it would make rounding up their people easier.Olivia gave Kit one more kiss, making him squirm and giggle, before she joined him on the ship. His unhappy cries made her want to run back to him, but Granny quickly consoled him with some goo she had made that morning. How the kid could eat it, Dustin wasn't sure, but he sure seemed to love it.The trip back was pretty boring, but Dustin paced the entire time. Memories of the killer creatures kept popping into his head. He couldn't wait to be done with this and on his way back home."Dustin," said Olivia, "we're here."His head popped up to look at the screen. The sight he expected to see, wasn't there. Debris from the blown up stations had started to form a type of ring around the planet, but the green ball that he expected appeared brown and dead instead."What happened?" he asked, moving to a console. "Scan the planet!""Scanning," said the feminine voice of the ship. "It appears that several volcanoes have erupted, causing massive death of the natives."Turning to the stick people, he could quickly tell from their expressions that their people were probably already dead."Do you sense any of them? I can fly the ship lower?" he asked softly."Yes, please," one of them answered delicately.The ship entered the thick atmosphere, flying through the debris laden clouds, until the dead jungle could be seen. Everything that had been green, was now brown. The few things they could see moving about, were sluggish predators, rooting and searching for anything to eat. The waters were cloudy, with dead carcasses floating on the surface. A few scavengers could be seen tearing into the corpses that had washed up on the shore."There are none left." The two looked at each other sadly. "They perished when the trees that we eat died."Dustin flew around the planet several times, even sending out nanobots to search, but they couldn't find a single living stick person left. A few Josagn had survived, in a few caves along the coast, but he ordered the nanobots to end them, without telling anyone of the discovery."Thank you for trying," they said as he finally left the planet. It wasn't the ending he had wanted for this planet, though it was strangely fitting. He had called it a planet of death, and now it truly was.When they returned to Haven, Dustin set aside a large tract of land for the stick people to call their own. For as long as he was alive, they would not be bothered there. It was the least he could do for those who had taken care of his people when their own had died. They were very grateful, disappearing into the thick growth quickly.As he turned back to contemplate his new home, and all he had done to get here, he knew his job wasn't done. There were many more of his kind out there, waiting for him to save them. And there were questions that still needed to be answered.Olivia hugged him. Even though she hadn't gotten any Josagn guns, he had promised to make her, her very own power suit, capable of shooting something. He wasn't sure what just yet, but he knew it would be amazing.Kit ran up to him, throwing his arms around him, and face planting right in his groin. Dustin gasped in pain, barely managing to not drop to the ground, and grabbed Kit up while Olivia fought not to laugh out loud. This kid was going to be a handful, but he was ready for it. Throwing Kit into the air, he started to laugh out loud as nanobots caught him and flew him up really high.This was the life!The author's note doesn't allow for more than 500 words, so here's the first part of it"Thus ends book two of the Evolutionary Series.Thank you all very much for sticking with me through the long journey of writing these stories. It really means a lot to me! I am currently in the process of figuring out the title for the next book, as there will definitely be another! As soon as I know what the title will be, I will post a chapter here, with the name, so you can search for it and place it in your library.
