"Granny, I'm getting ready to start giving everyone a PED, do you want one? It won't let you change your form, like we can, but it can monitor you and let us be able to communicate with each other easier, using the nanobots."
"More than we already can?"
"Yeah, it would be nonverbal, so others wouldn't be able to overhear."
She cocked her head to the side, thinking about it.
"You would be the first to ever gain a sample of our genetic code."
"Is that important?" he asked. The realization that he still hadn't gotten a sample from her dawned on him. Why hadn't he thought of that before?
Granny looked around to make sure no one was around to overhear, then pulled him into an empty room.
Dustin wracked his brain for anything he could remember about Gooblens, but couldn't remember anything other than the fact that every other race hated them.
"I'm going to tell you why everyone hates my people."
Dustin couldn't believe his luck. Granny had never told him anything, always claiming he didn't need to know.
"My people stop aging after a thousand years. We can eat anything, even things like metal and rock, without any negative after effects, other than gas, in my case. Everyone hates us, because it's so hard to kill us. Our home world was destroyed, and we killed the aliens who did that. They were pretty tasty. I was sad when the last ones were gone."
Dustin swallowed in surprise and nodded his understanding. He remembered a lot of hard spots they had gotten out of because of her unique ability to survive.
"Whatever you do with it, don't become a full Gooblen. I haven't been around a male Gooblen in hundreds of years..."
She gave him a look that caused him to shudder uncontrollably.
"You're not my type, sorry."
She shrugged, and bit her finger. As a drop of blood welled up, she shoved her finger at him. Dustin wiped the blood off, and his nanobot PED took the sample.
(NEW GENETIC MATERIAL DETECTED. ANALYZING. NOTHING SIMILAR TO THIS SAMPLE HAS BEEN FOUND IN MY DATABASE. WHAT ACTION DO YOU WISH FOR ME TO TAKE?)
'Store the sample for now, but do not change me into this form if a Gooblen is around. It would be dangerous.'
(UNDERSTOOD.)
Granny looked at him for a moment longer, then turned and left. Dustin had never been so glad, in all his days, that she was on his side.
XxxxX
Everyone in the cafeteria were examining their new PED units.
"They will remain on your arm until they are done syncing with you, then you will have the option for them to become immersed throughout your body or remain on your arm. These devices will enable you to stay in contact with each other, and will make changing forms much easier. Only certain changes will be possible for a while, until you become more familiar with the process.
"If I am on planet, you will be able to contact me. We will be landing soon, and I have taken the initiative to prepare housing for you. You will not have access to control the nanobots yourselves, but if you want something done or constructed by the nanobots, you can place a request for that. I'll go into more detail on the ground, to make sure you understand."
Dustin watched everyone as they discussed among themselves and finished packing the few belongings they had acquired during their time on the ship.
Granny brought the ship down to land, and he led them out into the sunshine. Grins of delight lit up their faces as they spread out. Dustin had gone to the trouble of having the nanobots build a series of single story buildings. They didn't have running water, but they had fireplaces in a main room, and two bedrooms in each house. Tables, chairs, beds, and dressers were in each one.
Any future houses could be built, either by hand or with the nanobots. Dustin had the think bots in place to handle any requests they made, to make sure they didn't handle the nanobots themselves. The thought of each person trying to control their own nanobots made him sick to his stomach.
Over the next week, he showed them how to hunt for food, how to find water, and how to survive. Despite his attempt to not force anyone into certain roles, the women had an aversion to hunting, but didn't have a problem with cooking. The men tended to do the more labor intensive tasks, leaving the women to deal with finer details.
He knew there was still a lot for them to learn, but he needed to deal with the station full of people he had promised to rescue.
Olivia wanted to go with him, but he was torn about the decision. Every time he left her, something horrible seemed to happen, but he didn't like the idea of taking the baby into a possible military zone. Jake was alright staying, as he had formed a tight friendship with Howell. The people also greatly appreciated Jake's experience with surviving, which he enjoyed immensely.
"Dustin, if you think I am going to stay here and babysit these people, you are sorely mistaken." Olivia glared at him. She had the nanobots make a sling that held Kit to her front.
Dustin sighed. He had to hope the nanobots could keep the kid safe.
"My concern isn't you, it's Kit. What if we need to sneak, and he starts to cry? What if he sh*ts while we're fighting? I've waited so long to get a kid, I don't want him hurt."
"Let me handle those things. As long as I have the nanobots to help me, we're fine."
Dustin nodded reluctantly, giving in for the sake of his sanity.
"I still need to fix the three back on the ship before we can go."
"Then what are you waiting for? Go fix them."
Dustin started to laugh.
"I appreciate your opinion of my abilities, but it might not be that easy."
"Whatever, just get the job done so we can get going."
Shaking his head, he headed to the medical bay on the ship. This woman knew what she wanted. He liked it.