Dustin stood before the three human hybrids with Olivia and Granny. He had to figure out how to fix them.
Currently they were half human and half Uz'En, which should have been impossible, but someone had figured out how to inhibit the natural tendency of the Uz'En part, that made it overwrite the non-Uz'En parts. Whoever ran the station these three came from, had designed the inhibitor to be able to be released so that the natural tendency of the Uz'En to overwrite would activate without constant doses of inhibitor drugs. The overwrite process was incredibly painful because they were adults, and would ultimately kill them.
Using the equipment in the medical bay, he zoomed in to watch as the Uz'En cells basically ate the human cells. During the very beginning, when there were only one or two cells, the overwrite would be instantaneous. Then they would develop as full Uz'En after that. Maybe if he could keep the overwrite slow enough, so new cells could replace the old ones, they could slowly be converted to full Uz'En?
As Dustin was muttering to himself, he suddenly stopped and stared at the computer screen.
"I'm so stupid."
"You said it," said Olivia, throwing up her hands in defense.
"I didn't want to say anything," said Granny, pulling up a chair and sitting down, "but I've thought that for years. There have been so many times I wished you could hear me call you an idiot for something you did, or didn't do, it's amazing. It's good that you're finally admitting to it, though. The question is, are you going to do something about it?"
Olivia turned to look at her, obviously shocked and at a loss for words as her mouth opened and shut several times.
Granny just folded her hands in her lap, licking and smacking her lips, and watched as Dustin, oblivious to the both of them, turned towards the three comatose people.
"I've been doing this backwards! Instead of making them full Uz'En, I should be trying to make them full human!"
"What?" the two asked him, in confusion. They looked at each other, to confirm that they were both on the same page, before turning back to him.
"It's so obvious!" he said, walking to the edge of their beds, and looking back and forth between them, checking their individual readings.
"Perhaps to you, dear. The rest of us need our hands held down this tunnel of madness you've trekked." Granny's voice was dry and dead pan, finally drawing Dustin's attention.
"Well, us Uz'En have an ability that allows us to change ourselves to become any other species." He rushed over to the monitor, and swiped all of the data he had been looking at away. Pulling up the input screen that he used to access his nanobots, he began to type furiously.
"If I give each of them PED's, then program them to change into the human genetic code that is their other half, that should allow their two halves to sync, allowing the Uz'En to overwrite the human without all of the pain and complications they've been having."
"That's…brilliant!" said Granny, actually shocked and surprised.
Pride flickered over Olivia's face, before doubt returned.
"What keeps them from just becoming human?" she asked tentatively.
"That's simple," answered Granny quickly. "Their spirits are conflicted right now. As soon as the two halves are the same, the spirit will smooth out, and they will become full Uz'En."
Dustin paused in mid-type, to glance over at Granny, then nodded.
"Yeah, that, too," he muttered, before returning to his typing.
"If you say so," said Olivia, patting Kit as he gurgled his opinion on the matter.
"Let me hold that babe! I haven't gotten to hold any babies in forever!" Granny demanded, holding out her arms.
Olivia paused for a moment, then reluctantly pulled him out of the nanobot sling. "Alright, but be careful. He can't hold his head up yet."
"Nonsense. He's already a week old, there's no reason his neck should be that weak."
Olivia almost dropped him in her hast to snatch him back, but Granny was quicker, taking him and flipping him up on her shoulder, where he cooed in delight, looking around at the sudden swarm of nanobots that filled the room.
The swarm split in three directions, congregating on each of the three, before settling in a PED form on each of their left arms. Dustin was furiously typing, oblivious to the power struggle going on behind him, as Granny and Olivia stared each other down.
"His neck is just fine, besides, if you keep him confined all the time, how's he supposed to build muscle?"
"He's a week old!" growled Olivia.
"Exactly! He can't stay attached at the teat forever. Let the boy see the world and experience something."
They watched as Kit turned to study Granny's face in curiosity, and Olivia had to grudgingly accept he wasn't acting like a standard week-old infant. With a shake of her head, she grumbled to herself that she wouldn't have a clue what a week-old infant would act like.
(SYNCHRONIZATION WILL TAKE AN HOUR FOR EACH OF THE HOSTS, AS THEY ARE NOT FULL UZ'EN. ALL SIGNS OF INHIBITOR WILL BE REMOVED DURING THIS TIME, AS WELL AS ALL OVERWRITING DAMAGE REPAIRED AND FUTURE DAMAGE HALTED UNTIL SYNCHRONIZATION IS COMPLETE.)
"There. We have time to grab a bite to eat," Dustin said, turning around to find the two giving each other death glares.
"What's going on?" he asked, tentatively. The last thing he wanted was the two women in his life at odds with each other. He knew he would side with Olivia if he had to pick sides, but he at least wanted to know what was going on first, before he committed suicide.
"Nothing," Granny said, blinking and hopping out of her chair, to waltz out of the room with Kit.
"She's going to eat him," Olivia said deadpan.
"What?!" exclaimed Dustin.
"She's going to kill our baby and eat him." Then she hurried out of the room after the green monster carrying her infant.
"Now Olivia, I'm sure you're just misunderstanding something!" he pleaded as he followed them out. "Kit is too small for her to eat! She would eat one of the other people first!"
Behind them, nanobots crawled over every inch of the three bodies, separating the different cells to keep them from attacking each other as the PED's began the arduous task of syncing.