Dustin floated in panic, realizing that his PED was compromised. The AI of these people must have hacked his PED somehow, and had been tracking him and stealing information about him all this time.
That was how the Xalkak were able to arrive when they did. The AI already knew everything.
Floating in the tank, he watched, helpless as the people studied him like a lab rat. He couldn't escape, and he could feel his worm body growing weaker and weaker as the affects of the chemicals in the fluid he floated in, killed him.
Curling into a ball, Dustin couldn't imagine them gaining more information about him, specifically to kill him. Maybe if he willed himself to die faster, they couldn't get any more information. It was just lucky the hive mind was so smart, maybe they would be able to figure out how to stop this menace.
As his mind grew dimmer and dimmer, a thought occurred to him. If the AI could infiltrate his PED, which was made of nanobots, what was to stop it from infiltrating the hive mind, and using the nanobots to take over the galaxy?
Visions of his son flashed into his mind. The boy was smart, and had this king thing down, but what did he have to offer him? Because of Dustin, their whole race was doomed. The only thing he had contributed to the entire race, other than the chance for freedom, and a home, were the PED's to help them be able to change…
Dustin gave a start, causing the people on the other side of the glass to jump. His vitals had fallen so low, they had thought he was dying, but now, as they watched, he grew more and more energetic, thrashing around inside his tank. His vitals were so erratic, they were having trouble keeping track of them. And then it happened.
Dustin began to change.
He realized, as he was on the brink of death, that he didn't need the PED to change, that was something he had already been able to do. All it did, was speed the process up and force it to happen faster. Well, it was time to take off the training wheels.
Focusing on his body, he imagined the form he wanted, and willed it to change.
Dustin had more practice changing, than any other Uz'En in the galaxy. And he had more practice changing quickly, than any other Uz'En, ever.
Forcing all of the nanobots in his body to a central location, he encased them in crystal, so that the AI couldn't cause him any damage because of them, and then he began to grow. The entire genetic spectrum of millions of different species floated within him, in a more complex program than he could ever hope to write, and he took advantage of it, allowing his entire genetic makeup to rearrange itself, as it had been forced to do countless times already, but this time on its own.
It was strangely exhilarating as he opened his eyes and grinned with his new razor toothed maw.
The people on the other side of the glass had backed up in panic, and Dustin gave them a new reason to know fear as he slammed against the glass, causing cracks to form. One more good hit, and it splintered, breaking and spewing the murky liquid across the floor. Pulling himself up, off the floor, he turned his grin towards the three people, who promptly turned tail and ran. He looked like his normal human form; except he was encased in crystal like the crystal prince had been back on the death planet. Nothing could penetrate his crystal, and flexing his new claws, he couldn't wait to try them out.
He didn't allow them a chance to get far. The first man was yanked off his feet, as Dusting grabbed his shoulder, and bit through his other shoulder. The venom he had envisioned, entered the man's system, causing him to immediately start spasming and screaming. As he frothed at the mouth, Dustin dropped him and without breaking stride, grabbed the woman next.
Throwing her across the room, she hit the table hard, and slid across the top of it, knocking all sorts of expensive looking equipment onto the floor, and breaking it. She probably wasn't going to get up after she crumpled against the wall at the end of the table.
The last man had managed to reach the door, but Dustin was amused to see the light above it had turned red.
"No! Please! Let me out!"
Before Dustin could reach for the man, a small hatch opened above the man's head, and it began spitting a thick gas out.
The man reacted almost immediately, hacking and coughing, falling to his knees and then to his side.
Sliding a crystal across his eyes, Dustin walked calmly to the door, ignoring the gas, and began hitting it. As soon as a decent dent had appeared, he used his crystal claws to scratch a line in the metal of the door, in a circular pattern.
When it was obvious that the gas was having no effect, he heard another hatch pop open, venting everything in the room into space. He quickly punched forward, at the spot he had scratched, puncturing the metal of the door and causing the purge of atmosphere to stop immediately or risk venting the entire ship.
Smirking, without opening himself up to the gas, Dustin proceeded to peel the door open enough to allow him access to the hall.
A group of soldiers were waiting for him. They held guns he recognized. They were Olivia's favorite. The one that dissolved flesh. Chuckling to himself, Dustin charged them, ignoring the guns when they blasted them at him. He jumped before the dissolving cloud hit him, pushing off from the wall and propelled himself over the cloud, near the ceiling, spinning and landing behind them.
He didn't wait to see if they stopped pressing the trigger before turning to follow him, dashing off down the hall towards where he knew the bridge had to be. He could feel the flow of the electricity in the ship. The largest concentration had to be the engines themselves. The next largest had to be the bridge. And if he was wrong, he was curious to see what it was instead.