"Dustin, I can't believe how much you've grown! Your mother would be so proud!" said the man, standing before him.
Dustin had changed back into his normal form when the other person had done so as well. The moment the hatch had closed, the room had flooded with breathable air. The man looked like an unimpressive human, with brown hair and dark brown eyes. His chin was covered in short black stubble, as if he needed to shave, but there really wasn't anything about him that would catch someone's eye.
"Who are you?" he asked, a suspicion forming in his head, but he wasn't willing to accept it. It was too ludicrous.
"I'm your father, son. I'm sorry that I wasn't there to save you, or to keep you safe. I had hoped that if I stayed hidden, the AI would leave you and Olivia alone."
Dustin watched as the guy hung his head and shook it in sadness. He didn't buy it.
"That's not possible. I remember watching your ship explode. It's been over 200 years since that day. You can't be my dad."
"I can't?" asked the man, raising his head and looking at Dustin curiously. "That's funny, I tend to recall your birth pretty clearly, and your mother would probably take offense if she heard you denounce me."
"Don't you dare talk about mom," said Dustin in a low growl, surprising himself. He barely remembered her, but this man had no right to talk about her.
"Ah, that's what it is," said the man softly to himself. He stood up straight and began to change his features. The stubble on his chin was gone, and his eyes changed to a bright blue. Dimples formed along his cheeks, and he smiled softly at Dustin.
Dustin's breath caught in his throat as memories flooded in, of this man. He had picked him up and thrown him into the air, laughing at his squeals of glee. This man, who he had called Daddy…
"How do I know this isn't a trick? The man that was my father should be dead."
"Dustin, I'm sorry I wasn't there when you were young. I wanted you to be safe. Granny was supposed to keep the AI from finding you, but obviously she failed," he spat in disgust.
"Granny was there when I needed her! She kept me safe from those military thugs who wanted to splatter my brains across the floor! Time after time she managed to get us out of tight spots, until she couldn't anymore!"
The memories of that day flooded his mind. He had wanted to go get more parts to work on his current contraption, and Granny had just left. Olivia tried to talk him out of it, but he was sure it wouldn't take very long. Trying to imagine what Granny thought when she returned to an empty house brought tears to his eyes.
"If you really are my father, then why the hell didn't you help when you were really needed?" growled Dustin, balling his fists as he fought the urge to cry.
"I'm surprised to see that you're alive, too. I thought when Granny lost you, that you were gone. I've lost so many families over the years, I never tried to find you. When I saw your video…I knew that you were still alive, and after so long, it could only mean that you have the same abilities I do…"
The man didn't hesitate to start blubbering, and Dustin was disgusted. This guy was a mess.
Wiping his nose on a rag that was hanging by the door, he motioned for Dustin to follow him further into the ship. It was just as pieced together on the inside as it was on the outside.
"I never had the technological abilities you do, so this is probably pretty poor in comparison to what you call home, but it works," he said, showing him a small cramped compartment he probably called a bedroom, and there on the other side of the small hall was a room stuffed with supplies, probably passing for a dining area.
The front deck was a little more spacious with a reclining pilot seat and multiple devices for piloting the ship. Everything screamed homeless bachelor.
"What abilities do you mean?" asked Dustin, turning away from the mess of wires and tangled computer parts.
"Why, the abilities to change your molecular structure into whatever you need. Including the ability to prevent aging."
Dustin looked at this man who claimed to be his father. He had to be Uz'En. The ability to change screamed that. The fact he knew about Granny should have been sufficient to prove his claim, but Dustin had too much thrown at him over the years to blindly accept things anymore.
"Prove to me that you are my father, and then tell me about our people. None of those I've rescued know our history. Even Granny only told me a little bit."
"She would withhold info. She hated to give anything away for free. It was pretty hard to get her to watch over you kids when you were little. She always was greedy."
Dustin crossed his arms, waiting.
"All right! Let's see. Your mother named you for a famous human who made her laugh when she was pregnant with you. You would kick whenever she laughed, and we would joke about how you felt like she was laughing at you. Or that you thought you would be far funnier than he was." He got a distant look in his eyes as he talked.
"You would steal all sorts of mechanical things, from the time you could crawl, and we would find them hidden in your bed, or down your pants." He smiled at that.
Dustin sighed. "I don't remember any of that. You could just be making that stuff up."
"Well, the day I found out about the AI, I tried to bargain with it. It was determined to destroy all Uz'En, and I wanted to try and save at least you and your mother. Our agreement was that it would get my body, and leave the rest of the Uz'En alone. It wanted to steal my unaging abilities to use on its own race of slaves in an attempt to prolong their lives. It was tired of getting attached to them and then they would die of old age.
"I told your mom I had important business to attend to, and left on a ship heading towards the AI. Once the ship was high enough that I could escape through space, I detonated the bomb I had brought, blowing up the ship. I had wanted to reconnect with you and your mom later, but she was already dead. I made a deal with Granny to keep you safe as long as she could, while I tried to find us a safe place to live. She owed me big time, so she agreed. But when I came back, she was alone. You were already gone."
"And Olivia?" asked Dustin, starting to think that maybe this guy could be his father.
"She was a bit of a surprise, because she came from the hunter sect of our people. Normally the royalties and the hunters never bonded, but the two of you seemed to have bonded the moment you first met. Is she still alive, too?"