"What is going on up there?" asked Kit through the communications. "Everyone just had their nanobots attack them!"
"Sorry, son," said Dustin, as they moved toward the AI ship that was quickly approaching the planet below. "We've had a few technical difficulties, but I'm relatively certain everything is fine now."
"Technical my ass! Dad what the hell is going on!" growled Kit.
"Well, there was an AI that was determined to kill all of us, but I just finished flushing it into a black hole, so everything should be fine now."
There was silence on the other end, and Olivia chuckled. Climbing to her feet, she moved over to the other seat, leaving Granny space to lay down on the floor.
"Well, I'm glad you took care of it. I have a nasty mess down here. A lot of the new people are terrified of the nanobots now."
"I'm sure you can handle it," said Dustin, sending the nanobots from the ship out to grab the AI vessel. It was too close to the gravity well for him to stop it from entering the atmosphere, so he intended to aim it for the ocean.
"Don't forget we still have people to go get," said Granny from the floor.
"And the Gooblens need a new home," added Olivia.
"What am I supposed to do with these non-Uz'En, down here?" asked Kit after a moment.
"I'm working on it right now," said Dustin, with a shake to his head. Everyone was so impatient! You would think they would give him just a few minutes to get over the fact he just made a black hole and eradicated a sentient AI that was older than his whole race.
Watching to make sure the ship would land away from all of the civilized areas, he headed back up into space to the other AI ship, that was just floating dead. A quick scan showed that the people on board were unconscious, but still alive. He had a couple of hours before he had to deal with them running out of air, so he turned his attention to the dead hivemind.
The AI had proven that it was too susceptible to attack, so he intended to rewrite everything. It needed to be able to talk to all of the nanobots, whole also preventing outside interference from hacking it. Thinking about it for a moment, Dustin decided it needed more work then he had time for at the moment, so he typed in the commands for a jump.
"How are you able to get around the need for fuel?" asked Olivia.
"The AI had discovered a method of energy for jump engines when it stole my jump technology that was far more efficient then the fuel I was using. I don't think I can explain it to you easily, so just pretend you understand and I'll try later."
"Or never," groaned Granny from the floor.
"What's wrong with you?" asked Dustin, as they appeared above his planet with the fuel, that he had come to with Cybele.
"I think the nanobots attacked some important bits, and they're taking a while to heal," she moaned, holding her head.
"Need to go to the medical bay?" asked Olivia, concerned.
"No, if the Gooblens found out I was damaged, there's no telling what they would do. I should be fine after a good nap. I feel like I have a major hangover."
Dustin nodded thoughtfully, holding his hand down, and scanning Granny with a tweak of his cells. The PED had done it enough times, that he was sure he could figure out how to do it to, and a smug grin covered his face as he succeeded. She was healing faster than he thought possible, closing gaps in arteries and regrowing bits of her nervous system. She would probably be pretty hungry when she woke up, so he made a note to grab her a good snack.
"What are we doing here?" asked Olivia, looking over the planet in front of them.
"It seemed like a great planet to move into orbit, opposite our current planet. The Gooblens should love it."
"They'll strip it bare in a couple years," she said doubtfully.
"Not if we give them things to properly occupy their time."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I know where there's a full graveyard of ships, waiting to be disassembled and rebuilt. All I have to do is bring that here, to their new homeworld, and they'll have plenty to do."
Olivia shook her head. She wasn't sure it would work, but if he wanted to give it a try, she was all for letting him.
By the end of an hour, he had programmed and constructed enough nanobots, to jump this planet into orbit along with their own planet. It was in the same orbital path, only on the opposite side of the sun, to keep things balanced.
"I'll find another planet for the non-Uz'En you dragged home, then we'll go get the rest of our people."
"Wait, the ones I dragged home?" asked Olivia, bristling at his words.
Dustin grimaced as he remembered he had brought Cybele and then threw her at Olivia without any explanation.
"I can explain," he said, as they flew down to the surface of the new planet. The Gooblens would need to name it, but he was sure Old Motha could do that.
"You better! I know that I brought some non-Uz'En, but I had an excuse. I was all messed up from what Granny had tried to fix. You don't have that excuse!"
Dustin sighed. He really didn't want to get into another fight with her. There had been so many over the years, he had almost preferred she stay away rather than fight with her.
"Cybele saw me while I was sick with some kind of poison, and decided I was good mate material. Her race changes physically to be the perfect mate to ensure compatibility. Apparently once she had changed, no one else of her race would have anything to do with her. Also, they were telepathic in nature, and she willingly gave that up to make me happier, when I freaked at the idea of her in my head. I didn't really have a choice but to bring her along. She would have died otherwise."
"Sounds pretty idiotic of her to do all of that. She had almost willingly signed her death warrant to do all of that without asking you first!"
Dustin agreed with a nod of his head, landing the ship gently in a clearing next to a river.
"I'll go tell Old Motha we're at her new home," said Dustin, climbing to his feet and stepping over Granny, who was passed out on the floor.
"We're not done with this!" warned Olivia, "I need to tell you about what they did to fix me, and how sorry I am about being a royal bitch the past fifteen years."
Dustin paused with his hand in the air to open the door. Turning to look at her, he saw the pain that was etched on her face. Was this another trick? Was he dreaming? Had he died inside that AI? He didn't dare respond with his real thoughts, so he merely nodded and left the room.