Dustin inched along the path, his senses heightened to make sure he didn't stumble upon any predators or traps. Ahead, just under the floorboards of the giant's house, he could see them huddled together. His ears could just barely make out a whispered argument, and then they all turned as one, to look up, as a crash sounded through the night.
Rushing forward, Dustin arrived where they had been, as they scrambled away, and the giant board above his head lifted, to show one of the giants looking down at him. Dropping the food, he had brought along with him, he jumped up at the face, growing his claws longer, and lacing his personal venom along them. Slashing at the cheek, he twisted in the air, and managed to push off from the hand that swung up to grab him. Landing in a crouch, back in the hole, the board above him slammed down, throwing dust and dirt into the air, and making a loud whoomph noise, that threatened to burst his eardrums.
Knowing that the venom worked quickly, he shouted at the Uz'En survivors to follow him, before darting away from the house. He glanced back, worried that they wouldn't follow, and saw them grabbing the food he had dropped and the other belongings they had already gathered together before darting after him. No sooner had they left the underfloor, then there was a huge crash, where the giant fell, breaking through the floor, then started spasming as it had a seizure.
Only a few paused to glance back, most of them continued running, following him as he left the giant garden and made his way towards the crash site.
"How are we going to get them on board the ship?" asked Olivia, joining him as they left the garden area.
"The ship can come into the atmosphere if it keeps the shields up, but not for long. We'll just have to hope that they see we've got everyone, and come down to us."
"If you're not slavers," panted one of the women following them, "Then who are you?"
"I'm honestly here to rescue you guys. I don't know how you came to be here, only that you are here."
"But why do you care?" asked another guy, catching up to them.
Dustin stopped running, so the others could catch up too. Looking over them, he saw that they were in peak physical condition, and were all around the same age.
"You are all Uz'En. It is my job to collect all of the Uz'En from around the galaxy, and take them to our new home world, so we can all live in safety. My scans picked up your presence, so here I am," Dustin explained. He really couldn't wait until he was done with all of this, so that he didn't have to keep trying to explain himself.
"That makes way more sense, then what we were thinking. So, you really don't know anything about the slavers?"
"I know that a lot of us were used as slaves, and some were even bred in slave breeding programs, while others were used as experiments. I'm just trying to get all of you back to our home world."
They looked at each other, seeming to have a conversation with just their eyes, and then they nodded and turned back to him.
"We are very grateful and are willing to come along with you. The threat of the slavers coming back for us, after we crashed last year, has almost been too much."
"They probably did come back for you, only the atmosphere here causes metal to be eaten away, so it's really not safe for any ships."
"Then how about yours?" asked the first woman, confused.
"We have a shield that protects our ship for very short periods of time. As soon as the ship lands, you are all going to have to board as fast as you can."
They nodded, as one pointed out the approaching ship. Behind them, they heard the giants yelling and carrying on. Dustin hoped the ship arrived before the giants did. He didn't want to see what they did to murderers.
The ship landed right in front of them, and Dustin urged everyone inside. He jumped in last, as the shields flashed back up, and watched as a group of the giants rushed at them.
"Hold on!" he cried, as the door shut and the ship flew sideways.
People went flying in every direction, trying to grab ahold of anything they could. The ship flew the other way, then down, then back up, and Dustin wondered who was in charge of flying. Making his way to the bridge, just as the ship settled itself and flew normally, he saw that Granny was controlling the ship alone.
"This would be easier if that lazy father of yours were in here helping," she grumbled.
Dustin sighed and threw himself into his seat.
"We got everyone, so as soon as we're in orbit we can send them on their way and head to the last planet. I'm tired of all of this. I think when we're finally done, I'm going to take a nap!"
Granny chuckled as Olivia made her way to her seat. "But you don't need to sleep," Olivia said.
"So? After all this crap? I think I deserve a rest."
"Oh, let him dream. We both know that as soon as we're done with the last planet, he's going to come up with something else he wants to do."
Olivia nodded in agreement and they were soon in space, looking down at the strange planet below them.
"Let's just fly these guys back, instead of using nanobots, and check up on Kit," suggested Olivia before Dustin could command the nanobots to do anything.
He thought about it for a moment, then decided there wasn't any reason not to. There wasn't really enough materials to make extra nanobots anyway.
"So, we overthrew the ship and escaped," finished one of the men that they had just saved as he stepped onto the bridge with Kitteral.
"Wow, sounds like you guys had that all figured out," he said, sitting in his seat.
"Well, everything except crash landing on that planet. We really hadn't planned for that."
"I don't imagine anyone plans for a crash landing," said Granny, not looking at him as she typed something into her console. Dustin thought she might be playing some word game, but he wasn't sure.
"We'll be home in just a few minutes," said Olivia, as they left warp and the planet appeared before them.