"This looks nothing like it did," Dustin said, looking around at the ship after the nanobots were done redoing it. He would be able to jump to his destinations now, instead of having to warp everywhere.
"It looks much better than that glorified airplane we were in," said Olivia, getting back from checking out the interior.
His mother came up to the ship, her arms full of some kind of purple fruit that tasted a little like bananas, and ignored the outside of the ship completely, until she had gotten inside and found herself lost.
"Where do I put these?" she hollered back at them.
"Oh! I'll show you!" said Olivia, rushing to help her.
Glancing around one last time, Dustin climbed onto the ship as well, and prepared to leave. Sliding into his seat, he couldn't help but smile at the familiarity. Double checking on the systems, he missed his AI computer from the military science station. Leaving the planet behind, he prepared to jump to the military base where Granny was currently. Making sure that the cloaking was on, he jumped.
If anyone had ever seen an angry beehive, they would have found similarities with the military base when he first arrived. Ships of all sizes were flying all over the place, and he couldn't help but having to change his location several times to keep from being hit. He didn't think that, had he jumped in uncloaked, anyone would have questioned his presence.
"What's going on?" asked Olivia, sliding into the seat she had sat in, in the virtual world.
"If you look over there, you'll see that there are space worms attacking their station," said Dustin, remembering what Granny had told him about why the station was abandoned.
His mother joined them, and they all craned their necks to see the worms as they ate holes in the solar collectors. The military was in the process of evacuating the station, and that was why they were zipping around like crazy.
"Why don't they attack them?" asked his mom.
"They can't. All of their weapons are dodged, if they are solid, or absorbed if they are energy," said Dustin, moving the ship again, to avoid a collision with a large hauler.
"They eat energy?" asked Olivia.
"Yea, and it is delicious, if you change into one of them. Swimming through space is so much fun. It's like swimming through water."
"But how? There's nothing out there!" exclaimed his mother.
"Sure, there is! There are so many different energy waves, from the suns, and everything, you just can't see them."
"I think I'll take your word for it," laughed Olivia, as his mother shook her head and sat in the seat his father had used.
"I'm going to dock over there. That should be the closest port to where Granny was being kept, when I found her," said Dustin, moving the ship towards the port. The military had moved to a different section of the station to evacuate.
"What if we run into anyone?" asked his mother, looking worried.
"Don't worry, I'll have everyone turn into crystal lizards, to keep any of their weapons from bothering us."
"Crystal lizards?" asked his mother, not looking very relieved.
"Trust me!" laughed Dustin, connecting to their PED's and sharing the form he intended to take.
The three of them made their way towards the air lock, as the ship finished docking by itself, their new crystal lizard forms catching the light and sparkling. Stepping onto the military station, Dustin couldn't help but notice that the emergency lights hadn't been flashing the last time he was there. It also wasn't that cold, which meant the heaters and air systems were probably still working, too.
"We'll follow you," said Olivia, running her tongue over her sharp teeth, as she fell in behind him.
He made his way quickly to the room that held the containment tanks, and paused when he came face to face with his dad. His mother gave a shriek of delight, and went to throw herself at him.
Several things happened all at once, which Dustin would later blame himself for.
His father, believing that he was under attack by a strange crystal lizard person, raised his weapon to defend himself, shooting her point blank in the chest. Because of the crystal scales, the energy beam bounced off of her, and hit him, in the chest, blasting him back onto his butt.
She screamed, slamming her hand down on the PED, changing herself back to her human form, and grabbed him up, sobbing.
Dustin could only sigh and rush to his dad's side. The poor man!
Not knowing if he had perfected his ability to change yet, Dustin could only hope that his enhanced speed at healing would help. Calling his nanobots from the ship, he had them bundle his father up, and take him and his mother, who was too busy sobbing to do much of anything, back to the ships medical bay.
Almost twenty minutes later, Olivia stood by his side, waiting for him to show her which of the floating creatures in the various tanks around them, were Granny. Dustin couldn't help but look around in amazement. All of these creatures had been dead and decayed, by the time he had come to the station. Right now, they were all still asleep. Could he rescue any of them, too? Better wait and ask Granny, first.
Finding her tucked away in the very back, just like he remembered, Dustin started the sequence to wake her up and let her out.
"Who the hell are you, and do you have anything to eat?" she asked.
"I'm Dustin, and this is Olivia. If you come with me, I'll explain everything, and feed you. I know where the cafeteria is, and they left a lot of food behind."
She looked at him for a moment, the slimy fluid she had been floating in was still dripping off of her, before finally nodding. Olivia gave him a careful look, when she turned to follow, but didn't say anything.
Dustin only hoped this went well, because Granny didn't know who he was, and Gooblens were not to be trifled with!