Chapter 18 Crimes of the Race
Dustin watched as three robots were patrolling the side of the river, obviously looking for them. He had already taken out three others. How many robots were these aliens willing to lose? Surely it was obvious by now that they didn't really pose him any problems?
Shaking his head, he moved away from the river, collecting dead limbs he could use to build a fire. Once they had warmed up, gotten some food to eat, and Jake was better, they could continue on to the next military base, and maybe find some answers. Any, would be nice at this point.
Olivia had picked up on the fact that there were three military bases on this planet, and he was hoping to find out something promising when they got there. The little bit that he had managed to deduce, since leaving the last one, was that it was the smallest of the three.
Spying a small creature digging at the base of a tree, he slowed down and started moving more stealthily towards it. Before he took two steps, there was a noise behind him, and he managed to half turn, before a sharp jab hit him in the ribs.
(WARNING! POWER FLUCTUATIONS! UNABLE TO INITIATE EVOLUTION! HOST HAS BEEN COMPROMISED! LOSING CONTROL OF NANOBOTS!)
'Send control of all nanobots near Olivia to her!' Dustin managed to think as the world started going grey. The face of a robot appeared just as everything went dark.
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Slamming against the wall, Dustin grunted and held onto the bulkhead as he caught his breath. They had disabled his PED, and all of the nanobots that he had, were nonfunctioning. He didn't know what they had done, but he was pissed.
The robot waited for him to turn back around, before it hit him again, sending him flying across the room. Growling under his breath, he got up again. His right eye was almost swollen shut. The only thing that was keeping him alive, was the fact that he had his scales under his skin. He could taste blood from a split on his lower lip as he stood up and glared at the robot. It moved to hit him again, when one of the aliens stepped into the room.
"Enough."
The robot straightened from its fighting stance, and stepped back to the right of the door. Another robot had been standing on the left of the door, but it hadn't joined in the beat down. Dustin gritted his teeth, then spit blood at the alien.
It ignored him, holding restraints for him. Like hell he would just stand there and let it strap him up. Even if the memory of being restrained by the military was fake, it was real enough to make him resist. As it stepped towards him, though, he didn't get a chance to lash out. He fell to the ground as memories flooded his head.
-A robot stood by a window looking over a new planet that was to be colonized. It touched its belly, where a fetus could be seen developing in an artificial womb. "Soon, little one, you will be able to go out and make this place your home." Several hundred other robots, all carrying artificial wombs, wandered around behind it.
-A boy sat on a rusting hulk of metal, staring up at a blue sky, as a ship left atmosphere. "I wish I could have gone with you." Tears were falling down his cheeks silently. In the distance behind him, there were mounds of trash from a fallen generation. He finally stood up, picking up a backpack and a crowbar, and headed towards the mounds.
-A child reached up, with a bottle in hand, for a robot nurse to refill. She smiled down as the child tottered over to a window and sat down to watch ships come and go at the space port, as it enjoyed the meal.
-A man floated in a cylinder of murky fluid, wires hooked up to him, as scientists walked around, monitoring his condition. "He should be waking soon, it looks like the experiment was a success." "Any signs of how they control those devices?" "No, sir, but we hope to know soon!" "Good!"
-A woman held her child, as she finished fastening his space suit. It was ridiculously too large for him, but she seemed determined it was fastened right. Then she turned to her own suit. Behind her, a red light was flashing. Panic was written all over her face, but also a determination to survive. "PED initiate protocol, Survive At All Costs."
-"Sir, we've managed to isolate the genetic code that dictates the device control. Unfortunately, whenever we place this code into a human infant, the infant either dies or goes through a change to become the alien species." Behind the scientist, a row of babies floated in tanks, sleeping as wires ran from them to a bank of computers.
Dustin woke up, to find he was completely contained within the restraints. His arms were held to his sides, with him unable to move at all.
"You will be taken for questioning." The alien did not expect a response, turning to leave the room, so Dustin offered none.
The robots came and dragged him to his feet. Flanking him, he had no choice but to follow the alien. He could feel dried blood in his hair line, but at least he could see out of both eyes. His fast healing must still be active.
Following the robot through the metal halls of some ship, panic coursed through him. Had they left the planet? Would he be able to get back to Olivia and Jake? Pushing those feelings down, he knew he would eventually get back to them. He had to kill all of these damn aliens first, get his PED working again, and destroy all of the robots.
No big deal.
Oh, and get out of these restraints.
Pausing in the middle of a room, the alien turned to face him. Only the center, where they were standing was lit, the rest of the room was in total darkness, but he could still make out forms with his heat vision.
As Dustin came to a stop in front of the alien, the darkness was suddenly lit up, exposing aliens standing all around him. They had different colored clothing to differentiate them.
"For the crimes of your race, you have been charged with death. Before your sentence is met out, you will deliver up the location of your mate and offspring for similar sentencing."
Dustin glared at them.
"Fuck you."