Chapter 8 Self Destruct

Dustin knew that if he didn't take out these ships, word would spread that there wasn't just a nanobot issue, but a new race that used them, and that was the last thing he needed; more enemies.

Sending his nanobots along the outside skin of the ship, eating it and disassembling it as fast as they could, he rushed into the ship, ignoring the rush of the air as it raced into space by digging his crystal claws into the floor. He saw his first Uvojic.

The alien that slid past him to the breach had a dark purple skin, and dark black eyes that took up a third of its face. The look of fear didn't sway Dustin as it tried to grab onto him. He moved to the side, letting it slide across the rips in the floor he had just made. The sharp metal ripped through its skin easily, and it was quickly gone, swallowed by the emptiness of space.

The ship rocked as there was an explosion somewhere. He wasn't sure if it was from his nanobots or Olivia, but decided he needed to do more than just stand there. Making his way to the hallway outside of the empty room he had entered through, there were plenty of aliens to fight. His crystal skin ignored most of their blows, and his blade hands sliced through their skin nicely.

Making his way down the hall, he killed every alien he came in contact with, until they ran from the sight of him. The air pressure in the ship was dropping as the emergency protocols couldn't keep up with the damage, and soon he was coming across Uvojic who were laying on the ground, panting.

(AN EMERGENCY SELF-DESTRUCT HAS BEEN INITIATED ON THE SHIP. IT WILL BLOW UP IN FIFTEEN SECONDS.)

"Oh shit!" he screamed, calling every nanobot around him to him, he started to dart to the exit.

'Olivia!'

'I know!'

He jumped out the nearest breach as he initiated an evolution.

(INITIATING COCOON EVOLUTION)

BOOM!

Dustin was floating in space, when he woke up. His entire body ached, but he was alive. Had he managed to complete the evolution? Was that why he had managed to survive? Where was Olivia?

Opening his eyes, he found that he was slowly spinning past a planet he didn't immediately recognize. There was debris around him, and a coating of nanobots surrounded him, keeping most of the bigger debris from colliding with him. He saw several dead aliens floating around him, but no Olivia.

'Olivia?' he called out through the nanobots. There was no answer.

'PED, scan for Olivia."

(SCANNING.)

He turned his head and found his mobility was severely hampered by skin that was grown around his entire body. Dustin could vaguely remember that the PED had initiated cocoon, and mentally sighed. He hated that evolution but it seemed to have saved him this time.

(OLIVIA HAS BEEN FOUND. SHE IS BEING BROUGHT BY NANOBOTS.)

Dustin turned his head with some difficulty as a ball of nanobots zoomed towards him, merging with his own. Olivia was still in her crystal form, but was still alive.

(SHIPS ARE APPROACHING, WHAT DO YOU WISH?)

'Send the nanobots to destroy them,' he thought, reaching out with his stub of a hand to touch Olivia. Why did she keep getting hurt so bad?

(NEGATIVE, ALL NANOBOTS THAT HAVE GOTTEN CLOSE TO THESE SHIPS HAVE BEEN DISABLED.)

'Damn! Initiate an evolution for space worm, and can you get Olivia to change too?'

(INITIATING EVOLUTION FOR BOTH HOSTS.)

(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)

'Scatter the nanobots so we're not a target!'

Grabbing her limp form with some of his tendrils, he ignored his concern over her not regaining consciousness, and started to fly as fast as he could away from the ships. It only took him a moment to orient himself and to turn towards the laser fields that surrounded this space. If he could get them back to the ship, they could jump away. None of the remaining nanobots had the energy to jump them anymore.

The ships scattered, attacking the nanobots and ignoring them as they rushed away. Dustin knew it wouldn't be long before they were done with the nanos and hoped to be far enough by then, that the ships didn't register their personal nanos.

As the laser fence approached, he was hit with a problem. They had tightened the holes since the attack, and he wasn't going to be able to get through without triggering it while dragging Olivia behind him. Moving along the fence, with her in tow, Dustin tried to think of what to do. The ship would be exposed the moment he tried to board it, and if he triggered the fence, there would be huge battle ships on top of them in seconds.

'Initiate an evolution for Olivia to reduce her size as much as possible, without risking her to the effects of space. Do the same to me."

(INITIATING EVOLUTION)

(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)

They were still entangled in each other, but their bodies had shrunk small enough that he could easily get through the fence. The only problem was that his speed was so slow, he wasn't sure he could move faster than the moving lasers.

'Is there any way to increase my speed?' he asked, keeping an eye out for any ships.

(NOT WITHOUT INCREASING YOUR SIZE.)

'Do that then,' he groaned mentally. This was taking too long!

(INITIATING EVOLUTION)

A ship flashed in his vision, and he freaked. Rushing at the fence, he started to move through it as his body increased in size. Dragging Olivia along with him, he tried to hurry, his speed picking up as his evolution completed.

(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)

Suddenly the fence was gone and he turned towards where he knew the ship was at, but something grabbed him. There was a tether attached to his back from the Uvojic ship!

Pushing Olivia's body towards the ship, he gave it orders through his nanobots to grab her and to jump away to safe space as the tether started to reel him back in. He fought against the line, twisting and turning as it pulled him through where the fence used to be.

'Initiate my crystal form!'

(UNABLE TO COMPLY. EVOLUTION CHANGES ARE BLOCKED BY SOMETHING IN THE TETHER.)

Dustin really started to panic when he realized he couldn't change. This form had no offensive capabilities, and he had no doubt that if he was captured, they would destroy all of his nanobots. He couldn't allow that to happen.

Turning his head to see the tether as best he could, he realized that if he flew at the alien ship, he had a chance of escaping the tether's hold. Without wasting another moment, he turned and sped towards the ship, causing the line to go slack as they couldn't reel it in as fast as he was flying, then with a flip in space, he wiggled against the tether's hold.

His wispy tendrils were slipping free just as the slack disappeared and he was jerked towards the ship once again. Before he disappeared into the opening that appeared on the side of the ship, he saw his ship appear and seem to swallow Olivia's body up, before disappearing in a blink of light.

At least she was safe, he thought as he was swallowed up by the ship.