Evolutionary Liberator

The ship floated in space, no close planets or stars were in sight. Dustin studied the diagram that was floating in front of him, trying to decide which planet to go to first, when the door behind him opened.

He didn't move his body, to let her know he heard her, but he closed his eyes for a moment.

"Where are we?" she asked, as if walking on egg shells.

"On the edge of the galaxy," he answered, harsher than he knew he should have.

"Because…?" she asked after a moment.

"There are forty-three planets that still have Uz'En on them. I'm trying to decide which one to go to first."

"Only forty-three? I thought they were scattered all over?"

"I was able to send the nanobots to rescue a lot of them, before the nanos became blockable."

"That's pretty cool, though I still don't understand how anyone could block the nanos."

Dustin looked at his diagram, obviously annoyed by her series of questions. She waited patiently for him to answer, then sighed and sat in the second seat.

"Look, I'm with you through all of this, whether you want me to be or not. I need to know things to be able to help."

"You didn't need to know anything ten years ago when you left!" he snarled, turning in her direction. His face gave away his feelings, and he knew it.

She averted her eyes, and he stormed out of the room. She wasn't too worried about him, because there were only a few places he could go to.

"Computer, tell me what happened, please?"

"Two years ago, it was determined that the nanobots the A'Dfukl used, had gone rogue, due to the problems with their home planet. All of the galaxy's governments began to develop ways to override, block, and destroy the nanobots. Dustin was able to get around a lot of these problems, but forty-five planets have been too difficult for him to deal with at a distance. Two of those planets have ceased to hold Uz'En, but that still leaves forty-three."

"Thank you," she said, sitting back in her seat for a moment to think. "How's he doing?"

"I'm sorry, Olivia, but he has forbidden me to talk about him to you."

Olivia chuckled at that. That was the Dustin she remembered. "Does he talk about me?"

"I'm sorry, Olivia, I am forbidden to talk to you about him," the computer repeated.

"Fine," she said, standing up and looking over the diagram that he had left up. "Which planet is closest to us?"

"The trash world of Uvojic."

"Tell me what you know about it."

"The Uz'En were dumped on the planet, in the hopes that the nanobots would not go to their home world, but the protection they have placed around their solar system to inhibit the nanos encompasses the trash world. Personal intervention was required to retrieve the people."

"Sounds simple enough. If they threw the people away, then they shouldn't mind if we liberate them."

"It's not that simple," said Dustin, standing in the doorway, watching her.

Olivia frowned. She hadn't heard the door open.

"Why not?" she asked.

He walked up, without answering, and double tapped the icon for the planet.

"The Uvojic throw away everything to this planet, and yet still see it as an important part of their space. Everyone who has gone there, has been killed without a permit. I've been working on getting a permit, but it's incredibly difficult to do."

"Since when do you ask permission to take things? The Dustin I remember would waltz in with his cloaked ship, grab the people, and blast his way out."

"You left that Dustin, remember?"

"So, you changed for me?"

"Hell no!"

"Then?"

"I'm not the same. I have people I care about now."

"Kit."

"Yes."

"Yet, you weren't planning to go back…"

He didn't answer, only sat in his chair and began to type into his console. She watched him for a moment, then sat in her chair and strapped in. She could see on her console that he was typing in the commands to take them just outside the Uvojic space.

"Cloaking," said the computer. "Initiating jump sequence."

A few moments later, they floated just outside the space of the Uvojic. The solar system had three planets that were habitable, and five that were not. One of the five was marked as the trash planet.

"They've only been able to survive because of the PED's I was able to get to them. They've been surviving on the trash itself."

"Sounds awful," she said, zooming in the best she could on the planet. It wasn't close enough to pick up the actual surface, but she could see that there was very little atmosphere, and no water.

"It is. I'm still not sure how many survivors are left."

"Let's zoom in and grab and run."

"The laser fields they have positioned around the solar system are designed to detect nanobots. I can't fly the ship in at all."

"Could we go, ourselves? Or would our nano PED's be detected?"

"I think we could."

"The space worm form?"

"The energy eater."

As they stood up to head to the air lock, Dustin realized they had fallen back into the old pattern of survival. Watching Olivia head to the airlock excited for the challenge, he suddenly realized why they had separated.

Being king meant he had to deal with the people, and stop living. There was no adventure, no challenge that caused the adrenaline rush that she had always craved. She may not have the memories of their past, but he did, and he could remember all the times she did stupid dangerous stuff, just for the fun of it.

Knowing the truth of the matter, didn't change what had happened. He knew she didn't love him. She loved the challenge of surviving, and there had been no challenge. He understood all of this because he had missed the rush too. Kit was probably the only one who had understood.

Damn, why did the kid have to be so smart?