Evolutionary Liberator

"To all those that can hear this message, I have very important information. A rogue AI has been detected, and is believed to be behind the massive genocide and destruction of entire worlds and civilizations. The well known issue with nanobots has been tied to this newfound threat.

"Chances are that if you are watching, or listening to this recording, your entire system has already been compromised by the AI. Should this message be taken down, I assure you, it is because of the AI.

"I urge all of the nations, kingdoms, and governments of our galaxy to heed this threat and do everything possible to take out and eradicate this AI.

"Thank you."

As the message started to repeat, Dustin leaned back in his chair in satisfaction, until the station suddenly went dark. He scrunched his brow in confusion. He knew that he had placed a virus on the video, but it should only have attacked when it was attacked itself. Surely the station had a sufficient virus protection?

Heading towards the station, he heard the crew freaking out.

"The entire system is down!"

"We can't get it to reboot!"

"Well, keep trying! We'll die out here, if you don't get it back up!"

Dustin jumped in to help, and was soon deep inside a corridor, inside the computer for the station, changing out parts that were all but melted, impressed, despite himself. This wasn't supposed to happen. They ran out of parts, before he had it fixed. There was never a time he missed his nanobots, nearly as much as he did now.

"That's it. We're dead in the water, so to speak," said one of the engineers, sitting down on the floor next to the open hatch.

"Mind if I try to jury-rig it?" asked Dustin, looking over the scattered parts they still had left.

"Sure. Unless someone comes along to help, we'll be dead before the weeks up. Assuming we can get the air tanks to release the stored emergency air."

Nodding in understanding, Dustin crawled back into the shaft, and started looking around. Over the next couple of hours, people watched him tear into the electronics, replacing and rewiring everything. By the end of the first day, he had the life support back up. None of them could believe it. They celebrated, and started helping him, as he asked for certain tools and materials.

"It's not very safe, but it's working again," he said with a grin. Dustin hadn't had that much fun in years.

"Man, you have just saved our butts!" cried the owner of the station. "We shall allow you to use our facility at any time, as long as our station is still functioning, for free!"

Dustin just chuckled, shaking his head. As he turned to return to his ship, the smile disappeared. If this station was hit this hard… Surely there would be races in this galaxy capable of defending his virus?

XxxxX

Olivia watched the figure of Dustin as he explained the situation, and chills raced down her spine.

"We have to get off this planet, now!" she cried in horror.

Granny looked at her for only a split second, as she realized what Dustin was doing as well.

"Old Motha! She's right!"

Old Motha nodded without a second of thought, waving at the Gooblens that were looking in at them.

The Gooblen holding the tablet hit the delete button to get rid of the video, and it immediately went dead. Everyone froze as the implications hit them.

"It dead," said the young Gooblen, dejected, throwing the tablet over its shoulder and turning to leave.

"Run!" screamed Granny.

As Olivia charged for the door, it amazed her that both of the old Gooblens were more than able to keep up. All pretenses of moving slowly from age disappeared. When they raced through the room with all of the male Gooblens, their panic was chaotic. Olivia followed behind Granny, who seemed to know exactly where to go, to get them back to the hole they had fallen through. With rumbles and crashes sounding all around and above them, the Gooblens created a living ladder, for the group of hundreds to climb and race for the stairs. Olivia took over the lead, with the Gooblen horde following behind her.

The people they passed, already panicking from the destruction of the electronics failing all around them, screamed even more, fleeing mindlessly from the Gooblen horde that raced through the area. The buses that they had taken to get here, were no longer floating. Olivia could see one crashed down on the support rails, but the rest were gone.

"What happened?" asked an alien, in too much shock to realize he was surrounded by Gooblens.

"A video, talking about some AI, seems to have had a virus that killed everything that was electronic," said Granny, looking around.

"Oh, well that can't be good. The entire planet is kept stable with computers that vent various stresses that develop, to prevent destruction of the mega-city," said the alien, scratching his head, and turning to look at them.

His face was frozen in shock, unable to process the destruction going on around him, or to whom he was speaking. "I guess we'll need to find new homes dear," he said towards a pile of rubble. Two feet, that matched his own, were sticking out from under it, but he didn't seem to notice, turning back to the bus stop.

"Is there another way to the parking garage for space sh.i.p.s?" asked Olivia, feeling bad for him, but knowing she wanted to survive, and he might be the only one who could answer.

The platform they were standing on, shuddered, and the Gooblens grabbed onto whatever was nearby to keep their feet.

"The walkway is over that way, but no one ever does that. The walk is far too long," he said, pointing to the barely visible.

Before anyone could say anything more, a taxi cab crashed into the platform, and the alien was gone.

"Time to go," said Old Motha, not waiting any longer, and they were all soon rushing down the walkway. The Gooblens formed living bridges, much as ants do, whenever they came to broken spots, and Olivia didn't hesitate, despite the squishy feel of them, as she scrambled across.

By the time they had reached the parking garage, there was a thick crowd, trying to similarly reach their sh.i.p.s, in order to escape. The Gooblens helped to clear the path, pushing people over the railings to their deaths, to make room for Old Motha, and subsequently, the rest of the Gooblens and Olivia. When they saw that the gates had been closed in panic, by the guards, Granny laughed.

"Eat your way in!" she cried gleefully, chomping down on one of the bars, and taking a bite of it, as if it were merely chocolate.

The other Gooblens cheered, and swarmed the gates, and the walls, and some of the people… Olivia was just glad they knew better then to attack her. By the time they got inside, the guards were long gone, and there were deep ominous rumbles, from far below them.