Evolutionary Liberator - Chapter 35 Big Guns Needed

Olivia studied the screen of her monitor, trying to make sense of the information she was pulling up. The AI, that Dustin had declared an enemy of the galaxy, had intercepted the virus laden video, before it had left the station, but then it allowed it to leave. That explained why the Tik thought the AI was behind the damage on its planet, despite the fact that Dustin had made the virus and released it. The part that she couldn’t understand, was the schematics for Dustin’s abilities that had pulled up on the station’s computers.

She read through a communication that had been sent to the trash, but wasn’t destroyed before the system went down. The AI had been talking to the station owner, and had made an agreement for them to keep Dustin there, until it could procure a way to retrieve him. In payment, it would provide them with a brand-new station, once he was acquired.

Digging further, she discovered that the AI had lain in wait, on the ship he had captured, acquiring information from his nanobots about everything he was capable of, until he connected with the station in preparation for releasing the video. The AI then took that information, and used the station to broadcast his abilities to every major assassin group in the galaxy, as a potential target. The things it had promised them were hard to conceive of, and really made her realize how much this AI had itself entrenched into everything.

Saving the information, she thought back about how the hive mind had guaranteed her that it had protected itself against the video. Could the AI have infiltrated it? It already knew how to steal information from the nanobots. An uneasy feeling overcame her, as she thought about how they were inside her, as well, and inside every single Uz’En they had found and brought to one place.

If this AI decided that they were a threat to get rid of, it would only need to take over the nanobots for a few minutes.

She sat there for several minutes, contemplating the implications, and a chill ran down her spine. If Dustin knew half of this, it was no wonder he had decided he needed to do something drastic to take out this AI.

Turning back to her monitor, she found where the alien thugs had arrived to acquire him, and the station owner had contacted the AI to see about payment of the new station. It had only happened a few hours ago. She had a few videos from surveillance cameras, that were strangely working at the time, showing Dustin stepping out of the ship, before it undocked, causing the atmosphere to be sucked out of the station, killing the owner and the thugs that were there to get him. Another had him flying to the thug’s ship and willingly entering it, after someone tried to fire a weapon at him.

She had no doubt the AI was behind the camera’s and was probably using the footage to entice others to want to hunt them down. Then she started to think back on all of the planets where she had been searching for Uz’En, and found nothing but destruction. The AI must have been hunting them for a long time!

Granny came in and threw herself into a chair, breathing hard and looking flushed, which was a very odd look on a green skinned person.

“What’s wrong with you? You look like someone stepped on your tail and insulted you for it,” she said, glancing at Olivia’s monitor, where the videos of Dustin were playing on repeat.

Leaning forward, Granny’s face went blank as she watched him go onto the ship, and then it warped away.

“This AI is dangerous,” said Olivia, touching her arm where she had first had her PED.

Granny glanced at her, then down at her own PED, that wasn’t able to integrate with her as well because she wasn’t Uz’En.

“What do you want to do?” asked Granny.

“I’m torn. I want to go after Dustin, and save him, but at the same time, I’m worried about Kit and the rest of the Uz’En. If this AI infiltrated the hive mind…”

Granny watched her for a moment, then leaned back into her seat. “What do you want to do the most?”

Olivia looked down at her lap as she wondered that herself. “Dustin doesn’t have much of a chance, without his PED, if the AI has infiltrated it. Plus, with those thugs knowing everything he can do, they’ll have a counter for everything he tries. I’m not sure if they will be able to kill him, without destroying his body, which the AI wants to study, and won’t pay them if they don’t turn it over, so he’s probably not dead yet.”

Granny looked up at the ceiling, deep in thought. She didn’t know everything, having been out babysitting the Gooblens, but she knew this was serious.

“If the hive mind has been infiltrated and can be controlled by the AI, then everyone in the galaxy is in danger. But the only person I know, who would have a prayer of fixing them, would be Dustin,” said Granny finally.

“I guess we need Dustin, to save the galaxy?”

“Sure, we can claim that. Want me to gather the Gooblens? I’m not thinking you really want to leave them here. They’ll eat everything,” she said chuckling.

“Yeah,” nodded Olivia, still not looking up.

Another thought had occurred to her, while Granny left to fetch all of the Gooblens. If they were going to go up against an AI that had mastered the ability to infiltrate all computers, she would be a liability for Dustin. She wasn’t completely sure that she loved him, but the thought of losing him definitely made her stomach sour. If he saw her get hurt, he might be willing to sacrifice himself, and they needed him to make sure that AI was destroyed. By the time Granny had all of the Gooblens on board, she knew that if worse came to worse, she would have to sacrifice herself.

Or get some really big, impressive guns. Yeah, big guns would fix everything. Maybe if she told herself that enough times, it would become true.