54 Chapter 54 The Station Blows Up (1/2)
”You realize we're going to be blown into space, right?” asked Dustin, looking at the ships approaching the station.
”I know.”
Neither one of them was very excited about the idea, and it showed.Maybe it was low oxygen in the air?Maybe they were just tired with all of the damn drama.Couldn't they get a break?
With a sigh, Dustin shook himself.”Okay.So, the first thing we need to worry about is the explosive decompression.We need to be able to keep the pressure on our bodies, so our lungs don't explode.”
”How do we do that?” she asked, crossing her arms.
”What if we programmed the PED to give us pressure tight scales over our entire body?”
”That seems a little farfetched.”
”It may be possible, if you layer them right,” he said, turning to his PED and getting started.”Some of the problems with space, is that there isn't any pressure because there's no air to form the pressure, so our lungs want to expand, our moisture evaporates, our tissues swell, and ice starts to form from the cold.Solar radiation burns us, and there's no oxygen in space.So, if we can take all of that into consideration, we would need, about…fourteen or fifteen layers.”
Olivia laughed.”You've got to be kidding.We would be like marshmallow lizard people trying to wiggle in space.”
”Not if the scales are thin enough,” he said, deep in thought.”If we create that many layers, there may be issues with getting too hot, maybe if I redirect some of our veins near the surface of the skin to cool us, then we would need to minimize our size to the smallest we can be…”
”Wait, why do you want us to be small?” she asked, seeing that he was honestly serious about this.
”Well, I was thinking.Those Josagn probably aren't going to try and board the ship, they're probably just going to blow it up.Maybe this is the first time we've made it to the station.Regardless, the smaller we are, the harder it will be for them to see us in space.We can use our cling ability to grab ahold of one of their ships and hitchhike back to their station.”
She ducked her head, starting to consider this.
”PED, I want the evolution that I just programmed into you, at the smallest size possible.”
(INITIATING EVOLUTION.YOUR SIZE WILL BE LIMITED BY MY SIZE.FULL CONTACT MUST BE MAINTAINED WITH ME OR I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO IMPLEMENT FUTURE EVOLUTIONS.)
”That's fine.”
(EVOLUTION INITIATED.)
Dustin watched as the world around him began to grow.He knew he was shrinking, but that's not what it seemed.
(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)
He was shorter than the robot, that looked at him puzzled.
”That was very fascinating,” said the AI.”May I make a request?”
”What?” asked Dustin, in a surprisingly high-pitched voice.Olivia gasped and started laughing.He shot her a dark look.
”If I were to upload myself into this robot, would you be willing to allow me to accompany you on your return to home base?If this station is about to be destroyed, I would very much like to escape my demise.Also, I could report all of my findings on the planet below to home base and complete my mission!”
They both knew that the chances of the human home base still being active were pretty slim after 200 years.
”Help us perfect our new forms, so that we can survive in space for the duration of time needed to travel to the Josagn station, and you can come with us.”
”That is acceptable to me.Your current form would have a 90% rate of survival for about 5 minutes in space.In order to lengthen that time, you would need to store more oxygen within your system.”
Messing with his PED again, he found some traits that would allow that from something that could survive deep in the ocean.He wondered if it came from the crystal prince.
(INITIATING EVOLUTION)
(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)
”Your current form would now have a 95% rate of survival for about 5 hours.”
”Dustin,” said Olivia, looking thoughtful, ”do you remember, when you said every time you got near the crystal guy, while as a tunnel worm, you had memories?”