He was almost close enough to try and grab the Josagn on the bike ahead of him, when there was suddenly a flash, and the bike in front went flying off to the side. Slowing down to a crawl, he swung back to see the bike go into a spin, throwing the alien off, before it crashed and exploded.

It was breathing hard, as he calmly parked his bike and started walking towards it.

“Damn you, prey! You tripped the sensors!” -Gasp- -Gasp-

Dustin paused, “What sensors?”

It chuckled, or at least he thought it did, since it came out more of a trill. That is how they chuckled, isn’t it? He couldn’t remember much from the information pamphlet he got in high school.

“You can’t escape this place. They’ll shoot you into oblivion if you get too close to the space port.” It gagged and settled back, breathing hard.

He should have known. It would have been too easy to just conveniently find a ship waiting for him to board.

“What kind of sensors do they use? It can’t be heat seeking, I could just turn cold-blooded. It can’t be motion sensitive, it would shoot you too. Must be an AI.”

Its eyes grew wide. If he managed to get it medical care, it might even live, but it had tried to kill him.

“If you tell me more, something good, I’ll make sure your death is quick,” he said, getting closer to its face.

“Suck my dick!” it screeched, repeating the line he had given the other hunter.

Shrugging, he backed away and let the pack of lizards that had appeared swarm over it. They were very similar to the six-legged ones he had seen near his burrow, except instead of silver and green stripes, these had silver and magenta.

Dustin only watched for a moment, as the Josagn hunter screamed and tried to fight off the lizards. Their teeth were sharp enough to very quickly kill it. It was amazing how their legs held on to its flailing body. That was some form of clinging, he was pretty sure, wait hadn’t he gotten that from one of the evolutions he had done? Maybe it wasn’t a very strong one.

Heading back to the bike, he spied one of the lizards had been wounded, and the others turned on it, starting to eat it too. They scattered when he approached it. If it had a better cling ability, he wanted it. Scooping up some of the gore, he shoved it in his port, then returned to the bike.

(GENETIC MATERIAL ACQUIRED. ANALYZING. POSSIBLE EVOLUTION OPTIONS: ADVANCED CLING, REGROWTH.)

“Wait, it was a lizard, right? Shouldn’t it be cold-blooded?”

(YES.)

“Then, shouldn’t that be an option?”

(HOST HAD BEEN COLD-BLOODED AND CHOSE TO BECOME WARM-BLOODED. DATA FOR SUCH AN EVOLUTION HAS BEEN STORED FOR LATER EVOLUTIONS, BUT ARE NOT OFFERED AS A CHOICE BECAUSE OF PREVIOUS DECISIONS.)

That made sense to him.

“Initiate evolution with the advanced cling and the regrowth.”

(EVOLUTION INITIATED.)

Climbing onto the bike, he started heading back the way he had come. If there was an AI sensor, he would probably be fine, heading away from the compound. It would only shoot him if he was heading towards it. He would have to figure out a way to get past that, if he was going to get off this hell hole.

His mind was a jumbled mess. These hunters could hunt him legally, because he wasn’t technically human anymore. The Evolution Laws were only a recent thing. With more of these evolution devices becoming more and more available, he was sure they would change. He just wasn’t sure how much in the next year. The way the law worked the last time he checked it, you were still considered a human, despite evolutionary changes, as long as there was clear documentation of the process. He lost that when he upgraded his PED.

If anything happened to his PED during his time here, they could easily have said, nope, sorry, that’s not the Dustin we released. Which meant, he was going to have to find a way to break off this rock on his own. If he could get back to earth, find that damn jar of baby teeth, and change back, it would have been after the one-year sentence, allowing him to get some of his fortune back.

(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)

“PED, if you are given a genetic sample of another creature, could you turn me into that other creature, completely? Like a full change?” His mind was racing.

(WITH CURRENT SETTINGS, NO. HOST WOULD NEED TO UPGRADE SYSTEM TWO MORE TIMES TO COMPLY WITH REQUEST.)

“Two more, heh?” he could do that as soon as he got back. There were two bodies he had left at his burrow. The creatures may have eaten them, but the PMS should still be there. He revved the engine and raced forward. He couldn’t wait to get off this planet.

A sound he hadn’t heard before, caused him to slow down. There was a fire ball racing towards him from orbit.

“Orbital bombardment seems kind of farfetched, don’t you think?” he asked the empty air around him. Speeding up again, from where he had slowed down, he veered away from where the impact would be.

As it got closer, he was shocked to see it resembled another prisoner pod, just like his own. Could this really be another prisoner? Had he also killed someone?

Debating for the 30 seconds it took for the pod to make impact, he finally decided to check it out. It couldn’t hurt.

As he arrived, the port flew open and a hot chick fell out, gasping and looking at him in panic.

“Shit! Why’d it have to be a girl?” Growling, he rushed to her, as she started to collapse, ripped a scale off his arm, and shoved it into the port of her PED.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw that he wasn’t the only thing attracted to the sight. Several of those giant dinosaurs with big sharp teeth, like the one that had eaten the snake, had arrived on the scene. Grabbing her up, he threw her over his shoulder and shot off on the bike. He could feel the skin on her arm, where he was holding her, starting to change into the same scaled plates he had, and sighed in relief.

Why was he so worried? What’s he going to do with this chick? Bang her and have his kids here? The thought didn’t sound too bad actually.