The hivemind is conquering for me?

After draining my embarrassment away, Kathrine went to find Hank for my clothes before the two of us returned to the living room to find Valerica sat comfortably on a chair she had brought in front of the fire. As she sipped her wine, she noticed us in her peripherals and smiled.

“So I take it you were able to satisfy your urge? I hope so as I was expecting you five minutes ago.” Valerica said casually. “Sorry to keep you waiting, It does usually take me a while, but if Kathrine puts on her vacuum extension so to speak, she can pick up the pace quite severely.” I said to the mother of my lover as though it was a normal thing to say.

Valerica smiled as she heard this. “That is good to hear. Kathrine always liked putting things in her mouth to suck, even as a baby she would give me heart attacks as she shoved items all the way down her throat. I am glad her problem has become a passion of hers.”

To stop Kathrine’s face from going redder then her hair was, I did not follow up with Valerica and sat down nearby. Kathrine took the opportunity, since her mother clearly liked me, and sat on my legs instead of the chair right next to me.

As Valerica saw this, her heart melted. She had seen her daughter suffer a loveless marriage for so long, to see her show so much happiness on Apollo’s lap, Valerica built up a tear and shed it silently. ‘I should never have let you marry that oaf. You should have married for love.’ Of course Valerica was also glad she did marry the oaf as her grandbabies were little cuties.

“So, Apollo. Despite our little brawl and you making me have a few light orgasms for the first time in years thanks to healing my injury, I still know very little about my new son. Will you tell mommy more about you?”

Just this moment realising I liked her calling herself ‘mommy’ because I don’t actually have one and its probably causing some psychosexual reaction in my brain, I position Kathrine slightly so I am not being stimulated anymore as I began to dive into my fabricated backstory.

I began to explain my youth pretty similar to what happened on home world, just adding in some more ‘human’ touches. I explained about having a sister, Orchid, and a power Psionic teacher, Jewel.

I also then spoke about the derelict alien spaceship that contained all my weapons and armour. Being the battle junkie she was, Valerica requested I show her my armour and weapon and I obliged.

Picking Kathrine up and placing her on the chair next to me, I stood up and the moment I did, I had my armour envelop my body and Zircon materialise in my hand. Resisting the urge to strike some sort of pose, I just stood there with my arms by my side as Valerica stood up and began caressing my armour.

“Simply incredible.” She muttered as she observed the joints in between the armour panelling. “No stitching, no welding, no nothing. It is like the armour is a being in its natural state. If you weren’t inside of it I would say that this thing could be alive.”

I was glad I had my helmet on as the shocked expression on my face indicated how close to the nail Valerica was with her remark. “Apollo, how do you store this thing? I noticed it originate from your arm, but your arm had no excess bulk in regards to the rest of your frame.”

Looking at Kathrine to determine how trust worth her mother was for a moment, Kathrine understood the meaning as she said. “Mother had an affair with King Lysanders brother before I was born, if word of that got out, both our family and Lysanders reputation would be shattered.”

“Kathrine!” Valerica shouted at Kathrine. “What are you doing spouting that!” Kathrine looked determined at her mother. “Proving to Apollo we can be trusted with any information he wishes to share with you. As what he is about to tell you is illegal.”

Valerica squinted her eyes at her daughter for a moment, but in the end regardless of her age now, she still yearned for hot goss and if Kathrine just dropped that bombshell on her new son, then it must be good.

Trusting both my own and Kathrine’s judgement, I relayed my armour into standby mode and raised my arm towards Valerica as I explained. “I am a genetic scientist by trade. I have augmented myself a few times with other species’ DNA. Very illegal in Spartari I know. Anyway, as a result of my tests, I realised that my armour had a very high genetic structure and was compatible with my genome.”

I was trying to refrain from using more ‘Hivey’ terms such as biomass, despite the fact that the women present had no clue that the hive had such capabilities past eating and swarming. “In simple terms, The armour compresses itself down and stores its structure microscopically inside of my genome, leaving this sleeve only.”

Valerica stared at me a moment in case I had more to say. Upon realising I was done with my explanation, she turned to Kathrine and yelled. “You spilled my drunken escapade to my new son and all I got in return was that? I mean come on Kitten, you literally embezzled from the military, a capital punishment crime. If Apollo got caught doing his stuff, he would get fined and jailed maximum.”

Valerica then turned back to me and apologised. “Sorry Apollo, I did not mean to diminish your work, it is just that when Kathrine told you one of my most secret, secrets, I was expecting something of the same calibre.”

I shrugged my shoulder and said that there was nothing to apologise for. In fact that was probably one of the better reactions to my revelation, indifference. After that, Valerica began to open up about her life.

She had a very rewarding life. Great parents who encouraged her growth. She excelled in her studies, war , politics. She thrived at them all. It was only a decade or so ago she finally began to relax and allowed Kathrine and her ‘husband’ to start taking on some more family business responsibilities, leaving her an abundance of time to continue her training.

At one point, the subject of Psionics was brought up and I had myself asking. “So, Valerica. You mentioned a woman earlier, Hecate. Is she your friend? Also, her name sounds old like mine. Is it?”

Valerica sipped her wine and nodded. “Ah yes very good Apollo, someone knows their Spartari history. Hecate was one of the founders like Hades, Artemis, Thanatos, Apollo and that retch Ares to name a few. She was not as well known so I am surprised you recognised the age of the name.”

Valerica then took a sip of her wine before continuing. “Hecate was named after the founder for she had a very young Psionic awakening. And to answer your first question, yes Hecate is my friend, sort of. She has forty years on me and was my tutor when I enrolled at the college. I have not seen her in a long time however, I should give her a call sometime to check in.” Valerica said, trailing off.

After Valerica said that, my curiosity was peaked once more, though for a different reason. Choosing my words carefully, I asked her. “Valerica, you are a woman who has been around for some time. Can you tell me anything else about the founders? The only one I know anything about, bar names, Is Ares. And judging from Spartari history, that is a founder better not knowing about.”

I wanted to understand more about why such prominent names were shared with my past life and if there were any stories about them I could compare, as my casual search in my free time had bore no fruit.

Valerica went eerily quiet for a moment, like a stillness washed over the room, taking the noise with it. A moment later, she leaned forward in her chair as though she was revealing sensitive information. Discover stories at m,v l’-NovelFire

“Apollo, I will tell you this once and I won’t tell you again. Do not, under any circumstances, ask any other Spartari noble with traced lineage that question. Just don’t. There are some things better left unanswered.”

Valerica’s words were cryptic, but instead of scaring me off, I grew more intrigued. I only asked the question casually, but got such a weird response. “Sure thing Valerica, sorry if I upset you in anyway, it was not my intention.” I said honestly.

Valerica sat back in her chair and smiled softly at me, as though a tension released from her as she replied. “It is ok my boy. I am sorry that I can’t tell you more, though I do not know much myself despite my warning.”

After changing the conversation to something more pleasant, a few hours passed by and Valerica excused herself saying she needed to do a quick workout before bed. After she left the room, I turned to Kathrine and suggested we also turn in for a few hours despite sleeping on the ship as It was going to be a long day.

Kathrine saw no reason to refuse as she was going to suggest the same thing for a long day was ahead of them.