The hivemind is conquering for me?

Up”Apollo! Pull up! Pull up!” Keyla screamed at the top of her lungs. ”Hahahaha!” I began laughing maniacally before the last moment I pulled up on the ship’s manual control, Skimming the dispersion field the hive ship had just put up in case I crashed.

About two weeks ago, I woke Keyla up from her stasis and asked her to keep her promise to me and to teach me how to fly the spaceship. I decided it was good for my brain to take a short break from my experiments and do something I have always wanted to do.

The first two days of the training, Keyla enthusiastically began teaching me what every button that she knew was on the ship and how they worked. She then took us into space for about two hours everyday for me to learn the basics of flying a ship.

The thing was... Piloting came really naturally to me. I could scarcely believe I was genuinely good at something. No boon, no op wife training me, no Psionic power. Just simple aptitude. There were three ways to fly the current ship we were inside of.

The first was autopilot so that was skipped for the most part. The second was a sort of steering rig with more than a fair share of accessories to adjust pitch and other things. Keyla used this method the most and was what she strived to teach me.

I used that at first, but it was very intuitive and a little bland. The manoeuvring was slow and predictable and in my current exercise, I would already have lost. Now the third way was what I was currently using. Two ’stick’s’ that were usually stored within the pilot seats armrests could control speed, pitch, altitude and maneuvering. It could control the weapons and the FTL on top of that. As well as a myriad of other things.

Quickly glancing at my ship’s monitor, I chuckled once more as my targets got temporarily stuck in the dispersion field after my maneuver worked. ”HA! Take that love!” I yelled in glee before I turned my attention back to the space in front of me.

Another set of 6 Freethinker rippers were heading right towards me. ”Keyla! Hold on to something!” I yelled as I disabled the inertia dampeners inside the ship. The dampeners prevented the mobility of the ship somewhat while in flight and would mess up my move.

I had not given Keyla enough time and as I turned my ships engines off temporarily as I came to a stop, while angling my ship in such a way that I just about missed the trajectory of the ripper formation.

The ship was rotating like a frisbee and once past the threat, I activated the dampeners again, not having time to check on the individual that just fell from the roof as I powered up the engines again to create distance!

”That worked!!!” I exclaimed in glee as I began making distance from my pursuers. Just as I got cocky, Jewel sprang her trap, she had been hiding a Wing ripper behind a small innocent asteroid and went in to get her tag on Apollo.

Barely having time to react to the sudden ambush. I had to rely on the front of my ship. The ship I currently on was rather round and didn’t really have a nose, making the current manoeuvre difficult, however, the weapon mounted on the front of the ship gave it just enough weight.

Disabling the dampeners again, I throttled forward fully with the left stick, pointing my ship ’down’ in respect to my current level before with the right drifting the ship clockwise 180 degrees, avoiding the ripper as it barrelled past the ship’s cockpit just barely missing.

After the close encounter, my pupils dilated at the rush I just received, but I then also noticed a bug on my windscreen. ”Is that on the inside or the outside?” I joked as I looked at Keyla basically flattened against the glass.

Deciding for her sake to stop the obstacle course, I fired the ship’s weapon once, indicating to Jewel to stop. Reactivating the dampener, I unbuckled myself from the pilot seat and went to pick up Keyla who had just fallen.

”Keyla? Are you alive?” I asked, causing the dizzy short stack to reply. ”I don’t- I don’t think I need to supervise you anymore. That was awful.” She said as she imprinted herself onto my torso.”

I decided to leave her there for the time being as I returned to my seat and began the flight back to Apollo-minor. The Wing rippers that had been a part of my obstacle course began to fly around the ship, performing impressive acrobatics in their delight to be a part of my activity.

Despite ’winning’ the current game, I was also aware that it was not anything close to combat. The wing rippers were not using their full speed so as to not damage the ship if they managed to collide with it and also they were not attacking the ship, merely trying to touch it.

Still, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and their antics on the way back only furthered my enjoyment of the activity. As we entered the gravity of the planet, I allowed the autopilot to begin the descent. I had this strange feeling, thanks to Ronnies gift, that if I didn’t allow the ship to do some stuff, it would be mad at me.

I shortly left the ship with my koala still attached to me as I began walking around for a bit. I did not feel like going underground yet, so I simply began strolling. My planet did not really have much to see as I strolled, other than bioforms.

The 2000km planet that was my home world was once mountainous and rocky and had a large amount of gas reserves within the planet. I could still remember the scene from when I was a baby looking down on the dwarf planet.

Now, there were no more mountains, no terrain of any kind, all just barren wasteland, except for the cone towers that spilled oxygen into the atmosphere for the hive. Though, a few hours later, as I was walking, I stumbled upon a structure in the distance, multiple in fact. Buildings.

”Are those buildings?” Keyla asked, causing me to look down at the woman, hoping the question was rhetorical. ”Apollo, go check it out!” I shook my head at Keyla as I started walking over to the buildings.

Eventually, the ground beneath me became hard as we approached. Roading. As I advanced, the buildings came into view. There were only a handful along the road. Five, maybe Six if you counted the rubble at the end of the street. The others were dilapidated, worn down for sure, but still structurally sound. It was like the hive had never even touched them.

As I was walking down the road, an intense wave of Deja vu hit me as I looked to my right. ”No way...” I muttered to myself, pulling Keyla off my body before walking towards the alleyway I spotted.

Standing in the entrance of the alleyway, I looked towards a bin and took in a deep breath with a smile softly planted on my face before walking towards it. The bin, despite being metal, seemed to be in perfect condition, other than the ripped off top that was still strewn further down the alley way.

I placed my hands on the edge of the bin and looked inside. the smile on my face, confusing my onlooker. Keyla was confused for a moment and asked. ”Apollo, why are you looking at that bin fondly? I’m getting a little jealous... Wait! Is that?” Keyla was about to ask, finally clocking on to the context.

I nodded my head and replied. Tapping the empty bins rim. ”Yep. This is where I was abandoned. Hours fresh and new I was. I still remember the few hours before that as well. I don’t recall her face anymore, nor pretty much anything about her. But my Birth mom seemed genuinely happy when I was born. When the hive descended upon the planet, I remember her picking me up and keeping me close to her chest. I remember the beating of her heart.”

As Keyla watched on, she received company, but kept her eyes glued to me. ”She seemed genuinely distraught as she placed me in here. A last resort to keep me safe. I think. I still remember who I assumed to be my dad, say that I should have been aborted anyway and my life was basically not worth theirs, but I remember her saying sorry to me as she left me. That sorry, while I was pissed off at the time for being abandoned, I realise now she was truly devastated that she had to do that to me. I wonder, if she was still alive... Would she even care about me?”

I stared into the empty bin for a moment. My thoughts void. I stared longer, thinking about the possible life I could have had if I was not abandoned inside of this thing...

Looking to my left, I noticed Jewel had appeared seemingly from nowhere and was standing next to Keyla. I felt my heart swell up with love as I gazed upon her form and knew in that moment that a life where I was not with my hive...

It was a life not worth living.