The hivemind is conquering for me?

With the arrival of the shuttles, things got loud and hectic incredibly fast. The once vast lot was now packed to the brim with people, their excitement for being here evident with the noise.

I didn’t blame them, I was excited too. So many humans with Psionics, it’s like I was with my second people. I had this odd sense of belonging being surrounded by peers that was very comfortable.

Orchid wasn’t having a good time however, despite being used to being surrounded by millions of bio forms at a time, they were still fundamentally her, all these individuals made her feel ill. She was supposed to be eating them.

I took Orchids hand into my own and squeezed it hard in comfort. I couldn’t blame my love-bug. She wasn’t created for this. I am still a very small blip in her lifespan after all, she is fighting off centuries ingrained instincts that having a new body just didn’t fix.

Orchid immediately smiled up at me, knowing exactly why I took her hand and she appreciated it greatly. So much so that she leaned in and whispered into my ear. ”Apollo-love, Orchid wants to taste you tonight~”

I admitted, the way she said it turned me on beyond belief, but I kept my head level and just wrapped my arm around her waist. The three of us kept waiting for a while, chatting idly, until I felt something close by. Something familiar.

Turning to my right and empowered my vision with Psionics. ”Oh wow. Orchid check it out. The blondes over there.” I pointed, causing Orchid to look before she scoffed in derision. Pathetic. They are vulnerable to attacks like that.”

Janine also looked at the pair, but saw nothing. She then turned to us and asked. ”Sorry, am I missing something? What’s the deal with the blondes?” Having it be a good thing that I brought Janine here as I am just a crappy teacher, I then explained. ”Activate your Psionic vision and look directly between their heads and tell me what you see.”

Janine listened to what I said before turning back towards the two blondes and concentrating heavily. She carefully began channeling her Psionic energy to her eye, it was like tensing a muscle you never knew was there and maintaining it long enough for the blood ,the Psionic energy, to get into it.

As she continued to concentrate, she began to notice this small tube? That connected between the two heads. ”What is that tube thing Apollo?” She asked, causing me to reach out and hug her with my other arm, causing her to lose focus.

”You saw it? Well done Janine. That, my sweet Sepiida, is a telepathic link. A very exposed and undefended link, but a link all the same.” Janine was surprised and looked back at them, blind this time. ”Wait, you mean they are doing what you do when you enter my Mindspace?” She asked, causing Orchid to scoff.

”What Apollo does is with great care, attention to detail and a mastery of telepathy. If those two attempt to do what Apollo did with you, you would be dead. NO, theirs is beyond crude. Pathetic.”

”Whoa! Easy sweetie, they are here to learn at the end of the day, I am sure they are just unaware of the risk they are in. I’ll just give them a heads up.” Orchid lost interest fast. They were just weak prey after all.

Turning my attention to the blondes, I began extending a telepathic tendril over towards them. I didn’t plan on invading the link itself, that could have side effects on the two, I was simply going to tap up against the edge to get their attention and relay the intent to come over.

Being with the hive so long allowed for intricacies like relaying intent. That is much harder than simply thinking your thoughts to another person. I was only able to do it thanks to Jewel. After all, she was the master when it came to it. She spoke to trillions of her limbs every second as easy as breathing and before me, she didn’t use language the same way I did. It was all intent to a great degree with her limbs having more coherent thoughts with all the roaring and clicking they used to use before switching to Apollo speech.

As the tip of my tendril reached their connection. I pressed gently up against it and passed right through... I had overestimated their links’ integrity and overestimated my power causing me to hear. ”- ater tonight we can go find- Who!”

The two suddenly turned to face me and I was surprised. Not because they found me and were staring at me with wide eyes, but because the two blondes were actually a man and a woman. I got trapped without realising as the dude was incredibly effeminate from behind.

Still, they showed no look of anger, it seemed my intent did manage to make its way into their mind spaces and they walked over warily. I did my best to ease their worries by speaking friendly and openly from the get go.

”Hi, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to break through your link, I meant to just tap on the outside. I’m Apollo, this is Orchid and this is Janine. I just wanted to warn you that your Telepathic link was incredibly exposed and you need to strengthen it as if I wasn’t friendly, it could have had negative backlash.”

The two looked between each other, the girl, roughly my age, spoke first. ”Hi, um. I’m Ivy, this is Alder.” She said, and the guy waved meekly as she continued. ”What do you mean by Telepathic link? Do you mean our connection?”

I nodded my head from the context before she continued. ”Oh, well... We didn’t know it was visible to people. No one has ever commented on it before. To be honest, we didn’t even know other people could use it. Sorry, I bet we sound like total scrubs huh?”

”Oh not at all. I only noticed because I have a keen sense for telepathy. I was raised around those with it you see. I know how to use it while keeping myself safe. Now you shouldn’t find anyone with malicious intent here, this is a place of learning, but I would recommend you be careful using your connection, as you call it, in public. Though we are a rare breed, so you should be fine.”

The two then looked between each other and seemingly struggled for a moment as they reflexively went to use their link, but then Alder spoke, his voice catching me by surprise as it too was incredibly feminine.

”Um. Are you a disguised teacher or something? How do you know all this?” he said, with Ivy following up hastily. ”Seriously. In thirty seconds we have learnt more about our connection than the twelve years we have been aware we have had it.”

I chuckled at the compliment before correcting them. ”No, I am not a teacher, but I am not a novice. I am already Psionically adept and have used it on the battlefield numerous times. I am enrolling at the college for the resources it can provide me in strengthening my base and gaining a deeper understanding of my power than learning everything from scratch.”

The two of them looked between each other again, this time failing to not form their connection right before my eyes before looking back at me a few seconds later as they both began to play with their hair.

Ivy, seemingly the more confident one between them, then spoke up. ”Look, um. We don’t really know anyone here and well, you seem kind and were polite in telling us about our connections flaw. This sounds super dorky, but would you like to be friends?”

Fireworks went off inside my head. ’Finally! People who just ask instead of skirting around the question! Oh it makes life so much easier when people say what they want.’ I thought to myself ecstatic before, with a calm demeanor smiled at the two of them and nodded my head.

”Of course. This galaxy is vast and empty, having friends helps fill it up and makes it feel full.” The two became radiant at this piece of news and Ivy reached out her hand for a shake which I reciprocated.

”Um...” Alder vocalised as he held out his hand to Orchid who was just staring at him. ”Sorry, Orchid doesn’t like physical contact much with anyone but me. She is the silent type. Just enjoy her presence and don’t interact with her is the best policy.”

”Are you two twins as well? Is that why you can do the... Telekinesis!” Ivy exclaimed. Recalling the correct word. I found the action endearing and softly smiled before replying. ”No, I am actually adopted, despite looking similar, there are no blood ties between my sister and I.”

Ivy nodded her head to this before looking over to Janine smiling awkwardly before turning to ask me. ”Um, I don’t want to sound obtuse again, but I am from the outer rim, I don’t know how I’m supposed to interact with your alien companion?”

”Just treat her like any other human as she is an amazing person as you will come to learn as my friend... Now, did you just say you were from the outer rim?”