The hivemind is conquering for me?

Sapphire was in an agreeable mood and emerged in her smaller size to allow for some scritches. Watching the Praetorians’ eyes go wide with unkempt excitement was a sight to see.

I allowed Sapphire to get her heart’s full after her dematerialisation yesterday. She was a good kitty and deserved it. She melted under Phoebe’s technique and was enjoying it so much that I was taking mental notes.

Thirty minutes later we left the ship, only to be surprised by. ”Hailey, Gabrielle. It’s nice to see you! It feels like you have been avoiding me the last couple of days.” I said jokingly. Hailey walked forward and rested her hand on my forearm.

”Apollo, are you ok? I heard ’the dude with the Praetorian had a second one now’ and were spotted walking to her ship? I then rushed over and spotted an interrogator ship and well...” ’Called for Gabrielle in case we needed to come and rescue you.’ she didn’t add at the end, considering I was safe.

”Oh Phoebe? No she is fine, she was just checking in on Nerissa, and had some questions. Nothing serious, it only took a while because she wanted to stroke Sapphire, everything is fine.”

Both let out the tension they had been feeling before Gabrielle spoke up. ”Also, we have not been ignoring you Apollo, We have just been preparing for classes and have not had much time. We promise, you will be seeing more of us soon.”

She had said that casually, but she had been pestering Hailey every five minutes for the last three days about checking on her baby. But the Princess was right, they needed to show restraint... Horrible, horrible restraint.

She wanted to be at his side every second of every day, now until the end of time, but in order not to seem crazy and not scare him off, she needed to hold back, as the longer she spent with him, the more drastic her actions were going to get in order to stay by his side.

Nerissa then emerged from the ship behind me, her helmet naturally back on, and asked. ”How goes your preparation? Also, are any of Apollo’s classes the ones you are teaching?”

Hailey shot a sharp glare at Nerissa, she hated when the silent one got talkative now. She was pushing buttons for the simple sake of pushing buttons. Her attention then turned to Apollo and her cold expression gave way to a slight smirk.

”Oh, we shall see won’t we? It is fun having a little suspense, no? Will I be your teacher? Or won’t I? You will only find out in a few days.”

I considered myself a little slow at times, but I wasn’t that slow. She definitely would be my teacher now, I just knew it. I was now simply curious as to which class she was going to be in charge of.

”Well, I don’t plan on being a teacher’s pet, but I’m not a bad student, I think. I am sure all my teachers and I will get along splendidly.” I then turned to Gabrielle and playfully winked. ”That of course includes the teacher assistants.”

Gabrielle must have found my winking face funny as she began to laugh hastily whilst playing with her hair.

I ignored the laugh and turned to Hailey. ”So, the princess has come to save the noble sir, putting a twist on the classic tale?. Thank you for willing to do so. Do you two want to come back to ours for a few drinks? Janine got some couches yesterday, so we won’t have to sit on the floor.

Hailey checked her wrist device. ”Apollo, it’s like three pm. It is a little early to start drinking.” She said. ”I’m in!” Gabrielle chimed up. I scratched the back of my head, with the forty eight hours of straight day and night cycles, I had not really adapted to the current time keeping. It was currently night, but with all the artificial lights everywhere, it might as well be daytime, adding to the confusion. ”We don’t need to consume alcohol. If you don’t want to come it’s fine, I’ll just hit the library for a bit.”

Hailey refused the urge to bite her bottom lip. The way Apollo was looking down at her, those kind, caring eyes. It sent pleasant chills all over her body. ”I-Suppose we can take a few hours out of our prepping?” She said, turning to Gabrielle. ”It will be good to keep out of the office for a few hours, it was starting to get stuffy.”

...

”Hey, I’m back!” I declared as I opened the front door. Immediately I was assaulted by a blue creature as it clung onto my torso with shocking strength. ”Apollo, are you ok? I was so worried!” Janine declared and I returned the hug.

”I’m fine. Nerissa’s friend was just checking on her. No trouble... For once.” Janine giggled as she nestled her head into the crook of my neck. ”Good. It’s bad enough that-Oh. Hi” She said, eyes wide upon noticing my guests behind me.

She unclasped herself from my torso. ”Gabrielle.” She nodded coldly before giving a slight bow to. ”Princess Hailey.” Hailey walked in and looked around. ”Nice to see you again Janine. I like the house, it’s coming along nicely.” she said as she turned to me.

I smiled, it was mostly Janine who had done everything, she had good tastes. ”Yeah, it’s coming along quite well isn’t it? We still need to fill up the walls and get a few decorations, but it’s feeling like home already. We are just waiting for our tv to arrive as apparently they ran out and something called a Psionic pulsar field to attach to the roof.”

Gabrielle suddenly became very alert and curious. ”A pulsar? That is some serious anti reconnaissance tech.” Hailey suddenly thought why I might need such advanced tech and asked. ”You have a laboratory now, Apollo, you don’t need a pulsar here to keep your work a secret. Right?”

I nodded my head. ”You are right about that, but it’s not just my privacy, it’s Nerissa’s and Orchids and Janine’s. I value my privacy and I am just protecting us against potential snoopers.” I stated simply. But the truth was Onyx and Sol wanted to come out and Onyx said she would only do so once we had that thing.

Hailey slowly nodded her head, she could understand the desire for privacy. After all, ever since she made her presence known at the start of the week, besides her work, she has been getting communications galore from conniving nobles who wanted nothing more than to abuse her recent return to the spotlight for their own agenda. She wanted to go and hide in the military again, but fate had something in store for her and her husband candidate, her man. She just knew.

”I suppose with Valerica’s influence, you have got that ordered no problem? If you need though, I can fast track it for you?” I shook my head. ”Thank you for offering, but I already spoke to Valerica about it yesterday, when I asked, she said and I quote. ’Anything for you, my baby. I will bribe the stripper titties off the attorney general to fast-track the paperwork and you will have it before classes start!’ So I think I am set.”

Hailey’s eyes widened in surprise before she shrugged her shoulders. Sure Apollo just told her of a serious crime committed by Valerica, but that is exactly what she was going to do. Besides, it was the Spartari way, even the best of them had a price that could corrupt their values.

”Well let’s not stand around in the door, please, come in, take a seat.” Apollo declared, prompting Hailey to smirk. She honestly doubted he had a physical price, he was just too kind.

Hailey felt a tingling in her chest looking at Apollo as he moved to the couches. The tingling then abruptly stopped as she suddenly realised a battle was about to take place. The couch was a three person couch and Apollo was heading for the middle seat!

That meant only two of the four present could sit next to Apollo! Hailey began calculating. Nerissa looked too heavy for the seats that ruled her out. Between the couch and her was Janine. She was faster than the Sepiida, she could make it before her if she went for the furthest seat away, but it looked like Gabrielle was going for it, judging from the look in her eye.

That meant the race was on, but she also had to look casual about it. She moved with so much grace and dexterity she actually pulled off looking casual while her heart was racing. As Apollo placed his fine rear on the seat cushion, she lunged for the seat, surprising Janine. She over shot her lunge however, and accidentally bumped into him, causing breast to arm contact.

Her sirens were going off in her head thinking she had overplayed herself, she had also expected Janine to say something at this point, but the Sepiida did the unthinkable, she took purchase upon Apollo’s lap with such casualness!!! So enviable!

Meanwhile, Apollo didn’t seem to realise one bit as he was looking around with a confused expression on his face.

”Hey, where is Orchid?”