The hivemind is conquering for me?

Zorina began taking Samantha all around the casino, gambling and drinking here and there, throwing away and winning absurd amounts of money the whole time.

Samantha did not risk doing anything like poisoning Zorina’s drinks. Psionic beings take a more delicate approach, no matter how much Keyla would disagree. She needed to play her cards right. Buy her time, play it slow. Build trust.

She didn’t mind this. Zorina was actually pleasant company as far as humans go. She was smart, proud and held nothing back. Samantha was actually reminded of Sophia while talking with the woman, she had an air of authority about her that screamed leader.

While sitting down in a small corner of the casino, the two were laughing, chatting about this and that when suddenly, Samantha’s heightened senses smelt something familiar approaching from behind her.

She resisted the urge to smile and continued on listening to Zorina chatter on until. ”Lady Zorina I presume?” Zorina stopped mid conversation to look at the person that addressed her.

It was a woman 5ft10 inches tall. She had a small angular nose, purple lips and short white hair. The woman had black eyes with traces of neon yellow. The woman also had an uncanny beauty about her, looking almost unreal.

The most eye catching thing about her though was her arms. Fully augmented up and past the shoulder, her dress showing off her black synthetic skin of her upper torso. Zorina looked at those incredibly advanced arms and knew who just addressed her and stood up to greet her.

”Ah! The infamous Lady Z of ’Talos’, how nice to finally make your acquaintance. I was sorry to hear of the loss of your private militia.”

Zeona smiled at Zorina. ”Don’t be. They were a means to an end and fulfilled their purpose as long as they could. I am onto new ventures now. Or I wouldn’t be offering you the offer I am.”

Zorina smiled at this before turning to the companion of Z. ”And who is this? A friend of yours?” Zorina asked, noticing the deep look of affection Z showed the woman as she turned to face her.

”Oh where are my manners?” Zeona began. ”This is-”

”Delilah!?!” Samantha exclaimed in fake shock. Delilah, picking up on this, then did a visual double take and smiled. ”Oh my days! Samantha? What are you doing here?!?” Delilah asked with glee as she walked over giddily to give Samantha a long overdue hug.

Zorina and Zeona were both equally surprised by this revelation, with Zeona suppressing her feelings of jealousy. Her friend could have more than one other friend after all, though her need to know who was strong.

”Delilah, who is this?” She asked, prompting Delilah to end the hug and look back at Zeona with a genuine smile. ”Zeona, this is Samantha. We have known each other forever.” Delilah then turned away and back to Samantha, helping build the background. ”Samantha, seriously, what are you doing here? This is crazy!”

Samantha smiled back and replied. ”My contacts told me they spotted a woman that matched your description. I don’t know how to look for you, but they did and I tried my luck by coming tonight to find you. To think, goody two shoes here is here for an arms deal.”

Zeona then glared at Zorina and asked. ”You told this ’unaffiliated’ about our business?”

Zorina waved off Z’s worry and replied. ”It is fine. I trust Samantha. She is a good woman. Besides, I felt no need to hide it. I am practically royalty in this place. I could get away with murder. Samantha, since you have kept me company for so long, why don’t you and your old friend go to the bar and catch up while Lady Z and I discuss business?”

Delilah then jumped excited. ”Oh good idea! Come on Samantha let’s go!” She said and paused, noticing Zeona’s look. ”See you soon, ok? Don’t take too long.”

Zeona simply smiled and watched for a moment as the two walked away. She continued until Zorina interrupted her. ”Your partner is very cute. You make a pretty couple.”

Zeona then turned to Zorina and looked at her in shock. ”Partner? What? No. Delilah and I are just friends. Best friends, but just that.”

”Ah.” Zorina expressed, placing her hand on her chest. ”Forgive me, I saw the love you had for her in your eyes and presumed. Forgive me. Now, should we exchange in some formality? Or get straight to business?”

Zeona smiled. ”A little pleasure before business is always appreciated.”

...

Delilah and Samantha grabbed a couple drinks and found a quiet, yet open spot where they could discuss freely. Delilah started first. ”It is so good to see you Samantha, how are you holding up? Feeling lonely? I would be. All alone separated from your family in this place.”

Samantha smiled at Delilah. ”Delilah, you are forgetting I am not a cultist anymore. I went through evolution. I don’t feel the same way as I used to. But to answer your question I am holding up fine. Excellent even. This place is actually better than initial estimations The black reefs are so fucked up, they make the south look like paradise. I already have an established base of operations, biomass galore and trusted chosen like we used to be.”

Delilah’s eyes opened wide hearing this. ”Really? That’s... Wow. Well done. We all knew you would succeed in our expansion, but I doubt anyone expected you to be at this point already. What’s your base?”

”Drug den. Perfect for pushing my poison out. I already have people hooked. No secrecy like mother, straight up they know where their good feeling is coming from and they don’t have to look around to find it again.”

Delilah nodded her head hearing this. ”Smart. Very smart. And with your history, you will know how to get this out to more people faster. What about local Pdf? Have you had any trouble yet?”

Samantha let out a loud snort as she found what Delilah just said hysterical. ”Planetary defence? Delilah, we were seriously off about this planet. It is so corrupt that it’s perfect for us. The planetary defence wont come down to the black reef I am staying at, or any other black reef for that matter. The prey down there are left to fend for themselves; they aren’t the ones paying their wages, bringing in money. They only defend up here and that is it. Delilah, I have a paradise down there. We are going to thrive here.”

Delilah was, of course, delighted to hear this. How could she not be? She remembered the initial struggle Sophia had to go through. Consolidating power and resources among those in the same territory while remaining anonymous. That and she didn’t have the combat capabilities Samantha possesses.

However, the next bomb Samantha dropped took her entirely by shock.

”Oh and I met Jewel.”

”WHAT!” Delilah yelled a bit too loudly and immediately compensated by speaking in a hushed tone. ”You met her? How, why, when? And again. What!”

”It was when I was retrieving the nest pod. I broke through the link and became one with... You know.”

Delilah gulped back her jealousy, asking the important question. ”And? How was it?”

Samantha dropped all pretense, her true emotions came through, her eyes became misty. ”It... It was everything we ever dreamed of and more. I became a part of an infinite.So much knowledge and so much love for Apollo. We love him with all our hearts, Delilah, but our individual body’s don’t do it true justice. It was... Beautiful.”

Delilah swooned hearing this. She never doubted Sophia about the outer family, but to hear what it was like from Samantha, a former cultist and human, It gave her immense satisfaction knowing that everything she has ever done has been the right decision.

The two then reached out for each other’s hands in comfort, they might not share an under link anymore, but both had known each other for half a century at this point. They knew what the other was thinking.

Samantha was the first to pull away, her higher state of being recovering from the emotions quicker. ”Anyway, enough about me. What in Apollo’s name are you doing here Delilah? What happened to your other job?”

”Oh, that. Sophia gave me new orders due to what we found out about Zeona. Basically...”

Delilah then gave Samantha the rundown of the war after she left. How Zeona wasn’t human, but a new form of life. She explained how Zeona was already a high value target already and now she was more so. She needed to be monitored, plus Apollo might be interested in the human Artificial intelligence hybrid, so it was better to keep an eye on things.

Samantha listened to everything intently, she especially liked the part about doing this for Apollo. Everything should be done in his name after all. However, there was one thing she didn’t like after listening to everything. One thing that shook her to her very core.

”Goodness... Jinx was literally right about the whole Gynoid thing... What cataclysmic event had to unfold for her to be right? I fear for our safety.”