novelzi Chapter 55 – A conversation between Hive-Minds
Chapter 55 – A conversation between Hive-Minds
Chapter 55 – A conversation between Hive-Minds
“Tired and looking for some relaxation? No worries, mate, just come over to the redlight district. Not a hooker better in town, I tell ya. Be it slow and relaxed or heated and sexy, you’ll find something to your tastes.”
- Ad for the redlight district, New Savannah, 2050
It didn’t take too long for Mask to arrive with the help of Jenna’s shuttle.
We spent the time down at the bar, chatting amongst each other and a few of the Joytoys and clients who were mingling about. Everyone had an air of sadness about them, and the typically more sexual and lewd gazes that people would throw at each other were absent.
I took time to talk to any of the Joytoys who wanted to talk, just be there for them, to help them come to terms with it all. I informed them about my plan with the department, that they should tell the others, and that some changes would be coming in their future.
There was only one incident, when one of the clients overheard me talking about my plans for the redlight district. She was a woman who most certainly didn’t feel in any way sad about it all, with her head stuck so far up her arse that she could lick her own intestines through the backlooping of her mouth.
She was throwing a huge tantrum about how Joytoys shouldn’t be in charge and that they should just do as they’re told, which ended with me nearly exploding on her. Only Chloe’s presence stopped me from beheading her on the spot, and instead my Queen’s Guard took care of her, pulling her out of the brothel before sedating her and leaving her on the street somewhere.
Not anywhere they couldn’t check, of course, if someone would try something we’d intervene, but I wasn’t going to pay that kind of person any kind of respect if she couldn’t show even a modicum of understanding for others.
It surprisingly helped the mood greatly, since people saw that I wasn’t just talking out of my backside, but actually did something about it. The woman was, of course, banned for life, and from Vic’s comments she would have a hard time to find any joytoy anywhere in the redlight district in the future. I wasn’t sure just how accurate that was, but I appreciated the sentiment.
I also took the time to give Galia the pills that Kaysa had told me about. It was about as easy as I expected it to be, all I did was act like the next slutty girl who wanted to have a round, promising her pleasures beyond belief, before I gave her the pills one by one, with small little lies on how it would make her feel.
Truth be told, I felt a bit bad about it. Taking away someone’s memories, even if only temporarily, felt... wrong. It was amoral, but at the same time... I could live with it. I could live with the fact that she might resent me for the rest of her life, as long as she had a life to resent me in. Maybe it was the wrong kind of outlook, but to me it felt like a good enough balance.
Or maybe I was just too emotional to properly judge things. At the end of the day, I didn’t care, as long as she survived.
As was typical with protector grade medicine it worked quickly and soon she sat on the bed, confused and slightly out of it, trying to get a grip on reality. Kaysa stayed by her side in one of the nanite drones. She had made a skim of Galia’s online profile, trying to find out as much as she could about her so that she could talk to her and distract her a little. It seemed to help greatly.
We left her to it, just giving her some breathing room and some proper clothes, while we waited for Mask. Truth be told I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to leave her with Kaysa, I wanted to do more, but Kaysa assured me that I might dredge up memories of her time in the brothel, which, while blocked, could have some adverse effects. It was good that the room Victor had put her in wasn’t a working room, nor one she had been to before prior to today.
Finally though the shuttle landed not far from the entrance, barely fitting on the tight streets, and Mask got out. She was not what I had been expecting from her name, or the conversation I had with her.
First and foremost, she was very obviously a Hive-Mind, at least to me. Three bodies walked up to the brothel, all looking identical apart from different clothing. Mask was rather pretty, but not in the overdone way that you would see plastered all over the feeds. It was a natural kind of pretty that could easily get lost in a crowd. The kind of pretty anyone on the street could have, with obvious imperfections on the skin, the way the hair grew, slightly asymmetrical eyes, that sort of thing.
In short, Mask was nobody to write home about, but also not ugly in any way, shape or form.
That same unremarkable style was also found in the way she was dressed. The first body, probably her original one considering that it seemed to be the leader of the little group, was dressed in a simple shirt, clean and with some print on front that could be found in any of the shop around town, a pair of jeans that looked to be actual jeans, well worn and a little damaged here and there, and sneakers.
The other two of her bodies followed the example, although with slightly different kinds of clothing. It made it even stranger to look at her, considering that she looked to be three identical sisters just walking around, but there was that strangeness to her gait that made it immediately obvious to me that she was one person with many bodies.
I wasn’t sure how it was so obvious to me, it wasn’t something I had noticed in myself, especially considering that the rest of Us all looked different, but it just stood out to me personally.
Mask was obviously eyeing my Queen’s Guard and the four Sentinels Jenna had standing at parade rest nearby. It was hard to identify her gaze, but I was almost certain there wasn’t any fear or disgust in it, just open curiosity. Quite different to how most people looked at things, then again, she too was a Hive-Mind, even if a different one.
Of course we were still sitting at the bar, just watching her enter. One of Mask’s bodies walked over to the Queen’s Guard, striking up a conversation, while another started to make her way through the brothel. Her ‘main’ body, as I mentally labelled it, moved closer to us, sitting down on the barstool next to me.
“Hello Myriad,” she said in that same voice I heard earlier, a friendly, but slightly distant smile on her lips. “I must admit, you are not what I expected from a Hive-Mind. Those are your drones, yes?”
I nodded, giving her a smile in turn, “Welcome. Yes, they are, my Queen’s Guard. Outside of Snuffles and the Reaver Squad, and of course the Najav, they are probably the strongest of Us. Might I ask how you refer to your bodies? I learned quite early that it’s a rather important thing for Hive-Minds like us.”
“I just call them bodies. They are all me, and I can control them like I can my own body. From what I understand, at least from what Royos told me after I asked him on the way here, it is similar to what you went through before becoming a Hive-Mind. I’m not sure what that means, exactly, he didn’t want to tell me the details, but he mentioned that that would be the best way to explain it to you.”
“I see,” I said with a nod, guessing that I had at least some idea of what it was like for her, “Before I became the whole, before the formation of the chorus, I had to split my attention to control all my drones manually. It was quite mentally exhausting, considering that we are slightly over seven hundred at the moment. If you work like that all the time, I’d imagine that once you get more bodies it might be a bit taxing.”
“That was a worry. But I got some software for it, helping me organise it all. My own upgrade isn’t quite done yet either, but it won’t shift as much as it did for you,” she smiled, then looked at the rest, giving them all a nod, “I am Mask. At least, that is the name that I’ve been given for now. My real name is Magdalene Layra, I’ve only been a Samurai for a little over a day now. I assume you are Legion and Bloodhound?”
“I think I will. My bodies can move around without issue, at least once the upgrade is done. It should be, by that point. Might be worth looking into.”
I nodded at that, then waved over to the bartender for another drink. The discussion with Magdalene had me nervous and anxious about it all, and I could feel myself become restless.
“How exactly does your Hive work?” Magdalene’s question surprised me for a moment, and I gave her a smile.
It was very obvious she was trying to distract me, and I let her. For quite some time we discussed the differences in our respective approach to Hive-Minds, exchanging notes and experiences, and discussed how it impacted our personal lives.
She was quite interested to hear about the simulation, even if I didn’t go into that much detail, and how it helped Chloe and Jenna understand me. From her expression I was almost certain she’d want to try that out herself some time, which I wasn’t against. Maybe it would help with her ability to help my mental state.
Eventually however she interrupted our discussion and switched the topic.
“For the moment I think I’m done talking to Galia. From our talks I believe I have a good basic idea of how she feels about things, even if we haven’t discussed anything in detail yet. That will take time and I’ll probably need some assistance getting here somewhere else before I tackle the issue. Again, the best place would be somewhere she isn’t familiar with, to give her some breathing room to relax. It would allow me to take the time I need to begin properly going over things with her. While her home might be a place for her to stay, it also runs the risk of dredging up bad memories,” she explained, looking thoughtful.
“She can stay at my place for the time being. It’s roomy, outside of town, well protected and cared for, and it would allow her some relaxation. We’re currently living in Jenna’s Corvette, or at least that was the plan, so my house is empty at the moment,” Chloe chimed in.
I gave her a grateful nod, it did make sense and it would be good for Galia, at least I hoped.
“Very well. I might have a body remain there with her then, keep her company and make sure she doesn’t suffer any mental breaks. Thank you, Miss Vayne.”
“Please, call me Chloe.”
After a little more discussion we decided that Magdalene would accompany Galia to the house in our private shuttle. While I wanted to help more personally, she was right that seeing me might bring up bad memories or some kind of reaction, which really wouldn’t be helpful.
We said our goodbyes to Magdalene who led Galia through a back exit to the shuttle. Now left alone once more I sighed, rubbing my face. Today was a lot different than what I expected, but I was glad that I checked in with the Rose Carpet.
“What to do next?” I asked, more to myself.
“We could take the rest of the day off? It’s late already, so maybe relaxing for the evening would be nice?” Jenna offered with a smile.
“Yeah. Tomorrow I’d like to check in with the lure fiasco, see if we can’t find anything. I have to admit I’m worried about that.” Chloe looked thoughtful.
“Before we head out I think I’ll hand out some things for the Joytoys,” I muttered, “If only because I feel like I’m not doing enough. And I know, things take time, but after visiting here...” I trailed off, not really sure how to put my thoughts into words.
Today has been a bit of a roller coaster. I didn’t regret coming here, but I had to admit to myself that it was playing hell with my state of mind. There were too many issues I felt like I had to fix right now, even though I knew that wasn’t possible. Once Castas and Tina finally arrived and took things in hand I would have to be patient.
Chloe reached over, putting an arm around my shoulder. It did wonders to make me feel better and I leaned into her, just enjoying her presence.
“You could get some basic supplies to help out for relatively cheap,” Kaysa chimed in, appearing from wherever she had wandered off to earlier. “It would help with some of the more intense cases of drug usage. You could also buy some items to help with contraception without too much cost.”
“Do it then... Victor can see to the distribution. And after that I think it would be best if we left. While I’m glad that I took the time to come here, I don’t think it’s good for me right now. Too many things that trouble me.”
“Yes, that would be a good idea.”
As Kaysa had said, the supplies weren’t that expensive. After all my spending I was left with a bit under two thousand points, if I took into account the points I had set aside for Magdalene, which was a lot less than I really wanted, but I didn’t regret the points I spent today.
We left the giant box with a few of the Joytoys that Victor had put in charge for the moment, then said our goodbyes and left. The trip itself was quiet, not helped by the rather uncomfortable shuttle we took, but in a way that helped. It forced me to think about other things. Once we arrived back at the Corvette and got out I felt a bit lost.
This was the first time in a long time that I didn’t know what to do with myself. We still had two days before the Hive expedition and I had no clue what I should do tomorrow. I kept the day free for any eventuality. Considering that there would be some people wrangling going on, with the relocation of all the folk still in the megashelter. Cheryl had sent us a message informing us about that, sometime during the day. She’d be there, with a contingent of army personnel, but even that didn’t help the lingering feeling of foreboding that I felt.
I just hoped that things would go smoothly.
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