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My eyes fluttered open as I felt something wet being pressed against my chin. Atop my chest sat a multi-colored cat of orange, black, and white kept nudging her nose against me and I pushed her off, not that it deterred the feline as she purred at successfully waking me up and I groaned after checking my phone to see the time was six-thirty. Once I woke up it was always impossible to go back to sleep so I just tossed off the blanket and was glad to have my pajamas to shield me from the cool morning air. A 'meow' came from the large cat, who kept rubbing against my arm, I knew what she wanted but she could darn well wait for me to brush my teeth first and she followed me to the bathroom.
I took my phone as well, sending a text out on the group chat to see if anybody else could be up at the hour. I'd have an hour and a half until I needed to leave for college.
My morning routine started with me taking my toothbrush and a heavily compressed tube out from a drawer. I tried squeezing closest to the opening but nothing came out. Someone had used the last of it last night and of course, was too lazy to throw it away. Then again I do much the same often. So there I went to the master bedroom and carefully opened the creaking door. I found the tube there far more bulging with toothpaste-like always, only my parents use this unlike the one shared by four. So it obviously lasted far longer. Since I was here I decided to just use the sink and try and be quiet about it. The bathroom was connected off in a different room and the light was still on so I figured why not? Except for the mewing cat who, like all cats, thought she held priority around here.
That done I eyed myself in the mirror for a time. Noting once more how my black hair was really starting to curl in that natural way that made it impossible to keep straight. I found it annoying but not as the bumps on my skin, my sister had recommended me some cleaner and moisturizer which mostly worked. Except for those few dots near my tempt. A trivial problem to be sure, all I had to do was let my hair hang but then that would mean keeping my curly hair.
"...Welp that's modern problems for you."
I made to return my brush to its rightful place when a rustling on my parent's bed showed that someone had woken up.
"Hey mommy." I sighed, probably would've been best to return to the other sink.
"What time is it?" She asked lazily, rubbing her eyes like they would get rid of the tired state everyone woke up in.
"Like six-thirty, Autumn woke me up, she wants food." It had been occurring all week, one time. Just one time, she woke me and I decided to get out of bed to feed her, and now she wouldn't stop doing it.
"That was cats for you though." I thought while yawning. "I'm going to the store cause toothpaste is out." I added.
"We need more than toothpaste."
"Yeah, I'll look at the pantry and fridge before leave today, make a list and all that... I'm gonna go feed autumn now." She nodded and I felt envy at my mother's ability to just fall back asleep.
Autumn kept rubbing her ears against my leg until I started moving she ran down the stairs and then back up once she realized I wasn't going down just yet. Needed to put away my toothbrush after all, only then did she race down to the food bowl and start matching away when I poured a scoop from the bag. I sat next to her, petting her head and listening to her purr when my phone vibrated.
A text with the name of one of my friends JJ.
The hell are you doing up this early?
I smirked before texting back.
I could ask you much the same, cat woke me up you?
Just woke up early, your cat woke you up?
Yep, she won't stop it now that she realized it works.
You should have gotten a dog man. They don't act so demanding like that
"Eh, maybe they don't but I didn't have much choice when it came to getting a cat or dog."
I did go on long walks often so that would be pretty cool to have a dog, could have fit right into my routine but we ended up not getting one. Just cat because it was free.
Playing Balloons TD 6 you should join coop
"Well, I supposed it's still a while before I need to leave." I thought as college was not far from here and I had a parking pass so no need to haul it there. One of the benefits of being near one in a suburban area.
Be on in a sec
Autumn continued to purr and I picked up her water bowl to fill. Although I should have turned on a light or two because what I thought was an empty bowl turns out to have a little bit at the bottom left and I spilled it when hefting it up so fast. I groaned a the annoying addition to my task and fill it carefully in the kitchen sink while grabbing some napkins to wipe the spill. I sighed throughout the whole process, the regular routine had been shaken up just because my cat was a bit impatient. Something I am basically encouraging here just because my cat was hungry and I was already up... It wasn't as bad or complicated as I was thinking it to be, six-thirty was early but not too bad. Honestly, this whole situation was just rather annoying. It wouldn't affect school or work in any meaningful way.
"Little dilemmas like this seemed dumb, how many times when I was a kid that complained over petty things? Once I've moved outta the house things are going to get complicated."
A thing to consider after college, when I really needed to move out of the house. My simplistic lifestyle now was going to change but that was, thankfully, still some time from now. I have a decent plan on what I'm gonna do from then on, so there was nothing really to worry about for now-
My eyes flew open to mostly darkness, my naked skin felt cool and a bit slimy. I was hanging with my head angled up and I gagged at the throbbing item crammed down my throat. I panicked for a moment before remembering where I was and what this was. The light coming in from the lower opening of the pod did little to help my adjusting eyes but I didn't really need to see just yet. My feet planted through the dark green fluid and onto the hardened floor, far warmer than the moist air around me. Standing straight meant I was no longer being held up by the tubs.
It gripped the feeding one and tried slowly pulling it out, assisted by the item in doing so. I gagged once more before it was loose enough to slide right out with a cough. My throat was sore from having the large thing down my esophagus for so long. Speaking of which I expanded my mind and confirmed with the Cruiser that we had indeed made it to the planetary system and ordered it to make for the best looking on here the three other vessels following suit.
That done I announced my presence to the Hybrid and it was like I was Justine Beber walking on stage or something. Back when he was still very relevant that is. Cause everyone immediately got giddily at the prospect of me being back and Norma especially felt like she was bolting one here. I felt around a noticed how all of my sergeants were still where I left them as well as the Termagants I had with them. Although I could feel the hunger within them and realize that without food and my serious standing order in place they likely would have starved to death. So I had them run off for the Bioship-based gruel. The latest additions to my brood were done... and had been packed into the pods. Hormagants, Termagants, spore mines, and some winged Gaunts I found and had produced had all been stored meaning I now had a few hundred new minds I easily wrapped my own around. There were so many that it was going to be a while before I could get a reasonable headcount of my forces. Apparently, the Cruiser took me making more troops to heart and kept on pumping them out.
There were some sergeant-based Termagants outnumbered by the standard ones. Once that template was made the ship just made as many as the Hormagaunt sergeants. I now had an army of disposable meat shields for my tougher ground troops even if it meant said ground troops now had a serious number disparity between them. I mentally checked the spawning pool and found it was still making a new batch of winged Gaunts so I told the ship to make them then stop. I didn't want to overdo it just yet, still didn't know what we were up against.
The fluid had slid right off me as it had with the Tyranid and only seemed to leave a thin sheen of moisture. I had no way of getting it off unless a shower was hidden somewhere or I wanted to dig into our water supply. That ladder option was most certainly off the table. So I was just going to have to live with this grease on me until we got to the planet and found a safe lake or something to wash all this off. The rest of my clothing was kept dry and on the back of a Hormagaunt, another was that positive thing. Dawning it on as I felt Norma and a few other Hybrids coming towards me. I sat upon the gaunt and waited for the flesh door to retract and a dozen of the ladder generations of Hybrids came in.
"Great Carrier!" Norma spread her arms into the air as if here to gig me but remained rooted to her spot as the other Hybrids came around me and fawned over me. As always it was creepy as they simultaneously looked at me like Jesus and baby Yoda. It was kind of like how cats typically get treated, they wander off and do there own thing and everyone always goes nuts when they're located again.
"Except in this analogy, I'm also the owner."
My polite smile came back and I shook their hands and patted a few heads to hopefully satisfy them. It only seems to encourage their attempts so I had to just my telepathic control to get them to back off. "Norma, how is everyone else doing right now?"
Her more genuine smile was well, pretty, and I would have found her quite attractive had the slightly enlarged head and discoloration not been around. She nodded graciously and her hands came down in front of her along with a respectful incline of her head.
"We have patiently waited as long as was needed for your meditations to be done." Not a gestured her hand and I noticed a bunch of cans. Not empty ones either spilled food from when the dark green fluid knocked everything over. It took me a moment to realize what it was all doing there. Just how long I was in that pod gave me great pause. I hoped it was just a few weeks or a couple of days over a month and not any time longer than that. There were dozens of cans but almost a hundred Hybrids to perhaps it wasn't that long? Or they didn't start doing this until recently, either way, if traveling on a Bioship is going to take a serious amount of time I might have been more inclined to take my chances in Aurelia...
"We have commuted here many times to basked in your work, Great Carrier."
"Okay," My smile became a bit straight at how weird it was that everyone watched me sleep and wasted food placing it near me. I needed to figure out a way to get them to stop doing stuff like this in the future. "I have awakened because..."
"Have we arrived in the system?" I didn't actually check that with the Cruiser. So I had to pause for a moment to briefly confirm with it that yes we were in the system and it was already gunning it towards the greenest planet.
"We have arrived and are heading towards the planet I've chosen. Soon we shall have a home." Hopefully, that is. As I still didn't know what we were dealing with there and I had no way of telling until we got there.
My hesitation in replying didn't stop the giddy look of surprise and wonder from Norma. She was feeling too gracious about finding a home for the brood and getting the chance to spread the way of the lords above and all that.
"We shall be there soon enough, but I shall have a landing party search the area before any of us land." Even then I was going to have the whole region thoroughly checked and cleared before Norma and the others made landfall. The last thing I wanted was for some carnivorous plant or something to grab someone because I wasn't careful enough.
"Speaking of which does is this Cruiser even able to make drop pods...?"
The planet had to be a Death World or hopefully just Orks, I connected to the Bioship once it got close and it told me it was an extremely green and blue world. Loads of vegetation contrasted by the dust bowl we passed on the way to it. The Bioship was able to send me images like that Genestealer I met at the lumber mill. It had fairly a massive supercontinent from what I was getting and unless the ship was blowing smoke. This place would be a jewel of lush plant life and water, a thriving ecosystem that wiped out an entire colonization effort. So there was no doubt in my mind that this planet was inherently dangerous in some way.
I wanted to land troops there and get a general sense of the land before I was going to try parking the ship there. Key world was as something occurred to me. While all my ships might be able to grow and extend a long tube to digest biomass as needed there was no way to get back on them. Tyranids didn't pull their troops off the planet but had them all digested when it was time to leave. So I asked the question of whether or not I could just land there and the answer was no. I mean I could make it but from what I was getting at from the Bioship getting back out of the atmosphere would be an impossibility.
So while I had the proper drop pods being made the only way I personally could get down there to check the place was by having myself launched out. Travel through the atmosphere like a meteorite and slam onto the planet's surface at extreme speeds. I could send a Vanguard with the Tyranid Warrior and plenty of sergeants. However, I had the feeling I was going to need to go down personally just to make certain the surrounding area was suitable for human life.
Yet I didn't like the part where I couldn't get back onto the ship in a pinch. Whatever long tentacle the Cruiser was going to use led to a stomach so doubtful I could use that...
"Maybe have it develop a sack onto the side of it I could get into for it to retract the tentacle?" I thought, but did it have enough control over its body to do something like that? "Tubes for the pods make sense but this feels like stretching it..."
If I was going down there I was gonna need to commit to the action personally and go with my whole brood. This would be true for any planet in this system so what the heck.
My eyes opened and I turned to see Shem. It seemed like he, as well as everyone else, had the time to come up here. The room was now crowded with Hybrids eager to hear what my plan was. So I took a deep breath and spoke.
"I shall be going down to the surface alone. To see if this world is suitable for our brood. Check for hostilities and deal with them." There was a strong mix of emotions from all around. Norma was eager to follow but remained as silent as she could, my word was law to her. Shem was much the same but lacked the enthusiasm for finding a place to call home. Absalom was the only one who voiced his reservations about this.
"Michael are you certain going alone is the best choice? Surely Shem should go to keep you safe on this task?"
"I won't be fully alone Absalom, I'll have a force of our protectors to keep me company and clear out any dangers I find." They couldn't come, too many dangers and it would be easy for my brood to just focus on me. This ship will descend and begin the process of setting up a place to consume biomass.
"I shall be fine, just remain here and relax, ration the food. I will take what I need for a month or so." They get the easy job and that's okay, I am their shepherd now.
Norma moved forwards and I remained still as her arms brought me into a tight hug. I felt it coming so it didn't surprise me. Soon enough Shem and as many other Hybrids that could wrap their arms around or lay a hand on me surrounded my body. I felt the genuine warmth and care, it was... nice... Even if it was all from the brainwashing.
Having the Cruiser make a pod that had a harder and thicker skin with more 'cushions' on the inside was easy. Then came the moment to psyche me into getting into the darn thing. I had already fired off my Tyranid warrior, all twenty Centaurs, a hundred each of Termagants and Hormagaunt with their sergeants. With the Gargoyles and spore mines coming in a second wave later.
The ones launched before faded out of my mind some time ago. So there was a range to figure out once I was down there.
Those pods had a high success rate... At least I was assuming they did, the Tyranids would want to get as many of their trooper to the surface alive. Even if this wasn't suitable for human use, I could think of worse ways to go than splattering against the crust of a planet. I wanted to get down there like how I wanted that hibernation pod idea to work. I would have to test it myself and that was that. So I boarded the thing and as it sealed up tried to settle into the darkness. Soon enough some extremely viscous fluid, more so than what was contained in the pods. It filled in a manner of seconds and my shoulders and head were the only things sticking out in a fairly sizable pocket of air.
"Alright, I'm ready as can be... Launch me!"
So it didn't, not that I could feel the pod being let free but the moment we left the ship the fluid around me seemed to harden. Not into a solid but more like jello of sorts with me being the fruit suspended within it. The only theory to it was that change from 'standard' gravity from the Bioship to the pulling atmosphere of the planet changed the consistency. I tried to keep my breathing level as I was well aware of how much speed this must be picking up. The gelatinous mass even shifted slightly towards the back as I tried to relax my body. I didn't know how far I had gone or when I'd hit just that the air here was getting gradually hotter to where perspiration was beginning to form.
"Whatever this gel is it makes a good insulator. It's not even-"
My thoughts were broken as the drop pod impacted against something or more accurately I had arrived. The gel had separated and buried me but a second later the rear opening practically erupted open. Cracks had even formed to let out some of it and I sputtered and gasped some of the stuff out of my mouth. Wiping my face clear I shielded my still adjusting eyes while getting out of the pod.
I breathed air, fresh and non-recycled air from the clear biosphere of this world. My eyes were finally able to see the full swarm of the 'nids forming an in-depth circle around me, while the Tyranid Warrior hovered over my body, waiting for orders. The trees and other vegetation had been pumbled to the ground by the first wave even a tree it two had been tobbled over. All but my reinforced drop pod looked like a ripe fruit someone threw to the floor but we had no casualties. A testament to the careful design of these things and likely eons to perfect the design.
I scanned the area and signed grateful there was no battle going on just yet.
"Okay, time to get started..."
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