New World, New Overmind

by Abyssal Angel

Inspired by East Bridge's 'The Zerg Swarm'. Here is the 1st-5th attempt at writing this story before finally getting to the 6th, Legacy of the Overmind. I suppose you can consider this deleted scenes or something. DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it! I only own myself. I'd like to keep it that way, thanks.

30. For The Swarm Ch 1

Let me just start off this story by introducing myself. My name is Matthew Parasini. I'm 24 years old, male, 6'6", approximately 220 pounds, have a bit of a gut, I wear glasses, and I have big feet. I like to pretend that my gut is from my singing all my life, but in truth it's leftover from when I was a little shrimp of a kid and fairly overweight. I wouldn't say I'm all that handsome of a person, but I do have a bit of a rugged look going with my new beard. I'm also former military, honorable medical discharge. I'm not missing a limb or anything. I just have a lot of little problems that kinda stack up to one big problem, but I won't go there since it's not really important to the story. I used to live in Florida, United States, Earth. That's not really the case anymore, but I won't get ahead of myself. This story starts in a cave.

There's rock underneath my back. There's light streaming in my face and stinging my eyes. I think I can safely say I'm not in my apartment anymore. How did I get here though? Was I kidnapped?

Carefully, I listen to my surroundings. I don't hear anything other than the wind blowing into the cave and the rustling of leaves. No shadows from movement are passing over my eyes either. Cracking my eyes open a little, I glance around, ready to shut them and feign sleep in case my captor is nearby. No one is around.

Fully opening my eyes I glance around, taking in my surroundings. I'm in a small cave, and to my right is the opening and beyond that are lots and lots of trees. The rock underneath me is a bit chilly, and I shiver a little.

Quickly I take stock of myself. I don't feel any injuries and everything is in working order. I'm a little hungry, but I'm not even sore or anything. All I'm wearing is a pair of blue jeans, a green shirt, and my military boots. Nothing in my pockets unfortunately.

Standing up, I step out of the cave. As soon as the light of the sun hits me, a shiver runs up my spine and causes me to jolt a little bit as warmth floods me. Along with that warmth, knowledge floods my mind that can be summed up to these words.

OVERMIND

Health-50/50

Psi-energy-100/100

Psi-Replenish-10pc(per cycle)

Control-10ucp(Units of Control Provided)

Abilities

Spawn Hatchery-100psi- 0:2:0 (Days:Hours:Minutes)-1ucp

ZERG SWARM Lvl 0

Bio-energy-0

Bio-replenish-0pc

Control used/provided-0/10uc

Strains Available

None

SWARM COMPOSITION

Sentients-1

Overmind

Underlings-0

Vassals-0

Allies-0

REQUIREMENTS TO EVOLVE

Hatchery

I grasped my head and winced, trying not to scream as my brain pounded within my skull. Then suddenly, the pain disappeared, but the knowledge hadn't. I goggled at the ever present information available at the back of my mind, and I had to wonder if I'd gone insane or something. I mean, how can I be the Overmind of the Zerg Swarm? But I could sooner deny that I have two arms and legs. Whatever this information is, it's there, and it's there to stay.

Shaking my head, and hoping to preserve my sanity, I focus on my surroundings rather than the impossibility hanging in the back of my mind. It turns out focusing on my surroundings didn't help though. Belatedly I realized that I'm not wearing my glasses, but that hardly matters anymore. I can see so clearly that I can actually count the individual leaves, heck, I can count the individual VEINS on the leaves of the trees in front of me!

My hearing has also sharpened a lot as well. I can hear the babbling of water in a river over to the right that I hadn't heard while in the cave, and I can even tell that it's at least a ten minute walk away. I can also hear the snuffling of pigs here and there and the barking of wolves even further out. Oddly, I can here nothing else. No birds, no bugs, not that I'll complain about that last mind you. No other animals at all. How strange.

Thankfully my sense of smell, touch, and taste doesn't seem to have changed, though that last I can't really tell until I eat something I guess. Speaking of eating, my hunger seems to have dulled considerably. I'm not sure what to make of that, but I am still hungry at least.

Following my ears, I made my way towards the river for a drink. Pushing past the trees, I finally broke out into a rather large clearing. Now that I'm in a clearing, I can finally see the position of the sun, which tells me that it's either early morning or late evening. Considering the chill in the air, I'm going to go for morning.

On the other side of the clearing is the river. It's not as big as I'd expected, more of a stream really. It's about two meters wide and a meter deep at most in places, and winds off into the trees. The water is startlingly clear. I can see all the way to the bottom. Scooping out a handful I carefully inspect it for floaters. Satisfied, I drink it down. It tastes like purified water. I'd prefer to boil it to be sure it's pure, but I don't have much choice at the moment.

Having drunk my fill, I sit back and sweep my gaze around the clearing. Still no noise from anything except from pigs and wolves that are really far off. It's getting a little creepy actually. That part of me that is the Overmind automatically judges the clearing big enough for a Hatchery and then some.

Shrugging, I make my way to the center of the clearing and place my hands on the ground. Before I can start to question my sanity, I speak aloud in my mind, 'Spawn Hatchery.' As soon as I'd finished thinking the words, a rush of energy shot out of my body through my hands, leaving me feeling fatigued, but not tired. More of a mental weariness.

Something pushes up against my hands. Pulling them away, a small pulsing sac of fluid meets my gaze. I look at it, astonished. While part of me may have been expecting it, the skeptic in me can hardly believe my eyes. I can visibly see it getting bigger too.

Carefully, I gently brush my finger against the membrane of the Zerg Cocoon. To my surprise, the little thing actually leans into the touch, and I can hear a crooning noise in the back of my mind from the little thing. Along with the sound comes more instinctual information, mainly a countdown till completion, and the option to cancel its creation.

All that pales to the raw feelings I'm getting from my new little hatchery though. The closest thing I can liken it to is the feeling you get when a cat purrs when you pet it. It's broadcasting warmth and contentment at me, and I can't help but soak it up like a sponge.

The next two hours pass by in a blur as I set cross legged next to my Hatchery and pet it, soaking up the approval and contentment the action is causing that it's broadcasting back to me. I could literally do this all day, but I keep having to stop and back up since it's still getting bigger and bigger. It doesn't take long at all before the egg is towering over me.

Finally, the skin of the egg splits open from the Hatchery pushing out. The egg seems to dissolve before my eyes as the Hatchery absorbs it into itself. Stepping back, I admire the Hatchery, glad that it looks more like the its counterpart from Starcraft Broodwar rather than Starcraft II. I'm not too fond of the looks of the Zerg buildings in Starcraft II. The entire building is pulsating like a giant breathing lung, and it's roughly four stories tall. The tusks set into the corners of the building tower a full story above the Hatchery, lending it an air of danger to the entire thing. As for the color, I'm pleasantly surprised. Rather than purple or pink, the entire thing is in shades of black with red highlights, making the building much cooler looking than usual.

Looking down, I watch the creep as it spreads out over the ground like water in slow motion. As it reaches my feet, I hold still, curious to see if it'll flow around my feet. Instead it grows under, lifting me up a few inches off the ground. While the Creep finishes growing, the information on the Swarm automatically updates itself.

ZERG SWARM Lvl 1

Bio-energy-100

Bio-replenish-100pc

Control used/provided-0/11

Strains Available

Larvae-0be(bio-energy)-0:0:1-3 Per Hatchery-25hp-10armor

Drone-50be-0:20:0-1ucr(Units of Control Required)-40hp-5ga(ground attack)

Overlord-100be-0:40:0-8ucp

Buildings Available

Hatchery-300be-2:0:0-1ucp-1250hp-800 m creep gen

Extractor-50be-0:40:0-750hp

Creep Colony-75be-0:20:0-500hp-500 m creep gen

Evolution Chamber-75be-0:40:0-750hp

Spawning Pool-200be-1:20:0-750hp

SWARM COMPOSITION

Sentients-1

Overmind

Underlings-1

Hatchery

Vassals-0

Allies-0

REQUIREMENTS TO EVOLVE

Spawning Pool

Well that's just great I guess. Seems I really am the Overmind. I think I'm finally starting to accept that. Kinda hard not to, what with having a huge freaking Zerg Hatchery sitting in front of me. This is way too crazy.

Curious, I wander into the closest entrance to the Hatchery. The smell is a little weird, kind of a cross between gum and water. It's not a bad smell, but not a great one either. Just something to get used to I guess. Walking further in, I wind up in a central chamber. It's kind of domed with ridges on the walls. There's a pit filled with glowing whitish green goo in the center. Thankfully it has a lip so the chances of falling in while I'm asleep are low. Something tells me I should avoid touching it. There's an opening on the top of the chamber as well.

Wandering back outside, I notice to my alarm, that the trees touched by the creep are visibly wilting. I'd been worried that might be the case, since the Starcraft manual did say Creep is harmful to the environment. Well, as Overmind, that'll be one of the first things to change. Symbiotic relationships always work better in the long run than parasitic ones. The only problem I have to figure out is how to change that. I've a feeling the Evolution Chamber will help me out with that. I'm starting to think these feelings I'm getting are from the part of me that's the Overmind.

Well, gotta start somewhere I guess. Now where are those larva? Oh there they are. I can feel them within the walls of the Hatchery. I think they'll only pop out once I'm ready to morph them into something. That's convenient. I order two of the larva to morph into Drones. Just like that, two larva pop out of the Hatchery closest to me. I watch, fascinated, as they curl up into a donut shape, then their outer skin balloons into a Zerg Egg.

Just like with the Hatchery, I spend the twenty minutes until they hatch petting the membrane of the eggs. The fledging drones within seem to enjoy this immensely, and I can't help but smile at the feelings they're projecting at me. I'm really starting to love being the Overmind if this is the kind of feelings that I can expect to get from the whole of the Swarm. I've never felt such a sense of belonging before. I could seriously get used to this.

Finally, the eggs split open as the Drones push out of them, shattering the eggs until the Drones just absorb the membrane and liquid into themselves. As expected, the Drones look like a cross between a dragon and a scorpion, with a lizard tail, scorpion graspers, and dragon like wings. Finally I can satisfy my curiosity and drop down to the ground to peer underneath the drones.

I'd been expecting to see hundreds of little legs to give the appearance of gliding over the ground, but to my surprise, they really do glide over the ground like a snake with their bellies on the ground. No wonder their tails waggle back and forth when they move! I would've been less surprised if they hovered a few inches above the ground like some people had theorized.

With no more bio-energy left to create anything else, I order the drones to gather up the wilted trees to create space for more buildings. I'm going to need to create an Evolution Chamber first so no more trees are destroyed. Most life needs oxygen to live after all, and I'd rather be known as a benevolent Overmind rather than a plague on the Universe. I have my own moral standards to uphold after all and those do not include slowly wiping out species through a lowered T-Score.

With nothing left to do, I idly watch as the Drones pull the withered trees up out of the ground for the creep to grow over the uncovered spots. I followed them back into the Hatchery and watch as they dropped the trees into the pool, where they dissolved into nothing as soon as they touched the liquid. I'm now doubly glad that I decided not to touch the stuff.

Interestingly, each withered tree they're dropping in is giving me 2-3be. I guess it depends on how withered they are. The more withered, the less bio-energy I get. Makes me wonder what a whole live tree would give me? For the sake of curiosity I ordered my two drones to travel past the creep to unearth one just to find out. It took both of them tugging and pulling to get the tree out, and they ended up leaving most of the roots behind. I resolved not to do that again. The live tree did give me 5 bio-energy though.

While my Drones continued to gather more of the withered up trees, I spent my time getting some more water, then climbed up to the top of the Hatchery to take a good look around. Trees as far as the eye can see. There are a few hills, and it looks like there might be some mountains in the far distance, but mostly all I can see are trees. I'm in the middle of a freaking huge forest. Great. I seriously need to get an Overlord so that I can have it scout around. Maybe that way, I'll be able to find out what kind of forest doesn't have bugs and birds, or any other animal besides pigs and wolves.

By midday, I'd created four more Drones to pull up more trees. At the rate they're going, it'll probably take them a full 24 hours nonstop working to clear the rest of the dying trees off of the creep. I watched idly as the Drones worked, and watched with interest as the Drones stopped for a moment and ripped up a piece of the creep to eat it. I'm starting to get hungry again since all I've had so far is water to drink. In equal parts hunger and curiosity, I climb down the Hatchery and pull up my own piece of Creep.

The creep feels a bit rubbery. Taking a sniff, it doesn't really smell like anything. Shrugging, I put the stuff to the test to see if it might be edible. Rubbing my lips against it, no burning or bad sensations. I already smelled it and it doesn't smell bad. I take a tentative lick. It tastes like sugar gum. Biting off a small piece, I chew it slowly. Still no burning or bad sensations. The taste hasn't changed. Nothing else to suggest it might be bad. Swallowing, I wait to see if my stomach rejects it or not. After a few minutes, I shrug and eat the rest. It only takes the small chunk I'd pulled up to make me feel full. The taste leaves much to be desired, but at least I won't be going hungry.

As the day goes by, I end up making up to eleven Drones. Unfortunately I can't make anymore. I was curious to see what would happen if I tried to make more anyway, but all attempts to coax the larva to build more did nothing. I might as well have been asking a puppy do rocket science for all the good it did me.

Still, it didn't take long before I had enough for an Overlord. Ordering up one of those, by the time it finished growing, I had enough for an evolution chamber as well, and just enough room for one too. I ordered a drone to morph into one, and then turned my attention to the Overlord. To my disappointment, the Overlord isn't sentient as I'd hoped it would be. It takes orders easily enough and can handle micromanaging the drones, but it acts more like a highly intelligent animal than anything else.

I pump out two more Overlords, and the Evolution Chamber has finished by the time the sun starts to set. The chill in the air is coming back, so I order an Overlord to float nearby and I grab onto one of its long tendrils and order it to drop me off on the ground. Technically it shouldn't be able to pick up and drop off units yet, but I'm also cheating since it's not actually storing me into itself, I'm just hanging off of it.

Making my way into the Hatchery and settling down against the wall inside, I watch as the light from outside wanes more and more. Finally, night falls, and with it, everything changes.

-Chapter End Review-

OVERMIND

Health-50/50

Psi-energy-0/100

Psi-Replenish-10pc

Control-10ucp

Abilities

Spawn Hatchery-100psi-2hours-1ucp

ZERG SWARM Lvl 1

Bio-energy-53

Bio-replenish-100pc

Control used/provided-10/35

Strains Available

Larvae-0be-0:0:1-3 Per Hatchery-25hp-10armor

Drone-50be-0:20:0-1ucr-40hp-5ga

Overlord-100be-0:40:0-8ucp

Buildings Available

Hatchery-300be-2:0:0-1ucp-1250hp-800 m creep gen

Extractor-50be-0:40:0-750hp

Creep Colony-75be-0:20:0-500hp-500 m creep gen

Spore Colony-50be-0:20:0-400hp-15aa-700mr

Evolution Chamber-75be-0:40:0-750hp

Spawning Pool-200be-1:20:0-750hp

SWARM COMPOSITION

Sentients-1

Overmind

Underlings-15

Hatchery

Evolution Chamber

3 Overlords

10 Drones

Vassals-0

Allies-0

REQUIREMENTS TO EVOLVE

Spawning Pool