“Try and keep up you old idiots,” Oak half shouted further up the hill, Arthur and Tom about fifty metres behind the two powered people. “We’ll be lost before sundown if you keep this up.”

The Biomancer continued at his current pace, weaving through the trees as he steadfastly ignored all the small aches that were building up from the speed. Tired legs were felt nearly all around and the young man wouldn’t make it back in full health at this rate. The Hivemind didn’t step in, however, just letting the four vessels play it out.

“He's been more of a jackass recently,” Arthur commented, hearing Tom fake gasp from the side. “What?”

“You swore! You said an actual fucking curse word,” Tom said, using some unusual language options. “Are you sick? Do you need a napkin? Are you a robot in disguise?”

“No?” Arthur said, half-confused. “And what’s with that language? Try to be more proper or you’ll lose the only shot at promotion you’ll ever have.”

“Oh, we both know that Kara isn’t going to be promoting me any time soon,” Tom assured the other vessel, the original minds not knowing the plans ahead. “Flushing away some of the current personnel is just an intimidation act. The only thing she’s going to be doing is rehiring those already fired and giving them a better deal. It’s all there is to it.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Arthur committed. “Olivia mentioned the others seeing rather distraught about it. If Kara was just going to rehire them, don’t you think she would have done the actual firing in a more… friendly way?”

“She’s a manager at a farm in the middle of nowhere, Arthur. If she had any heart in that body of hers, she would’ve shown it already,” Tom retorted with a grin. “I doubt she would even have that position of hers. Administration duties aren’t meant for people with empathy. They are meant for the more sociopathic variants of life. If we had any less of those around, we would have submitted to our AI overlords on pure instinct just to make sure we had somebody that could boss us around.”

Not seeming like there would be any useful conversation out between those two, the Hivemind moved its focus over to the other vessels that had been brought along for the journey. The Biomancer was still suffering the effects of a longer walk, the man’s knees having taken damage from the years of too much eating and too little walking. The newly created vessel, on the other hand, had no such issues. The Hivemind was decently sure it could have commanded the [Strength] vessel to get there in half the time. Not that it would, of course. The others needed to be led there as well and the Parasite had no desire to focus too hard on them while other vessels were still operating back on the farm. If any performance issues would be seen, trouble was soon to come along as well.

[Analyzation] was a boon to the total range of the Hivemind’s network. It was still only a few kilometres wide but the connection further out had been strengthened considerably. The number of connections in total might have helped as well, the signal getting reinforced by all the repetition, but it was overall an upgrade that left the Hivemind feeling more secure about spreading out its network. In due time, it might even put more vessels outside of the farm regularly. Even now, it had happened because of a high-priority task.

“Do you usually go on nature hikes like these?” Eric asked after a few more minutes, the [Strength] vessel seeming slightly bored by the mass of flowers growing ahead. While they were still on a well-travelled path, it was clear that they would have to go off-road soon. “You don't seem like the type with that hobby?”

“What do I seem like then?” the Biomancer questioned with an overly fake smile, the other vessel nearly taking a step back. The Hivemind noted the slight channelling of the power to make the ground uneven, Eric nearly tripping as he didn’t pay attention. Luckily, mere roots wouldn’t stop his stride, the vessel merely walking through it like they were grass.

“Somebody who likes to watch TV?” Eric suggested with innocence clear in his words. “Maybe one who gets drunk during the late mornings? You certainly seem to have some of it in that hip flask of yours.”

“There’s barely anything in it,” Oak said, taking a swig at the mention. The Hivemind noted the truth in those words. It had an awful smell to humans but it was near-entirely purified of anything that would stop the mind from processing at optimal levels. “Anything else you see in me?”

“Surprisingly defensive?” Eric suggested, getting a bit of dirt chucked his way as a response. “Hey! Isn’t it against the law to attack others with powers?”

“Attacking would mean I hurt you,” Oak answered with a nonchalant tone. “Did that small mudball hurt your feelings?”

“I mean… no?”

“Then shut up about it and keep walking.”

A few more minutes passed before the group had to take a left turn and directly into the trees. The Hivemind had already noted down the path that needed to be taken, the Main-Host having drawn out the path it had taken during all those months ago. Getting it had been incredibly hard to do, the normal human minds not remembering details too well. It was only through several expeditions into the forest that the Main-Host’s memory seemed to serve them well, those rainy days finally coming in once more.

The Hivemind was trying to find its origin point, the exact location where the egg it had hatched from had been at. It was incredibly hard to do and seemed impossible to do at first, the forest around the farm being extremely sizable. Even a team of hundreds could spend hours searching through it without ever finding anything. And at that point, the Hivemind didn’t know if there would ever be something to find.

Having made the current theory that the Hivemind had only been revealed due to the land shifting, the Parasite had decided to bring along the Biomancer under the pretence of showing the newest powered worker around. Coincidentally, Tom and Arthur had decided to finally take their nature hike that had been discussed for several weeks. And with all of them having the opportunity to get a day off, all tasks needed to be done already completed beforehand, they all went into the forest. It was a pure accident that they met, if anybody was to ask, yet the four went further and further into the forest together.

By the end, the trees obscured the sun and the forest was partly cloudy in darkness and slight mist. It made getting through quite hard. Pairing such a mix together with trees having fallen in the area recently, the Hivemind was troubled finding a clear way through. That is… until it was met with the mild frequency of something beneath the Main-Host. It wasn’t another vessel yet a stray thought continued to call for the Parasite.

The strange idea about digging downwards with bare hands was laughed off as the Biomancer was made to slowly pull the earth away with the help of nearby plants. Something about five metres below wasn’t allowed much movement, any pushes being met with unrelenting barriers. Since the vines that the Biomancer normally created could easily punch through steel, the Hivemind thought it might have found its calling.

Another thirty minutes passed by in relative peace, the other vessels standing by in silence. The vessels were always quick to excuse their own behaviour but the major acts from others around them were annoyingly not given the same treatment. And with the lack of questions needed about why the Biomancer was digging, the Hivemind saw it fit to assume direct control.

After a long time waiting around, the top of what seemed like a metallic roof was revealed; it was perfectly flat with no indents at all. Yet that hardly mattered. The moment that the Hivemind had the Main-Host stand on the top, a message came through from the [System].

VARIANT [1310-HM] DETECTED

EMERGENCY POWER ACTIVATED. ACCESS GRANTED

A hatch opened up, revealing a tight staircase. The vessels moved through it in perfect tandem, moving down as lights flickered with colouring. The Hivemind continued to be bombarded with warnings about the lack of power in the facility. Which it was.

Laboratory [4-2] Overview

Power

2/100

Power-Generation

0.00/day

Status

Critical

All further information was hidden. The Hivemind could detect more screens that were normally accessible but the [Critical Status] was messing up what the facility’s systems were able to handle. It was a sign of weakness but not one which could be fixed at the current moment.

Being met with a tight hallway, the vessels split up in search of information. Most doors weren’t able to be powered, and the Hivemind wasn’t sold on the idea of breaking anything yet. While it was decently sure the [Strength] vessel could do just that, it wasn’t sure if the security systems were online. It did not miss the fact that several parts of the floor were perfect conductors of electricity. Anybody unlucky enough to anger the internal systems would be quick to find themselves fried.

If not for the requirement of the Main-Host being there, the Hivemind would have already moved it away.

Finally finding something that could open itself, the Hivemind was met with a large assortment of dark screens. Only a few were turned on, showing off the vessels moving around the facility. Motion sensors were the likely cause.

Moving ahead once more, another room was found. The door was half-opened and looking slightly destroyed already. With the help of the [Strength] vessel, it was pushed further open just enough to let the Arthur vessel push itself through. The room itself was extremely wide yet only a single container was inside. It was a hexagonal dome filled with a blue liquid, a terminal of sorts connected to it with hundreds of tubes. Most went into the wall to another room that the Hivemind would have to locate later. For now, it made direct contact with the machine, touching the controls for the briefest of moments before the [System] decided to get involved again.

Transformer [4-2] Overview

Power

0/100

Status

Off

Possible Upgrades

Eyes of All/5000E

???/??E

Well… looking at the name itself, the Hivemind knew for sure it would return the moment that it was able to bring along enough power for the facility. Just like the [Power Upgrades] for the powered vessels, there was something for the Main-Host as well. It was quite a bit more expensive as well, increasing the Hivemind’s hopes of what was to come shortly.

How exactly it was going to power the generators, it had no clue about. Running an industrial power line through to the facility would be next to impossible. Checking through the possibilities using the Kara vessels, there wasn’t anything like it at the farm either. The Hivemind would have to hire an actual human contract company to create such a thing and it had no desire to expand to such levels quite yet. While it certainly wanted to power the generators to a level where they could generate the power for the facility indefinitely, such dreams would have to be saved for later.

Getting the Arthur vessel away from the [Transformer], the group of bodies moved down the hallways again. Even with the blaring red lights, it was easy to see what doors were moveable and what others weren’t. Looking through the rare piece of glass, a lot of the place had seen better days with several looking almost caved in. The Hivemind would need to see if it could access those areas from the outside, though that would likewise require that it set up a team to manually dig the facility free from its earthly constraints. Another long-term project but certainly one that it had an actual chance of achieving in the next couple of months.

Another room was found, this one being the largest yet. The red lights illuminated the inner circle, letting the group of vessels cast their eyes upon a weapon of massive destruction. Letting the Main-Host once more make contact, the system supplied the appropriate screen.

Railgun [4-2] Overview

Charge

0/50

Status

Off

Ammunition

2

As expected, it had no power to operate. Yet the fact that it existed at all showed great promise, the Hivemind happy for some clear offensive capabilities. Even with the low ammunition, it was sure there was some part of the facility that could generate more, though the actual materials would likely need to be bought by themselves. Looking upwards, the gun was clearly intended to stick out through a prepared hatch. It was another area that would have been freed from the dirt before it could be used, the Hivemind supposed. The gun itself had a clear control area close by, though most of the actual aiming seemed to be automated. It wondered how powerful it was at full charge.

The Hivemind spent the rest of the time trying to enter the rest of the facility. The lack of power made most of the doors inoperable, though, forcing it to make a planned return trip the moment it figured out the issues of the power source. For now, it would make sure that it could send a few over to manually dig out the area. The Biomancer couldn’t be messed with for too long and the [Strength] vessel had the same issue.

It expected the entire excavation to take three months at most. It was not sure yet. Everything depended on how many more vessels it could get access to. And with the energy bars remaining, there was plenty to take from.