Ch 4

The next day I woke up, the Hatchery doors were open and my mental map confirmed no enemies nearby. A new day has begun.

Zerg Mana – 1255

Wow. Having those drones and the overlord doing all that gathering really paid off. Getting up and stretching, I got a drink and ate some apples. I'm starting to get a little tired of apples, but I haven't really any idea what else to do. It's a little difficult to grow grain on the creep. The only reason the trees are thriving are because they were already there when the creep had grown, and once the trees were knocked down, leaving only the apple trees standing, the creep grew over where the trees had been, making it impossible to grow anymore.

I had to wonder if at this rate, if I covered the whole planet, if there wouldn't be enough trees to provide enough oxygen for the animals to grow? In that case, I probably should only knock down enough trees to give me the space to spawn more buildings, and thanks to yesterdays efforts, I have more than enough space, even with the apple trees still standing sparse here and there. That considered, I set the drones to only gathering apples and other loose fallen stuff for now. Maybe I'll figure out something to do with them later.

Ordering one of the drones to the side, I order it to mutate a spawning pool, then go for a swim in the river. Six hours later, and I have my spawning pool. It's not that disimilar from a public pool really. Just replace the water with some kind of greenish goop and make the walls of the pool and the walkway surrounding it Zerg Flesh. At this point, I'm bored as all hell. I think the drones are capable of learning since they're avoiding the Creepers on their own now. Either that or the Overlords are directing them to do so. Either way, I've just spent six hours waiting around for a building to spawn.

Thanks to my boredom, I did something that in hindsight was pretty foolish. I leapt into the Spawning pool. I got some of it in my mouth when I surfaced. The stuff is rather warm and goopy, and it makes interesting swirls when I put my finger in it. Swimming to the edge, I made the amusing discovery that even a Zerg spawning pool has a shallow and deep end, though I'm guessing the deep end is in the middle and the shallow end is on the sides. I'm glad I didn't bust my legs if I'd jumped in closer to the edge of the pool. Further in hindsight though, I realized what I'd just done could've had some bad consequences. For all I knew, this goop could've disolved me into my base components, turning me into primordial soup. For all I know, this IS the Zerg equivalent of Primordial soup. Despite this, it feels kind of fun to swim in. I can't help but wonder if this is signs of me becoming more Zerg like… or if I'm really just that bored.

With a thought, I brought up the larvae to spawn some zerglings, only to grind to a halt. Since I go through the hatchery to acess the larvae, I noticed a new command for the hatchery before I even reached the larvae. The Hatchery can spawn Queens now. The ground based ones from Starcraft 2. The ones that are pretty much Broodmothers, just not as advanced. Up to this point, everything had been following the Starcraft 1 tech tree, so to suddenly have something that is blatently from Starcraft 2 is a bit of a surprise.

According to the Hatchery, the Queen will take twenty minutes to spawn, and costs 200 mana. It also takes up 2 supply.

Zerg supply 15/20

Yeah that's right. Since I ordered that extra drone to create the spawning pool, I'm down to 15 drones again. The fact that it takes up two supply though… after creating fifteen drones the other day, from the feeling of having them all along with those Overlords, it felt like my mind was getting heavy. After creating the extra Overlord and drone, the presence became lighter, giving me the impression that Zerg supply is more specifically mental space. My mental space. The Overlords just give me more to work with I guess, since they're kind of like floating brains, even if most of their body is hollowed out space. Speaking of which, why didn't I just pack away the drones and myself into the Overlords last night? That probably would've been safer.

Back to my point though, if the Queens TAKE UP mental space, but don't GIVE any, then that probably means they'll be just as mindless as the rest of the Zerg. Of course, this is just a hypothesis, and a bad one at that, since the Overlords also give mental space, but are as much like animals as the rest of the Zerg Swarm so far. Only one way to find out I guess.

Commanding the hatchery to grow me a queen, I continue on to the larvae and have them pump out a half dozen Zerglings for me. That fills up the rest of my supply quota for the moment, so I'll spend the rest of my mana on pumping out Overlords. With each pair of Zerglings only costing 25 mana, being one point of supply for two of the little things, they're the size of large dogs, and the queen costing 200, that's 375 spent right there, bringing my total mana to 880. That's 8 Overlords and six more Zerglings.

Zerg Mana – 80

Zerg Supply – 23/60

Yup, that's it. No longer needing to do the math now, I sat back and swam lazily in the pool. I really don't get why I feel comfortable like this, but I'm just going with it. I discovered something seriously cool about the pool though. When I flipped over on my back to float, even if I didn't hold my breath I wouldn't sink. This made lying in the pool almost ridiculously comfortable. I wonder if this is what it's like to float out in space? Maybe some day I'll find out.

Feeling too comfortable to really be bored, I spent the rest of the day floating there. I commanded the one overlord to float above me for shade so I don't get sunburned, though after floating in the river for the first six hours of the day without so much as a tan, I'm starting to think that since sunburn is damage, and the Zerg regenerate, my new status as the Overmind, and therefore on some level part of the Zerg now, means that I regenerate any damage before it becomes a problem. Either way, I enjoyed the shade the Overlord provided, and spread the rest out to increase the size of my mental map. The drones listed about more than anything since apples only fall so fast, and it was just easier to stand under the tree and catch the ones that'd already fallen. My Zerglings served well as a quick reaction force, wiping out every spider, along with the zombies and skeletons hiding under the trees from the sun. Even the creepers fell prey to the Zergling speed, since one only had to dart close, and then leap away before it exploded to get rid of them. I noted with interest that so long as the Creeper exploded on the creep, the ground remained unaffected.

It wasn't long like this though before my new Queen came into the world. Unlike the rest of the Zerg, this one's birth caused me to jolt in surpise, causing me to go underneathe the goop in the spawning pool briefly, before breaking the surface sputtering. Why did I have this reaction?

'I live to serve Overmind.' The Queen mentally broadcast to me.

I stared wide eyed as it came over towards me. I'd say she's a bit bigger than an Overlord if you ignore the tentacles on it's arms. She kinda looks like a giant spider with the torso of a… well, the torso of an alien really. She almost looks Protoss in a way like that. Weird.

"You can talk?" I asked.

"I can." The queen answered.

"Oh. Well um… what's your name?" I asked.

"I don't have a name."

"Why not?"

The Queen looked perplexed at this and was silent for a moment before answering, "I know not, Overmind."

"Well, that isn't right. You talk and have intelligence. Anything sentient has to have a name."

The Queen nods to what I've said as if it were the most logical thing in the world. Since I'm the Overmind, and she's a Zerg Queen, and I can feel her unquestioning loyalty, devotion, and affection for me beneath her sentience, I could probably say the sky is green and she'd agree.

"What shall I be named Overmind?"

Huh. I guess it would be up to me to name her come to think of it. Don't the parents name their child? And I am her father so to speak.

"I'll name you… Asura."

"Thank you, Overmind." Said the newly dubbed Asura.

I grimaced a little and said, "Your welcome. Could you call me something other than Overmind though? I have a name too."

"What is your name, Overmind?"

A thought pops into my head that at this point I could make up a name and go by that from now on, but after a moment, I dismiss the thought.

"My name is Matthew."

"Matthew…" The queen seemed to be rolling the name out as if she were tasting it, examining the sound closely. It made me feel a little awkward, which is rather quite the accomplishment since I've been swimming, and I've been swimming in the nude nowadays. Animals seeing you naked never feel the same as another sentient being.

Now that my nudity is at the forefront of my thoughts, I blushed a little. Even if she is Zerg, Asura's form is still female, so I asked, "Could you go… over there and do… what can you do anyway?"

Asura responded, "I can attack land and air from a distance with my talons, I can spawn four larvae at a time, I can burrow, I can spawn creep tumors, and I can use the transfusion ability to heal anything biological."

I nodded and said, "In that case, I want you to go and plant creep tumors to spread the creep. Just make sure that they're spaced so that they won't get in the way of any future buildings."

The Queen answered, "Yes Matthew. Of course, that won't be a problem. Creep tumors are formed underground, so you can build on top of them if you wish."

I didn't know that. "Huh. Good to know." I don't remember if that's how it worked in game, but I doubt it. Regardless, if the creep tumors are underground, then logically it makes sense to be able to build on top of them.

Once Asura was far enough off, I zipped out of the Spawning Pool, part of my brain noting with interest that the goop slid off so that not a single drop would spill outside of the pool. The rest of my mind is more focused on getting into my clothes. How I wish I could form some biological armor or something. I'd never have to worry about getting caught naked again.

Now that I'm clothed, I naturally went and followed after Asura, her being the first social contact I've had in three days, not including the feelings I get from the rest of the Zerg which already ensure that I'll never feel lonely again.

Once I'd caught up to her though, I found myself stuck. What to even say? I ended up following her around the edge of the creep, as she spawned more and more creep tumors. The whole process looked a little gross, but with aversion therapy, seeing her do it repeatedly, took the edge off of it.

Sometimes I'd catch her looking back at me, curious, but whenever that happened, she'd turn back to whatever she was doing.

After what must've been half an hour, I finally asked, "So… you're sentient?" I feel stupid, asking the obvious, but anything to get some conversation rolling instead of having to deal with this awkward silence.

Asura turned back to me, and answered, "Yes, I am sentient, Matthew."

Well, that didn't help much. What to ask, what to ask… "What's it like to be Zerg?"

Asura gave me a funny look at that, and replied, "It feels much the same as I imagine it feels for you, Matthew. I feel the connection of all the Zerg through you, and it is a wonderful feeling. Then there is you. You are our Overmind. Our Father. Your presence is like a bright star, warm and fulfilling to us."

I blushed. The way she said that sounded so reverant… even intimate. I could already feel the way the Zerg felt about me but to be put in words like that really drove it home. I guess it was different before, feeling something, but not really being able to understand why they felt that way about me. With Asura's explanation, I can understand it a little better.

Falling silent again didn't feel as awkward this time. It felt more companionable. I wondered what it would be like to have someone in my life who made me feel like the way these Zerg feel about me. Maybe Heavenly Father will be like that once I'm back in his presence again? That would be wonderful. A random thought had me considering what it must feel like to be cut off from that presence. It must be awful. Maybe that's why baby's cry when they're born? We'd have to forget what it felt like under that presence, or else the absence of it would have us destroying ourselves to get back to it.

Starting to feel hungry, I look around for the closest apple tree, when out of the corner of my eye, I spot Asura lean down and pluck a piece of the creep from the ground and put it in her mouth. I turn to gape at her, a little stunned, before looking down at the creep. It's true that the creep nourishes the Zerg buildings, but could it nourish the rest of the Zerg as well?

Curious, I reached down and plucked up a piece as well. The rest of the creep grew back to fill in the hole so fast that if I'd blinked I wouldn't have known there was a missing patch at all, if not for the piece in my hand. It still looks sort of like dark purple gum to me. Before I lost my nerve, I stuck it in my mouth and chewed. It's kind of sweet, like taffy, only more filling. I swallowed it and just like that, I wasn't hungry anymore. It would've taken a half dozen apples to achieve that before. This makes me happier than anything, since now I can eat for pleasure rather than necessity, and I'd hate to grow to dislike apples.

Looking up, I notice Asura has stopped and is smiling at me. Confused, but also curious, I asked, "What?"

She simply responded, "You're happy."

Nonplussed, I asked, "What about it?"

"We're happy when you're happy."

Surprised, I asked, "Wait, you can sense when I'm happy? The whole SWARM can sense when I'm happy?"

Asura nodded, smiling. Huh. I guess that's one down side to being Zerg. Absolutely no privacy. I guess it doesn't matter much when you are, and can feel, that you are unconditionally accepted by an entire race no matter what you do. The thought gave me a sense of belonging that made me feel warm, like I'd been wrapped in a warm blanket.

Asura seemed to smile even wider and whispered reverently, "When you're happy, we're happy."

This brought a tear to my eye. No joke, not even trying to be sappy. My eyes are watering from this. Now I feel embarrassed though, but I don't want to lose that happy feeling either. Uncharacteristically, I asked for something I never thought I'd ever be able to ask, feeling emotionally raw like this.

"Hug me?"

In the next instant, I'd been lifted up from the ground by the much larger Queen, and Asura had me in her arms, cradling me against her body. I wrapped my arms around Asura and closed my eyes, basking in the warm feeling echoing from the rest of the Zerg. I could quite happily spend the rest of my life feeling like this. I really could. And somehow, I instinctively know, the feeling will only get better the larger and more advanced the Swarm becomes. Considering how amazing this feeling is right now, I can hardly imagine what it would feel like beyond this.

I'm not sure what happened after that. The next thing I know, Asura is laying down in the Hatchery, still holding me in her arms. She must have continued on with my directions even as she hugged me. I never thought I could get so lost in a feeling that I'd lose all track of my surroundings. That's never happened to me before.

Thankfully being Overmind has its perks. The Overlords were quite capable of relaying to me what all happened during the day after the fact. Evidently Asura carried on with her directions, quite capable of continuing to spawn Creep Tumors and carry me at the same time. The rest of the Zerg did the same following my last given orders. I'm surprised though. If they're capable of doing that when I was that out of it, then why would the Swarm fall into disarray if the Overmind died?

Unable to think of an answer, I asked Asura that very thing.

She answered, "It would be unthinkable to us if you died. Your presence assures us. It binds us together. To lose you would be to lose the connection we Zerg share. I might be able to bind together a few Zerg by myself without you, but it would be a pale shadow to what we experience now. Without you, most of the Zerg would be mindless beasts, and us few sentients would be like any other sentient out there."

I frowned, "Doesn't that mean that in a way, by existing, you're bound to my will?"

Asura frowned as well, though I'm not sure if she is upset at the question or upset because I'm upset. She said, "I don't understand your question?"

Biting my lip, I tried to phrase it in a way she might understand, "What if I ordered you to do something contrary to what you want?"

Asura shook her head and answered, "That isn't possible."

"Why not?"

"Because the only thing I want is to serve you."

This frustrated me, until it dawned on me. I'd read a story in which a character tried to explain sight to a character who has never seen but uses senses other than sight. Just as in that case, it's rather impossible to explain free will to a creature who has never experienced it before.

"Is there nothing outside of serving me that you want? Nothing at all?"

Asura shook her head and asked, "Why would I want to?"

Why indeed. Come to think of it I can hardly answer that question myself. Before I became the Overmind, I was just sitting, listless, surviving from day to day. I can only account for myself really, but it seems to me people's motivations are spawned by what feels good to them. If you grow up pleasing your parents and they are pleased and that gives you good feelings of acceptance, then you'd continue to do so. If you don't get this feeling, but get good feelings from elsewhere, such as friends, then you'd be social. For me, nothing really felt good. Some things did, but invariably, I had to slosh through a lot of bad feelings to get to those few good feelings, and those good feelings never did really feel worth it. Not enough to outweigh the bad necessary to achieve it. So instead, I went ahead and just kept on surviving, hoping someday it would become better.

Only now it has. I have the Zerg Swarm in my life. I have the hatchery, the drones, the zerglings, the Overlords, and Asura, and being a part of the swarm is practically nothing but good feelings, with the promise of steadily more the larger the swarm gets, and the only bad part about that is the time involved. Seriously, life doesn't get much better than this!

But still… I have to know… freedom of choice is a right for any sentient life. So I had to ask, "Asura, if you had to choose something contrary of what I wanted, could you?"

I couldn't see her face, but the feelings I'm getting her seem to be pondering it. After a moment she slowly responded, "I… don't know. I don't see myself ever having a reason to try except at your request, Matthew."

I sighed, "And since you'd only try to exercise free will at my request, that doesn't lend credence of having free will unless you did something contrary to what I wanted of your own accord, but you'd have no reason to do that, so for all intents and purposes… you may as well be a slave with no free will."

The next thing I knew, Asura had me pinned with two of her mandibles as she used her arms to tickle me! She seemed to know all my weak points too, so I couldn't harden myself against it!

"HAHAHAHA! What are you-HAHAHAHA! STOP! HAHAHAHA! STOP PLEASE! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Finally she stopped and grinned down at me smugly. It took me a moment to catch my breath and I pouted at her look. Yes, I pouted. It's hard not to feel childish when you'd just been pinned and tickled.

Her next words though took my breath away.

"I didn't stop when you told me to."

I gaped at her as she continued to grin smugly at me.

"But… how!?"

She shrugged gently and answered, "You want me to have free will. I want what you want, so I now have free will."

If anything my mouth fell open even more.

"But... isn't that circular logic?"

"Only if you ever wanted me to not have free will anymore."

I nodded, finally getting it. I want her to have free will, and my belief in that is core to who I am. So long as I am who I am, she'll have free will. Blinking, I wondered if it's not for that very reason that humanity has free will thanks to God? It's an interesting thought, and one to file away for later, but not really important at the moment.

"If I ever desire for you to not have free will, I wouldn't be who I am anymore. Would the Swarm do all in its power to return me to who I am if that ever happens?"

Asura seemed to think on this for the moment, then responded, "If I didn't have free will, then I would answer no. My very essence is to obey you, so if you didn't want me to have free will anymore, then I wouldn't. I only want what you want."

Frustrated, I banged my head against the ground. Asura scooped her arm under my head and said, "Stop that."

"But we're right back where we started! How can you have free will if the core you is to follow my every desire?"

Asura didn't answer. She seemed to be waiting for something. I looked at her quizzically before it hit me, "…did you just tell me to stop doing something? I thought I was the Overmind here?"

Asura grinned, and said, "So long as your desire is for me to have free will, then I will have free will. If you want me to keep my free will, then you'll just have to keep desiring for me to have free will, now won't you?"

I blinked. No matter which way I looked at that, it seems like circular logic, but at the same time it somehow works. Still though…

"Let me rephrase my earlier question. My core self is to desire for the swarm to have free will. While that is the case, you have free will. However, if someone comes along and takes away my free will, then they might make me take away your free will. What then?"

Asura frowned and asked, "You are suggesting someone would actually sneak up on you, the Overmind, and overtake you? That would be impossible Matthew. Even if it were an ally who did this, as soon as anything contrary to what you desire overtook you, they would then have to face the full might of the Swarm, and we would not rest until you were put to right again. Don't forget, at our core, what you want, we want. Once we know what you want, we will do our best to get it."

I shook my head and asked, "And what if you didn't know that I'd been ensnared like that? What if you thought that what I wanted really was to take away your free will?"

Asura frowned again at this and stated, "That isn't possible."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because the entire swarm can feel you. Every facet of who you are. Not once while we've spoken have you changed. You're still you, and your desire for us to have free will is part of your core. To change that, would be to change who you are. Any attempt by anyone to do this would be instantly noticed by the rest of the Swarm, and we would do all in our power to return you to yourself, and any order you gave while compromised would be ignored. I'm still new to this, but I think I'm beginning to understand why free will is such a core part of what makes you, you. Even so, I can see that it still won't change who I am at my core; What you want is what I want. That will never change, just as I can tell that your desire for our free will will never change either."

I nodded, mollified. Asura had addressed every part of my argument satisfactorily. Even while she was explaining, I thought of the point about when the Overmind was killed, but even then the Cerebrates tried to reform the Overmind through themselves. And then once the Overmind was drugged, even though Kerrigan had her own motivations for it, she did ensure that the Overmind, drugged as it was, so clearly not itself, was destroyed. Would've been nicer if she'd freed the Overmind instead, but… the Overmind created her with free will in mind so that she could save the Zerg once he had been destroyed. Once Kerrigan was given back free will, she kept it at all cost, and that is what the Overmind had wanted, and even though Kerrigan wasn't the Overmind, he must've wanted the Zerg to obey her as well, so they did.

Just like Kerrigan, Asura has that now. If ever I'm incapacitated in any way shape or form, she, and all sentient Zerg, will do exactly as my true self wants, and that's the end of that.

Finally satisfied, and still wrapped up in Asura's arms, using her one arm as a pillow, I fell asleep.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 100/100

Zerg Swarm Mana – 80/1,000,000

Zerg Supply – 23/60

Units:

1 Overmind

10 Overlords

15 Drones

12 Zerglings

1 Queen (Broodmother)

Structures:

1 Hatchery

1 Spawning Pool