Chapter 66: Are You My Father?
As the ship lowered itself towards the ground I took in the sight of the first 'proper' space ship I have seen before. The was roughly 25 meters long and had a white paint job with a triangular shape for its body. It had two thrusters directly underneath its main body that glowed red, which I presumed was to assist with landings and take offs, along with 5 more thrusters all the rear of the ship.
The biggest thruster in the middle glowed a hue of purple and is what I assumed had the ships FTL drive installed onto, but I will bother my courier with questions about that later.
As the ship was about to land 20 meters away from us, it lowered three landing gears which when they made contact with the ground let out an extremely satisfying hiss. I closed my eyes, puckered my lips and let out a nod of satisfaction.
"Thats the noise a ship should make on landing not the thuds the swimmer create." I was so satisfied about the landing gear noise I did not even realise how quiet the engines were on the descent.
Once the ship had made landfall, It took 10 seconds for the engines to switch off and from the centre of the ship A circular platform with a ladder descended. I was not sure who I expected to descend from the ladder but I definitely did not expect just some guy...
Ronnie was extremely nervous, He out of all the family was chosen by mother Sophia to go and pick up their father as he has finally come to grace this galaxy with his presence. When Ronnie entered the outer rim and began following the old map to the old Spartari planet he grew increasingly confused and worried as there was no planet there whatsoever.
He contemplated calling his mother for guidance but he did not want to disappoint her or have the broadcast accidentally heard by upper Spartari intelligence.
Luckily for Ronnie who was stuck at a crossroads, A gigantic blue beam had tore through space before him and made contact with the planet he was looking for outlining it for 10 seconds before It dissapeared once more. "wow that was amazing! Such Psionic power and what an incredible cloaking capabilities.
To be expected from outer family!" Hearing tales from mother about outer family was one thing, but baring witness to its power, Ronnie was very much looking forward to the day he could become one with the outer family as ever precious biomass and fuel its noble goal of universal unification.
When Ronnies ship grew close enough to the invisible planet, as though a veil had been lifted Ronnies jaw had become slack. Around the planet were colossal ships bigger than even Spartari Syracusias and hundreds if not thousands more other ships. A group of said ships had begun speeding his way towards his ship as Ronnie had forgot to let out the flare.
Setting his singular defence gun on the ship to armed, Ronnie had a special ammunition placed inside with a single shot Ronnie fired the projectile in the direction of the oncoming ships. Ronnie could not see the effects of what the bullet did but it clearly had an effect on the ships coming towards him as they turned around and went to re join the rest of the ship in orbit of the dwarf planet.
Ronnie let out a sigh of relief that he had not failed his mission and carried on in his journey. As Ronnie entered the planets atmosphere, He could feel an incredibly strong being latching its gaze onto him. Ronnie remembered Mother telling him to show no resistance to any gaze or mental probing he felt as resistance would become his death.
Ronnie shuddered as he felt his mind being touched and grasped at for information but by the words of his mother he put up no fight.
A few seconds that felt like hours later Ronnie let out a sigh of relief now that the feeling had dissapeared and he could now land safely. The calibration for landing was fairly easy as the planet in question had a weaker gravitational pull then most inhabited Spartari worlds.
After landing Ronnie made a quick survey of his ship to check everything was in order before putting on his gravity gear and turning the ship into standby. When he did so his vision to the outside was cut off and replaced with metallic plates.
With a final check Ronnie made sure the atmosphere outside was breathable, He was surprised that it was as he had seen no foliage or synthetic air distributors like on Ecumenopolis 3. With a few last minute touch ups like brushing his hair to make a good first impression on Father, Ronnie was ready to descend from the ship so he lowered his ladder.
After descending the ladder and turning around Ronnie tried to take in the small group a short way away before falling flat on his knees in weakness. He had no problems looking at the two humans, Although he could not get a proper look, but when his gaze turned onto half woman half something He felt his brain almost melt.
The psionic parasite Inside of his Mindspace let slip some information on the being in front of him. When he realised what it was he almost died of happiness.
"The-The great Mother?" Ronnie mumbled to himself in awe. He had not been informed by his Mother that the great Mother would also be here. Ronnie composed himself ready to move forward once more ready to brave the pain of getting closer to her would entail before he heard a voice.
"Jewel what did you do to him? He looks like he's about to crap out his organs." I said to Jewel not wanting to witness what I had said. "AH yes I forgot." With a simple thought Jewel restrained her psionic might back into her body to the point she had when Apollo was a baby.
Over time she has been able to increase the might she is able to show in front of him as a passive tempering for Apollos mind defences and had forgotten that this prey cultling would be much weaker than her beloved.
Ronnie felt a huge feeling of relief was over him as The great Mother released whatever she had onto him. Upon standing he bowed to the great mother forgetting that she probably did not understand the custom and avoided any visual contact lest he feel sick once more. Once Ronnie was 5 meters away from the trio of humanoids he looked up once more and was slightly stunned by what he saw.
A 6ft8 handsome man, who looked slightly younger than himself, with a very pale complexion stood before him. He had wavy purple hair brown eyes with a hint of purple hue inside of them. He had arched eyebrows a well defined nose, full lips and a round and symmetrical face. "Ar- Are you my Father?"
"Uh..
what?" I asked perplexed before I heard Jewels voice through the link "From the information I probed from him, the bio cult he is under has taken on the role of a human preys family structure with the infiltrator taking on the role of 'Mother' very strange but that is why I created them, for their abilities to adapt to their environment." Jewel said informatively before getting aggrieved "But to think something not of our mating together would call you father irks me greatly." Worried Jewel would eat the poor guy in front of me out of anger I relayed.
" My love don't get mad at the guy 'Father is probably just a symbolic title not me literally being his dad just relax ok?" I did not get a response back which I took as I good sign.
The face of the man before me was getting nervous at the long silence so I spoke out. "Sorry for my pause kid, Yes I am the one you are looking for but I would appreciate it if you would call me Apollo ok?"
Ronnie looked around as if looking for an answer to respond but could find none " I don't think Mother would like me calling Father by his name." He said nervously expecting a negative reaction from me by disobeying. I was fine with it but from the corner of my Eye I could see Orchid gripping Blades. "OI!" I snapped through the link. "The kid does not mean bad by it.
He is just apart of a hierarchy structure loosen your grip or no fun for a year." I sighed inwardly. Orchid is going to be a nightmare around other humans I can already tell.
Turning my attention back to the young man I said "Well don't you worry about your Mother if she decides to get cross, your pops will have your back. As long as you call me by my name that is. That being said what is your name and how old are you?"
With a sharp breath Ronnie built up some courage and shouted in excitement. "Hi Apollo! My name Is Ronnie and I'm 19 years old by standard Spartari calendar!"
Maybe because he did not mean to shout but after saying that Ronnies face got all red and passed out in front of the three of us "Weird guy." I muttered while waiting for him to regain consciousness.