Bred by the Hive Ch. 42

"It's your rider," said Sam.

"My what?"

Sam turned around to show him hers.

"You... you're one of the parasites."

"Um hm," said Sam, getting up slowly. She realized how sexy she looked, how feminine, standing there with her breasts jutting out and her thick bush of pubic hair sticking out between her legs. She casually looked around for her panties.

"You've infected me," said Terrell.

"Yep, said Sam, sliding her panties up. She then snapped on her Survey Service bra.

"Well, you'll never control me! I'm too strong for you!"

"As you say," said Sam indifferently, looking herself in the mirror as she slipped on her skirt. She had heard it all before. From herself.

She knew what would happen next. His rider would train him, until he learned to obey. And then the rider would use him to Infect others. It was all out of Sam's hands now.

********

Sam never had to use the pheromone, not even once. Gavin was right. She really was a very attractive woman. Sam easily scored another Survey Service officer each night for the following week.

Ostensibly, she was there to brief the Survey Service on the latest information about the Hive Mind. That entitled her to go and brief a broad range of officers. All she had to do was sit in front of them for a moment or two before her ESPer skills told her if they were properly interested or not.

Most were.

There were a few exceptions. There were a few who were so dedicated to their wives. There was one in particular, a logistical officer named Captain Harkness, who Sam could tell found her very attractive, but she could equally tell would never, ever betray his wife.

She admired his ability to resist temptation.

But most were easy pickings. All the rest, in fact, were married men, which lowered Sam's opinions of men in general and Survey Service officers in particular. She could tell how attractive they found her, and that, given assurances that she wouldn't resist, would even seduce her if they could.

One after another Sam invited these officers, ranging from Captains to Colonels even to a General, to her hotel room after hours to get infected. None showed the slightest resistance. All were as easy to Infect as Captain Terrell.

The only drain was on Sam's physicality. She bulked up, eating double the normal calories she usually did. But the strain of reproducing every day drained her body mass. By the end of the week, she had lost six pounds.

But she had also converted seven highly valuable officers.

On the ride back to the spaceport, Sam asked, "Did you enjoy your work, Sam?"

"I did what was asked of me," said Sam.

"Are you still pretending that you don't enjoy bringing people into the Hive?" Sam said. "You've had seven mind-splitting orgasms, one for each time your rider reproduced. Would you have missed that feeling for anything in the world?"

"No," Sam admitted.

"How did it feel, Sam, having the most incredible orgasm in your life, and then watching life, life you just created, crawl onto another human being and take control of his body?"

"I... I..."

"You loved it, didn't you Sam? You love bringing people into the Hive."

Sam didn't answer.

"That's all right, Sam. You just keep doing what you're doing. As your rider gets more and more mature, your last mental barriers will come crashing down. Then there will only be one of us."

Sam thought about that. Her rider only had one gold band. But she knew that riders could grow two or even three gold bands. What would happen when her rider got its second gold band? Or its third? Would the part of Sam which still resisted simply vanish, as the other Sam claimed? It was a frightening thought.

She thought about all the men she had seduced. "It's just amazing to me. All these men were attracted to me. I could have had any man I wanted, at any time."

"You've always been sexy, Sam. I don't know why you settled for Gavin," said Sam.

"I love Gavin," said Sam.

"You love a lot of people, Sam," said Sam. "Take my word for it, you could have done much better than Gavin. And you will."

That last sentence chilled Sam. What did the Hive have in store for her? And who was really talking to her? Was it her rider... or was it part of herself? What did Gavin call her, the "new Sam"?

When she got home, Gavin congratulated her. He seemed to know what had happened before she said a thing. Sam started to wonder if the Hive Mind was telepathic, or if Gavin had spies watching her, checking to see if she stayed loyal.

That night they communed together, and made love. Afterwards, Gavin instructed her to have another session with the black spider. Sam obeyed without question.