Chapter 31

While Freyja had been busy trying to convince her brother-in-law not to let an alien infected cat bite him, Odin had been busy getting to know said alien infected cats. She couldn't fault him for leaving the house during the argument. Gods knew she didn't want to be in there when it was going on either.

"I met their Commander. He's a General, or rather, he was. It's difficult to describe in your language," Odin said.

"His rank?" Page asked, while leaning on their ride arm against the porch railing behind them.

Odin shook his head. "No. Our ranks are similar enough that applying Human words to them suffice. That is not the difficulty I'm having."

"I'm not turning our Link back on for you to send a memory packet again. Explain it so Page knows what's going on. I'm not in the mood for psychic shit and tired of people being left in the dark," Freyja said.

He ate a few pieces of cat food as he mulled over how to explain things. Not knowing what he was thinking was more annoying than she liked to admit, but she also had been serious about wanting Page to know what he was talking about without her needing to explain it to them herself. Page was supposed to be the Unit's Commander. As far as things looked, Freyja and Odin weren't even supposed to be there at all.

Odin breathed out through his nose sharply. "The Hive does not do well without the Link. Even when I was...less active in my community we were still connected. The Barn Hive has been separated from the Link for half an Earth year. This is an extreme amount of time for any one of us to be deprived of another's mind or feelings."

"So, they're touch starved?" Freyja asked.

"No. Sherlock said Kait has attempted to give them attention as if they were mere cats. They do quite enjoy lovin's," Odin replied.

"Lovin's?" Page asked with am amused smirk.

"It's what the guy at the gym called scritches and pets the other night. Gods. That was just yesterday," Freyja said in shock.

She rested her palms on the rail behind her. So much had happened in just a few days. The Old Man had died and she'd fed his corpse to an alien. An alien who was now eating more cat food with his hands because he looked like a Human. He ran his tongue over his teeth to dislodge bits that had gotten stuck.

"It's not simply their lack of connection via the Link that concerns me. General Sherlock understood his original mission, and that the Hive had abandoned us to die. He remember proper protocol and Tradition, as well as our gods. The problem lies in his ability to reason and lack of impulse control. While we were speaking he became distracted by an insect that had entered the barn when Kait exited the building," Odin finally continued.

"So, he's a cat," Freyja said flatly.

Odin grit his teeth. "I do believe so."

"But you're a cat too," Page pointed out.

Odin shook his head. "Yes, and no. I was Host Given shortly before making Freyja my Spark. I had not been without the link for an extended period of time. Though, I do believe assimilating Odin's memories has affected me."

"You think they all snuffed out their Hosts?" Freyja asked.

"Most certainly. Very few Hive members would allow their Host's consciousness to survive. It is one reason I...didn't get along with my coworkers in the past. They thought I preferred Follower to the Link," he explained as he choked up with tears welling in his eyes. He brushed them away with the back of one hand then grit his teeth again. "In truth I did. He never judged me for my actions and never let me be alone."

She couldn't stand it and reestablished the Link between them. His eyes grew wide in surprise as she was hit with the depth of his sorrow. Isolation. He couldn't stand being alone and seeing him suffer it felt unbearable. Page stayed silent, observing the pair under the yellow light thrown by the bare bulb near the front door. Neither they, nor Freyja expected Odin to melt where he stood, twisting in on himself over his clothing until he looked like the same large fluffy gray cat he had when Freyja first met him. The empty bowl spun on the wooden porch next to him as he stepped forward to lean against Freyja's leg.

Page grimaced a bit. "Right. He's a cat."

Freyja bent down to pick him up and hold him close to her so he wouldn't rub himself against Page. "I'll take him next door."

Odin looked at Page over her shoulder. "You should not allow any of the Barn Cats to make you their Spark. Especially, Sherlock."

They shrugged. "Do you really think 217's going to let that fly?"

The wind rustled the trees nearby a bit louder than before. Freyja imagined thrusters on Kira-217's invisible ship adjusting the vehicle's attitude in annoyance. Whatever plan the Local Probe and woman had previously had was likely worthless. Abandoning pairing Page with a cat would make sense, but as Page had pointed out: Kira-217 wasn't thinking strategically.

"Try to get some rest. With any luck, we won't actually need to fight the Hive at all. They kicked a hornet's nest today. Maybe Butcher's guys can keep them busy," Freyja said.

Page nodded. "Pretty sure we both concluded it's not going to be war, but survival."

She started to leave the porch, but stopped when Odin reached a paw out toward Page and extended his claws. "If worse comes to worse, Freyja has shown me a Human can completely override a Hive member's mind much the same way a Hive member can eclipse their Host."

"I'll remember that."

***

"Sorry I don't have anything besides the couch. My guest bedroom's already been claimed by that streamer guy," Kait said.

"The couch works," Freyja said as Odin wove between her legs.

Kait glanced down at him. "He's a cat again."

"Yeah, I hadn't seen him do that with clothes on before. Not sure where they went," Freyja admitted.

She half wanted to pick him up but her hands were occupied with the blanket and pillow Kait had produced from a hall closet. Her other cats had gone back into hiding, so Freyja still didn't know what they looked like. She wondered if they'd be brave enough to come out in the night or not given Odin's presence.

"The clothing and excess mass are stored in the same interspacial location as is anything else I don't want to permanently consume," he explained with a purr.

"Right," Kait said.

"I'll make sure he stays in here with me," Freyja replied.

"Good. I'll be in my room with my cats trying to get Soup and Lady Grace out from under the bed," she said.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry we're intruding like this," Freyja apologized.

"Oh, no. No. Don't be. It's just an alien invasion. Not like this could have been avoided," she replied stiffly.

Freyja glanced down at Odin. His right eye was blood red. She didn't want to ask why he'd made that particular change.

"Yeah."

Sleep didn't come easy that night. At least, not for Freyja. Odin managed to doze off just fine, curling up in a ball and resting on her chest. She suspected he had made himself lighter so she could still breathe, that or she'd subconsciously altered her own body to compensate for the little goblin.

Was Odin's theory correct?

Had all the Hive members been influenced by the barn cats enough to make them dangerously unpredictable?

The smart move would be to wait and find out for sure.

Waking before dawn to search for Kira-217 around the barn the way Damien was, certainly didn't qualify. The fact that she was out for him to find there didn't help.

"I know you probably had someone else in mind, but I want to volunteer so I can protect my family," Damien said.

Kira-217 smiled warmly. Where she'd gotten a different sundress from the blue one she'd been wearing the day before eluded Freyja. The fact that Freyja also wasn't present was another quandary she wanted answers to. How could she be seeing something that she was nowhere near?

The cat Kira-217 had emerged from the barn with was an orange and white tabby with a bob tail. His right ear was clipped and he didn't know if he had an Earth name at all. How Freyja knew so much about the cat was another mystery that was quickly answered when the cat, obediently bit Damien's hand and connected them both to the Link.

Freyja sat up suddenly on the couch, launching Odin off of her chest like a catapult, as everything evened out chronologically in her mind. She'd seen Damien's memories of going outside that morning to ask Kira-217 to let him join the Hive. He was scared of what Gunner and Freyja would say, but desperately wanted to do something to protect Zoe.

Gods damn it, Damien, Freyja thought.

Oh fuck, he thought back.

Freyja has a habit of eliciting that response to those who Link with her, Odin quipped.

I've missed this, the orange and white bobtail said happily.

Odin figuratively dusted himself off from having been thrown into one the many bookshelves that lined the walls of Kait's living room. He shifted back into his fully clothed Human form and did his best to replace the tomes where they had originated.

"What's going on?" Kait asked sleepily from her bedroom door.

"My brother-in-law's an idiot," Freyja growled.