Chapter 1

The colonization ship entered the solar system in full stealth mode. The mission was to incorporate the newly discovered inhabited planet orbiting this star into the greater Hive. A routine exploration of the area had led to the discovery that the third planet of the system was inhabited and able to support life without artificial terraforming.

The biology of the inhabitants of the planet was analyzed and the resulting data was used to create customized nanobots and other infrastructure to support establishing a new Hive in the star system. The inhabitants of the third planet would be incorporated into the new Hive which would then take its place as a part of the larger whole Hive. An artificial intelligence unit was outfitted to provide the initial core of the mechanical portion of the Hive along with a variety of worker units.

Everything was loaded onto a seed ship and dispatched to the newly explored system. The seed ship entered the solar system under stealth so that it would remain undetected by the inhabitants until the Hive infrastructure could be completely established. Premature detection of the seed ship or the Hive could cause disorder which would waste resources. It was undesirable for the presence of the Hive on the planet to become known to the general population until the Hive was well established and the integration of the population well under way.

The seed ship made its way to the surface of the third planet and burrowed itself into a mountain for concealment from the planetary population. Tunnels were driven further into the mountain where shops and factories were installed to manufacture the mechanical components of the Hive. The life forms on the planet would form the organic half of the Hive infrastructure. It was necessary to have sufficient infrastructure up and running before beginning the process of integrating the inhabitants of the planet.

The Hive remained quiet and hidden in its caverns for almost five months while everything needed for the next step was manufactured. At the end of that period the next step in the incorporation plan was initiated. As the first initial step a single individual from the planetary population would be secured and processed for incorporation. The first step in the process of incorporation of a biological unit into the Hive was the injection of tailored nanites that would immediately colonize the biological host, stabilize the physiological condition of the host, and then establish contact with the central Hive AI. Once established inside the host the nanites would be self-replicating and would continue to occupy the body of the individual until death. If necessary other specialized nanites could be administered subsequently.

The Hive AI had been monitoring the communications of the planetary inhabitants and it did not take long for the AI's powerful cryptographic capabilities to decipher all of the intercepted communications and develop translations for all of the different languages spoken and written in the communications. Computer data communications were intercepted and decoded as well. Every unit and system which would need to interact with the planet's inhabitants was programmed with the native languages to facilitate easy communications.

The Hive control AI initiated the construction of several mobile units specialized for locating individual inhabitants and injecting them with the incorporation nanites. These units were programmed to locate a single individual for the initial test of the nanites. The design of the nanites could be adjusted using data from this individual. It had been observed that occasionally individual inhabitants of the planets would walk through the area where the Hive had established its base, practicing what the AI learned was called "hiking". The Hive AI determined that it would be simplest and easiest to intercept one of those individuals for the first subject for incorporation.

Once everything was prepared the Hive sent out several small droids to find the first subject for incorporation. These small robots were programmed to lie in wait along the hiking paths until one of the inhabitants of the planet came along. When someone happened along the droid would fire a dart containing the initial nanite load. Once the nanites were in the hapless hiker's body they would quickly establish a connection between their brain and the hive control AI. After that the person would become a part of the hive and follow its directives.