I lined up with the other boys, heart pounding in excitement.
Today’s the day!
Eight of us boys were ready for the Ranking. Over the next three days, our fates would be sealed.
The Master directed us in the elegant, clicking language they used to speak to us. Among ourselves we spoke the Lowform, but I was particularly adept at making the clicking noises. That had to count for something. Surely my ability to converse with them would be a leg up in the Ranks.
I could tell them apart, though they had no need for names. The Masters were all one mind, one great “We.” They shared each other’s thoughts, and if one fell, another rose into its place. We Lowforms had no such power. We were individuals, alone in the world. We had names given to us by our mothers, that group of females living deep in the tunnels, surrounded by crying babies and screaming toddlers. I hadn’t been back to the Mothers’ Hall since the Masters came for me over ten years ago. Since then I’d lived in the boys’ area, where we learned the skills we would need once we were Ranked.
The clicks of the Master brought me to attention. I looked up past its huge pincers and into the expressionless, hard brown face.
“Running. White Rock. Return. Run fast.”
Oh, I would. I would run fast.
I stood next to my best friend Chen, sweating in the morning humidity.
“Man, Noah. I wish we had diving today,” he muttered. “Too hot to run.”
I laughed. It was always too hot to run. But that’s what the Masters wanted.
“This is the Ranking. Just do it,” I said.
He would do his best. We all would. The prize for the chosen few demanded it.
I squinted across the low field. Anything could be hiding in those grasses. But the Masters were there to protect us. Without their great, stinging tails, we Lowforms were at risk from all the other insects that buzzed, hopped, crawled, and flew over the dry, cracked land to the soft sand where the ocean rolled in crashing waves. None of us felt entirely safe outside the thick mud walls our Masters built, the huge, towering Hive that sheltered us all. But the wind in my hair lifted my thoughts away from the dangers that lurked outside the Hive. It was time to run.
With two sharp clicks, we were off. My feet pounded on the hard ground, heels driving into the clay. White Rock was an outcropping in the distance, far across the grassy plain that separated our towering Hive from the green mountains beyond the plain. Between the rock and the mountains lay the Forbidden Zone, but we would turn back before we reached it. The first few steps I ran in the welcome shadow of the Hive, but soon it was left behind and the morning sun beat against my bare back. The cloth I wore around my waist flapped in the wind of my speed.
My mind raced as I ran. I didn’t want to win the race, but I thought coming in second or third might be best. The winner was certain to get Ranked as a Runner, one of the Lowforms that accompanied the Master Soldiers on their patrols, bringing back messages to the Hive or scouting around. Runners didn’t live long. The few I saw in my training always looked haggard, thin and ropey, eyes darting around all the time. I admired their service to the Hive, but I didn’t want to be one. Too dangerous out there.
I was in front of the pack, cruising through the grassland, bare feet swishing along. My eyes scanned the high grass around me, alert for danger. Workers kept this path cut short, but anything could hide in the tall field around me.
A sharp elbow knocked me off my stride and I stumbled, crashing off the path and into the tall stalks. Gil shot past me, laughing.
“Did you fall? So sorry!” He skittered away down the corridor while I picked myself up off the ground. A couple of leaf-eaters had hopped onto my legs and I brushed them away before they could bite me, stumbling out into the short grass as the rest of the boys pounded past. Chen was at the back of the pack and I loped along next to him. He was breathing hard, sweat pouring off his face.
“I . . . saw . . . it,” he panted. “He . . . pushed . . . you.”
“He did,” I answered. “It’s okay. Don’t wanna be Runner.”
But I didn’t want to lose any of the events in the Ranking. I was a great swimmer. Everybody said I was a shoo-in for Diver, whether in the dark, clear water that flowed in rivers under the Hive or in the sea where the waves beat the shore. Diver would be a great life for me. I’d be happy as a Diver.
Even if I came in last on this footrace, I could still be a Diver. But if I came in second or maybe third, the door would still be open. The shining door that led to the highest honor the Masters could bestow. I had dreamed about it for years. Only the very best were granted the title, and I wanted it so bad I could taste it.
Queen’s Servant.
Every Ranking, the very best boys were taken into the depths of the Hive, to the secret, forbidden tunnels that led to the Queen herself. No other Lowforms ever got to see her. I couldn’t imagine the glory of it. The Queen of the whole Hive. If I became her Servant, I’d get to see her. I’d be sent on some mission with her blessing, or remain in her chambers as her trusted protector, or . . . I didn’t know, really. I’d never seen a Queen’s Servant after they were chosen. They were far too exalted to return to the rest of us Lowforms. But maybe, just maybe, if I did well enough, I could join those ranks.
I grinned at Chen and poured on the speed.