I kept my vigil in the dark bowel of the crumbling Hive for days. More ‘Mites kept arriving, drawn by the scent of our cocooned Queen. They all passed my smell test. No aggression. They smelled weary. Injured. But even through the cocoon, our Queen’s scent gave them hope.
We were across the mountains from the Hive I’d escaped, and I hoped the Yellow Queen might be too old to bother with us, that her sickly Hive would just be content with the bounty they enjoyed at the hands of my friends. With each new ‘Mite that showed up, my nerves grew more taut. Sooner or later, the Yellow Hive would come.
I didn’t even know how long to expect the Queen and the rest to stay cocooned. Back at the Hive, we never saw this stage of the ‘Mites’ development. All we saw were the adults. Newly-hatched ones were smaller, but they grew and grew, molting their exoskeletons until they towered over us. A few of us saw the larvae, of course. I realized that now. But no one lived to tell the tale.
Back at the Hive, I’d always felt smart. I caught onto things quickly. Was one of the best at the clicking language of the ‘Mites. I helped the younger boys with their tasks, and thought I was really something. Here, I was an idiot.
It wasn’t just that I didn’t know our history, where our people had come from. I didn’t know anything. The first time I saw someone make a fire, I almost wet myself in terror as it flared up in front of him from sparks he made with rocks. There was no fire in the Hive. I never knew we needed it.
These people had weapons, slashing pieces of metal they’d pulled from the collapsing hulks of the ships in the Forbidden Zone. They had arrows, which they shot with bows strung with worm silk. They cooked their food and made marks on thin bark that other people could look at later and know what words it meant. And there were so many words I didn’t know.
Mo taught me things over the next week. I was terrible at striking the fire rocks together, but my strong swimmer’s shoulders made me pretty good with the bigger weapons. Mo said my Queen would lead an army of ‘Mites to rescue our people and defeat the Yellow Queen. He said that we would fight along with them. I was a strong swimmer and a decent runner, but apart from some scuffles with other boys, I had never learned to fight, and we would never have been allowed to use weapons. Now I realized why. Hour after hour I practiced with the hard wooden spears and thick clubs, swinging at imaginary enemies in the dry dirt outside the Hive, trusting Sunshine to watch over the Queen in my absence. When the time came to fight, I would be ready.
I worked myself until my arms ached and my back cramped. A couple of the Builder ‘Mites made large piles of the chewed clay and wood that made up Hive walls, and I bashed them down to dust. When I swung a club into a block of clay, my mind was full of the battle we would someday fight. So much better than the thoughts that plagued me when I wasn’t smashing up targets.
But in the late afternoons when the heat stole my strength and I retreated to the cool depths near the pools, the questions burned in my brain. How had I never realized what we were in the Hive? How could I have lived my whole life in such blissful ignorance, happily serving a species that saw us as no more important than a seal in the river? I was at war with myself.
On one hand, I was completely devoted to the Queen in her cocoon. I would happily have died for her. The bond I felt was as much a part of me as an arm or leg. As more outcast ‘Mites arrived from all over the area, I felt more and more possessive of her, and somehow more welcoming at the same time. We would all be her Hive together, reveling in her glorious blue scent, working together to ensure the health of the whole.
On the other hand, I knew what they were. I had learned the concept of slavery and realized what humans once were, and should have been. I still had little idea of the technology that had been taken from us in denying us access to our ships. The concept of interstellar distance was completely outside my ability to think. But those ships once flew. What must this place have looked like to those first humans who landed here? Through the red mist of pollen that gave them such a false security, what did they think of this land that became so hostile? When the ‘Mites who became Masters swarmed over their ships, killing and enslaving almost all of them, did they hope for revenge? What would they think of me, bonded to one of their destroyers as I was?
And really, what was I?
Mo said one of their number had been taught some science, handed down from the original settlers. Her name was Lexis, and she had theories about the ‘Mites and their scent markings. It was working on me, for certain. I belonged to the Queen. But was it real? Was my devotion to her a choice I was making, or just another form of chemical slavery?
“Noah, you okay?”
Mo startled me from my confused reverie.
I was sitting in the lower chamber where all of the cocoons hung from the ceiling, wanting to be there when the Queen emerged. ‘Mites came and went, checking on her as I did. Surely she would remember me. Surely she felt the same about me as I did about her.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just thinking.”
He nodded. “It’s so much to take in, isn’t it?” There was a series of soft pops from his knees as he sat on the ground next to me. “But this is the start of something great. When that little Queen comes out, we’re going to teach her everything we know. You’re the best at that clicking language, and you’ll teach her. She’ll grow up here, nice and safe, and we’ll just be part of the bug family. When we’ve got enough soldiers, we’ll attack the big Hive and free the rest of our people. When we’re all safe, we’ll be able to do so much here. Farming and mining . . . The things we can build . . .“
I stiffened as a waft of pure terror shot through the tunnel.
Mo obviously didn’t smell it, rattling on about how much better life would be.
I jumped up, along with every ‘Mite in the place.
“What’s wrong?” Mo unfolded next to me with more pops and creaks.
The smell of fear was all around me. ‘Mites skittered around in olfactory panic.
I closed my eyes and breathed in. Rage coursed through me as the hated smell lanced into my head. The sickly yellow of the Hive where I was born. The aggression and venom of Soldiers in attack mode. And the devastating scent of death right above me.
“Stay with Queen,” I clicked to the largest of the Diggers in the cavern with me. They formed a wall around the hanging cocoons, huge claws at the ready.
Mo was wide-eyed in confusion. He couldn’t smell any of what was going on, but the sounds of battle echoed through the tunnels.
“They’re here to kill her!” I shouted. “The Soldiers are here!”