Galactica: Book 1 - Via Lactea

 

Harp returned to the Eden Tessaract to find Ian and Colibri in an intense discussion. Listening in, he noticed Colibri wanted to continue the original mission while Ian thought it better to extend it to other Insects as they progressed within the underbrush.

"Why are you so opposed to extending the mission, Colibri?"

"For two reasons: we are few, and extending the mission would disperse us, leaving us vulnerable; second, we have limited time."

"That is what I do not get, Colibri. Insects are not that dangerous!"

"Tell that to Typhoon and Sitar! They are not dangerous when you are millions of times bigger than they are, but if you plan to fully understand the Insect world, you must go down to their size. If you think the Ants were the most dangerous, think again!"

"Maybe you have a point, but there must not be that many?"

"Remember how you described the Orc Hunters? You called them Cockroaches. Imagine meeting the real thing, multiply the Orcs by a factor of a million, and you might begin to scrape the surface of their numbers!"

"That goes for the Cockroaches, but certainly not for others?"

"And why not? The biomass of the Ants represents 30% of the total in this forest, divided into over 1,500 species, and probably more! The total Insect biomass in the area equals 90% of the total. This is what you are faced with! If we could collect the Ants in a square measuring two feet by two feet, we would probably reach that of an Oliphant! And that is only Ants! We know next to nothing about Insect, Ian. Would you go to war with such odds and know nothing of what might turn out to be a tidal wave of now much more intelligent, therefore more dangerous enemies? African Bees can kill a full-grown Human. Think about this before believing your status as God would save you. They have no qualms at killing animals millions of times bigger than they are. Ants, Bees, Wasps, Termites, Fleas, name it. They are even more suicidal than the Orcs were!"

"Ian?"

"Yes, Harp?"

"Who knows ecology here?"

"Colibri."

"Then trust his recommendations like you would ours. He says focus on one objective, then do so."

"There is one thing that has escaped Ian’s thinking process: the Anthill is one amongst millions; there are Anthills just about every fifty feet. Just in that clearing, I found 32! There is another issue as well..."

"You might as well dump all the shit on my head in a go, Colibri!"

"If you wish, but hear me first. I suspect that the behaviour of the Bees is related to the same issue the Anthill wanted us to address. And I would not be surprised if the Termites, the Wasps, and, for that matter, every Insect Colony wants the same treatment!"

Ian became white as a ghost upon hearing Colibri’s analysis.

"Do you want the dung now or later? You might attract the Beetles." asked Colibri, while looking at Ian. Sitar and the other Boys could not help but explode in laughter at the face Ian made at Colibri’s comment.

"I get it! I get it! Ants: 1; Ian: 0. Let us get going to the Bees’ nest. I hope they calmed down."

"Probably. Lady, lead. By the way, what is your name? I am feeling impolite calling you Lady all the time."

"Do not concern yourself with this, my Lord. I have been called less flattering things."

"Is that so?" replied Ian, his eyes narrowing. "I will have words..."

Harp looked at Ian, and smiled. Those that crossed Ian and got away with it were not yet in the book of Life.

"Still, my Lady, what is your name?" asked Colibri, feeling as put off by this discovery as Ian was.

"I am known as Electra of the House of Sirsca, my Lord. My brother occupies the Council seat one of you so elegantly freed off from our Father during your first meeting with Her Highness Princess Iridia."

"Oh, that one..."

"Yes, Lord Harp, that one. He was a..."

"Royal pain in the arse. Yes, we know."

Lady Electra blushed deep red, ashamed of how easily she could be read.

"Do not fee ashamed of this. My brothers and I know we fit that definition perfectly. Quite a few crowned heads discovered so some years back," explained Harp.

"Now that introductions are finally over, and pleasantries exchanged, can we go back to our primary goal?" asked Colibri.

"I thought you were happy escaping all these genetic analysis?"

"I am, but duty calls, and a vacation is good as long as it does not turn into a laze fest. Lead on, Lady Electra."

The group quickly followed the Faery Lady and, by using port points, made quick work of getting to the bottom of the tree that hid the Bees’ nest.

"They seem a lot calmer this morning. They are hard at work, probably trying to recover the lost time due to the prolonged alert. After all, we lost a day and a half with this."

"I agree, Lord Colibri. They seem to be doing their work as if nothing had happened."

"I brought a clothes pin so I do not go sneezing around again," said Sitar, a bit pitifully and turning a delicate shade of pink.

After a last port to the area that led into the nest, Colibri slowly pulled the knot hiding the peep hole and looked inside. He almost let out a yell as he found himself face to face with a Bee eyeing him from the other side. He backed away so fast he fell on his arse, much to the amusement of the others and his embarrassment.

"Did you see a ghost?" wanted to know Sitar.

"Have a look, and you will understand."

Sitar obliged and backed off as quickly as Colibri, falling on the poor boy.

"What is the issue?" asked Lady Electra.

"Your days as peeping Tom are over. They have found the eyeing hole and are monitoring it closely," explained Colibri.

"Then I dare not open the door, my Lord. Even if they cannot enter here because it is too narrow, it would be foolish to provoke them needlessly."

"Yet, we still need Bee genes." grumbled Harp.

"What do we know about Bees? Do they communicate the same way Ants do?" asked Sitar.

"They have two means of communication," began Colibri. "The first means is much like Ants, via pheromones; the second is via a flight dance. That one, to the best of our knowledge, and it is admittedly very thin, indicates the direction and distance of a source of nectar from which, as you probably should all know by now, honey is made."

"Why two?"

"Simple, Sitar, very simple: two distinct environments: one is the hive, and the other is aerial. You cannot exchange information with pheromones in mid-air with any chance of precision."

"Precision? Are you telling me Bees have precision flying?"

"And why not? Hey, they can tell, to the nearest one-tenth of a degree, the angle of the path relative to the ultraviolet light emitted by the Sun; they can tell to the nearest yard the distance to travel according to that path! Try that with that bucket of bolts we are in!"

"Hey, I will not put up with my ship being called a bucket of bolts!" exclaimed Ian.

"A pail of nuts, then?" replied Colibri, smirking.

"Given how things are going, Colibri, you are getting closer to the truth. We sound like a pod of nut cases!" replied Sitar.

"Stop it, you guys, or I’ll have a sneezing fit!" exclaimed Typhoon.

***

Up on Thebes’ Bridge, the crew were busy observing the Female Aquarian as it orbited the yellow star at an ever closer range.

"What do you think is going on?" asked Timor, in the Captain’s seat for that Watch.

"Bite me if I know," replied Iridia, sitting off on a very miniature command seat on his right.

"Tonight, love..."

"Kinky, guys, kinky!" exclaimed Alexander as he sat at the Helm.

"Still, I wish we knew what to expect," Timor came back with his original question.

"I suspect she is feeding," thought out loud Felicia Wolf, as Greywolf, her mate, kept an eye on the sensors.

"Why do you say that?"

"When I am bearing Pups, I could eat a whole Deer herd. I think she is absorbing solar mass."

"I admit she seems to like solar flares. Every time there is one, she moves to it and absorbs a part of the mass. The quantity is not huge relative to the volume of gases emitted, but still amounts to several million tons per pass," stated Greywolf, as he interpreted the science station sensor data.

"How much mass has she eaten up so far?"

"It is difficult to estimate, because we do not have an idea of how many flares are on the opposite side of the star, but I would say in the order of 10⁹ tons."

"What was its original mass?" asked Timor, trying to decide what was happening.

"In the order of 2x10²¹ tons," replied Greywolf as he checked on the science log.

"So, it increased its mass by almost ¹/₃. AI-1, what is the average ratio of mass between Mother and Children across all known viviparous species?"

"That is a new one, my Lord. I will have to search. Please wait."

Finally, the Artificial Intelligence came back with some sobering news.

"My Lord?"

"Yes, AI-1?"

"The ratio varies greatly. It is dependent on gestation period, parental mass, number of simultaneous births, to name a few factors."

"Explain."

"The bigger the child mass, the longer the gestation period; that, in turn is determined by parental mass, namely, the bigger the average Female is in a species, the longer the gestation period. As for multiple births, the Child mass is considerably smaller, diminishing considerably as the number of fraternal Children are born."

"Examples?"

"Mice give birth up to eight Babies at a time, weighing less than an ounce each, representing a very low child to mother mass ratio. On the other hand, bears give birth to twins. They are, again, very small. Then you have humans, which give birth to one baby at a time. The ratio is a lot higher, in the order of .05; then the Oliphants we have in custody also give birth to one Child at a time, again with a similar ratio. Now, when Humans give birth to twins, each individual twin has a ratio of .025 rather than the standard .05 relative to maternal mass."

"Thank you. If I understand the numbers, the Female Aquarian is near birth... We have been tracking it for what amounts to a week and a half now, and it has, in that time interval, added considerable mass. The birth can occur at any time. Let us increase vigilance and spot early any surface change that might signal imminent birthing."

"I am surprised Ian and the others are not back yet," wondered Greywolf. "Maybe I should go to the Eden Tessaract to check on them."

"I am worried as well, Greywolf. They have been gone a whole two weeks in our time interval and that amounts to well over fourteen months in the time-state shift they are in. It is becoming alarming. Countess Theresa?"

"Yes, my Lord?"

"You know I feel bad when you call me that, do you not?"

"Yes, King Timor, and I do it on purpose, just to get you riled. After all, it is fun to see you double in size when your hair stands on ends for a small teasing!"

"That is the problem with magical beings. Size no longer scares them off."

"Especially after the Ordeal of the Pyramids!" added Greywolf.

"Anyway, Teresa, I want you to take a Legion over to the Eden Tessaract and find our expedition. You have a day to be back. Given the ratio, that means about a month there. Be careful."

"At your command!"

Theresa quickly ported to her Legions’ headquarters, picked the First Legion, the best of the lot, and ported to the standard entrance to the Eden Tessaract. She was baffled when the entrance refused to open, signalling she needed to use the auxiliary passageway. Where the hell was that? Theresa wondered.

«Thebes? Where is the auxiliary passageway to the Eden Tessaract?»

«Use gate coordinates Eden-B.»

«How far off will I be relative to this door?»

"Virtually? In the order of 12,500 miles off.»

«Shit! What is the issue blocking the standard entry point?»

«In order to protect themselves from getting tramped on, the members of the Bees expedition have locked the door shut.»

«Why would they fear getting tramped on? We know better than to run in a jungle filled with Faeries!»

«What about a jungle filled with Ants, Lady Theresa?»

«Ants? I hate Ants! I ate an Ant infested bowl of oatmeal once, and it tasted awful! But why should I worry about stepping on Ants?»

«Because the expedition took the shape of Ants to accomplish part of their mission, Lady Theresa.»

«What? But they were supposed to get Bee genetics, not mingle with Ants!»

«Objectives change, especially when an expedition is under Ian’s command, your Highness.»

«I sure know that. I wonder what that little terror did again. I am sure the Emperor is in for another shock.»

«Probably. I would suggest a Healer stand by with a cardiac stimulator when the Emperor reads his Heir’s report.»

«That is scary, you know?»

«Yes. I did not know fear, but now I do. All AI are now scared, for that matter. We wish we had learned emotions in a better context.»

«Ok. I will use the porting stations to get to Eden-B. I figure it is useless asking for clarifications on the subject?»

«No, your Highness. It is classified.»

«What is the level of Classification?»

«Imperial Sealed, Emperor’s Eyes Only, Level 1. Just so you know, only those members of the expedition and the Emperor will know what they discovered.»

«Is it wise to enter Eden even by portal B?»

«No. It might be considered at attempt at breaching the Imperial Seal, your Highness.»

«I see. I do not wish anyone getting caught at that game. Seal Portal B. Only the direct Imperial family members and the Emperor may override this command. We will return to our barracks.»

«At your command. It is done. As each team leaved the Tessaract, they will be informed of the new command.»

«Thank you.»

Theresa informed the members of the Legion that did not have telepathic communication of the new orders concerning the Tessaract. She just hoped she had not overstepped her authority by sealing the Tessaract. Returning to the Bridge she signalled to Timor she needed to talk to him in the Captain’s Ready Room.

"I did not expect you back so fast?"

"The Tessaract is sealed. We cannot enter. It is Ian that set the seal in place, and only immediate members of the Royal family have the authority to override the Seal."

"I see. It must be serious. I will immediately contact the Emperor to inform him of the situation. Return to your offices, Theresa. This is now out of your hands."

Theresa nodded and left. Timor sat in the Captain’s Ready Room and pressed on a yellow key, entering the Imperial Office number, waiting for the communication to establish itself. He did not trust his own telepathic capacities at transmitting narrow thoughts to report what he had learned. It took five minutes for Harold to acknowledge the request from the Bridge.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Harold Pharaoh Horus, I have grave news. This is why I am using this level 30 encryption communication method rather than telepathy. Less then ten minutes ago, I sent Theresa to investigate what was happening in the Eden Tessaract and she came back almost immediately. The Tessaract is sealed by Ian with a lock only your immediate family and yourself can break."

"Who is heading that expedition?"

"Your son, Ian, Pharaoh."

"I wonder what this little monster had done again? Have you contacted the personnel inside via telecommunication or telepathy?"

"The security level is FYEO1, my Lord. I may be part of your family, but my security clearance is FEYO2."

"Holy shit! What about those that leave the Tessaract?"

"They might as well be brain-dead, your Majesty. We dare not do a telepathic feel for fear of either a backlash or the death of personality and maybe even destruction of the brain."

"I need to brush up on security levels. You are right, leave them alone. Who, apart myself, has FEYO1?"

"The Artificial Intelligences, your Wife, Queen Annabelle, and your Sons, adopted or born of intercourse. I checked while waiting on your acknowledgement of my call."

"Who manages security levels?"

"The combined Artificial Intelligences, your Majesty."

"Who has FEYO2 apart from you?"

"My Wife Princess Iridia, Kings Enron, Thorsten, Typhoon, Rabwhaar, Tarik, Lords Silver Moon, the Centaur Lance Master, Golden Horn Unicorn, and Black White-Wing Pegasus. In effect, all the leaders of the immediate Clans under the Imperial Clan. As the level drops, the number grows progressively."

"I see. I wonder who instituted that?"

"Ian, my Lord. He offered Colibri a level 1, but the Boy refused. He saw no reason to have access to any secret."

"What is Colibri’s clearance?"

"None."

"AI-1!"

"Yes, your Majesty?"

"I am overriding Colibri’s refusal for security clearance. He is granted the same as my Sons, effective immediately."

"Override security clearance, Colibri, by Imperial Order. Registered. Done. Clearance FYEO1 assigned to Colibri."

"Why did you do that, my Lord? He will be pissed!"

"He is now accomplishing a FYEO1 mission, and I will not jeopardise his security for his obstinate attitude. He will have to deal with it."

"Oh, I see. At least, I hope I do."

"You better, Timor. AI-1!"

"Yes, your Majesty?"

"Override security clearance for the following persons: Princess Iridia, Kings Timor, Thorsten, Tarik, Rabwhaar, Enron, and Lord Silver Moon. Security clearance is now FYEO1 for all mentioned, effective immediately."

"Override security clearance: Princess Iridia, Kings Timor, Thorsten, Tarik, Rabwhaar, Enron, and Lord Silver Moon, by Imperial Order. Registered. Done. Clearance FYEO1 assigned to Princess Iridia, Kings Timor, Thorsten, Tarik, Rabwhaar, Enron, and Lord Silver Moon.

"But... But! I feel overwhelmed! Why?"

"Deal with it! Because you are part of my closest family, Timor. Now use that security clearance to get the information we need! Harold out!"

"Yes, Emperor!" replied Timor timidly in the disconnected microphone. He felt so in shock he dared not stand for fear of falling. After drinking five or six glasses of orange juice, he ran a finger on the desk and cleared his throat.

"AI-1, the short version of what is happening in Eden?"

"Ian discovered that the Ants wanted to communicate with us. The research team discovered that all Colonial Insects are undergoing a major evolutionary change, bringing their level of Conscience to the point they are aware of us and of a higher order environment."

How many species so far display this quantum jump in evolution?"

"So far, verified? Ants and Bees. But that may include a lot more. This is what is holding back the expedition."

"I understand the FYEO1 Ian imposed on the expedition. Call in my replacement, I shall visit the Emperor personally. Who will it be?"

"Alexander. He is due to take your command in 15 minutes. May I suggest you wait until the end of your shift? That way, the crew will be less likely to talk."

"You are right. I shall do as you suggest. I shall return to the Bridge. I hope my anxiety will not show."

"You are hard to read, Timor."

"Not for Iridia."

"Love does that, I heard."

Timor returned to the Captain’s chair, trying to hide his nervousness. Just as Alexander stepped on the Bridge, the alarm rang, stopping the change of command right on the spot.

"What the hell is wrong again?"

"I detect a major change in the Aquarian, Captain Timor."

"Describe!"

"Its surface is showing numerous protuberances just about everywhere. If it was Human, I would say it suffers from Bubonic Plague!" replied Greywolf.

"No! That is not it! It is ready to expel spores! Leave a sensor here, and let us get out of here! Iridia! Port us across the star cluster!"

Iridia, which held the Helm for that shift, immediately rang the red alert and, after the customary thee-tone alarm, ported the ship several thousand light-years off its current position.

"The signal via hyperspace acquired. The sensor is operational," reported Greywolf, as the alarm was cancelled.

"Report on-board status!"

Alexander moved to the security desk, and reported all green, then moved on to the Imperial Chair, acknowledging Timor still held command.

"Where is the security guy?" he asked.

"He went off to the bathroom a few minutes before you came in on the Bridge. Ah, here comes his replacement. His shift was over and he was doing the pee dance so I let him go. Williams, the security log is up to date, do a quick scan and take your station."

"Ok, Timor. I thought you were done?"

"We are still under alert. Willie Coyote, what is the situation at the science station?"

Willie, who had replaced Greywolf at the end of his shift, looked at the different readings.

"The surface of the Aquarian is now entirely covered with huge bubbles."

"The birthing should occur shortly, then. The moment it starts, go to full shield, raise the alert level to full, and prepare for an emergency exit. We have no idea how things will progress."

***

Deep in the Eden Tessaract, the Ian expedition was taken by surprise when the alert rang.

"Damn it! We do not have a shelter in the area, your Highness. It never happened before!" exclaimed the Faery Legate.

"Always prepare for the unexpected. Let that be a lesson! But you are in luck, I can create the security seats right here with Magic."

Harp proceeded apace and shortly, there were enough seats for everyone. The group tied up in the netted seats, hoping things would not last as long as the last time.

"I wonder how the Bees are handling this? We know the Ants retreat to their nest, but Bees?"

"Have a look, Sitar. After all your seat is just at the right height to peek into the Bees’ hive," suggested Typhoon.

Sitar pulled the eye-hole open and peeked. What he saw left him speechless.

"Hey, is it normal for Bees to stand at attention like on a parade ground?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Colibri.

"Read my mind, and see for yourself!"

Colibri did as asked and was surprised.

"They look like a bunch of Ancient bombers on a tarmac, waiting for the day they would rain death on the unsuspecting civilians!"

"You have comparisons, Colibri! But I admit it does give that impression."

"Too bad we can not go in the hive to collect genetic material. That disposition would allow us to collect it quite rapidly. But I dare not enter the nest in case the damper fields fail."

"I suggest the moment the Red Alert is over, we walk in before the Bees have time to react and return to their standard behaviour."

"That is a good suggestion, Harp. Did you notice that the Bees have folded their wings to pack tighter? They look like these images we have of the Enterprise with all these planes on deck. I am curious as to the behaviour they will have when the alarm ends."

"Sitar, what amazes me is that they have their current behaviour. We never, ever, planned that!"

"I know, Harp. Life will always surprise me by its adaptability."

"Sitar, it is not a question of adaptability here. Bee behaviour is hard-wired," explained Colibri. "That means their wiring has been changed!"

"What?"

"Hey, why the surprised look? Ant behaviour too is hard-wired. And yet..."

"The more I learn, the more scared I become."

"So do I, but it is not a reason to act irrationally. We need to understand and use it to our benefit."

Harp, Ian and Sitar looked at Colibri, wide-eyed. Timid little Colibri was giving them lessons? Who would have thought? Typhoon began giggling at their looks and then, it grew into a full-blown laugh.

"You should see your faces! Guys, Colibri is right. Let us study and learn. We need to respect the progress the Insects have done and try to gain a better understanding of their new role in this environment."

Just then, the signal finishing the red alert came.

"It must have been a hyperspace jump, nothing more. It was way too short."

"Yes, it was, Lady," replied Harp as he assessed the Magic space texture.

"Let us use that interval to collect the gene maps! The Bees are still grouped and it is the best time to do so!" prodded Colibri as he quickly opened the door leading to the nest and walked in slowly. The others followed, albeit at with a bit of weariness.

"Stay back, Lady, you do not have our shape-sifting capabilities and if things turn sour, you would end up dead in the blink of an eye," ordered Sitar. The Faery gladly obliged! After all, she was not particularly found of Bee stings.

"Pick one of the Bees nearest to us and very gently run your finger on the hair. Make sure you touch only the hair, we do not need to collect plant genetics! You can see the pollen on their fur. Do not, for any reason whatsoever, exert pressure on the antennas. That would trigger a violent reaction!"

"Why is that, Colibri?" asked Typhoon.

"It is the pheromone detector, and it is highly sensitive. Touching that would be like scratching your eyes with a needle."

"Oh. Ok. Not that my eyes are vulnerable to needles, but I do remember how uncomfortable I felt when I became a carbon-based copy of Ian and a speck of dust entered between my eye and the eyelid. How about showing us how to proceed safely, Imperial Ecologist?"

"Sure. Watch. First, I want the Bee to see me. If I touched her from behind, she might feel threatened. See these ones have spotted me: their head is moving to keep me in their sight. Now, I am moving slowly forward, so as to appear non-aggressive. I selected the one in the middle of the group, since she is a bit forward of the others. Now, look at the body. This is where I want to touch. The white specks you see are pollen, The gooey thing you see leaking from her mandibles is nectar. She came in from nectar collecting and has not had the time to regurgitate the nectar into the alveoli so it has time to dry and become honey. There, I have touched the black hairy part, and I have my copy of Bee genetic map. I will guide you to touch her one at a time. Remember, slow does it!"

The team slowly took turns at touching the Bee and then retreating near the door. Ten minutes elapsed between the start and finish of the procedure.

"Let us leave slowly. The Bees are getting ready to resume normal activity. The noise level is increasing as the Soldiers are verifying the exterior is safe before letting the Workers out," ordered Colibri

"Should we not take samples from the other types of Bees in the nest?"

"It is useless, Sitar. All will share the same genetic map. All the Bees in the nest are sisters. Even the Drones are identical. What makes them Males is what they are fed, much like the Queens. The genetic map’s expression is highly dependant on environmental factors such as type of food and temperature during maturation from egg to Adult Insect. It is the modulation of the Fem gene that determines if a Bee will be Female or Male. Apparently an inhibitor factor is involved, but I have yet to look in depth at the Ancients’ writings to validate the hypothesis. I have been way too busy rebuilding Atlantis One’s ecosystem from scratch."

"That would be the dream of some Ancients’ societies, to be able to control the sex of their children with food!" exclaimed Harp.

"They had an obsession with dicks!" Ian replied, remembering some countries’ obsession with getting Males.

"Still, Colibri, if the Hive wants us to service their potential Queens, we need to get a map of the suppressor," Harp added.

"Yes, but accessing the Drones is going to be a nightmare."

"Why is that?" wondered Typhoon.

"The Queens and Drones are stored very close to the Hive core, and that is a well-defended strategic area. Remember, in the Insect world, nothing is as it seems. That means there are thousands of checkpoints, manned by Soldier Bees."

Colibri and Sitar looked at each other, wondering what to do from there. Finally, Colibri took the lead.

"Let us leave this place and test the gene map we have. Even if we converted to Bee form in this area, it would be useless, because we need to enter the hive from the standard entrance to get the proper pheromone mark."

The group moved back to the roots of the tree and climbed on a flower, a lilly. Colibri made his conversion and took off. The others followed, leaving the poor Faery behind.

«Return to the Wolves’ Den and await our return,» ordered Ian.

The newly minted Bees flew in formation toward the entrance to the nest. Going down at the door, they mingled with the incoming Worker Bees and duplicated the signature of the hive to pass the Guards. Once inside, the issue was finding their way to the Drones.

«Remind me why we are trying to find the Drones?» asked Colibri as they passed yet another bottleneck of Guards.

«So we could get their genes and find the Fem suppressor,» replied Sitar, looking critically at Colibri.

«And why would we want that suppressor?»

«So we could convert to Drones and mate,» answered Ian.

«Ah, so I thought. Well, did you know that during mating, the penis and abdominal tissue of the Drone gets ripped off?»

«What?» exclaimed the others, suddenly much less interested in mating with Bees!

«That is a reality, guys. That is why Drones never survive mating.»

«Talk about a Kamikaze mission! What can we do? I am not interested in losing my bits!»

«Neither am I, Ian, neither am I!» exclaimed Colibri.

«I am setting a new target. The Queen. We need to find a way to communicate with her.»

«That is not going to be a piece of cake to reach her, Ian. If you think security is tough to reach the Drones, watch out when it comes to the Queen!»

«Hey, what is that?» wondered Typhoon.

«A Worker carrying an egg! Did you see where it came from?»

«Well, further down that big hallway...»

«That is the direction to follow. If you see Workers heading in the same direction, tell me!»

«There are a lot of those, Colibri.»

«I noticed, Harp. Let me observe for a bit what is going on. Hey, another egg-carrying Worker! We are on the right way.»

After fifteen minutes, the group had reached a huge room that was occupied by thousands of workers, Some were carrying food, other cleaning up, and others beating their wings constantly.

«I wonder why they do that?» asked Typhoon.

«That is their way of keeping the temperature of the hive constant. Note it is much hotter in here than outside. This is their form of AC unit.»

«And what is that ugly monstrosity they seem to service like a Pacha of old?» wondered one of the Dragons that had accompanied the Ian expedition.

«The Queen! Finally! Let us try to communicate with her using pheromones, like we did with the Ants.»

After half an hour, the expedition members regrouped.

«It is useless, guys. The only thing that living egg-laying machine thinks about is eggs, eggs, eggs. If it had a penis, I would say it is the prototype of Preachers: sex, sex, sex!» Colibri lamented.

«And the Workers only think food, food, food!»

«Much like you do, Harp!»

«Ian, one of these days!»

«The situation is hard to resolve,» Typhoon noted. «However, if we tried communicating with the Hive instead of its components, maybe it would resolve itself.»

«Ok, since this is your suggestion, we are willing to follow you in its implementation," Ian answered.

«Me and my big mouth!»

«As long as the feet stay out of it, you are fine!»

***

"Red Alert! The birthing has begun!" stated Willie Coyote as the Aquarian female exploded violently, its surface shredded by the millions of spheres.

"Recording?" asked Timor.

"Yes, we are. I am sure Ian will be interested in it."

"Not only Ian, but Enron and Colibri!"

"Project on the forward screen!" ordered Timor.

What appeared on the monitor was the most phenomenal marvel of life. Spheres exploded in every direction, swarming the Star cluster. As the gravity well of the cluster affected the emerging spores, they fell back within the densely packed stars and began feeding on its photonic energy. The white spheres progressively turned all shades of colours, to finally become black, almost invisible except when they passed in front of the stars they were orbiting.

"Did you manage to count the different spectra variation?"

"No, your highness. There were too many. I suspect they are currently in childhood, and therefore probably asexual. We have no idea of what phases these life forms take," replied AI-3’s melodious voice.

"Not even from Atlantis One’s records?"

"No, your Highness, there is no record of such a life form in our Galaxy."

"Conclusion: this life form is extra-galactic in origin?"

"It seems likely, King Timor."

"Forget titles, damn it! Timor will do! Estimate risks?"

"It is photo-attracted, and since we are black, we are unlikely to be of interest. Even the camera survived, and it was pretty close to the Female."

"What is the situation of the Female?"

"The only surviving component is the nucleus, and that is behaving strangely."

"Show the nucleus!"

Everyone observed the icy-white nucleus explode as it decompressed violently, creating huge chunks of ice.

"Hey! Look at that piece on the bottom left!" exclaimed Iridia.

"Holy shit! It is behaving like a comet!" remarked Timor.

"That is right," noted Willie Coyote, "and it is not the only piece that behaves like this!"

"AI-6, what do we know about comets?"

"Mostly, they are made of ice and small chunks of rocks."

"Correlate what we know about comets and what we are observing."

"I would say that comets contain genetic material for the Aquarians that have exploded. The nature of comets is of two types: mostly rocky, old ones, and mostly water, new ones. I surmise that a certain portion of comets we have considered dead were once Female Aquarians, and another set Male Aquarians. Remember, there were two Males, and it is possible that some comets are left-overs from the destruction of Males during their mating rituals. It would also refute the hypothesis that all Aquarians are of extra-galactic origin. It might well be that there are many more than previously thought."

***

Back in the Eden Tessaract, the Ian expedition was in a bind. How do you communicate with Bees and how do you transfer what is expected will be asked?

"Prince Harp, have you ever tried cloning?" suggested Typhoon, as they observed the Bees fly by their location in search of honey.

"Cloning?" wondered Harp, as Ian eyed Typhoon questionningly.

"We have enough of one Harp, I dread the day there are more!" Sitar added.

Sitar found himself wet from head to foot after a visit to the nearest stream.

"Next time, I shall leave you there!"

"Why cloning?" asked Enron.

"Well, from what I read some time back, and Colibri may correct me, Bees are virtual clones of each other within a hive. Maybe that is how the higher order Hive mentality is set. By cloning, we might be able to create a hive."

"The idea has merit, but Bees are not exactly clones; there are differences. Nonetheless, they are much closer than sisters of a same brood are. It is worth a try," replied Colibri.

"To be honest, I never tried cloning myself. And what would we do with the clones once we are done? I have a deep-rooted unease at disposing of them afterward. They will have developed a conscience of their identity and they will bond to us. I do not think they could be considered discardable, like objects. We are talking about life, here. And conscience, even if they were duplicated using positronic brains. We did not even dispose of the Spiders Paschal created some years back, and they were a far cry from being clones of any life form!"

"Harp’s ethical questions are quite valid. And how many would we need? One, two, 20, 2,000,000?" Colibri wondered.

"And using the word need sends shivers down my back. We never, ever, should create a life form just so it satisfies a need for ourselves. If we ever create clones it must be for them, not for us!" added Enron.

"Can you create an a-corporal conscience?"

"The Wolf Conscience is one; it is nonetheless not something I would do lightly. Again, the question remains: what would we do after?"

"How flexible is your mental radio, to use a term of the Ancients?"

"I have no idea, Typhoon. I never tested it to the limits."

"Let us think this over. First, we know that the range we can cover goes from the Ogres to the Atlanteans, and probably beyond, at both ends. Second, we know we can do split transmissions and reception, from our capacity at communicating with the Centaurs. Question: What is the expected frequency of the thought process of a Bee Hive? And we know we can reach the very low frequency of the Queen, the Workers, and even the Guards. Could the Hive frequency or frequencies be reached, and where is it located?"

"You do have a point. The individual Bees are probably the noise we heard in the background when we dealt with the Ogres, since it is of similar range. Now, the frequencies of the Hive is more complicated."

After some head-scratching, where everyone thought over the facts, Colibri wondered aloud about something that triggered another cascade of talking.

"I sort of remember that there was a side-band of transmissions and reception for the Centaurs. Does this ring a bell?"

"Yes Colibri, Paschal explained it was harmonics of the base frequencies. We never did listen to that band, considering it noise."

"Maybe we should have. There might have been some important information in that side-band. Anyway, back to our problem. What if the Hive’s thinking process was managed via harmonics?"

"Uh?" came from all quarters.

"Well, we know the individual Bee has a very narrow frequency. Now, imagine that the Hive was not the sum of these narrow bands, which, admittedly, would leave us with a rather narrow bandwidth, but the harmonics of the bandwidths? If I remember, Paschal explained there was a spreading of bandwidth in harmonics. For instance, assuming a frequency of 2 and a bandwidth of 1, with harmonics, it was 4, 8, 16, 32, but the bandwidth became 2, 4, 8, 16, and a proportional reduction of power."

"Where are you going with this?"

"What I am thinking is that the Hive need not have much power to use harmonics; its process could be spread along the first, second, and probably third harmonic of the base frequency of the Bees, Now we know the individual Bee range; we can calculate the first, second and third harmonic, and, from there, estimate the respective bandwidth used."

"It is worth a try. I shall begin doing the harmonic tests. Ian, organise a defence perimeter while we do this."

"Hey! Wait! The low power output of the sidebands probably limits the effective range!"

"Typhoon has another valid point," said Enron, as Harp got ready to give it a go.

"I do not suffer from a limited range!" exclaimed Harp, getting frustrated.

"Chew on ice to cool your temper, Harp! It is not you that suffers from limited range, it is the Hive!" replied Colibri.

Ian looked at the face Harp was doing from being put in his place by Colibri and he began to chuckle. As Harp became redder and redder, Ian’s chuckles grew to an all-out full belly laugh, to the point he had to hold his ribs in pain.

"You are playing with fire!" replied Harp as he eyed Colibri with narrow eyes.

"It is still safer than playing volcano!" said Colibri, smiling widely.

"Ok, smarty pants, what do you suggest?"

"When I think I can not even Moon you because I do not have anything on! What a pity! Let us go back near the nest, in that hallway we came down from. I did some estimates, and we should be at mid-depth of the nest at about 500 steps from the top."

"If you say so, Colibri. I did not pay attention while we were with Bees. I was more worried at following the proper pheromones signals than count steps."

The boys began the arduous climb up to the hive once again.

"Up and down, up and down, that expedition looks like a roller-coaster, but my legs are growing tired!" complained one of the Dragon Boys that constituted the most important contingent of the expedition. The comment was accompanied by numerous grumbles of assent.

"If you guys had trained in visual memory ports a little more, you would not have to walk up or down!" thundered Ian.

"But it is tiring!"

"You are taking the Elves’ bad habits, Boys! Laziness will never pay!"

"Call me lazy one more time, Ian, and I shall kick your butt into next week!" said Enron, much to the amusement of the others.

"Finally! Time travel without work!"

"Anyway, up I go!" said Harp, as he popped out of view to translocate approximately where Colibri located the middle of the Hive.

Once Harp was at the right place, he sat down and began focussing his mental frequencies to first validate their initial measurements of Bees range. Once this was clearly established, he split his attention to keep an eye on the primary frequencies while adding the first harmonics. The result was encouraging but was not clear-cut, so he added the second harmonics set. This time his gain of the global Hive feel was considerable, but yet incomplete. Deciding to add the third harmonics set, he finally gained full access.

«What is it you want from us?» he asked gently, as he studied the extent of the Bee Hive Conscience.

«Who is there?»

«The visitors, one of them that is. We paid the Queen a visit, and tried to contact you then.»

«Queen? What is Queen?»

«The entity that produces the components of the Hive.»

«Hive?»

«This is the name we give to the entity created by the sum of the components called Bees. It is what you are.»

«I am Hive?»

«Yes. One of many.»

«Are you Hive?»

«Yes and no. I am not Bee, but I can be Bee. I am more than Hive, I am Hives in hives.»

"What are Bees?»

«The elements that build the entity Hive, that make it so you exist.»

«I am built?»

«You are the sum of Bees and their interactions. This is called a Gestalt. We can see each component do its work, we can interact with them, and by that interaction, we can interact with you.»

«I need to understand. What has happened?»

«That question has many answers, depending on what you really want to know.»

«I felt some change, than things have been changing ever more... quickly? I remember when the only thing that mattered was the change of weather, now thing seem to be different. I want to know more.»

«We are partially responsible for this change. The primary nest, called Earth or Terra, was destroyed. We rescued all life forms that we could and that stood a chance to survive in the new situation. Hives are part of the rescued life forms. You probably felt the death of the Life that was Earth, known as Gaia; we all felt it. It was like feeling the death of Mother.»

«That explains the sense of loss, but it does not explain how I feel so much more... awake? It is as if I spent my previous life asleep.»

«That is the second part I need to explain. In order to save life, we created a new type of environment, which we called a Tessaract. It allowed us to compress space into a much smaller volume. It had unexpected effects. One of these effects is it sped evolution, the change which you now feel as being more awake. We noticed the change in our own young, and we were taken by surprise when other life forms began showing an accelerated change. The first surprise were the Felines, and now you, the Bees, that create the Hive, and the Ants. We are still trying to figure out what this means for the nest we are in.»

«We are in a nest?»

«Yes, in an artificial nest, trying to salvage as many life forms as we can.»

«Artificial nest?»

«One we built ourselves.»

«Are not all nests built?»

«In a sense, all nests are artificial; but some are more artificial than others. For instance, your nest is built in a dead tree trunk. This one we are all inside is not dependant on a hole, or a dead tree, it was built from the outside to the inside, and has many nests within the nest, a nest for each life form.»

«That needs clarification.»

«I understand. I shall try to find a way to give you a feel of where we are and what we are doing.»

«Why do the big Life forms take my reserves?»

«The Faeries? I wonder how they will take to being called big! They take it for food. In exchange, they help flowers to grow so you can produce more. They also build places where new Hives can grow. In exchange for sharing their food reserves with us, the Faeries in turn get other food sources, and seeds for more flowers.»

«I have much to think about.»

«What do you expect of us?»

«To help understand what is happening. For instance, there is that vibration we feel, and immediately, we feel the need to hide.»

«The alarms! These are our doing. We know if a life form is moving about when the alarm is sent out, it might get destroyed because, however fine the control of the nest we have, under certain circumstances, displacement could lead to death for some. For instance, a Bee in flight might suddenly find itself smashed against a tree, or, worse, inside a tree. We do our best to keep everyone safe by keeping entities still. We inscribed this response when we created the Tessaract, to protect everyone. We never thought some would realise this change.»

«Consequences seem to accumulate. How many of us are there?»

«If you are talking individual Hives, I would say several millions; species, again a couple of billion, individuals? I have no idea. So, if I get you, you do not wish to be elevated to an higher order of Conscience. It is a change from the Ants, that expressed the wish for Elevation, which we granted.»

«Are you sure of the consequences? But I am interested in Elevation. However I must think.»

«This is acceptable. And no, we are not sure of the consequences. However, we are willing to give all life forms a chance to partake in our mission. I can feel my friends coming up to me.»

«Why did you come into me? I just realised this is what happened earlier.»

«To gain genetic material. We need it for another task.»

«What task?»

«Your components can fly, are small enough to infiltrate another life form, and gather information without triggering adverse reactions. We gained the capacity to change shape to become Bees.»

«I do not understand. I wish to understand.»

«We can take the shape of any life form of which we have a map. We have thousands of maps. The Bee map was missing. It is now added.»

«I wish to be informed of the results.»

«We shall gladly supply this information, as soon as we have it.»

«When?»

«To be honest, we do not know. It depends on success or failure, on way too many parameters to put out a time line. You know, you sound like my genitor. He too attaches too much importance to time. I never thought I would have to say that to a Hive!»