“By the Forest. What has it done to her?”

I ignored Enfla’s worried question and kept pacing next to a rock. It was stained black, but some brown and gray coloring was finally visible on its surface. The rains that had recently begun reminded me that there was still work to be done to make the inside of the hive look and feel like home. It was still a wasteland, and I had long since planned to change that. But it was among other things had overcrowded my Mind for too long. I needed focus, just like Feltan taught me. Thankfully, I had found that focus. Focus was strangely easier to come by when a single massive problem was staring you down like a hungry beast rather than when beset upon by innumerable little mosquitoes.

“The Highqueen was attempting to help a friend. By… performing a ritual of sorts on the human. I suppose it accelerated her condition?”

“Condition? Do you mean death, Feltan?”

Enfla was pissed enough that Feltan didn’t correct her use of his regular name. I’d been observing him ever since he and his friends appeared on our doorstep, so I knew. Elofan, Follo, Enfla, those were his closest friends. Like any good leader, Feltan’s people were his weakness. But these three especially. They were the only ones besides his father that sometimes slipped, calling him by his name rather than his title, not that he didn’t try to correct them. I hadn’t informed him about the goings-on in Lemonholm and I didn’t plan to, at least until that group was close or he was distracted. Thankfully, he kinda expected wild stories from Elofan, or so I imagined. She seemed like a bit of a wild card. Enfla, though… It was pretty clear the dynamic these two had.

“Oh yes, very clear. Though you seemed quite surprised when I told you.”

How does that even make sense? You’re a bee. Bees don’t love, don’t have romantic attachments, at least not normal ones. And as far as the bees we know, you’re as normal as it gets.

“Thank you for retaining your pigheadedness. I don’t know what I would do if that trait begins to soak into me.”

Oh, it’ll get there, I’m sure. The heated words being exchanged by the pair of fernen had already faded into the background, so I continued to think as I waited. What were my options for Yelah alternatives? As time passed, I felt the weight of her suffering ease off my Mind, and the guilt and panic faded away just like the conversation between the two star-crossed best friends. Whatever had come over me when a piece of me was replacing Yelah’s Mind was soon to be gone, which would be good. Forget my focus, it was bad for my damn heart. And right now, we needed solutions, not tears.

“Ask the CBU. It seems annoyingly eager to solve my plight, surely for no selfish reasons at all.”

I’ve already tried, and all it wants to tell me is that Yelah is the perfect fit and any other option would be terribly inefficient or just impossible. Also, technically, your plight is entirely selfish. Not that that’s a bad thing! It just is selfish! Being able to control your own body does nothing for the hive, nor does it do anything for anyone else. Ergo, selfish. Pretty big step for you, huh Queen? Bet you’ve never done anything selfish in your life.

“Of course I haven’t! Why do you think I am so distressed, you fool? Have some tact, man. I should want nothing for myself. Did you know, when a bee is close to death, their number one priority becomes to leave the hive? We do not want a disease or sickness to spread to the rest of the hive, so we leave our families and everything we have ever known to die, alone in the cruel world. And our death is a glad one, knowing we give everything of ourselves even to our last breath.

“My own mother sacrificed her life so that I and my sisters might escape. I watched as each of my fellow queens each died in flames and smoke, knowing only now that they too gave their lives to allow me, the youngest, the strongest, to escape. I felt the sadness of my eldest sister when I became injured. And all of that was not for me. I didn’t intend to survive for me. The sacrifices, the sadness, that was all because the hive would not live on.

“So here I am. Alongside you in my head. I should be overjoyed. Overjoyed I tell you! At the fact that together, we have created a new hive, one that we will grow until our last breath. I should beg you to stop everything right now and do the most important thing a queen could do: make more queens. It has been bugging you, no? That we have been unable to raise Egg Making to the level we need? I think I know why. It is my fault. Deep down, it no longer became the thing I desired most. Desire is important, you know? But no. I want things. I want things for myself. I want a body to move, to see, to hug our children. More than anything, that is what I want.”

I sat in silence for a moment, letting Queen rant. When she stopped, either to collect her thoughts or calm herself, I tentatively imagined myself patting her on the head. It was a weird thing to try and imagine, but it seemed to bring her back to reality.

Hey, I mean, as a human, it works for us. As long as that selfishness doesn’t get out of control, it’s not all bad. And maybe selfish was the wrong word. I don’t think it’s selfish to want what you want. What can you do? We’re gonna work tirelessly to get you what you want, and we’ll get right back to being busy. No problem at all.

“It is a problem.” Somehow, she sniffed. “Thank you for agreeing to help me. It is a lot, isn’t it?”

I can’t lie to you, so yeah. It absolutely is a lot. But, hey. We’re brain buddies. Pretty much the same human-bee hybrid over here, so how can I not help you? Just. One thing, if that’s all right with you?

“Of course. I already know what you want, and although it is an equally selfish request, I promise I will do everything to make sure it is done.”

A light tap on my shoulder made me turn, coming face-to-face with Enfla. Feltan was some distance away, kicking a rock like a scolded child, and Enfla looked like she wanted to give me the same treatment. However, she grit her teeth and spoke to me in a courteous manner.

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“Highqueen, I understand you wish to know how long the human has left to live?”

Yelah’s voice called from behind, making Enfla jump. Even though she was dying, I could still use her Link just fine. How else was I supposed to talk to the fernen? Still a bee.

“Oh, yes, please. I’m still impressed you sensed her condition before even I could. As far as I’m aware, that’s no small feat.”

“I have always been, ah, sensitive. It is not always a boon. Such a power makes it difficult to scold small children when I catch them doing something they most definitely shouldn’t.”

If I had eyebrows, they’d be raised so hard right now. The best I could do was make my antennae twitch, and Enfla seemed satisfied that I got the message. Dealing with her was not something I looked forward to. She was way too unruly with me. And not in a way that justified Linking her, either.

“As for the woman, it doesn’t look good. I give her a few days at most. If you wanted me to make a specific guess, I would say no more than three. Anything beyond that is luck or immense willpower. At the absolute best, she has five days, and not a minute more.”

“Well, no shortage of willpower there. I think I’ll stay on the safe side, though.”

Enfla looked at me, her eyes hard. “You do not seem overly concerned, not that I would expect you to be. But that does clash against wanting to know how much time she has left to live. If you might graciously humor me, what do you intend to do? Her condition is not something that can be cured, though that is as far as my knowledge takes me. You are clearly a creature of incredible resourcefulness, but I would find it hard to imagine that even you know of a way to save her life.”

“Her life, I can save. Unfortunately, that way involves something a touch more cruel than some medicine and a kiss on the forehead. She would be losing something more dear to her than life. Permanently. I only ask you because I need to know how much time I have to explore other options.”

“Other options to save her?”

I looked to the side at a squirrel. I had called the squirrel, one of the few creatures I had Linked that wasn’t a human, over to the once-grotto when I resolved myself to try other solutions. As if it knew my intentions, a surge of survival instinct came over the squirrel, which I squashed. I just as quickly withdrew, though. Suppressing Minds too thoroughly through the Link was something I should probably get used to not doing, seeing the consequences. As if it were a small training exercise, I tried to make the squirrel stay still without being too heavy-handed in my control. This was going to be impossible for all the humans and whatnot. I looked back at Enfla’s face, half turned and looking to Yelah.

“No,” I said.

Come on. Just go inside. You know you want to. Get in the squirrel.

Like a spoiled child, the CBU tried to refuse. ‘No, I only want the yummy human brain!’ I imagined it saying. Queen did not find similar amusement in my imaginings. Feltan and I had determined that this was now a me problem, and escorted me back to the village for a short parlay before sending me on my way. Rude bastard. It was like he and his girlfriend didn’t want soul-crushing rituals and corruptions of the fabric of nature from happening in their backyard. No matter. I knew how I could do the Mind transfer stuff now, at least mostly, so I didn’t need Feltan’s help anyway.

So, I had made my way back to the hive and settled at a familiar riverbank, only a little ways away from the central hive. None of the bees were around, all out in the forest or beginning construction work on the underground hive or working inside the central hive itself. Which was exactly what I wanted. I didn’t want to admit it, but thinking of the bees was a little offputting to me right now.

“You have nothing to fear from our children. They are confused. Frightened. That is all.”

I know. But the nerve of those kids! Did you see the way they looked at me? Why do you think I’ve been locked in my damn room recently? Why I decided to do this thing for you immediately?

“I know. But it is still quite dumb. They still adore us.”

That conversation didn’t need to be entertained further, at least not now. Right now, I was focused on the task at hand, which was keeping the squirrel calm as we sent a supercomputer made of my brain into its head. Finally, the CBU relented, ultimately a tool at my whim. Just like with Yelah, I sent a single little box to explore its headspace, just a little experiment. I’d let it roam around for a few minutes, testing the waters, before it deemed the squirrel’s Mind suitable for further experimentation. The squirrel froze without my direct interference. Which was maybe a good sign? That or its little squirrel Mind was freaking the hell out right about now.

As we waited, Queen hemmed and hawed while I thought about my stinking silly life. Not my current one, my current one was pretty alright, at least sometimes. No, I was thinking of my life before all this. It was sobering; I hadn’t given my old life much thought in a long time, or what felt like a long time in the ever-busy life of the hive. Maybe Yelah’s body was making me feel nostalgic. I found my thoughts drifting to my pens. It hadn’t crossed my thoughts until just now, but I had hands again just a couple hours ago. If we end up taking over a human body, the first thing I’d ask Queen to do with it was find a good stick to twirl between our fingers. The Shaft was a decent alternative, but it still wasn’t quite the same. Even now, it spun lazily in the air, though I had to be careful lest I let it rise too high and puncture the dome.

“Is this really a valid option?”

What? You get excited for a body but not when it’s a squirrel?

“No. Well, maybe a little. But I mean more about its Mind. Would it really be able to handle us being in there?”

The connection was strengthening, and the CBU was getting bolder, doing the same it had done to Yelah’s Mind. Soon enough, it would allow us to see out of its eyes just like it had done for Yelah, but I was trying to be cautious, so we had let it roam a little just to make sure it was safe. That’s the point of this experime-

As I was about to respond, the squirrel’s head exploded. And I don’t mean that in a metaphorical sense. I mean little bits of blood started raining on my dumbstruck face. It was brutal, and it reminded me of way back when I had first come to this riverbed. This was the spot where I found water and hungrily devoured a boar carcass, though not before exploding the squirrel that had found it first with my inexperienced Mind squeeze.

“Oh.”

Oh is right. Jeez, that was brutal. The squirrel’s body was still frozen in place, standing and shrugging its shoulders. It died standing up, poor bastard. Ah, damn it. Did that mean the B-box we sent in there was gone forever? I felt for the thin, thread-like B-box attached to the CBU, which was supposed to be connected to the piece of itself it had sent through the Link. To my dismay, it was shattered and useless, cut off just like the Link itself. Which meant the Box it was supposed to be attached to was gone, scattered to the wind like so many bits of squirrel brain. I allowed the CBU to absorb the broken B-box and instructed it to grow another attachment. It seemed… annoyed. Like it wasn’t used to failure. Which, I suppose it wasn’t. Not that I usually allowed it to try crazy shit independently.

“Great. Now what? Were there any more brilliant ideas?”

Oh sure. Plenty. Eh, well, brilliant isn’t the word I’d use for them. But they’re ideas.