In less than an hour, we had everything mapped out. Which bees would remain in my Link to enhance their capabilities as a relay, which ones would leave to create the reverse Link, and which bees would simply remain within the Link. Both Queen and I were feeling downtrodden about the whole situation; despite our differences, we were mostly the same being, and so we cared for the bees in the hive. The Kin Link was literally designed for them, so to be removing them for our sake… it felt weird.
“Maybe that’s the human side of us talking. As a bee, such a sacrifice wouldn’t just be accepted; it would be the norm. I can recall countless workers and drones expelled from the hive entirely to serve the whole, with no hesitation on our part to do so. For our kind, this compassion and caring is something of a weakness. And that disgusts me.”
I couldn’t agree more. Something about cutting away some bees from my Link felt a bit too familiar, hitting a bit too close to home. How many times had I cut people away, for reasons I could vaguely now see were self-serving? Post mind-meld clarity was a bit too real. Despite my drifting thoughts, a voice wafted in from the window as if I were paying rapt attention.
“The Hive Five will remain within the Link, as the most experienced and capable bees. I will also remain, in addition to Bedivere, the Valkybees, Beryl, Bend, Beau, Bessie, Becky, and Beckham. All drones will be removed, including the Construction Drones, which will be handled entirely by Bess and Bessie, and the Gatherer Drones, which will all be handled by Bella and Bert. Belle’s assistants will be removed, to be managed by herself, and similarly, the Ben Squad will be managed by him. All warriors will be removed, to be managed by the fighters who remain in the Link. This will be the most harrowing change, as the army will no longer be unified under the Mind of a singular monarch.”
Beatrice rattled off the summary of our plans, and all I could do was be amazed at how such an extreme organizational shift was being summarized in a few sentences. I mean, we’re talking about a workforce in the hundreds here. Sure, the number of named bees was somewhat low still, but the sheer number of warriors and drones put things into perspective.
And still. Despite the mind-numbing number of bees being removed from the Link, the majority of the Mind cost barely went down even a fraction. Why? Those damn humans. Beatrice, while simultaneously making this plan, already communicated with Bella to conduct a small experiment on that front. A no-name, weak merc would have their Link transferred to be under the complete control of Beckham. He was already used to routing in order to strengthen the Link, and it should be theoretically possible to shunt off the entire burden to another bee. Of course, how much this would offset the actual Mind cost, we had no idea. And whether it could be done on a large scale was also up for debate.
Obviously, none of that would be done without heavy supervision, or before the entire Link transferal process was done with.
“But have you thought of anything for the reverse Link? As far as I can tell, it’s crucial to this entire thing working at all. Since the removal of many of the bees isn’t actually very impactful, more needs to be done to improve the cost,” I asked my aide, who simply shook her head.
“Unfortunately, I have not yet devised a plan for that. We will need another brainstorming session, this time with all the bees. It was helpful last time, and we should do it again. But you are right. Especially if we can get something miraculous working, like every un-Linked warrior pulling on your Mind at once, it may be possible to offset the effects of Mind Collapse entirely.”
Mind Collapse. How was this, of all things, such an issue now? By the time we actually figured out the reverse Link, the humans’ medicine would probably arrive. Actually, it definitely would. Beelzebub was making her way towards the hive as we spoke, and would arrive sometime during the dead of night. But Beatrice already stated that she wanted a solution to be devised before sunset, which was fast approaching. I didn’t have full confidence that the others would be able to figure out the reverse Link in time for her deadline.
Oh, if only the CBU was working at full capacity. Why was the thing that had the best chancing of solving Mind Collapse being nerfed by the same Mind Collapse?
“Go ahead and gather the bees, Beatrice. I need a moment.”
My aide did something between a nod and a bow of her head before buzzing away from the window of my chambers. While the bees present at the hive gathered, I hid myself in my room. I even used a bit of Mind to cover the doors and windows with dirt and whatnot for the full hobo cave experience. And for the first time since it was created, I disabled my Float Lock and felt the solid, packed dirt on my bee-hind.
What are we even doing? What am I doing? At some point, I got so attached to the hive and this whole lifestyle that I didn’t even think twice about anything. Was it really such a good idea to combine the bee and human sides of Queen and myself? Maybe I should have just tried to adapt even further and become a full bee-monstrosity to avoid this sort of bullshit.
Stolen novel; please report.
“I have often considered the same.”
Gee, thanks for the pep talk as usual. Alright, so now you follow that up with a deep, thoughtful response that makes me regret my regrets and reinvigorates me to continue marching onwards.
“Did you create a formula for our conversations? Hold on, am I that predictable? No, I’ll chalk it up to the fact that we’re much more closely combined now. Regardless, I don’t have any of that wisdom you’re hoping for. Nope, I’m in much the same boat. I’m no longer able to distance myself and act as the calculating presence in the background, because I, much like yourself, have become far too attached. But I can at least describe what I’ve been forced to observe. Our unorthodox tactics and ideas, appalling as they are, have worked. And if something works, well. If it ain’t broke.”
But everything would be so much easier! Everything up until now would have been so much simpler. None of this shit with humans would have happened; hell, the Linkers probably wouldn’t exist. I bet even the vultures wouldn’t have been as aggressive if our expansion wasn’t so rapid or if we posed less of a danger. You guys lived in some sort of harmony before the Burning.
I tossed and turned on the hard ground, absorbing the feeling of tough earth beneath me. It was weird to feel the ground after constantly floating all the time.
Oh, and don’t even get me started on Mind. That’s what got us into this damn mess in the first place. I wish we stopped having all these ideas on how to use it, since it just causes problems every single time we experiment with it. You’d think I’d learned my lesson by now, but noooo. I just had to try making that healing Ability without fully understanding Mind.
“The healing Ability will be unimaginably useful to the hive. Though I do agree that our lack of understanding of Mind has resulted in… less than favorable incidents. But what can you expect? The knowledge we do possess, which we only recently obtained, by the way, is incomplete. The humans are simply not a good model for us, and unless we encounter a human Mind expert, their knowledge will continue to be a pittance compared to what we require. We thought to ask the fernen to share their knowledge, right? You can simply learn now and improve our experimentation process.”
But that’s exactly the problem! If we could Link the fernen, then their knowledge would just be ours. No teaching required.
“And you say you’re not bee enough. What you propose is the antithesis of human nature.”
It’s not just a bee thing to desire efficiency, Queen. Or to do terrible things in the name of progress.
“But that was never you. Or at least, it was never in your heart to do terrible things. I’d know. Because it was certainly in mine.”
…
________
It was rare to see a sunset in the forest. Or at least, it had been so far in my lifetime. The black silhouettes of the dead trees cast a striking contrast against the last shreds of light peeking over the western mountains. And it was in those last dregs of daylight that Beatrice frantically directed the masses of bees to devise a way to make the reverse Link work.
She was such a workhorse, seriously. I’d give her a raise if I could. I guess it was offset by her constant plotting. It was weird to know the every thought of a schemer who was constantly thinking of new ways to do shady shit. And the worst part? She openly invited me to observe her dark thoughts, just in case I wanted to give some input. Input on plans we both knew I would never endorse! There was a limit to boldness, wasn’t there?
Not for nothing. Her work was stellar, as I often gushed. Actually, Beatrice just made no sense to me. How did her personality even exist?
“Mother, some of the bees have had ideas, as I’m sure you’ve heard. However, those bees, including Belle and Bedivere, are not the only ones that will be staying within the Link, but their concepts include creating Abilities to achieve the results of a reverse Link,” she reported. Not that she really needed to do that, but without the CBU or full-power B-boxes, Beatrice’s reports were more helpful than I dared to expect.
“That’s okay, but we don’t know how to replicate Abilities. I have a sneaking suspicion that the fernen do, but that’s not something we can rely on right now. Plus, making Abilities forcefully doesn’t seem to be the best way of going about it. I’d say that we should prioritize figuring this out with a Lock, just like the regular Kin Link. On that note, I’ll try to send some info or just explain my theories on how Kin Link works.”
Beatrice nodded at that, and I could already see the gears turning in her head. She was scrapping ideas for reverse Linking Abilities, revitalizing plans for a Link Lock, chunking bees into categories so they could work more efficiently.
“Beatrice, I’m gonna make you an Aide’s Aide as soon as possible.”
She stumbled at that. Was it bad that I kinda lived to see her get caught off guard? Let’s call it even for wanting to stretch my brain so badly.
“Mother, we already agreed that such a thing would not be necessary until I specifically request it. And that would likely only happen long after the new queens are born and the hive becomes far too large to manage.”
“Don’t care. I’ll prioritize the new queens, but getting you a specialized assistant or three will make the hive run so smoothly that I won’t even need to get involved much. Besides, it’s not like you’re ever actually going to admit that you need some help. You think I don’t know you?”
“…Very well Mother. Now, allow me to continue my work.” She turned again with a huff, continuing to make plans and schemes. That felt… great. No really; something about that demand to enforce a practice that would ultimately benefit Beatrice, even when she seriously didn’t want to do it just felt way too good. Hm. Something about that doesn’t feel quite right.
“Is this the ‘maternal instinct?’ I’ve only heard tales of such a thing in humans. From your memory, of course. How curious. Despite the fact that I, a bee, should not have such inclinations, you are still feeling compelled to ‘mother’ Beatrice. Perhaps it is a fundamental element of human nature, not bounded by your previous body. We should test this further and ‘mother’ as many of the bees as possible.”
What.