Mari and David stared at the massive hive. The branches were just covered with honeycombs, sagging under the weight of the bees and their hive.
“That is a lot of bees,” Mari said. Good thing we’re not allergic, but…
“Yeah. And right over the breach,” David muttered. “We could… Go back and ask for more equipment?”
“You think they have bee suits?” Mari asked.
“No, but maybe they could call a beekeeper…” David closed his eyes. “And yeah, that sounded stupid, so no need to mock me for thinking about calling a beekeeper for our secret mission.”
“Yeah.” Mari touched the buttons on her wrist control unit. “Look, we don’t have to put the storage units directly on the breach.”
“Yeah, but the breach will keep letting aether in.” David frowned, then nodded. “But we only need the sealer for that, so we put the storage units away from where the hive is…”
“And we won’t piss off the murder-bugs.” Mari nodded. “But how do we get the sealer in…”
“That’s easy,” David said. “C’mon.” They backed out from the hollow, Mari keeping a suspicious gaze on the hive as they retreated.
A few minutes later, they were back at the van as David opened the rear doors and pulled out a long pole. “Grab the duct tape.” Mari looked through the toolbox and grabbed the tape, then stared at David. David cocked his head at her look. “What?”
“We’re part of a supertech conspiracy to seal breaches from another dimension that are breaking into our world, and you’re… taping the sealer to the end of a pole.”
“Yeah?”
Mari shrugged. “Just wondering how many bad guys would have won if they’d just stayed practical like that. I knew there was a reason I allowed you to bask in my wisdom.”
“Oh, very well,” David said. “C’mon over here and help me attaching the sealer unit while you’re letting me bask.”
“Sure,” Mari said, then giggled as she helped him wrap the unit in duct tape. “Seriously, this is so awesome that we’re doing this!”
“Well, it’ll be more awesome when we’re finished. Let’s go.”
It took a few minutes, especially since they were moving more carefully now that they knew what was waiting for them. Mari kept watch on the beehive while David set up the storage units, all of them safely away from the big hive.
“And… They’re active.” He looked over at one unit. “And sensors agree, the level is going down.”
“Right,” Mari said, her own HUD was showing the level ranging between 0.00 and 0.1. “But the breach is still putting out stuff, so we…”
“Gotta close it.” David nodded. “Give me a hand.”
Mari nodded as David collected the storage units. Anything below level 1 will dissipate naturally and harmlessly, once the breach is sealed. Mari smirked. Take that, otherworldly energy!
Then she and David held the pole, the plastic slick under Mari’s sweaty skin. The air was heavy and hot, the rumble of the bees going about their business loud in her ears.
Even in the summer, it can get cold at night. I bet that’s why they put their hive here, where the plants will hold the heat in.
“Okay…” David said. “We’re close enough.”
Mari glanced at the sealer, and nodded—her HUD was outlining it in flashing green.
“So, will you do the honors?” David asked.
“I thought you’d never ask!” Mari said with a grin. David held onto the pole while she reached over and touched the button on her control unit. The beeping of an active sealer started up in her ears, even as she heard the soft, high-pitched whine of the sealer itself.
“And we’re…”—Mari looked up—”What is that?”
“That” was the sound of the bees, their rumble getting louder and louder, as individual insects dropped from the honeycombs, buzzing around in an agitated cloud.
“Mari…” David said in a totally calm voice, “did you remember the stuff we read saying anything about whether or not this equipment might piss off a few hundred thousand bees? Because I think it’s pissed off a few hundred thousand bees…”
Mari touched the button on her aetheric neutralizer and pointed it at the hive.
“What are you going to do, give them a sunburn?!” David said. “Run!” He didn’t hesitate, grabbing Mari by the shoulder and pushing her back the way they came, the sealer laying abandoned on the ground.
A cheery tone sounded in Mari’s ears, followed by a female voice. “Breach sealed!”
Which would have been great, you know, except for barely being able to hear it over the rumbling sound of a bazillion pissed-off bees!
They exploded from the undergrowth, David now hanging onto Mari’s arm as he helped pull the shorter girl up the embankment. Mari didn’t mind.
Especially not when she looked back and saw a huge black cloud rise above the plants. They got to the van, just ahead of the cloud of death. Mari opened the door and dove in, squawking when David landed on top of her. There was a moment of panic as they realized that the door was still open, and with much flailing and screaming, managed to close it.
“Did you scream like a girl?” Mari asked.
“Did you scream like a man?” David replied.
“Yes. Manfully. I screamed very manfully.” Mari nodded. Then she looked up as a shadow covered the front window. I didn’t think there were any clouds—oh, no, it’s just the bees. “Look, they don’t want us to die from the sun before they can get in and kill us,” Mari said in a sweet tone.
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“Uh-huh.” David managed to disentangle himself from Mari and got into the driver’s seat. “I think we’ll just drive off down the road a little and wait until they’ve calmed down before we go back and get the sensors and sealer.”
“Well, it’s not like anyone is going to go in there first,” Mari muttered as she stared at the furious bees, swarming around the van as David started it and drove off down the road.
There was a beep from the dash. Mari looked at David. He sighed and hit the pickup button.
“Hello?” David asked.
“We just picked up that you closed the breach!” Wilma sounded chipper. “You should have everything packed up in about twenty minutes, so Antonio and I were going to take you out to dinner.”
David winced. “Yeah, about getting everything packed up…”
Mari leaned back and closed her eyes. Stupid murder-bees. Stupid, stupid, murder bees…
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The sun was going down when David and Mari got back. David winced as he parked the van. When they’d gone to retrieve the sealer, David hadn’t noticed that a few bees were stuck to the duct tape—until they’d stung him, at least.
When they got up to the lab, Antonio and Wilma were sitting at the table. “Good news,” Wilma said. “Told your folks you’d be a little late today, so we can still eat good food, as opposed to what Antonio eats.”
“I’m just not a food snob,” Antonio muttered.
“No, you sold your soul to the devil for the ability to subsist on nothing but fast food without looking like it,” Wilma said. “Regardless, how’d it go?”
“Fine, until we met the bees,” David said. “I didn’t think that the sealer would do that!”
Antonio shook his head. “If it makes you feel any better, we didn’t know. It’s never been used that close to a hive. So, your first day in the field and you already gave us good information.”
“And you may have saved some brave agent from dying by all the bees,” Wilma told them. “But… Why didn’t you just come back or call us? We have hazmat suits.”
“I…” David looked around. “Well, we…”
“Didn’t want to come running back on our first mission,” Mari said.
“And I figured the bees wouldn’t care since we were just sticking the unit in under them with the pole, instead of walking that close.” David rubbed the swollen lump on his finger. “That didn’t work out.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Wilma said. “You’re right. If the thing hadn’t pissed the bees off, nothing would have happened, and now we have that information for the future.” She smiled. “You wouldn’t believe how many people keep looking for better gadgets, instead of using what they have. High marks, both of you.”
“So this is what it’s going to be like?” Mari asked.
“Mostly.” Wilma gestured at the map. “High-level breaches are rare and you won’t be dealing with them.”
“But these breaches can turn into high-level breaches, so you’re definitely helping us,” Antonio said. “And this will prepare you for when you aren’t interns anymore. Now, what could you have done to make this easier?”
“I was thinking…” David looked over at Mari. “If we had a permit to use one of those big quadrotor drones, like the ones they use for real estate surveys, we could stick a sensor on it, and we wouldn’t need to put down two sensors—just the one on the drone. We could fly it in a big circle and use that to find out where the breach it.”
“Good thought,” Wilma said, “but that might risk it crashing in someone’s backyard with equipment we don’t want people to see.”
“Right,” David said. Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that.
“But for wilderness work…” Antonio shrugged. “Good idea. Maybe we can send a memo to the higher-ups. We could always build the sensors into a container that looks like a normal camera system.”
“Good point,” Wilma said. “Okay, smart thought, and like Antonio said, we’ll run it up the flagpole.”
“Great!” Mari said, holding up her hand. David high-fived her with hs non-stung hand. “You’re already becoming the idea guy!”
David shook his head, but he couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. Evidently, they really hadn’t thought of that.
“So, closed breach, nothing is on fire, and no giant monsters went stomping through town,” Wilma said as she logged out and stood up. “Now, final thing—show us what you do with the storage units.”
David nodded. Getting up, he and Mari walked over to the rack. The box with the five cylinders they’d used was sitting at its base. David grabbed one, Mari mirroring his motions and grabbing another. In unison, they slipped the cylinders into their plugs and locked them in.
Below each cylinder, flashing green lights appeared.
“Reason for the light?” Wilma asked.
“The cylinder contains aetheric energy and is being drained,” David answered. “When it is completely drained, the light will stop flashing.”
“And a yellow light?”
“The connection isn’t stable,” Mari answered. “So, no energy is being transferred.” She reached down and grabbed another cylinder, repeating the process.
“And red?”
“Either the cylinder or the socket is suffering a malfunction.” David looked over at Wilma. “First, try to resocket it, and if that doesn’t work, put it aside and call you or Antonio.”
“Good,” Antonio said from where he was consulting his phone. “And if it’s flashing red?”
“Turn the rack off, leave the cylinder where it is, and get one of you,” Mari replied. “Hopefully, before the containment unit breaches and the walls in the 53rd Precinct start bleeding.”
Wilma stopped and stared. “You… Okay, I did not expect that reference.”
“Want me to tell them what your Halloween costume was when you were nine?” David asked.
“No,” Mari said as she started to blush. “But, I liked the movie.”
“But you’re right. If it’s flashing, it means that something is going very wrong, and a full storage unit can make a pretty big bang.” Antonio shook his head. “But that’s really rare, and usually only happens when you’re trying to drain a lot of energy, which you two won’t be. Now, who’s up for Italian?”
David grinned. After everything they’d done that day, he could probably eat a horse.
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The clock showed that it was one AM, but Mari couldn’t get to sleep.
We went out and stopped something that could hurt people. Okay, probably not, because a breach that tiny wouldn’t do anything major and anyone it could hurt would already be hurt by the bees…
But still. It wasn’t doing paperwork or serving food at the local diner, it was real work. Secret work.
“And…” Mari said to the empty air. “Work I’m getting paid for.”
She had a feeling that was more impressive than anything to her parents. It was pretty impressive to her. She’d have enough money to go to a real college, maybe even the one David would be at, and from what Wendy had said, college really didn’t have the whole “why would you associate with a freshman” thing going on. It’d be nice to be at a place where she could still hang out with her friend.
But even so, she got to play with secret technology! That was even better. Mari just loved the way the neutralizer just seemed to fold out of nothing when she activated it.
I wonder if they could do the same for a car? Antonio had said that aether could be made to look like anything, so maybe a magic bike that you could fold into your pocket?
Mari couldn’t keep a grin off of her face at that.
“Take that, Nancy and your new car!” she said to the empty air before she fell back onto her cat pillow.
There was a knock on her door, and Mari looked up.
“Yes?”
“You’re awake.” Dad’s voice. What is he doing up… “Can I come in?”
“Um, yeah, sure!” Mari said.
Dad opened the door and walked in. He looked a little tired. Mari frowned. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?”
“Sure. What about you? Aren’t you supposed to be working tomorrow?” Dad asked. “Be at work by… eight?” he looked over to the clock.
“Um… Yeah,” Mari said. “I’m just…”
“Excited. First day at work and nothing burned down.” Dad shook his head. “But don’t forget that this isn’t a sprint, and showing up looking like a zombie on your second day…”
“I won’t,” Mari promised.
“I’d be more trusting if I didn’t remember what it was like to get you up for school on the first day of the year.”
“I wasn’t that bad—”
“You fell asleep during breakfast.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll go to sleep,” Mari grumped.
“Good. I’m really proud of you, Mari.” Dad paused. “But don’t forget to have fun, as well.”
“Oh, trust me,” Mari said with a grin, “I won’t.” You don’t know the half of it…