A few months back, in the middle of September, there was a change. The first noted instances localised the occurrence as taking place in Sweden, though with each day, it spread, first to the nearby countries, and then further on, soon infecting all of Europe, then Africa, then Asia, and finally the Americas. What began as an isolated shift researched by a small, local team became a worldwide effort, all centering on the behaviour of mosquitoes.
Videos online taken by shaking, amateur cameras showcased small groups of mosquitos ganging up on and killing other mosquitos. In other cases, similar small groups could be spotted, moving with perfect synchrony.
A hive-mind.
At first, the purpose was muddled at best. Sample mosquitoes were captured, with a total of eight different species being identified. At first, capture was easy. The entities were extremely single-minded, and once a group had identified a victim, they would pursue it until blood had been extracted. Using willing researchers as bait, individual groups were captured, leading to the first of many discoveries, namely that once the group was in pursuit, they used tactics far more advanced than when idling. Even when the target was fully aware of the advance, typically, one or two individual mosquitoes would still succeed in gathering blood, and it was only in a select few instances that any individuals were harmed by the encounter.
At first, Johan found this merely interesting.
His work on the hivemind entity grew smaller as more and more researchers became involved. He was the head researcher to begin with, and with the clear concentration of individuals in Sweden, he remained one of the leads even as the project progressed, involving not only nearby nations, but even the UN as a whole. Had the project not moved along so quickly, he may have been scrapped and removed from the project at that stage. However, by then, he was one of few people most involved, thus being able to claw onto the project even as it moved forward with quick steps.
Capturing individuals of the entity was, as specified, a rather simple matter. But not for long.
Mainly, they were able to capture three types, the three most common. Of these, one type was vastly overrepresented, being a type that while not belonging to any known species of mosquito, still remained ordinary in almost every way. It had standard speed, standard strength, and did not break the laws of physics in any way. The same could not be said for the other species captured.
The rarest of the species, of which they had only caught a single entity, was capable of flying at speeds nearing the breaking of the sound barrier. It did not suck blood no matter the circumstances. Later, he discovered that the reason for this was simply that if it sucked the blood of a human or smaller entity, the amount removed would be enough to cause medical distress in said creature.
Further subgroups were soon discovered. Some individuals refused to drink the blood of humans, while some refused to drink the blood of animals. Furthermore, neither group would drink blood not held in the body of an alive organic creature. Further tests showed that only a specific group of individuals would drink blood from a diseased body, however, that was only if the hive-mind as a whole had recognized said body as “diseased.”
There was no doubt in anyone’s minds that this was, in fact, a matter of a sentient hivemind spreading across the world, exterminating other mosquitos as it went. However, the true purpose and explanation behind it all remained unknown. At least, until a certain evening.
“You really should start going home on time, Johan. Working as late as this just isn’t good for you,” Fredrick had said, a statement Johan could only agree with in principle.
“I know. I don’t have much left, so it’s not like I’ll be here as late as yesterday.”
“Yesterday was a Sunday, you shouldn’t have been here at all!”
Not that that mattered. “Sure, sure. On the other hand, if the mosquitos don’t sleep…”
“—Then neither do you, I get it, I get it.” He chuckled. “Just take it easy, alright?”
“Sure, sure.”
And then, he was alone. Not fully, of course. The building was crowded with thankless guards working the grave-yard shift. Still, few of them were as close to the habitat as Johan was.
The containment unit holding the majority of the captured individuals was a large glass construction, centred in the very middle of the repurposed government building. There was no need for the glass to be six inches thick considering how impeccably docile the individuals were. If they weren’t actively going after anyone, they usually hovered around, speeding up or slowing down depending on the vicinity to humans or animals. This containment unit specifically held human-targeting individuals. At first, there had been worries on how to feed them, since they didn’t respond to blood not contained in a human. However, those worries were lost once they realised that the individuals did not actually have to eat anything, nor did they sleep, or even age. As of yet, they had only had a select few casualties, created during experimentation in an attempt to figure out the differences between the types of individuals. One of the most interesting results they found was that one of the rarest individuals they’d caught was able to withstand bullets, and enough pressure to crush a tooth to dust. And yet, even during these experiments, it never showed a single trace of discomfort or anger.
Whatever was controlling these things must either have been extremely forgiving, or ignorant of the actions of individual mosquitos.
As Johan soon found out, the case was not the former.
Night. Darkened rooms, empty. Click, clack, click, clack. Inside the containment unit, just on the other side of that thick, bulletproof glass, somewhere around a thousand individuals slowly circled, around and around, grouped in small squadrons of six each. It was peaceful to look at. Whenever Johan didn’t know what to write, he’d look up and watch the mosquitos, all moving, more synchronised than any human could be.
The supernatural was right before his eyes. Functionally immortal life. A true hivemind. Right in there, swarming, moving, buzz buzz buzz…
All but one.
Joan froze where he sat. It seemed, in the dim light of the lone lamp shining up the unit, that one of the mosquitos was not moving. Taking off his glasses, Johan wiped them off, putting them on again only to find that it really hadn’t been a smudge or a piece of dirt. He stood up and moved over to the glass, hesitantly letting his eyes focus on the lone, static mosquito.
It hovered midair, turning casually, observing.
A bead of sweat trickled down Johan’s back, zig-zagging between blossoming goosebumps as he realised that the mosquito was now looking at him. Seeing him. Watching him. Sentient.
Johan was not the type to often feel fear. This moment was an exception.
When it saw him, a change seemed to come over it, and at once, as one, all other mosquitos in the containment unit froze as well. But only for a moment. Then, guided as though by invisible strings, they swarmed the first static mosquito, and as they did, the amount of mosquitos seemed to increase, darker colours mixing with the light brown and grey, but even as the sheer amount grew larger and larger, the size of the swarm decreased, the mosquitos huddling tighter together until they formed a singular entity of moving, buzzing mosquitoes, with dark buzzing moving skin stretched across a half-complete body composed of only dark buzzing head, dark buzzing torso and dark buzzing arms, three fingers on each incomplete arm, two dark eyes gouged out of the spherical head like the holes of a skull.
‘An alien,’ was his first thought. But it didn’t feel like an alien. The skin, with the dark and the grey and the lighter colours mixing frantically, it appeared more like a ghost made of television static, floating legless in midair.
Floating slowly towards the glass—towards Johan.
His legs made him move closer. It was certainly not his guts or even his brain that chose to bring him right up to the glass, to where the being approached. Heart in his throat, he watched how the entity observed him, its eyeless gaping holes twitching with the movement of the mosquitos that surrounded them.
Then it turned around, though not by actually turning. Rather, the mosquitos that formed its body simply switched, the eyeholes disappearing to reappear on the back of what appeared to be its head.
It headed for the sluice.
Likewise, Johan headed for it as well. He felt as though possessed, legs not his own bringing him to the door. Pressing his key card against the unlocking mechanism, doubt briefly overtook his mind. What was he even doing, opening the door to this thing? He should be contacting his superiors! And yet…
The thought that he could soon be face-to-face with the entity he’d been studying overpowered any such inhibitions. Maybe it was the insomnia, maybe he’d been insane all along, but when he pressed his thumb to the fingerprint reader and entered his code, he felt nothing but intrigue. The door opened, and as he entered, it closed behind him. After a few seconds, with the press of a button, the door to the containment chamber unlocked. But he wasn’t the one to open it.
On the other side, mere feet away, the entity hovered, eyeholes facing him, head at his own height. Its face split open into a mouth and it said, through a voice made by buzzing, sounding as though it had been processed through an electrical circuit board,
“Thank you.”
A million questions swarmed Johan’s head, but only one escaped his mouth. “What are you?”
It didn’t answer. Somehow, to Johan, the being appeared oddly reluctant. After a few seconds, it said, in that same megaphone voice, “I want… to help.” And then, after a moment or two longer, “What can I do to help?”
“Help?” The pitiful little word seemed so big all of a sudden. Johan knew the numbers. He’d calculated them himself. At this moment, if the trends noticed in France were to be believed, there were several trillion individuals in the control of this entity. Trillions of mosquitos, some capable of moving as near-sonic speeds, some with the ability to take bullets and survive. A million problems and disasters befalling the entire world on the daily rushed through his head all at once, each following the next. “Could you… eliminate Malaria?”
The edges of the mouth-hole quirked into a smile. “Already have.”
“In that case, then…” He gulped. Something small. Nothing big. If it was too big, and it went badly, God knows how many deaths would be on him. But it couldn’t be too small either. He had to ensure he wasn’t hallucinating. “How about,” something resembling a smile dragged itself onto his lips, “bringing Putin before the UN headquarters?”
Two empty eye-sockets regarded him, mouth equivalent unmoving.
“Okay,” it said.
And then the world started moving again. Rushing footsteps echoed down the hall and through the six-inch thick glass Johan could see two of the night guards approaching, freezing briefly as they spotted the phantom-like shape of the entity. “J—Johan, what the heck are you—”
The entity smiled at him. And then, in a burst of mosquitos suddenly no longer wound tight together, it was gone, returned to its formless shape. The last remaining show of sentience was a tendril of solidified insects moving to close the door to the sluice, shutting it without letting a single mosquito escape. Leaving Johan to stare blankly at the closed door, at where he moments before met and commanded a supernatural creature.
It had, all things considered, been a very strange evening.
----------------------------------------
…That went pretty well, I’d say! But, man, that took me by surprise. I can’t believe I didn’t notice this earlier. I can’t imagine for how long some of the squads in there had been captured, so… I suppose, from now on, I’ll set up a system where if a squad fails to get any blood for a week or so, I’ll be notified of it. If it’s too brief I’ll change it, but for now, this’ll be good enough.
Still… Should I be flattered? I mean, with the size of that facility, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve got hundreds of employees, all studying my extended body… Okay, no, hang on, that’s creepy.
Either way, with this, I suppose I’ve finally done it. I came out to someone. Not fully, of course, but enough to where I can begin to do good. I guess.
Before I fulfil my end of the request, I just have to…
Let’s see, the closest battalion with a high-ranking officer is the seventh battalion of the Europe Human Army, headed by Colonel fifty-five-sixty-two. Transplanting my mind into the colonel, I can use that to create a major, and then take control of that one. See, if I transplant my consciousness into another mosquito I can use them to create new soldiers, but only soldiers of a lower rank than the one I’m using. Since I don’t want to displace the colonel, a major will have to be good enough.
Using this little fella, I zoom towards the research facility, guided by memory and scent. Let’s see here… Yeah, it’s in the middle of the woods, in… Sweden? Huh, neat.
And now to silently and effectively sneak inside without anyone noticing.
There’s a lot of guards and a whole lot more cameras, but when you’re silent, the size of a pin head and moving too fast to see, none of these are an obstacle. Even closed and sealed doors can be jimmied through with a little patience. And just like that, after only twenty minutes or so, I’m right back to looking at this dude. Johan, I think his card said? Nice name for a nice man. I mean, him actually opening the door so we could talk was totally unexpected.
So, as I now find, in my brief absence, he’s already been brought before some fat dude and is being berated while another guy talks on the phone about important things happening.
“Do you have any idea what could have happened? How damn stupid could you be opening the door to the damn—” and on and on and on. Man, that’s harsh. I mean, it’s not like he did any damage or whatever. Just the opposite if you ask me!
I kind of want to help, but if I do he’s sure to get in more trouble, and I don’t really want them to think I’m the type to stalk anyone who shows even the slightest interest in me, so even though it hurts, I’ll have to keep calm.
I’m also running out of time in this body, so before I go completely, I casually fly up and burrow myself inside his clothes. This way, when I come back, I’ll still know where he is.
With that done, I casually return to my main body.
And now to kidnap a certain Russian president.
Let’s see here… Main general to all armies of Russia, main general to all armies of Russia, come in armies of Russia.
Yeah this is all armies of Russia, waddayawant?
Do you know where Putin is?
Oh yeah he’s typically at this one big building, I’ll have squad #98 of batallion #311 look into it.
…
…
…Yeah nah he ain’t here.
Ain’t there? Well find him, then!
Right, gotcha, I’m on it.
And in the meantime, I’ll blast back to Sweden and try using The Internet to find out The Facts. Let’s see here, Putin is currently… Where the heck is Sochi? Well, whatever. We’ll find him.
A few minutes later…
Europe General reporting in, Europe General reporting in: Putin has been localised.
Whoa, no kidding? That was quick! Well, with approximately a trillion mosquitos all searching for a single dude, we were bound to find him eventually. Okay, let’s see here… According to the reports I’m getting, he’s in bed in his home in Sochi. Makes sense.
Now, how do I do this best? I don’t want to hurt anyone too badly, and I also don’t want anyone to get hurt too badly. The best thing would be if I could do this without anyone noticing until it’s too late. So, first off, I’ll just have my trusty spies check out what this place is like. Lots of guards, cameras, etcetera, but that’s as expected. More importantly, there’s a window to the room he’s sleeping in. Wonderful.
Alright, I’m gonna do it like this. I’ll try kidnapping him, and if guards notice, then I’ll handle them. If nobody notices I’ll be happy and everything will be fine.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
That said, the first step I need to do here is to mass produce second lieutenants, the lowest ranking officer group. I’d like to do higher ranked but I’ll need a lot of these, so this will have to do. Let’s see here… Yeah, about five million should be enough. I’ll need to be able to lift him properly, after all.
Luckily enough, the Europe general was close enough to be part of the mission, so I take over that body and put the plan to work.
I and my millions of underlings are currently hovering a hundred metres away from the mansion. They’re waiting for me to act, and I’m waiting for myself to gather courage. Just gotta go in, kidnap a dude, get out. Easy peasy.
And then avoid guards, bring the dude to Brussels, dump him at the front door… Standard stuff. Yep, yep.
…But what if he starts talking and we have to discuss what’s going on? That would be really awkward. Honestly, I’d hate that.
—However, I told Johan that I’d do this, so if I don’t do this, it’ll be even worse. Alright, yeah, that’s a good enough motivation. Here we go!
I assign a hundred officers to each guard, with the command that should they do any funky movements, they will give a big slurp, instantly draining the guy of 0,5 litres at first, and if that isn’t enough, then a further 0,5 litres. That might not knock them out, but it’ll be sure to stun them enough to let me slip away with the president.
And with that done, I and my fellows approach the nearest window. Squeezing myself through a tiny gap, I enter the room. Yeah, it looks pretty standard. I’m lucky he doesn’t have any guards inside the room. There’s a woman sleeping next to him, but I’m choosing to ignore her.
Right. In that case, it’s time. According to the officers outside, no guards have noticed my presence, and the coast is clear. Right.
I’m not entirely certain how to unlock this window, so I’ll have to brute force it just a little. What happens next will take place within a few seconds at most.
Approximately 7,8 million mosquitos solidified into a single compact cone burst through the window at a speed of around two hundred kilometres per hour, making shards of glass and wood and concrete fly across the room, a suitably loud BOOM predictably making the president shoot up in bed, awake and startled just in time to watch as a near-solid swarm of mosquitos grab hold of him, drag him from the bed into the air, affix his body into a straight shape and then shooting him out of the window like a loosened arrow. I’m of course coming along.
Since I really don’t want to stick around for the aftermath, I hang along the swarm of mosquitos as we accelerate from zero to 500 km/h in an instant, rocketing off in a random direction. Let’s see, Brussels is actually… Oh, shoot, it’s the opposite way. Well, no need to fret. One U-turn, boys!
Doing a simple U-turn mid-air, we head towards Brussels at a simple speed of 500 km/h. I could go faster, but 500 km/h is the max speed of the second lieutenants I’ve summoned, so this will be good enough.
I’m surprised the president hasn’t screamed yet. I mean, if I was kidnapped from my bed and suddenly blasted across the world at 500 km/h, I’d scream for sure. Or maybe he’s trying to show dignity?
We’ve gotten a good distance from where I grabbed this guy, so it might be a good time to check how he’s doing.
Above a random forest, we take a little break.
…Ah. He—uh…
I can’t really check pulse in this body, but with him looking like that, I don’t think it’s very, um, needed. He looks really bad…
Okay, um, hang on, I need to research a little something.
Switching back to my main body, I do a quick google search, use a G-force calculator, and subsequently find out that I just made this guy experience around 14 Gs of force, for… At least like ten minutes. Without any kind of protection whatsoever.
I switch back to the general’s body.
…Right, okay, um… I just killed a guy. A widely despised war criminal of a guy, but a guy nonetheless. That’s… not very good.
So, um… What now? I can’t just leave him here randomly. Honestly, if he just vanished without a trace, the Russians would probably pretend he just went AWOL for a while and isn’t literally dead.
So, then, the best course of action, if you’re asking me, would be to fulfil my promise. It’ll be a bit gruesome, and I hope they won’t take it in a bad way, but I just have to get this guy to Brussels. Simple enough.
Alright, I’d better get back to it, then.
Trying not to think too much, I get going, ignoring the urge to do a little vivisection. Nobody would have to know. On the other hand, that’ll just make this all look even worse, and I really don’t want that.
I wanted to tune out and go back to my main body during the 7,5-hour trip, but since I was transporting a corpse at low altitudes, I had to ensure I didn’t fly too close to any populated areas. All and all, it went alright. After some time, the whole I’m-transporting-a-dead-body thing faded away as an emotional concept. I should probably be more worried about how relaxed I am about all of this. If I’m lucky I might have a moment in a couple of hours and be like “Oh no, I’m a murderer!” but honestly I think I’ll be fine. Well, we’ll see, I guess.
For now, Brussel approaches.
Swooping up high, I go above the buildings. Can’t believe I’m in Belgium. I’ve got a friend pretty close to here. Ah. She’ll know, won’t she? I’m sure she’ll realise somehow. I wonder how I’ll explain it… I don’t want to lie to her, but…
I’ll save that for later. For now, it’s time to dump this guy. The time is… A little before five in the morning. Good.
I am currently hovering above a UN building in Brussels. I just used my main body to google, and apparently the UN headquarters isn’t in Brussels, but rather in Manhattan, in the US? What? Since when? Why? More importantly, how the heck did I not know this? Well, whatever. Now that I’m thinking about it, I might have gotten the UN and UNICEF mixed up. Maybe I should count myself lucky that the president’s dead or he would 100% have laughed at me… On the other hand, I’m sure he’d know where the headquarters are, so, you know. There’s that.
Alright, what do I do now? Do I really want to transport this guy all the way across the Atlantic just to fulfil the exact specifications of Johan’s request?
…Okay, yeah, I do. I really do.
Luckily enough, in the time that I’ve been flying, I have been able to slowly but surely gather more higher levelled officers, so now I can turn over this dead guy’s body to a couple million majors instead, allowing us to travel at over a thousand kilometres per hour instead of a measly five hundred. Putin’s starting to look pretty grisly, but there’s nothing we can do about that. With the body turned over, we get going.
This time though, since we’re only crossing the Atlantic, I feel more comfortable switching to my main body for a couple hours. Haaah, what a night…
A couple hours later, a report dings in. Manhattan: reached.
I switch back to the general. The time is now close to 12. However, we’re here! Wonderful. His body looks really really bad after being dragged across the entire world, but I’m sure they’ll be able to identify it by dentals or something.
And here’s the building. It looks very boring, but it is what it is. Now, where do I put this guy?...
I mean, where’s even the front entrance? Gosh, these places are all so confusing…
Hm? Wait a second. Is that Russia’s flag? They’re still flying that thing? Whoa. Kinda cool.
…And I’m having a kinda cruel idea.
I mean… say what you will, but his body has already been mutilated plenty, right? Being impaled on top of a flag wouldn’t make it worse or anything. Dead is dead. I am not morally opposed to the mutilation of dead bodies.
…Right! Great, now we know where to put him!
Actively choosing not to think too much, I fly him on top of the flagpole, only to find the tip being not sharp, but round and bulbous. What the fuck.
Okay, but I already decided to stab him on the flag, so using a few high-tiered officers, I literally ram the knob on top of the pole into a somewhat sharp shape, and then I just press the president on top of that. Luckily enough, the body doesn’t slide too far, and instead gets stuck on the top. Wonderful! And now, before all hell breaks loose, I make all officers disperse enough to not make us extremely visible, while still letting me stick around here to watch what’ll happen. It’s lunchtime, so they ought to find him pretty soon.
…This is very sociopathic behaviour, isn’t it? Like, this is the type of thing serial killers in books do. Kill someone and wait around excitedly for the body to be discovered. There’s something seriously wrong with my brain, huh?
Either way, as predicted, people start noticing it. In the building itself and down on the ground, people are pointing and talking. As I hang around, watching, the police eventually arrive. A firetruck is called in to bring him down and he’s carried away. I follow along. His face is a bit disfigured but people still seem to recognize him, at least somewhat. Nobody says it though. Well, it’ll become clear in a while.
I switch back to my main body. During the day, I keep an eye on the news, watching it switch from ‘Heavily mauled body impaled on flag of UN headquarters’ to ‘Russian president rumoured to have gone missing’ and then finally… nothing. Yeah, for several hours, there’s nothing about the fact that the body belongs to Putin.
Did they… not figure it out? I would have assumed it to be obvious, but maybe they don’t have his dental records on hand? Hrm. The day has passed quite a bit, and I don’t want Johan to think I didn’t do it, so while trying to dispel the uncertainties from my brain, I switch to the mosquito I put on his person.
…Hm. I am most decidedly in a containment unit. A very small one, too. Not too small to form a half-complete body, but this is still clearly designed to hold me. The only holes in it are too small to squeeze through and almost definitely designed for talking, not breathing. Not that I need to breathe or anything.
And beyond my little piece of containment is a number of people I haven’t seen before, all staring at me. Ah. This is… very awkward. Should I say something? Or is the metaphorical ball on their metaphorical side?
…It feels like I’m about to be reprimanded or something.
Before I overcome my nervousness to actually act or anything, there’s a click and some buzzing, white noise heralding what comes next. Through speakers that seem to be all around me on every side, I hear, “If you are currently present, please fly for five seconds before resting again.”
Going by the way they said that, they already know that I’m more of a hivemind than anything, huh? Johan must have tattled on me. Not that there was much for him to say.
If I was more of an anxious coward, I might have been too paralyzed with fear to act, but since I want to actually have a conversation here, I reluctantly rise into the air. One, two, three, four, five… Did I count too quickly? I sometimes do that. Better count a little bit more. Six, seven, eight… And now I might as well hit ten, so nine, ten…
And now I sit back down. See, I’m here.
The researchers around me take notes. Okay, so, to explain more where I’m at, I’m inside like a glass cube, centred in the middle of a large, dull-looking room. The room itself contains a total of six avid researchers, but the large mirror covering one wall in the room suggests that there are more people in attendance. The room as a whole only has one door, a real thick one. They seem to be taking every precaution possible, while still trying to show some degree of trust.
There’s a bit of silence.
…Did my flying thing not come across? Hang on, maybe I need to do it again to—
“Please refrain from moving too much at the moment,” a voice says. Looking at the researchers around me… Ah, there he is. That’s the guy speaking. “Thank you for responding to my initial request. I am David Lundholm, head of research at this facility. For the moment being, please remain in your singular form. Fly up and down once if you understand and agree, and twice if you do not understand or disagree.”
…Up and down? Agree, disagree? Okay, now things are getting complicated. Erm… I almost want to disagree simply because a conversation where I can actually talk would be more two-sided, but if I only have to answer yes or no, then I won’t need to talk and they won’t have to find out that I’m a dunce.
In reply to his statement, I fly up and down only once.
“Great, thank you,” David says politely. “If it’s alright with you, I would like to ask a few questions. Is this permissible?”
To answer yes, I fly up and down once.
“Excellent,” he says, briefly glancing down at a notebook. “Firstly, I’d like to ask if you are an extraterrestrial? In other words, do you originate from a planet or celestial body other than this one?”
…Uh? Um, no? Dude, I’m literally a mosquito, how would I even—but, he only wants to hear a yes or no, so I fly up and down twice for no.
“I see…” He doesn’t take any notes or anything, but I’m sure someone somewhere is writing this down. I mean, dude asked me if I’m an alien. We are absolutely in the realm of the supernatural and the weird. He suddenly shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but I failed to explain your situation before. The reason we have placed you within that containment unit is twofold, both to protect us from you, and to protect you from us. We did not initially know whether you would be benevolent or not, and even if you were, there was a chance that you were carrying dangerous pathogens or radiation that we haven’t had time to screen yet. I apologise on the behalf of the UN if your current position comes across as insulting. Once this interview has concluded and we’ve had time to properly screen you, we will be open to the possibility of a face-to-face discussion.”
…Damn, this guy’s got a way with words, doesn’t he? I know he didn’t ask for a yes or no response, but I still fly up and down to show that I understand it.
He seems slightly startled by my response, not saying anything for a few seconds. While I try to figure out if I did something wrong, he gestures to one of his coworkers, who brings over a chair. He takes a seat in front of my little box. Since there’s a raised platform inside my box, we can sit at eye level. Fun!
“Before I ask anything else, I need to confirm something you told lead researcher Johan Falk.” His eyes harden. Intimidating. “Do you want to help humanity?”
I fly up and down. He couldn’t have asked an easier question.
“Is your main goal to assist the future of humanity, and to help is prosper?”
…I guess so?
I fly up and down.
To that, he nods silently. But as he looks down at his notes, a change seems to come over him. With my enhanced senses, although I can’t smell him, I can sense his body heat increasing, and I can very well see the sweat beading on his forehead. The other researchers in the room look similarly tentative. David lifts his gaze back up to face me, eyes firm like marble. “Did you kill the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and place him atop the Russian flagpole at the UN headquarters in Manhattan, New York?”
…Ah. Well, um, see, that’s, that was…
Heh, boy am I glad mosquitos can’t sweat!
While I’m wringing my mandibles, he leans closer, gaze steadfast. “This question is of utmost weight. Please.”
I… But, it was… He…
Argh, damn it!
Before he has time to notice me doing it, I summon around two million captains, instantly assembling them into a humanoid form, though I only have enough space and mosquitos to form the upper body. For the sake of his comfort, I ensure to gouge out two hole-like cavities in my head, not because I actually need them but rather to let him have someplace to look. The whole thing only took five seconds at most, but by the end, all researchers in the room outside have either taken a step back or simply frozen in their places. David, however, shows why he was chosen as spokesperson by keeping himself calm and collected, not showing a hint of fear.
Hovering in the middle of the box, I form a mouth and throat and speak, in my scraggly voice, saying, “It was… an accident…”
He looks at me, looks down at his notes, and simply says, “I see. Thank you for answering honestly. I would have preferred to take this discussion at a later time, but since you’ve decided to take this form, let’s talk, shall we?”
I barely even know how to react to that. “O… kay.”
“Do you have a name?” he asks, all casual.
…What do I say to that? I can’t use my real name. Then, a made-up one? Kind of cringy, but… “Helper,” I say. The second the word leaves my mosquito-lips I already regret it. I mean, what did I even—helper in what sense? Sure, I want to do good, but ‘helper’ makes it sound like I’m a kid trying to help their parents with the gardening or cooking or whatever. Gosh, I’m so dumb.
“Why do you want to help humanity so badly?” he asks. I can’t help but wonder if that question is in the notes or if he made it up just now. Whichever it is, I know there’s only one answer.
“If you can help people, then you should.”
“Help people how?” he asks. A second later, realising how vague his question was, he elaborates, “As in, how do you think that you personally can help?”
That’s actually something I’ve given a lot of thought as of lately. Because, well… Yeah, of course I have. A lot of thought. Too much thought to summarise in a few short sentences. In fact, it would be easier if I could just… “Excuse me…” I say. He nods for me to continue. “May I have paper and pencil?”
David blinks at me. Is he surprised that I can write, or is it something else? I can’t tell.
He looks over at the one-way mirror. “Will you pardon me for a moment?”
“Yes, of course,” I answer.
Standing up, David walks out of the door, which I now recognize as being another sluice.
While I wait for him to return, I briefly leave the body I’m in to try to localise the facility itself. Not for any specific reason, but just as a precaution. I don’t have time to make any major headway though before David returns and I switch back to the body I was using.
I watch in mild interest as David gestures towards the door, and all of the other researchers leave the room. Now, it’s just me, and him, and the little notepad he’s brought. Oh, and he’s also got a pen. Ni—
The containment unit around me suddenly opens up, retreating away and into the floor to leave me exposed and vulnerable and right in front of this guy.
…Huh? Wait, what’s happening? What is he—
He holds the notepad out to me, alongside a pen.
…Ah. I see. Is this a show of trust, then? In that case, I’ll have to respect it. Still, this guy’s got balls of steel.
I take the notepad and pen from his hand. Now, it’s time to write. Let’s see here…
Number one: identification of the sick. Through my mosquitos I can identify and diagnose viral diseases.
Number two: elimination of specific fauna, such as invasive or harmful species on an international level.
Number three: disaster relief efforts. Mosquitos can effectively search out survivors and either point rescue teams in the right direction or uncover them themselves.
And then, and after that… Uhhh…
I quickly add a title above the two previous entries, stating ‘realistic/purely good’. And for these ones… ‘Neutral’.
Number four: global surveillance system. I can currently see almost everything happening in the world, and I can choose to have my mosquitoes report on certain actions.
Number four point five: global punitive/assisting system. Using the surveillance system stated above, I can spot and intervene in criminal or otherwise dangerous situations.
Number five: spying. Using the above systems, I can spy on the actions and movements of dangerous states and report this to the UN for future action.
Number six: global citizen identification system. I can place a single mosquito on every single person in the world, allowing them to easily be kept track of. If combined with number one, these mosquitoes can test the viral status of each citizen once per week or as needed to keep track of the spread of disease.
Number seven: ending conflicts. By strategically incapacitating specific individuals, conflicts between and within nations can be ended with minor loss of life.
And after this, we get into more… dangerous methods of helping. Stuff I’d maybe rather not do if I was given the choice. To make sure they understand my position, I write ‘dangerous’ above the following.
Number eight: permanently ending conflicts. Alternative to number six. Conflicts can be summarily ended with the eradication of one side, either through loss of blood or calculated spread of disease. Other strategies of war can also be implemented.
Number nine: assassination. Specific individuals deemed a danger to the peace of nations, the world or communities can be eliminated without drawing attention.
I pause. Before the next and final one, I write, in all caps, ‘UNWANTED.’
Number ten: establishment of a united world order.
I put down the pencil and read through what I’ve just written. I don’t think I’ve missed anything, but if I did, I’ll just tell him at a later date. I’m not easily killed at this moment, so I should be fine. Then again, with this… I mean, the second I turn this in, they’ll have to make a decision. What if they say, ‘sure, let’s do all of this’ and I’m suddenly expected to form and run a world order? I wouldn’t like that, but I trust their decision on this matter more than my own opinion, so… yeah.
Only a little nervous, I hand the little piece of paper over to David. He reads through them, his facial expression remaining surprisingly neutral throughout the whole thing. While he’s still reading, the door abruptly opens, a man dressed in a military uniform entering, striding across the room to snatch the piece of paper out of David’s hands. Very rude, but it was a rather concise list, so I think David was finished reading.
The officer reads through the list, his expression darkening considerably as he does. When he’s done, he turns to me, face red but fearless. “Are you serious?”
Ah, uh, erm…
Hunching down, he puts his face mere inches from where I’ve put the face-simile. “Can you fathom what this list is suggesting?”
“Sir, will you please let me handle—”
“Be quiet, Lundholm,” the officer says, effectively shutting David down. His eyes burn something fierce. Once again, I am glad I do not have the ability to sweat. “This very moment, you are already trespassing on the soil of every country and piece of property on Earth. You are selectively assaulting and stealing the blood of innocent civilians. Abusing animals. You’ve already wiped out an entire family of insects.” He leans in even closer, eyes shining darkly. “Isn’t that enough killing, ‘Helper’?”
A mental command ensures that the avatar I’m using doesn’t tremble as badly as I feel.
“I…”
“You’ve done what you thought was right,” David says calmly, eyes on me. “Isn’t that right?”
Well, I…
Plucking the list from the officer’s hands, David reads them again. “Most of these are a bit too extensive and world-changing to properly implement, though of course it won’t be up to me to decide.” The officer looks like he really wants to say something, but David’s calm, measured words keep him from speaking too hastily. “If any of these were to be implemented, it would likely be on a smaller scale in very extreme circumstances.
“For now, though, we will want some time to deliberate. I believe I speak for the whole of the UN when I say that considering the power and willingness to help that you exhibit, decisions on how to best utilise your help will no doubt involve many world leaders. These types of deliberation may take several years. Until then, we suggest that you try to avoid the public consciousness.”
…Several years? I can’t accept that. If I spend years in inactivity waiting for bureaucracy to sort itself out, my inaction will no doubt cost the lives of many. I can’t allow that. I just can’t.
“I’m sorry, but…” I say, trying to ignore the way the officer looks at me, “with the amount of lives on the line, waiting years isn’t on the table.”
I really don’t want to pull this card, but I’m not being given much of a choice.
“Unless you come to a decision within a month, I will choose to act independently.”
The officer bristles. “Now listen here you—”
David holds up a hand, quieting the officer. His eyes are as calm as always. “Which point would you act on?”
“Nothing past the first three,” I admit quickly. “...But it really depends on you.”
He nods at me. “I see. Speaking for the UN, we cannot advise towards acting on your own. If we deem your actions to be against our interests as a peace-keeping organisation, we may choose to act against you.”
I don’t like the direction this conversation is heading, but at the same time, this is the kind of stuff I need to say. “If you make that choice, mutually assured destruction would be your best-case scenario.”
His eyes narrow. “Are you willing to kill for this?”
“I wouldn’t need to,” I say with more certainty than I feel. “Furthermore, if you handle this right, it won’t need to come to that.” And now I feel the conversation is starting to end, so I float up a little, kind of like I’m standing up. “I’ll leave a few of my mosquitoes in your possession. If you need to contact me, just use them and I’ll answer unless I’m busy.”
Not waiting for them to ask what a mosquito hivemind could possibly be busy with (answer: Hebrew homework), I instantly dissipate completely, leaving a semi-solid ball of captains closely surrounding the major I’ll use for communications behind. The rest of the mosquitoes shoot at the sluice door they thought could contain me. But, of course, I can’t really be contained. The mosquitos accelerate to close to a thousands km/h in mere moments, their durability letting them pass through the solid steel like bullets through butter, straight through the nearest solid wall, and then continuing until they’ve escaped fully.
You know. As a show of might, or whatever.
As the final mosquitoes leave, I retain consciousness within the major, listening to the final bits of their conversation before leaving.
“...I’d say that went quite well,” David says.
“Like hell it did!” the officer replies.
And then, I slip away.