“Come on then, up you get,” said Humboldt, prodding her with the end of a tentacle. Mira was glancing around frantically as she boarded The Apiary, looking for any sign of the return of the swarm. Unfortunately it appeared the negotiations were still ongoing and no salvation was in sight. There wasn't even another living soul on the docking platform, and only the distant sounds of machinery and dock hands calling as they loaded and unloaded cargo could be heard. Mira wasn't sure if they would be able to hear her if she called for help, and wasn't sure they would help even if they could hear her, so as she scoured her brain for options, she slowly but steadily and slowly climbed the ramp on board.

She grimaced as her ears popped from the slight pressure difference as the door closed behind them. The two aliens were followed behind her, self-assured snickering between them as they batted at the flowers and bundles of fruit. “Looks like your ship fought nature, won,” one of them said. “Not a bad place, if you don't mind sleeping and waking up in dirt and filth.”

The comment made the two creatures chuckle again and Mira did her best to ignore them. She could see the occasional workers that had been left behind to attend the flowers in the garden, but she had been told by Queen and Kin that when far enough from the rest of the swarm, the bees had what they called ‘splintering’ as their hive mind became a separate one from the Queen and Kin. The bees had reassured her that any new hive mind that emerged would be able to be seamlessly reintegrated into the rest of Queen and Kin when they returned and rejoined the offshoot, but the partial stragglers comprising the swarm still remaining onboard The Apiary were effectively a new intelligence, and a new person that Mira would need to connect with if she were to have any hope of securing the ship from the two intruders.

As the gelatinous trespassers continued oozing deeper into the ship, Mira felt a familiar tickle as a worker landed on her ear. It began buzzing to speak with her, although the change in tone as it spoke was somewhat jarring.

“Hi caretaker! Glad you're back on board, but who are the other two you brought with you? We haven't seen them before, and we don't know if they're nice or not.”

Carefully cupping her hand around the worker, Mira lowered them down to her mouth so she could murmur quietly enough that the two aliens wouldn't be able to hear, as they were distracted by pulling open boxes and rummaging around through half-filled planters to see if anything of value might be buried there.

“They're not friends at all. I think they're after the swarm’s funds, and they seem willing to hurt me and probably you as well if they don't get their way.”

She uncupped her hands so the bee could once again land on her shoulder and whisper-buzz into her ear again.

“Oh, gotcha. Well, that's no good. We’ll send a worker out to try to connect with the queen, but in the meantime can you think of anything to get rid of them?”

Mira felt her eyes nearly bug out of her head, doing her best not to hiss loudly as she whispered “What do you mean me? You're the one with centuries of experience!”

“Oh, we don't really have that right now.” Somehow, the swarm sounded cheerful and unconcerned. “Most of us are only a couple of months old. In fact, I was born yesterday!” said the worker buzzing merrily in her ear.

Mira blinked, feeling a sort of wild disbelief as she realized she was the most-senior person on the ship aside from the intruders. “Oh damn. Okay,” she said, doing her best to keep her breathing even and not start panicking further. “Well, keep everyone out of sight, as I don't know what these two will do, but I think I've got an idea of where to lead them.”

“Will do!” said the worker before buzzing off, Mira watched as they flew over to an electrical panel and ducked behind an upraised edge.

“Here now, little human, what are you looking for?” said one of the aliens, Humboldt if she remembered right. He had noticed her gaze, and slimed over to her, looking suspiciously at the wall but seeing nothing of note or interest. His single eye turned to regard the human, toothy maw curled as he warned her “You best not be thinking of trying to interfere with us. Cooperate and give us the access to that account, and you'll live to see your next sunrise.”

“Hey Humboldt!” said the other one with excitement, “Come take a look what the little human has been collecting.” He pointed over to a bin in the pantry, and the other jelly-like alien surged over to see what Joubin was excited about.

Reaching a pair of tentacles in, he pulled out clusters of strawberries that represented months of hard work. Chortling, Humboldt turned back to her, saying “If you don't cooperate, I might find my appetite growing for something more than just fruit,” he said, stuffing the entire cluster of strawberries that represented several meals and a volume the size of Mira's head into the toothy mouth. Thanks to the semi-transparent nature of its skin, she could see as it got mashed and sliced, before the creature swallowed and the pulped fruit faded from view as it went into the more opaque regions of his chest.

Mind racing as her eyes glanced around, Mira suddenly came upon a possible solution. Turning back to the two ooze monsters, she added a note of plaintive desperation. “Eat what you want from there, but please don't touch our holy fruits!”

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“Holy fruits?” said the smaller of the two, sitting up with interest. The other creature was somewhat more skeptical.

“You worship a fruit?”

“Some of us do; My parents did, and I followed in their footsteps,” said Mira, lying quickly as she gestured to a specific plant in the garden. “That's the one. It was something we were supposed to partake in a special ritual to eat, so I ask that you please don't eat that.”

The intruders crossed the mess hall and garden until they stood before the tree Mira had pointed to. Scrutinizing the small handful of bulbous red fruits, Humboldt looked back to her, eye narrowing. ”This is a holy fruit? Really? It looks like it's got a bean stuck to it,” he said, pointing to the shell at the bottom of the cashew apple with a tendril.

“Well yes, of course,” said Mira, doing her best not to crack a grin as she said with all the seriousness she could muster “Why else do you think we call ourselves ’human beans?’”

“Huh,” said Joubin. “I guess I always thought it was pronounced ‘beings.’ You learn something new every cycle.”

As his mouth twisted upwards in sadistic satisfaction, Humboldt said “You best cooperate, or losing your special fruit won't be the worst thing that happens to you today.”

“What do you mean? No, stop!” Mira said, doing her best to put actual distress into her tone as the two aliens did exactly as she hoped and began grabbing and gobbling down the cashew apples, seed and all.

Joubin had already downed four of the fruits, while Humboldt had been slower and only eaten one, chewing and savoring it while shooting her glances. Mira did her best to look distressed, but she realized it must not have been enough to sell the bluff as the larger of the two aliens paused as he went to pluck another cashew apple.

“You're not nearly as distraught as I thought you'd be. Joubin, hold off, I think she might be-Joubin?”

Turning to look, both the alien and human could see that the intruder’s companion had stopped, frozen, and he began making an odd keening noise as he started clawing at and in his mouth. “It burns! It burns! It burns!” he screeched, tendrils reaching into his gullet and attempting to disgorge the pieces of fruit.

It was too late, and in fact doing so only further spread the itchy oils onto the tendrils as well. Howling, Joubin gushed past them, making his way for the exit in an attempt to find some kind of relief. She could also see that he was dripping chunks as well, the oil having some sort of interaction that was causing a breakdown of his structure as he moved.

Unfortunately, while Humboldt looked nauseous and unsure, he quickly narrowed his eye in rage at Mira, saying “You little ict-scum! I'm going to enjoy biting chunks off you until you scream for mercy!” he said, suddenly moving into action to try to catch her. But Mira was already running, turning to head towards a very specific part of the ship.

She knew the vessel better than the alien, which meant that she had a head start even though she could tell that on a flat stretch he was probably slightly faster thanks to the limbless nature of his movement. Mira managed to get to the destination she had in mind with a few seconds to spare, and immediately dove over and mashed at the beeswax seal that she had put in place around the jettison tube.

Immediately there was a hiss; Not as pronounced as the one when they had been in space, but soon came exactly the voice she hoped to hear.

“[Atmosphere loss detected. Atmosphere loss detected. Please move to a secure area.]”

This time though she made no effort to block the leak, instead jumping up to try to tuck up out of sight amongst the conduits and vent overhangs in the section of the airlock. It was a tertiary entryway, and oriented with the door as the floor to allow for docking with much larger craft, so had been mostly used as a storage space instead. As a result, there was plenty to hide behind as the infuriated Humboldt barged in, growling and threatening all manner of harm upon Mira as he began slamming piles of spare boxes and metal sheeting.

Counting off the seconds in her head, Mira could tell the moment was drawing very close when finally a flailing tentacle knocked aside the boxes she had been kneeling behind.

“There you-” Before he could finish, she had already leapt into action, jumping and narrowly avoiding a grasping tendril, landing roughly on her shoulder but managing to turn it into a somersaulting roll on the tempered glass window, before running up the shallow ramp formed by the airlock door to stand on the other side of the threshold.

The automated voice spoke again: ”[Atmosphere pressure below acceptable levels. Pressure unstable: Isolation and purge initiated. Please stand clear.]”

The door slammed shut, and Mira, safely on the other side, gave Humboldt a sardonic wave as the airlock door gave a warning beep and then likewise slammed open. There was a loud clatter as the various spare parts and stored items fell towards the landing pad far below, but Mira's smile died as she saw the alien had managed to grab hold with a pair of tentacles on the conduits above. His look of shocked anger turned into a determined grin, as he began climbing across towards her.

She could see that whatever species he was was not designed to be suspended, as there was a steady trickle of liquid and some smaller globules that were dripping off the bottom of his form, but nothing that would reduce his mass enough to stop him in time. With a balled-up tentacle, he began slamming on the door between him and Mira, and she could see the already after only a blow or two it was dented towards her.

She wasn't sure what to do, as she took a step back and one of the workers landed on her shoulder again.

“Not now, please. This is-I don't know how to help protect you,” she said, feeling the fear and tears choking in her voice.

“Worry not, caretaker. We shall take care of them.”

Mira let out a laugh of shock and relief as the space around Humboldt began filling with enraged bees. He managed to hold on for another second or two before the combined strain and pain of hanging suspended from tentacles being stung and bitten caused him to let go. She heard another fading howl, and almost imagined she heard a splat as he impacted on the landing pad below.

Permission to come aboard?”

Smiling, Mira opened the door and the swarm flew in. The difference in pressure popped her ears again, but this time she barely even noticed, as the swarm surrounded her and checked her, fussing and ensuring she was safe.

Double checking to make sure the swarm had fully come in, Mira keyed the commands for the airlock to close, and felt a clenched tension fade as the doorway sealed shut. To her immense relief, Mira was finally again aboard The Apiary, with Queen and Kin alone as company.