Pain and terror laced through her as she wriggled on the floor, barely suppressing her screams. Her sisters were being killed, and she was feeling all of it through the hive link. She felt another piece of metal ripping into one of her hearts, and the screams she was barely suppressing, ripped from her throat as another sister collapsed.
And it wasn’t just her, all of her sisters were feeling the attacks, and the older ones were trying to shield the hatchlings. They were failing. The attacks were too aggressive, to fast, they ripple through the hive like a storm. Each piece of metal that ripped into her sister’s flesh, pierced her as well, and as her sisters fell, so did she. She experienced her sister’s deaths as if she herself was dying. Her fragile grip on reality, snapped and she curled up weeping.
She didn’t know how long she lay there crying, curled up, not even able to tell if she was alive or dead, when her mother arrived. Her presence in the link was like sunlight appearing from behind the clouds, and she found herself crawling from the floor. As she stood her eyes found her mother’s massive orbs staring down at her. Concern radiating off of her. She swallowed, then glanced around, she wasn’t the only hatchling to break under the onslaught. Many of them were uncurling, their terror being replaced with relief as their mother bathed them with warmth.
(You are safe little ones, the attack is over.)
She basked in her mother’s thoughts, for a moment just enjoying the feeling of security they brought, but she knew that she couldn’t stay there for long, and she forced her body to inhale oxygen. Her hands became fists as she stepped towards her mother.
“They are going to attack the hive again,” she stated.
Her mother turned all of her eyes on her, and she felt her mother’s simple reply, yes.
“This keeps happening? They come, they hurt us, then leave?” She asked mortified.
(They come from the sky, and yes they hurt us, but they have never left. Counting me, I am the third generation of mothers whose dealt with these attacks,) her mother confirmed.
“Then I will have to attempt to stop them,” her body spoke, as inside her mind tried to escape the coming sense of dread.
Her mother’s love wrapped itself around her fleeing mind, and cradle it. Her eyes closed as she let herself drift into it, letting it engulf her.
(I wished to let you grow a bit more, adjust, but we are out of time little one. You are The Voice of the Hive. I must teach you,) her mother replied.
She could feel the guilt and pain at that proclamation, and braced herself as a flood of information passed between them through the link. The genetic memory of all of the mother-queens before her own, flooded her brain, back to the first self-aware mother-queen. The growth of the hive, the launching of mother-queen eggs into the darkness of the sky, the joy of hearing them across that void centuries later. Even as she saw time through the mother-queen’s eyes, a bit of her became aware of those distant voices, drifting across the void between them. Those hives were alive, thriving, and also under attack by the sky people. She felt their hope that her mother’s plan worked. She was their hope to the end of the assaults of the Hive Circle.
Her hearts started to constrict as the full weight of her mission fell on her. Especially as she felt and saw her cousins and elder sisters dying from the assaults. And not just those that were attacked, there were casualties, even with the current assault of her Hive. She felt her sisters die from the terror and agony they shared with the warrior castes who died in battle. It was like a ripple through the Hive, those closest to the assault, died with their sisters,
The hatchlings, like her, were shielded, because they shock of their sister’s deaths could kill them too. It was traumatizing, experiencing what her mother experienced with each attack. It was what killed the previous two mother-queens early. Experiencing all of the pain her children were experiencing.
She inhaled oxygen, and came back to herself, the link became simple again. She felt her brain storing the information she had received away, creating barriers so it wouldn’t over stimulate it. Much like the queen-mother’s brains, which caused her body to shiver. Having experienced so many lifetimes, she realized how her mother had shaped her. She hadn’t been a normal larva, normal larva hadn’t worked for what her mother wanted. All of the her experiments had failed with normal larva. Her mother had used one of the royal larva to create her. She was supposed to replace her mother if the pain became to much. It would be another three cycles before her mother could even give birth to another royal larva. It took to much of a toll on her, it left her weakened.
If she failed, if she couldn’t stop the attacks, her mother’s live was at risk. Her Hive was at risk. She felt her eyes widen, and she fought the urge to vomit down. She withdrew into her head, trying to think of a way to accomplish what her mother wanted. She needed to complete her mission. Her Hive’s continuation was all up to her.
She felt her mother’s gentle nudging, urging her to let her in, and she became aware of the sunrays spilling into the darkness that was her mind. She wasn’t alone, her mother was here, the Hive was here, her mother trusted her. The thought of being part of the whole, eased the tension from her, and she started to breath easier.
Her shoulder’s squared, and she headed toward the entrance of the hive. Her mother shifted out of her way. It was going to be a long walk, it took a worker five hours to get from the nursery to the entrance, but they had six limbs. She had two, she had to wonder how long it was going to take her. Though, she didn’t need to worry, as a worker arrived lowering it’s body. She understood, and climbed onto her sister. She shifted, making sure she was comfortable, and then she and her sister set off. She reached out from the link, and started to review the warrior caste’s memories from the early morning attack. It was not easy, the two legged sky people were vicious on their attack of the sky-blasters. They must also have good vision, for they were able to spot and attack the scouts and flyers. And the scouts and flyers could shift their skin making them almost invisible. They also could hide their thermal heat, making it harder to spot.
She replayed some of the other queen-mothers and saw that inside of their exoskeleton, the sky-people were fleshy. Similar to the tree-climbers they farmed. She felt shocked when she saw a sky-person climb back into their exoskeleton and it started to move again. It made her wonder what caused the sky-people to evolve a super hard exoskeleton that that they could take on and off. None of the castes could do that, even her with her softer exoskeleton, she could only shed it. Despite herself, and what she had to achieve, she felt a growing curiosity about the sky-people. Maybe, and her body heated at this thought, after she had secured peace the sky-people would show her their world.
Her sister underneath her grew a bit confused at her desire, and she mentally shrugged down at her. She couldn’t explain it, but she let her sister see some of the visions of the past queen-mothers, and their desire to explore the dark void above them. Her sister didn’t really understand, but she felt the confusion disappear as it understood that it was something the queen-mothers thought about. Her sister was a worker, and they had their own concerns. Her mouth became a grin, she felt like she was part of a larger organism, which worked together to keep them going. The part of her that felt empty, started to fill, and she felt a tiny flare of excitement about meeting the sky-people.
Matthew William Lindquist 