NOVEL NEXT They Held The Line-Chapter Nine-Aurora
V’rni System, 2175 A.D.
Interior of the abandoned Hive
Aurora continued to let the two worker drones guide her through the narrow confines of the tunnels as they headed towards the nexus of the Hive. Millions of simple minds pressed against her, rejoicing in her presence.
She let them lap against her mind like waves on a shore, and she sent thoughts of love and joy to them, something they had never experienced from a Hive mother before. The air was thick with pheromones as the drones continued to communicate with each other, heralding her arrival.
As the millions of surviving drones realized that a Hive mother had returned to them, their primitive minds put out a harmonic frequency that became stronger as they synchronized, and Aurora could feel it within her mind.
They are singing, she thought to herself as she tried to categorize what was happening, comparing it to the animal concept of music she had learned about. The whole Hive is singing, she realized with sadness as she finally entered the nexus of the Hive, allowing the primitive emotions of the millions of drones to wash over her as she continued to respond to them.
She felt an outpouring of emotions as the millions of drones responded to her. Sadness, anger, joy, and fear assaulted her mind as she tried her best to calm them and let them know that she was there to take them away to a new Hive.
She knew that they would not really understand the words she said to them, but they would understand her intent and the emotions she was expressing with them.
She was almost overwhelmed as she felt the relief coming from the millions of terrified drones still in the Hive, and she felt deep anger and hatred towards her sisters for abandoning them. The drones needed constant guidance from queens, or they would suffer from severe anxiety and distress before dying of neglect and starvation.
The only reason why this Hive functioned for as long as it did was because of the large number of command drones that were left behind to oversee the workers. It was the command drones that kept the Hive running.
They made sure that the Hive followed the last command of the queen to fight to the death for no other reason other than to make the animals pay a high cost for retaking their former worlds. She sent a thought for all the command drones to come to the nexus. It was telling that they were not there to begin with.
She waited for the command drones to come to her as an endless procession of worker drones entered and then exited the nexus after seeing or touching her tentatively with their tarsal claws to confirm that there really was a queen in the Hive.
She continually dispensed pheromones for the air filtration systems to circulate throughout the entire Hive, reinforcing their new bond and assuring their complete loyalty to her. After a short period of time, six command drones entered the nexus and lingered by the entrance. She could feel the fear of their thoughts.
They think I am here to kill them for failing to defend the Hive. I must correct their thinking; she thought as she sent another command to them.
She saw them respond to the power of her thoughts as they slowly walked across the nexus to finally arrive before her and bow submissively. Command drones had a higher level of intelligence and complexity than worker drones.
They understood the concept of death and were aware of their rank and responsibilities within the hierarchy of the Hive. They were capable of overseeing millions of drones with their own basic pheromone glands as proxies for the queens.
Command drones also lived longer, with some of them reaching almost a hundred cycles in years before expiring from natural causes if they were well-liked by the queens they served. Most queens do not allow them to live that long; their mercurial nature makes it extremely common for queens to lash out and kill command drones for the slightest errors. No more; my Hive will forge a new path.
She felt relief and confusion from the command drones as they struggled to understand what was happening. They were convinced she was going to kill them, and they did not know how to deal with her sparing them.
The six command drones, still prostrating themselves before her, rose up and departed to do as she commanded, and she could feel their thoughts and emotions as they left. They were now utterly loyal to her because she spared them. I must rule with love, not fear.
She felt the Hive mother within wishing to speak, and she opened her mind to her thoughts.
Republic Hive World
TOI-700 d, 101.4 light years from Earth
The young queen watched intently as her animal friend continued to show her geometric shapes and make claw movements. Bandit-Friend lifted a cube, waiting for her to make claw movements and correctly label it.
She made the appropriate signs, and she saw the animal friend’s facial features grimace as it showed her its teeth. She felt pleasure in the happiness of her friend because it meant that she was correct. Bandit-Friend picked up a small device and placed it in between them before pressing a button on it.
Floating images appeared above it, and she instinctively reached out to touch it, her tarsal claw passing through the apparition. Bandit-Friend signed again with its claws, asking her to identify the animal image. She thought long and hard before naming the animal with her claws.
The animal friend moved its head in a side-to-side motion. I am wrong; I must name this animal correctly, she thought to herself before trying again. She made the correct claw movements, and the animal friend made the grimace on its face again.
She felt pleasure again and signed for more. She wanted to make her Hive mother proud when she returned to the Hive. She tried to send thoughts to Bandit-Friend again, despite it telling her that it was not capable of sharing thoughts with her.
There was no indication that it heard her, and it continued to change the images, asking her to identify the new hologram of the Nekuli male that appeared in the air.
She responded with the correct claw movements absently as her compartmentalized brain took over while she continued to send thoughts to the animal friend.
There was still no response to her thoughts, and she soon stopped trying, sad that the animals were not able to share thoughts with her or each other. Bandit-Friend turned the device off and reached behind him, pulling out her favorite thing to do.
If she does well, Bandit-Friend rewards her with an animal game that he taught her to play. There was a flat piece of wood with black and white squares in a pattern. There were also black and white pieces that were shaped like animals that they moved around with their claws.
As he assembled the pieces, she waited with barely controlled excitement to begin the game. She had asked her Hive-mother if they had such games, and she said that they did not.
She explained that such games were one of the reasons why the animals were so good at war, because even the games they play from a young age are really them practicing for war, whether they realize it or not.
Bandit-Friend finally finished setting up the pieces, and he made the first move, moving one of the smaller pieces two squares forward. She looked at the entire board, displaying it within her mind from all angles as she considered hundreds of possible responses.
She moved an animal piece over the one in front of it as she named the animal in her mind. Horse/Knight. Bandit-Friend responded by moving another front piece one square forward. Pawn/Drone.
She moved her own pawn/drone and watched as Bandit-Friend moved his Horse/Knight. She ran through thousands of permutations in her mind as she considered the current and future moves made by them both.
She moved the queen, her favorite piece. She already saw the path to winning the game in her mind as she predicted the next ten possible movements she and Bandit-Friend would make.
She took her eyes off the board and looked at Bandit-Friend, watching his face as his yellow eyes moved rapidly over all the pieces as he considered his next move. She sent another thought to him.