Heretical Fishing

Book 3: Chapter 15: Hivemind

For the first time in the last twenty-four hours, we moved leisurely.

Our fight, flight, and general tomfoolery within Gormona had been adrenaline-pumping and surprisingly enjoyable. But now that I was walking hand in hand with Maria and had a genial crab riding my shoulder, I was reminded of what I truly enjoyed in life. The canopy above filtered out most of the sun’s light, and as I looked up, a gust blew, making the leaves and branches dance languidly.

When we reached the river, we leaped right over it, landing on the bank up-stream from my home. We walked in comfortable silence, all content with watching and listening to the world around us. As we drew closer to Lemon’s clearing, an unmistakable buzz washed over the grass, calling us forward.

“Is it just me,” Maria said, “or is that louder than usual?”

I cocked my head, letting my hearing extend past the self-imposed suppression I enacted by default.

“Huh... it certainly sounds louder.”

Snips nodded along, an inquisitive bubble floating away from her cute little mouth.

A blanket of movement met us the moment we entered Lemon’s original clearing. There were definitely more bees than usual. They practically swarmed the lemon trees. Individually, they were only tiny insects, barely noticeable among the shifting leaves. Together, they were an absolute sea of chaos, churning in every direction at the same time.

Distracted as we were by the sight, Maria didn’t notice a thin root extending from the ground behind her. Lieutenant Coronel Lemony Thicket whacked her on the bum, making her jump.

Lemon’s tree swayed with laughter.

“I thought you were in the new grove...” Maria bit the inside of her lip as she stared up at the blue trunk. “Are you here right now, or...?”

Both, the wind seemed to whisper as it flowed past Lemon’s leaves.

I sent my awareness down into the ground, feeling what could only be described as a tunnel of chi running under our feet. It sped south toward New Tropica in one direction, and north-east in the other, connecting her with the giant tree that had popped up overnight.

“You’re amazing, Lemon,” Maria said, marching forward and wrapping her trunk in a hug.

I joined her, one hand resting on Maria’s back and one on Lemon’s bark. Even Snips took part, patting Lemon and blowing bubbles of praise. Meanwhile, the bees continued visiting flowers above us, unaware of anything other than their purpose. I looked up, tracking an insect’s passage as it left the tree closest to us and flew off into the forest.

Its legs were laden with yellow pollen, and as it moved further and further away, I pursed my lips. “Where is that bee going...?”

Following my gaze, Maria and Snips tracked the subject of my wonder.

“Uhhh... back to the hive?” Maria flicked me lightly on the arm. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, but that’s not the direction of the hive...”

I followed the bee’s lumbering flight as it headed west toward the mountains. As we got further away, other insects joined it, heading in the same direction. Finally, we found their destination. They flew into a deformed knot at the base of an ancient tree, crawling down through a bee-sized entrance and out of sight.

Snips scuttled forward slowly, her entire carapace cocking from side to side as she watched more of them disappear into the hive.

“I guess we know why there are more bees,” I whispered to Maria. “Another hive has found the clearing.”

“At least one more,” she corrected. “There were a lot of them.”

Snips continued creeping up to the hive. A bee in the entrance made an odd buzz with its wings as she leaned in close and peered into the hole.

“Umm, Snips. You might be a bit—”

A few bees emerged, repeating the same buzz as the first. Within a few breaths, they were streaming from the hive. Snips watched them curiously, her contemplation only stopping when one tried to sting her sturdy carapace. She retreated a step, her movement drawing the rest toward her.

“Time to go!” I yelled, trying not to grin at the look of betrayal on Snips’s face.

We jogged back to the clearing, easily outpacing the riled-up insects.

“Did you know there were more bee hives visiting, Lemon?”

Yes, her pulse of chi told me, tinged with amusement.

“Do you know how many hives there are?”

She sprung a root from the ground and grew five strands of fiber from it. One of them was shorter than the others.

“Four… and a half?”

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Yes, she nodded.

“Lemon...” Maria smirked at her. “How is there half a hive?”

Rather than respond directly, she shimmied her canopy in delight, making passing bees avoid her general vicinity.

Maria narrowed her eyes, but I just laughed. “Looks like we’re gonna have to find out on our own. Come on.” I gestured for Snips and Maria to follow as I strode from the clearing. “We’ll see you soon, Lemon!”

Her shimmying only increased as we left, making me wonder why a half hive had brought her so much enjoyment. But I quickly forgot all about it. Twin rivers of bees flowed to and fro above us, those heading home covered in pollen, the others looking eager and ready to harvest.

As always, Sergeant Snips was mystified by the little creatures.

At one particularly crowded spot, she froze, simply watching their movement and blowing bubbles of awe. It reminded me of when we originally encountered the bee hive all those months ago, just after arriving in Tropica. Snips had been awakened for a matter of days at the time, and I’d never have guessed I’d grow to love her as much as I did. Since then, she’d become an irreplaceable part of my life, and I couldn’t imagine Tropica without her.

“What’s up?” Maria asked, her eyes searching mind.

“Just remembering the first time Sergeant Snips and I found the hive. Even then, she was transfixed by them.”

Snips nodded, fervently agreeing with a slew of bubbles.

As we continued following the bees, Snips never once tore her gaze from them. There was an honestly ridiculous amount of insects—so many that if I didn’t know better, I might have assumed all the pollinators in the clearing were from Queen Bee’s hive. When we reached the tree they called home, I paused, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s... different,” Maria said, sounding just as curious.

“Looks like Queen Bee and Bumblebro have been busy...”

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The hive had been extended.

Where it previously had a single hole for the denizens to come and go from, a patchwork of sticks had been glued together with a yellow substance. Multiple entrances led into the additional construction, letting the sea of bees enter freely. I crept around the side of the bulbous shape, lightly poking some of the yellow stuff holding it together. It was as hard as stone, not at all sticky to the touch.

“Weird...” I said, returning to Maria. “I’d guess it was Bumblebro...? I’m not sure a queen bee could make that stuff, awakened or not.”

Remembering my purpose in coming here, I approached the hive Bumblebro called home. I could have sworn I saw a pair of compound eyes staring out at me from within, but they dashed away, hiding from sight.

I hope he’s not still pissed off from the last time I was here...

“Bumblebro...” I softly called. “Are you in there?”

No reply came.

“I’m sorry for what happened last time,” I continued. “I should have knocked. It was super rude of me, and I hope you can forgive me for being such a goof.”

Again, there was no answer.

“I could have sworn I saw him peeping from inside,” Maria whispered.

“I saw that too...”

A soft hum came from within, sounding almost hesitant.

Snips jumped down from my arms and crawled forward. She tilted her body, peering inside from different angles. Another hum came from the box, and Bumblebro appeared in the entrance, only his head visible. I couldn’t verbalize it if anyone asked how I knew, but his little face seemed troubled.

“Bumblebro?” I asked, crouching down. “Is everything okay, buddy?”

He took a long moment to respond, eventually letting out a morose buzz, his head low like I was going to hit him.

“What’s going on, my man? Is everything okay? Where’s Queen Bee?”

With his head still lowered, he crawled outside.

I took a knee, looking at him closely. “Mate. What is it? You’re starting to worry me.”

He made a tone with his wings that meant come, which confused the hell out of me until someone else appeared in the entrance.

Queen Bee, looking just as brow beaten, emerged. She came to a stop beside Bumblebro, somehow getting even lower than he was.

“That’s it!” I threw my high. “What the frack is going on? You guys are gonna give me a panic attack!”

They kowtowed—actually kowtowed—pressing their foreheads to the floor.

“Look, if you did something bad, please just tell me. I promise I won’t get mad unless you hurt someone—wait, you didn’t sting anyone, did you?”

No! they both buzzed.

“Okay. Good.” I sighed. “Tell me what it is, then.”

They looked at each other, paused, then both made the same tone Bumblebro had earlier.

Come...

Confusion shattered my frustration, and I looked around, waiting for some sort of creature that got into their honey to come barreling through the forest. Instead, another buzz came from within the hive.

“Wait...” Maria said. “Don’t tell me...”

“What?” I asked, not understanding.

Lacking any of Queen Bee and Bumblebro’s humility, another bee zipped outside. It hovered before me, giving me a single nod and waving a forelimb in greeting.

“Er... hello?”

I inspected the new arrival.

It had a bulbous body, thicker around than that of a regular honeybee. Its stripes were a deep black and bright yellow, making it stand out against the verdant green forest. Unlike Bumblebro and whatever species he had originally been, a sharp stinger protruded from the tip of its abdomen.

His abdomen, I realized. It’s a bloke bee.

His jaws were closer to a bumblebee’s, the chompers looking designed to chew through even the hardest of woods.

Given his features, the bee’s lineage was immediately clear.

“Guys! You had a kid! I—”

Another buzz came from within the hive, cutting me off. It wasn’t the quiet drone of a single bee; it was a cacophony of wings, all beating with joy as they headed toward the hive’s entrance. In a blurred stream moving faster than any unawakened creature could muster, the rest of the hive emerged. One by one, they came to fly beside their brothers.

Each of them nodded and waved, their procession growing so fast that I just left my hand raised in an eternal greeting. The last of them finally joined the others, hovering on the spot in a cloud of yellow and black. Though there were so many of them, they were completely silent, the beats of their cute little wings not making a sound even to my enhanced ears.

“You’re... all awakened?”

The cloud nodded, every single one of the dozens of bees bobbing up and down.

“No way...” Maria said.

I turned toward Bumblebro and Queenbee with a wide smile on my face. Instead of congratulating them, however, I narrowed my eyes at their positions. They were still kowtowing, pressing their entire bodies as low as they possibly could.

Sorry, they buzzed. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

“Why...?”

Bumblebro darted up toward me, coming to hover before my face. Showing a complete disregard for my understanding of insectoid anatomy, a tear swelled beneath one of his compound eyes.

Orders, he buzzed. I disobeyed.

“Huh? What orders?”

He made a complicated series of tones that I had to listen to thrice before understanding.

“Oooh! My order to not make more awakened bees!” I raised my hand in realization, and he flinched away, fearing I’d strike him down.

Queen Bee threw herself at my feet, making a deep tone that I was pretty sure meant take me instead.

“You... thought I’d be mad at you for having little bee babies?”

Yes, he buzzed.

Sorry, she added.

Sorry, their children echoed, their drone so loud that I could feel it in my chest.

All I could do was blink at them for a long moment. A low squeak came from beside me, drawing all of our attention. Sergeant Snips squealed like a boiling-over kettle, and with our gazes on her, she completely lost it. Her body collapsed to the ground as laughter hissed and bubbled from her. Queen Bee took umbrage and made a warning tone with her wings. Snips paused for a moment before laughing even harder, her legs spasming out to the side uncontrollably.

Maria shook her head, smirking at the misunderstanding.

I bent and picked up Queen Bee, placing her on my hand beside Bumblebro. “I’m not upset at either of you and you’re not in trouble.”

Sorry, Bumblebro started to buzz, but stopped. His eyes darted up, staring into mine.

I laughed at the confusion coloring his face. “You heard me, you silly little goose. How could I be mad?”

The two lovers stared up at me hesitantly, shocked into stillness by my words. Then, as one, the tension left their bodies. They released great sighs, which I’m pretty sure was just a copied movement because of their distinct lack of lungs. As both of them vibrated with sheer relief, their literal army of children joined in, the happy tones infectious and making my core sing.

Maria leaned in close to the cloud of bees, her face beaming as she took them in. “wow. You guys are super cute!”

They danced in response, making her lilting giggle roll over our surroundings. I thought Maria’s appreciation of them would be unmatched, but Snips immediately proved me wrong. The adorable crustation circled them, her lone eye sparkling in the light filtering from above. Maria picked her up, holding her out so she could get a closer look. They nodded in greeting, and Bumblebro let out a sharp buzz that I took to mean superior, causing them to nod again before giving her a synchronized salute.

She returned it, preening under their attention.

“Everyone, this is Snips. Snips, this is...” I tilted my head to the side. “Er... do they have names, Bumblebro?”

No, he buzzed.

“Hmm. It’s gonna take me forever to think of names for you all. Any ideas, Maria? I’m—”

No, they interrupted, loud enough for the sound to reverberate in my chest.

“Huh?” Maria asked. “What do you mean, no?”

“You... don’t want individual names?”

They buzzed so hard in the affirmative that I thought they might spontaneously combust.

“Huh. Well, if that’s what you want. I’ll have to think on it, though—a name is even more important if it applies to all of you!”

Yes, yes, yes! they agreed happily.

“Perfect. I’ll let you know the moment I decide. Until then...” I glanced at the construction on the regular honeybee’s hive. “Did you guys make that?”

When they confirmed it, I smiled. “Do you guys make honey?”

Bumblebro and Queen Bee shook their heads, making my grin spread even wider.

“Well, if you’re open to suggestions, I might have the perfect job for you guys...”

They let out a curious bzzz?, and I launched right into my sales pitch.