The Call of the Swarm

by Melani Matejak

  “Excellent work, Scouts,” he said as they started passing the sugar-dew to the crowd. “Exemplary. Your achievement is beyond expectations, unit 33, and it didn’t go unnoticed. The Queen is very satisfied with your service.”

  Not everybody in the unit took it as a compliment; Xe caught an enraged stare shed by Go, but thankfully she remained silent and Servants overlooked it.

  “We are pleased and proud we could be of use to our Queen, Page,” he replied in an official tone on behalf of his unit.

  After that the Scouts were dismissed and the Servants retreated back to their quarters.

  It was raining outside and therefore all quests had been called off for the day. The Flyers had nothing better to do but to roam their waxy home, and with many preferring the Central Chamber to their sleeping quarters the vast green-glowing room was jam-packed. Lively chatter rose from the spacious floor, merging with buzzing into a droning flutter so typical for an Eeol Hive.

  As the word about their Bush adventure spread, unit 33 was beset by endless hordes of curious listeners. But the Scouts quickly got bored of repeating the same old story over and over again and looked for something more interesting to do.

  “Let’s go see that new row of sleeping chambers below us,” suggested Pa 7.

  “What, it’s already finished?” Le was surprised. “Poor Internals, they are really working their heads off these days. But it’s a good idea. I’m for it.”

  The other Scouts agreed, all except Xe who had a nasty headache and needed a rest.

  “I’m too tired. You just go, fellows, and see you tomorrow.”

  His gang left, and Xe remained in the Central Chamber sitting on a rotund wax shard and pondering their successful mission.

  Good thing the rain didn’t catch us, he thought. What would they do in that case, cringe inside the Bush until morning? All in all, their task turned out just fine, and its favorable outcome earned them a great deal of respect. Accomplishing such a dangerous mission not only made their point to Was but proved them worthy to the entire Swarm.

  An annoying headache didn’t allow him to fully dwell on all aspects of this, and he wondered if he should go straight to his sleeping chamber. Yet, it was nice to get praised by everybody and to enjoy all that attention; and he was actually proud to be commended by the Queen. It was nice to know one’s work was acknowledged by the most important person in the Hive.

  Strange, but his headache was rapidly getting worse.

  It turned into blighting pondering and Xe’s head was splitting. It was nothing he had experienced before. Scout thwacked his red helmet a few times, but it just waxed the pain. Furthermore, some odd whitish haze started to drift before his eyes, and when he tried to get up he found himself unable to stand and stumbled helplessly to the floor. This was happening to everyone all over the Central Chamber. Eeols staggered around, every last one of them.

  Something was wrong.

  It was impossible to determine what exactly, but some elusive force hung in the air. When Xe strained his ears, he began to pick up a strange sound in the background he hadn’t noticed before; something like a high-resonance pitch beyond any means of description, yet possessing a dreadful power no Eeol could resist.

  The young Scout tried to get up again, but he couldn’t. The white-heated scourge in his head rampaged out of control and he sagged down, his body going limp on the waxy floor. There was a thump close to him as numerous Eeols resting at the openings of sieved walls were now dropping like dry leaves.

  Xe’s mind convulsed and the world around him got blurry with all movements sluggish like in a nightmare. The green glow of the Central Chamber seemed to dim and strange shadows came out of the corners, whirling and reeling and dancing, and a big black shape leaned over the Scout, staring with brilliant bug-like eyes and spreading its huge wings before him until he fainted.

  It seemed like a lot of time had passed before Xe regained consciousness again.

  Slowly pulling himself together, he carefully moved his stiff hands, raising them out of pool of sticky liquor; nozzles of his feeding pipes had loosened during his black-out allowing the contents of his body tanks to trickle out uncontrollably. The Scout’s head was spinning, but he didn’t feel too bad. He managed to straighten up, looking around the Central Chamber.

  Thousands of motionless red bodies were scattered across the floor. There were also excessive amounts of wax rubble everywhere and part of floor was literally buried under shards, splinters and fragments of walls. When Xe looked better he also discerned some peculiar foul-smelling matter like balls of dirt mixed with the wax trash.

  Young Scout tried out his flying gear, and his air-screw buzzed just fine. He rushed to the nearest Eeol to see if he could he help in any way. She jumped when he touched her, and he helped the thin Eeoless get back on her feet.

  “Hail there. I’m Trooper XeraM6697. What’s your name? Are you hurt?”

  The Eeoless gave him a baffled look. “What was that?”

  “Beats me. I awoke only a few moments ago.”

  But then he noticed a large party of Commanders walking down the supporting wall at their left and he made a dash toward them in hopes of getting some answers.

  Two members of the Supreme Command walked in the front, BeraX7719 and LomoM0603, followed by various Commanders and several Queen’s Servants at the rear. All eyes were on the wall scrutinizing it. There was an extensive damage on the whole section; long and shattered cuts everywhere, with big chunks of wax torn out at several places and also some odd round holes drilled deep in the wax.

  “What are these, Sirs?” Xe asked louder than he had intended.

  Strictly saying, addressing Superiors without hailing and identifying oneself first was a breach of Swarm regulations, but nobody seemed to object. In response to his question, Head Page MedaM0075 separated from others while the rest of party strode past, waving off his crowd and then turning to Xe with a bleak expression on his face.

  “Nibbles of Butterflies,” he said grimly, gesturing in the direction of a wall.

  “Butterflies?” the Scout repeated in bewilderment.

  “Yes, Trooper, Butterflies of a special kind. Chaos Monger Butterflies, to be precise, not very common. A flock of them broke into the Hive two days ago. There are casualties.”

  Remembering that he had heard about those creatures before, Xe’s mind ran with questions. “Chaos Monger Butterflies? Aren’t they supposed to be herbivores, Sir?”

  “Solely a honey thieves, true, but that supersonic howl they use to knock the Swarm unconscious has its own way of doing harm. It made some Eeols that were perched high at the moment of attack to fall to their deaths. Chaos Monger howl is a dreadful thing, Scout.”

  “What happened to the brood and the honeycombs? Are they destroyed?”

  “The brood is fine, only hungry. A certain amount of honey is gone but not all, and the loss is not so worrying. Our biggest concern now is the condition of the Hive which suffered a lot of damage as those damned bugs like to gnaw our wax and drill it with their snouts. Nothing we can’t fix, though.”

  “No chance we could track down the Butterflies and get even with them?”

  MedaM0075 shook his head in a negative response. “There must be a hidden underground tunnel somewhere close to us since the Butterflies need several days to prepare their attack, but it would be abandoned by now. Their flock undoubtedly flew away. Better go help the Eeols which are still down, Scout. Although we formed rescue parties, there was no time to take care of everybody. And after that, clean up that awful bug crap that those damned creatures left behind!”

  “Yes, Sir, right away!”

  11.

  Wax, Wax, Wax

  The Hive soon recovered from the attack of the Butterflies.

  Repairs were progressing nicely. Rivers of liquid wax welled out of Eeol hand pumps to paste cuts and stuff holes. While the smaller damage could be patched up with fresh wax, the larger damage required the removal of entire se
ctions of walls. Eeols had to smash problematic segments into bits with their hand spikes and had to construct brand new ones in their place, and they were doing that unbelievably fast.

  The replenishing of pillaged honey stock went slower, as the short summer showers kept coming one after another and impaired food gathering activities. Yet the summer has only begun and there was ample time to make up for the losses and supply the Hive for cold season. For Xe, the most important thing was that nobody who was close to him got hurt.

  In the meantime, the marvelous troops of the Kings continued to emerge from the Royal Room as new batches were hatched in regular intervals; each counting between twenty and thirty dazzling golden figures. After lingering in the Central Chamber, they would leave the Hive in day or two to commence their quest for Queens.

  Out in the open, Kings were joining others of their kind. As a result, the skies of the great plains during this part of the season were embellished with spectacular golden swarms made of hundreds of Kings from many different Hives.

  That day the Morning Rally was exceptionally lengthy.

  With the situation in the Hive improving, Supreme BeraX7719 got back in shape. After the traditional pounding on the order of sustaining the world and the importance of togetherness at the rally opening, he went on endlessly about the repairs being done well and the Queen’s praises for it, honey stock records everybody was already familiar with, and one modification in the Commanders’ sleeping chambers arrangement which was interesting only to the few Commanders in question.

  It was after sunrise when he finally touched the more practical themes.

  “The Scrap Wax Chamber is full to capacity, Eeols,” he warned. “It’s time to have it emptied. The weather has turned in our favor, and we must take advantage of it before the rain makes a comeback. First of all, a special scouting company is going to be assembled to seek an appropriate dumping place. Supreme LomoM0603 is going to read the names of Scouts picked for this task.”

  He moved aside to make room for the Eeoless who carried a small wax plate in her arms.

  The constant reconstruction of the Hive was producing large quantities of wax waste that was stored temporarily in the spacious room on the Subterraneous Level 1, located just under the thick floor of the Central Chamber. Eeols never tossed shattered wax in the vicinity of their home, as its smell could attract unwanted visitors. They would take it far away and threw it in the deep rock cracks instead, and special scouting company was now formed to look for such a place.

  In fact, it was a mixed company as additional Watcher troops were added to the true Scout units for extra protection. Consequently, the company was quite big, counting more than a thousand Flyers. Xe and his friends turned out to be among the Scouts assigned to it as well as Za with his Scout unit 46. They were all pleased to hear their previous Mission Commander DeraB1044 was appointed to lead the mission.

  The special company flew out through the Gate and soared up to the clear blue skies, as the weather that morning was simply perfect. DeraB1044 took the company toward the Ridge area which was rocky and loaded with fissures and crevices so it would be easy to find a place suitable for their purpose.

  Xe and Pa 2 were flying abreast in the formation.

  “Do you have any clue about what that fool, Wa 17, might be up to lately?” asked Pa 2 when no Commander was around.

  Xe shrugged. “No, why?” The only thing he had heard was that the troublemaker recovered from his injuries and returned to his usual duties in company one.

  “Just something Da got from the other Scouts. It seems he’s bad-mouthing us.”

  “Nothing new.”

  “And? We do nothing about it?”

  “Let go of my arm. What would you want to do, pick another fight? Do you know what Commander Ce would say to that?”

  Pa 2 grunted and released his arm.

  “Let Wa 17 babble as much he likes. The Swarm is not listening, believe me; the majority is on our side. I would even say most Scouts in company one prefer us over the Wa unit.” Xe smiled softly. “You trust my judgment, don’t you?”

  He nodded reluctantly.

  “That’s it then. Stop thinking about Wa 17 and focus on your mission, Trooper.”

  The scouting company went into descent.

  Underneath them, a dark crack was gaping at the foot of a weathered cliff. Irregularly shaped and sickly ornamented with odd rocky protrusions, the crack was large and wide and had almost no vegetation growing along its edges. There was hardly anything around here beyond scattered blocks of bare granite.

  Yet when Scouts cautiously inspected it, the crack turned out to be shallow.

  “It’s no good,” said DeraB1044 in a plain voice, and the company continued its quest.

  As they flew, Eeols scrutinized the terrain carefully, especially the spots Grabbing Flies might use for ambush. But there wasn’t much danger of encountering them here; it was the vegetation itself making the principal life environment for Flies, and hence these blood-thirsty insects were uncommon in stripped areas.

  The Eeols were now getting close to the border of their territory, entering the region young Troopers of unit 33 have never been before. Safe high in the air, the company buzzed quickly over one sizable plash. Following the period of heavy rains, many of these have formed throughout the rocky area, wreathed by groves of gentle metallic sprouts.

  The next crevice the Scouts checked was too shallow also, but their third attempt proved to be successful.

  The place in question was a formidable fissure which broke the comb of a barren orange crag almost in two. Yawning like a monstrous black mouth, it ran in the form of a crescent. The place also offered a flat granite table as a practical landing spot and jutting rock formations for watching positions from both sides of it.

  But just as the Eeols landed and fanned out preparing to secure the area, something large sprung out of the dark heart of the fissure. Everybody jumped and drew their blasters. Luckily, what they were facing was nothing more than a Relative.

  That was the first time Xe saw a Hep close-up.

  The helmeted and air-screwed figure was shaped basically in the same way Eeols were, although being much bigger than even the Eeol Kings. The Hep’s smooth, light-brown armor wore no marks, and he had just two square batteries attached to his belt. Compared with those of Eeols, his visor was relatively small and wasn’t reaching his nose. Buzzing extraordinarily noisy, the Hep hovered in the air for a moment, swinging his legs and looking angry. Then he yelled a few strange words nobody could understand and bolted away like the lighting itself; in a speed no Eeol could ever match.

  “I’m afraid we disturbed him,” commented Commander Ce to his unit. “He obviously lived here in the cleft.”

  “That means we have to leave?” asked Xe.

  “No. I don’t think he’s planning on coming back. Very touchy sort, Heps. Don’t worry about him, he will easily make himself a new home somewhere else.”

  That was probably due to the fact that Heps didn’t toil much about their residences. Scouts discovered a snug corner inside the fissure where the floor was covered by a thin layer of dry moss and several large stones were laid around; in the same manner Eeols would set handy pieces of wax rubble to sit on. There were metallic leaves and floral petals stuck between the stones or stuffed into cracks, as if Heps loved to decorate their homes, and some remnants of Flea Beetle armors in corners as they hunted small prey in addition to their prevalently herbal diet. Not the tiniest speck of wax could be seen anywhere because Heps were incapable of producing it, and Eeols couldn’t stop marveling at how much this dwelling was different from their Hive.

  “No wonder Heps have so much free time to whiz around!” laughed Za.

  “A difficult life indeed,” agreed Te.

  “Stop babbling, Troopers!” interrupted Commander Ce in a stern tone. “Don’t ever forget to be cautious while on duty. We were lucky that the occupant of this place turned out to be a Relative. We could ea
sily run into something far worse.”

  His subordinates bowed their heads. “Yes, Sir.”

  Securing and exploring the fissure took a lot of time. The late afternoon was slowly drawing to its end when DeraB1044 finally concluded he was satisfied with the job done and ordered his company to return home. The small crescent of a pale-purple moon already glimmered in the southern sky, heralding the closing dusk.

  “So we have found our dump,” remarked Za while buzzing together with unit 33 on the journey home, “and tomorrow we are going to return here with our wax loads.”

  “Great,” said Pa 7 sarcastically. “We will have to fly all this way carrying heavy wax, several times!”

  “You reckon one trip won’t be enough?” wondered Le. “After all, Supremes will put all four gathering swarms to work.”

  “One trip? I don’t think so. Did you see how much wax is in there in the Scrap Chamber? Even if every Flyer comes along, no way we can get rid of all that in a single trip.”

  Le just sighed.

  The company was flying quite fast and rough terrain was swiftly passing underneath. But before they could reach the Hive, Eeols had another encounter; much more unpleasant than the one at the fissure.

  It happened above some sterile field peppered with orange-gray boulders. The rushing Scouts stumbled upon three Lesser Black Hunting Flies whirring energetically in the air. Being vastly outnumbered, the hideous insects made attempt to escape, but the company was determined not to allow that. Mission Commander DeraB1044 ordered a massive attack, and the Eeols swept the enemy like dry leaves. The perfect victory was followed by deafening cheers.

  Nonetheless, this incident made Xe anxious. Additionally, the sun was setting, and daylight started to wane. Pulling visors up didn’t help much.

  Dusk was falling when the belated Eeols finally got home. With great relief, Xe gazed at immense silhouette of the Hive looming against a dark-blue sky in the background. The Gate was visible by its inner glow near the base. Soon they all had their well-deserved rest.