Horizon Beta

by D. W. Vogel

  “Sorry,” I clicked, and scooted past. It didn’t follow right away, but after a few steps, the sound of its feet on the hard clay ticked up behind me. The soft feelers caressed the back of my neck and I shivered.

  It smells her. It has to.

  But maybe it didn’t know what the smell meant.

  Another Builder cut me off at the end of the hallway, scuttling in my direction. The one behind me didn’t attack, merely following me and tickling me with its soft antennae.

  Every nerve in my body screamed, “Run.” But if I ran, they would know for sure. They would raise the alarm, and I’d be surrounded. I continued walking forward, eyes downcast like any Lowform. When I reached the Builder ‘Mite blocking my path, I clicked, “I pass,” the ‘Mite way to say “Excuse me,” and tried to sidle past. It let me, but joined the other in rubbing its antennae around me.

  They smell her. And they like it.

  Could it be this easy? Would the mere presence of this lovely baby Queen turn the Hive? Would they all follow her and we could end this without death on either side? For a few moments, it seemed like the answer might be “yes.”

  Then the Soldiers arrived.

  They weren’t enthralled by the Blue Queen’s scent. They were enraged by it.

  Three of them charged up from behind us, shoving at the Builders that trailed behind me. I flung the basket behind me and bolted ahead.

  Another Soldier dashed in from a side hallway and I veered around it, throwing myself against the wall, which sent a shower of dirt down around us and made the Soldiers behind me pause.

  Fool. Throw the pollen!

  I ripped the first bag out from under my tunic and tore off the wax seal, tossing the bag into the air behind me. The hoped-for puff of red pollen didn’t happen. Just a wet plop as the soggy mass inside splatted on the floor.

  Oh, moons, here we go. I’m sorry, my Queen.

  The second bag wouldn’t rip off the cord that held it, and I fumbled with the knot as I ran. The Soldiers were steps behind me, close enough that I could hear their huge lungs pumping.

  I ripped off the seal and tossed the bag.

  The air filled with thick, red, floral-scented debris.

  Two of the Soldiers chasing me crashed into each other, and the two that were running behind stumbled into them, tumbling into a mass of legs and stinging tails. I dashed forward out of the noxious cloud, as disoriented as they were with the pollen destroying my new sense of smell.

  Up ahead, starlight glittered through a hole in the Hive wall.

  I bolted for it, flying faster than I ever thought I could run. The Soldiers behind me had regained their feet, and I smelled the distress signal they emitted, yellow-orange with rage. In a few moments, every Soldier from the Hive would be racing this way.

  A Digger scuttled into the opening, waving its huge claws.

  “Move!” I clicked, hoping to the stars that it would listen.

  It moved. As I flew past, it reached out with its antennae to get a taste of the Blue Queen, but I was moving far too fast. I vaulted over a low wall that hadn’t collapsed, and emerged into the moonlight. My feet pounded on the hard ground, and from all around me came the sound of Soldier ‘Mites on the hunt.

  Chapter 20

  Noah

  In the moonlight, I thought I might have a slight advantage. If Mo was telling the truth, the ‘Mites had no vision, and relied completely on smell to navigate. They were so good at it that I never suspected they couldn’t see. And I had no idea what had changed inside me that I could smell things I never had before, but it must have had something to do with sharing the Queen’s blood. Was my sense of smell as strong as theirs now? No idea, but in the moonlight, I had a gray, dim vision.

  I almost wished I didn’t. Soldiers rushed at me from both sides and behind, pouring out of the Hive. I had a small head start, but Soldiers could skitter on their six hind legs faster than I could run on two. In a flat-out footrace, I was outclassed. And there was nowhere to hide. As the algae dried and cracked, the Blue Queen’s angry purple scent filled the night. Every ‘Mite for miles would know where she was.

  The ground was rocky as I crested the hillside and flew down toward the grassland. My lungs burned with the effort, and the Queen’s anger at being bounced around was making me nauseous.

  You’re a fool. You’ve doomed her.

  I risked a peek over my shoulder. Soldiers everywhere, and in front of the pack, the two Diggers that had been the first to realize what I was smuggling under my tunic. They ran faster than I ever thought Diggers could run, outpacing even the Soldiers.

  They feel it. She calls to them.

  I stumbled at the bottom of the hill and caught my footing, rushing out onto the grassland. Here and there, pockets of trees and brush stood out as black spots in the dim light. Could I possibly hide in one of them?

  The smell of water drew me to the left. A large copse of trees was a shadow straight ahead of me. I bolted for it, though I knew nothing there could possibly hide the Queen’s scent, or the trail my footsteps were leaving as I ran. When I reached the little patch of plant life, I pulled up short.

  Through a small crack in the ground came the smell of fresh water. I was above one of the many cracks that let light into the underground rivers. This was not a section I had ever dived in before, but there was no doubt that below me was a branch of the river.

  The two Diggers crashed into the bushes.

  “Dig! Help Queen!” I clicked at them, praying they were among the ‘Mites that understood the language.

  They paused for a moment, then tore into the rocks at my feet with their huge claws. Dirt and stones flew as they worked in a fever, spurred by the urgency in my tone. I had no idea what they were thinking. They couldn’t see me. Did they think the order came from the Blue Queen? Did they realize she was just a larva, not even pupated yet? Did it matter?

  Soldiers pounded toward us and the crack at my feet widened. Far below, the sound of the rushing water flowed by, echoing in what must be a large, open cavern under this thin ceiling of rock. The hole was almost large enough for me to slip into, but it had to be big enough that the Queen on my belly wouldn’t be scraped off as I squeezed through.

  “Hurry! Fast! Help Queen!”

  They dug with a frenzy.

  As the first Soldier burst into the brush, tail raised to strike, I shoved the Diggers out of my way and jammed my legs into the hole. I turned so that the largest opening was at my front, and pulled myself downward through the narrow crack, rocks scraping skin from my sides. My feet hung over nothing and I shimmied my shoulders down through the hole.

  Almost there. We’re going to make it.

  My tunic snagged on a sharp rock and pulled over my head.

  I dangled there, hung by the cloth, twisting and kicking to free myself. My left arm was stuck in the hole and I couldn’t break free.

  One of the Diggers grabbed at me. Did it think it could save me and pull me up? Its sharp claw tore the tunic away from the rock, and I fell.

  Images flashed through my mind as I plunged into darkness.

  Some of the larger rock caverns were just openings from the river straight up to the ceiling, with plain rock walls and nothing but water underneath. Others had small beaches where the rock curved down to the water’s edge, leaving a flat, solid surface on which plant life thrived. I had no idea which kind of cavern this was. If it was the first kind, I was about to splash into freezing water.

  If it was the second, I was about to crush all my bones on the rocky ledge next to the river’s flow.

  My brain processed this in an instant’s panic as the light from above dwindled in my vision.

  The water hit me almost as hard as rocks would have. All my breath was stolen as the icy splash pounded into my back. My arms were wrapped around the Queen, and I plunged into black water. How deep? Was I about to impale myself on the jagged bottom? I kicked hard for the surface.


  The river moved fast here, and as my head broke from the water, my back slammed into a jut of rock. The current held me fast and I scrambled to keep my head above water. I was still in the large, open cavern.

  And the Diggers were still digging.

  Whether they were trying to get to the Queen for their own reasons, or acting at the behest of the Soldiers, I didn’t know or care. In the moments that I clawed at the rocks around me, gasping for painful breaths, more and more moonlight streamed into the hole.

  Shadows covered it, and suddenly it was raining Soldiers.

  They dropped into the cavern, heedless of the fact that they couldn’t swim. I darted to the side as the first two were pulled past me, staying out of range of their stingers, carried in the current. More and more piled in, and as they fell, they bounced off each other. There was enough light now to see that the rock I was hanging onto was an outcropping from one of those flat ledges.

  Soldiers scrambled out of the water, up onto the ledge and rushed toward me.

  I didn’t dare just let go and flow with the current. The water downstream was clogged with drowning Soldiers.

  “We have to swim. Hang on,” I murmured to the Queen on my belly. Without the tunic to support her, only the grasp of her mouth on my skin kept her from being swept away. I wanted to hold onto her body, but I would need both hands to get us out of this chamber.

  I ducked under the water and swam for our lives. The river was narrow here, water rushing right at me, and as I kicked under the open patch of moonlight, a Soldier dropped into the water right on top of me. Its legs grasped at me and I kicked it away, waiting for the sting that would end this pathetic rescue. But the Soldier’s grip let go, and it tumbled away behind me.

  Swim. Swim like never before.

  The cavern ended in a black tunnel where the river flowed in. Somewhere up ahead would be another cavern like this one, or an air hole crack to the surface. How far was it? No way to tell.

  At the upstream edge, I grabbed onto a lip of rock and took a huge breath, sides heaving with pain.

  I submerged into the black tunnel, and kicked into the darkness.

  Chapter 21

  Noah

  The first leg of the swim was mercifully short. I pulled myself forward against the current through a narrow passage with rock all around me. This part of the river system was completely foreign to me. Another air hole could be just ahead, or a mile away. My eyes strained in the darkness, searching for a tiny ray of moonlight streaming down into the water that would tell me a crack led to the surface. To air.

  I found one quickly, a hole in the rock ceiling just large enough to cram my face into, pulling deep breaths of still, warm air. My fingers gripped the sides of the hole, keeping me in place against the current.

  What do I do now?

  I was stuck in a system of caves flooded with rushing water, with no idea where I was. My sense of direction told me which way I wanted to head, but with no knowledge of this part of the river, I could easily choose the wrong passage, one without air holes. I could drown like so many Divers before me, washed away to the sea. No one would know. No one would care. My Queen would die with me.

  The hole I held onto was far too small to consider shimmying up.

  What if I let go and flowed back down the way I came? Surely the Soldiers had given up by now. They couldn’t possibly smell the Queen from where she hung on my belly underwater. I couldn’t smell her. If I drifted back to the chamber where I came in, could I possibly climb out? How long would it take them to smell her and come for us if I did?

  Scrabbling feet overhead made dirt fall into my open mouth.

  They were here.

  I smelled them overhead, running across the ground high above me. They weren’t digging at the top of my airhole, so I knew they didn’t know where I was. But they were searching for me. For her. For us. No way I could possibly risk going backwards. They’d be waiting for sure.

  And the cold water was already starting to sap my energy, pulling away my strength and my heat.

  Also, there’s a big fat ‘Mite larva sucked onto your stomach. She’s not doing you any favors there. But there was no thought of peeling her off me. I could no more consign her to certain death than fly up to the spaceship that Mo had assured me was somewhere high overhead in the night sky, one of the many blinking stars I had never questioned. She was taking my energy, but I would give her everything I had.

  We’re together. Live or die, we stay together.

  I spit out the dirt, took another deep breath, and pushed off the air hole.

  Turn right. Duck under. Light ahead. Rest.

  The next air hole was tiny, just big enough to stick my lips into, sucking the damp air from above. My head couldn’t come out of the water, and I didn’t hear any Soldiers, but who knew how far they would chase us?

  Push off. Swim hard. Three tunnels ahead. I chose the largest one, where the current was weakest.

  I was rewarded with another large, open cavern. Multiple small cracks in its distant ceiling let in the moonlight and precious air, and I held onto a rock ledge, lungs pumping. Everything hurt. My sides were skinned by the squeeze through the hole when I dropped. My ribs were beaten by the fall into the water. My belly ached where the Queen held on for her life.

  “Be brave, my Queen,” I whispered, loud in the open chamber. “I’m going to get you home.”

  A couple of the water beasts—seals—nudged into my legs. Their warm, furry bodies spun and wove around me, splashing in the water.

  “Not now,” I muttered, shoving them away. They looked at me with sad brown eyes, and tumbled away down the river.

  I rested as long as I dared. But each passing moment stole more of my waning strength.

  Go now, or you’ll never make it.

  I had to be close to where Sunshine waited, assuming the scarred Digger was still there. I closed my eyes and re-oriented myself. It has to be to the right.

  Cold water closed around me as I pushed myself back out into the smooth current.

  Just one more swim. Surely just one more.

  The tunnel led in the direction I wanted to go. It had to be a branch I hadn’t chosen on my swim to the Hive.

  Exhaustion was catching up to me. How long since I’d slept? Not today. Not yesterday.

  And not tomorrow if you don’t hurry up. Or maybe . . . tomorrow and forever if you don’t hurry up.

  The Queen on my belly was content in the cold water, but I was nearly used up.

  “Here we go.”

  I ducked under the water and kicked with all I had. The tunnel widened, but no light shone through the solid rock ceiling, which sloped down deeper and deeper. I swam as panic grew inside me.

  My lungs burned. My throat ached to open.

  The tunnel leveled out, but much too deep. No air holes down here. If it didn’t slope back up fast, we were done for.

  Just a little farther. Little farther. Little farther. The words lost meaning, echoing in my head.

  I couldn’t do it. The cold, the fear, and the life-sucking Queen had taken too much for me. My arms relaxed.

  Just breathe. One big breath of water and it’s all done. You did your best.

  My legs stopped kicking.

  I’m sorry. So sorry.

  Like a bolt of lightning, pain and strength blasted through my belly. Jolted out of my stupor, I clawed at the water around me, scrambling against the current in an electric frenzy.

  The tunnel sloped up and I pushed my feet against the wall, shooting for the surface. Gray light filtered in.

  With a great, heaving breath, I surfaced in the dim cavern. I clawed my way to the air, and hung there half in the water, retching up foam. Shivers gripped all my muscles and my fingers lost their grip on the edge. For a moment I hung at the edge of the river. Then a giant claw reached down and grabbed the back of my pants, hauling me out onto the rock ledge.

  Soft, feather
y feelers caressed the larva on my skin.

  “We made it, Sunshine,” I whispered. “Meet your new Queen.”

  Chapter 22

  Noah

  The walk home was a blur. Before we left the cavern I pulled some of the large leaf fronds from under the water and wrapped them around the Queen to keep her moist. We’d need to make good time back to our dead Hive so she wouldn’t dry out, but my legs were jellyfish. Sunshine picked me up in its giant claws and carried me most of the way.

  We paused at a stream in the mountains to wet down the leaves wrapping the Queen. I took a deep drink but threw it right back up. I had barely eaten for days now, and the Queen was taking what little reserve I had left.

  “No down. No curl.”

  Sunshine knew a lot of our shared language. It wanted me to stay awake, apparently worried that if I fell asleep, I would die, or “curl,” as the ‘Mites did when they died.

  “I won’t. I’m okay.”

  But my mind was drifting. The long swim with the Queen had taken so much out of me, and although I knew she had spurred me on through the last tunnel with her own strength, mine flagged as she continued to suck my blood.

  “No sleep. Hear.”

  It took most of the journey for Sunshine to tell me its story. There were so many words it didn’t know, and I had to guess, speaking in the human language it seemed to understand but was unable to speak.

  I pieced it together, and as I parsed through the tale, it came alive in my exhausted brain. Sunshine ceased to be an “it” to me, but a “him,” just like me and my friends back at the Hive.

  He was hatched and molted in a Hive far to the north of the one where I had lived. His Queen was young and healthy, and the Hive thrived. While Sunshine and the other Diggers were excavating a new tunnel, a heavy rain came and caved it in. They worked on the surface, clearing out the rubble so that a new tunnel could be dug.

  That’s when he smelled the human.

  Their Hive was so far from the one where I had grown up that they had never seen the humans I called Ferals. They had no idea what such a creature could be. But Sunshine knew it was something different. The Soldiers guarding the Diggers at work noticed it, too, but no one knew what to make of it.