Hive IC Story 2

[Snowflake]

Staples of Life came a new girl. Her name was Jade. It was rather unusual since normally only the strongest young Drones were sent to a new base where formers and other equipment were not available and workers needed to set up base, pave out roads, plant farms and forest using their two hands and the most primitive methods. But Drones did not like to ask questions.

There was something that made Jade a little different from a normal Drones girl. Some thinks that she was actually a Talent. She wears plain clothes like everybody. Her long hair was braided so it won’t interfere when she worked, and she had a little delicate black butterfly attached to it that she never took off. Jade was small compared to those strong young men around her. When they worked, sometimes it looked like the heavy loads were going to break her slim body, but Jade worked like she never felt it. When they were at a break, Jade would sit in a corner with her arms around her knees, her eyes drifted into somewhere far away, like she was in a different world. She seldom talked, never smiled. Her eyes were deep and misty, nobody could read what’s inside them. But the young Drones still liked her, for she always mended their clothes and took care of their wounds.

It was a day that Claire came to visit the base. Foreman Buster had announced that everybody could have the day off. The base looked different. Claire’s presence brought aliveness to the young Drones’ hearts. Jade was sitting at her tent when Ahmad and Yoda came back from the town hall where everybody went to see Claire. Apparently the young men became drunk from all the excitements for they were in a rather talkative mood.

“Jade, you should have been there.” Said Ahmad. “Claire was great! She sang four songs for us. Four!”
“I’ve never seen this many people. And everybody was talking!” Added Yoda.
“You know,” Ahmad lowered his voice, “They say that we’ve found other survivors of the unity other than the Hives.”
“And talking about the Hives, have you heard that the Free Drones’ Central governor was murdered by a Hive? The guy fled with the first morning light, and they have never found him since.” Yoda felt rather proud that he knew so many insides. “Some people in the Hives do not want to pact with us permanently you know. There might be wars soon.”
Jade raised her eyes for the first time. She looked at Yoda and asked, “Who told you all these things?”
Yoda smiled rather sheepishly, “There were talks you know.”
“Jade,” Claimed Ahmad suddenly, “you know you are almost as beautiful as Claire, if you could only smile.”
Jade looked at the young Drones, the corner of her lips moved slightly, forming a faint smile. Ahmad felt a heavy strike to his heart. It was a beautiful smile. But he had never seen a smile so sad, that would almost make one cry.

The suns have set long ago. The base was quiet again in the darkness. Jade took off her black butterfly, pressed one of its wings, and talked in an indistinct voice: “There were talks spreading in the base …”

[Vev]

Message : To Deputy Jamski
From : Comrade Vev

The probe team has been assigned to track down and sweep for HongHu. You will be kept in touch by reports as meetings with agent supervisor. I share your worry over HongHu's disappearance. Sorry I cannot join the search due to the investigations into the diplomatically sensitive murder. We both wish her well and the best of luck.

[Kody]

Sometime during the night a ship pulled into the Bay. Sleek and narrow the schooner could have only been built by the masterful shipwrights of the Peace. In the morning light the rover mapping expedition discovered the ship anchored to their northwest.

"Sir I think you should see this."

"Can it wait?", Kody sighed as he closed the blueprints.

"There appears to be a Peace ship outside and they're transmitting a message", the technician replied.

A look of surprise crossed Kody's face. "Patch the message in", he finally said.

The vidscreen activated and a tall bearded man with an eyepatch appeared. "After our long expeditionary journey. We hope we can have a fruitful exchange of trade and tech. Our Ambassador Cap'n Flubber deals with all that sort of thing. In the meantime here's a keg of Xenorum for the hard working and faithful hive brethern." From outside the tent a slight splash could be heard accompanied by faint cheers from the rover team.

"You better tell the men to save half for the CCC that or Voltaire will have them recycled if he finds out", Kody said ruefully to his aide.

Kody sat thoughtly for a moment then attempted to contact the chairman. An secretary answered, politely informing him that the chairman was not to be disturbed. He then tried to contact his peers, but there was a disappointing lack of response.

"Ambassador Flubber is requesting to speak with you", his aide said disturbing his train of thoughts.

"Of course patch him through."

"Greetings from the Peace faction. We were pleased that one of our citizens came in contact with yours such that messages may now be passed between us. We greet you in friendship." The figure in the vidscreen smiled and made a gesture of welcome. "I am ambassador Cap'n flubber, trade represenatative o' the council o' Cap'ns."

"Greetings ambassador Captain Flubber. It is indeed an honour to greet you.", Kody said nodding his head in respect. "I am Kody, I'm not much for titles though so the ones Voltaire gave me never stuck." Kody smiled at that thought.

"Greetings Kody", Flubber replied before launching into what sounded largely like a rehearsed speech. "Our faction is one of seabourne merchant traders. In that vein we would be interested in a treaty and possible tech trades."

That would agreeable to us as well, Kody thought silently.

"I will ask our operations cap'n to provide me with a list of techs we might be able to trade and if you could so the same, we might be well on the way to profitable dealings."

Flubber paused before continuing on. "All types of deals are considered . . . We are interested in pieces o' eight, tech , commlinks or anything else. So send me a message in a bottle and we can begin the wheelin' and dealin'"

"I have authorisation to make a few offers", Kody said. "The hive has the techs Biogenetics, Loyalty and Applied Physics. We can offer any two of those in exchange for flexibility."

Kody paused wondering how much he should reveal to the Peace. "We intercepted a few transmissions indicating you already have had dealings with the CyCon."

Kody forwarded the intercepted message before continuing. "Perhaps you would like to exchange the CyCon comm link in exchange for the Drone Comm link?"

"I'm giving you an invitation to come ashore and perhaps finish the negotiations there", Kody said smiling. "Your crew are of course invited too, we're having roasted mutobunny."

Kody grinned as he remembered how Rokossovky declared all mutant bunnies be destoried after getting a particularly bad sadle sore. It was a pity because the mutant bunnies were pretty fast. However, at least they made nice mutton.

"I will perhaps talk to you tonight after you have convened with your council." Kody bowed before shutting the vidscreen off.

Kody looked back at the blueprints. So little time and so many tasks to complete.

[Snowflake]

“The Deputy Chairman does have a sharp mind.” Thought John, as he prepared his gears. Ever since two weeks ago Comrade Vev sent Andy and him to help Deputy Chairman Jamski with his endeavor in locating Comrade HongHu, John had been reporting to and receiving orders from the deputy chairman on a daily basis. They have been concentrating their operations in areas that the Crimson Guards were not allowed to enter, while the Crimson Guards rummaged around through the entire Hive territory, including every base, every facility building, every bunker, every mine and farm, and every bush in the forests. The search had been fruitless, as expected. But John and Andy had been assiduous in their efforts nonetheless, taking all the steps that a good probe team should take.

The deputy’s orders had been meticulous and well thought out, reflecting sound judgments. Comrade Vev’s initial worry was that it could be hard for the probe team to satisfy the deputy’s desire at the same time of carrying out their real plan of aiding the investigation of the Drone’s murder case. It turned out that the deputy’s shrewdness had not conflicted with the probe team’s action plan and the operation had been running rather smoothly. What was frustrating however, was that after two weeks of hard work, other than the suspicious death of a clerk, they had yet to form any clue from the few pieces of evidences they had gathered that could lead to the solution of the murder. Whoever was responsible for Gustav’s murder, if his intention was to disrupt Hive Drone relationship as Comrade Vev conjectured, he wouldn’t have stopped in the territory of the Free Drones. But why, why hadn’t he struck again? John knew that they did not have a lot of time. Comrade Vev had informed them through his secured channel that public uneasiness had been rising at the Drones toward the possible permanent pacting of the two factions.

There would be a PEACE welcome party tonight. If I were to do something slyly, it would be tonight ...

A beeping sound came from the desk. John picked up his quicklink. Jamski wanted to see the probe team again.

[Kody]

He was homesick again.

His work was completed and while he waited memories inexorability crept in. It had been 36 years since the landing, 40 more years since they had left the blue planet that was home. The body he inhabited was young, but he felt old. His mind was weighted down by the passing of almost a century.

His melancholy always brought him here. To this empty house he had built for her so long ago. It was supposed to be a new start for them, but she was gone now. Their dreams of starting a family in a house on a hill were lost.

He closed his eyes to the orange Chiron sky, and his ears to the lonely whistle of the wind.

They had met at the small Chinese restaurant he had liked to visit. It was cheap and grimy, but that was all an apprentice techie could afford. It was a Friday and Robert had given him some extra time off work. She had just pushed the door open when he had looked up. It had been her green-grey eyes that caught his attention. She had been wearing a turtle-neck sweater… he couldn’t remember the colour. He used to remember the colour now it eluded him….

“Sir, the chairman wishes to speak with you”, the sergeant interrupted him.

He opened his eyes and the run down house greeted him. It was slowly falling apart, just like his precious memories.

“Have the others finished discussing the treaty?”

”I don’t know sir.”

He straightened his back. Project confidence, he thought.

Power, honour, and glory, he told himself as he walked back to the rover. For that is what it means to be part of the Hive.

[Vev]

Comrade Vev sat alone and cross-legged in a darkened specially designed for sensory depravation. With much practise, Vev eased his mind and begin sifting through all the data concerning the recent events.

Forensics and scientific analysis of the murdered governor yielded exceptionally little amount of information. No hint of any contaminents, whether it be clothing fibres, biomatter, or any chemicals foreign to the murder scene. It was too clean and that meant it would be next to impossible to trace where the attack been to recently. Customs officials traced no suspicious movement of personnel or manifest. It all lead to a dead end. What left was to speculate who could have pulled such a scheme off with such sophistication.

News back home proved troubling. Initially, everything appeared as if it always been. The usual scheming, plotting and minor back-stabbing. However certain elements presented too much connection to be dismissed as sheer coincidence. Accidental deaths of some of the clerical workers just doesn't sit comfortably.

*It is getting late for me. need to retire soon*

[Vev]

(Something happened in the Hive)

"What if we discovered that the brain of the god is just nothingness. Do we too strive to achieve nothingness as well?" - anon

Someone said it is very difficult to see all past, present and future together at once. I wholeheartedly agree, unfortunately you might run the risk getting arrested by overzealous cops because you appear to be completely stoned. So moral of the story: - do that at a place where no one cares if you appeared zoned out. However many of us do not have the luxury (or curse) of such abilities as they mainly able to view the past without the future or vice versa. - M

While the interiors of the Hive never rained, or even experience weather fluctuations, today Lucinda Markov felt like it was one of those rainy days.

I am relating to an event that I hed never experienced. Perhaps I did experience it, but in a dream with the darkness overhead, the constant patter of rain drops and fury of Zeus' power.

She walked in the twisted endless corridors of the Hive, a great tunnel drilled into solid bedrock of the planet. Her feet laboured one in front of another, her left hand pressing against the wall for support.

The rain, they keep falling. Above the great open sky, the star that nourishes us. Beneath the long clouds weeping for our loss. Below, the dirt stained tears seeps through, trapped within the labyrinth.

Her feet leaves a trail of wetness as she walked. A light tease of cool air played on her face before fleeting away behind her. Something is before her along this tunnel.

There were furious people, swinging and hitting away. There were people in pain, in despair, without hope, alone without aid. Just a breathe of air away, yet a world laid between them. There was still the weeping rain, but one of a different sort.

Great blocks of rubble blocks her way but the playful breeze invited her, and she complied following its twisted path. Like a lumbering giant chasing a wily djinn, she followed, climbed and crawled through dark maze ahead.

The air, they are fleeing?! I heard their cries as they were drawn away towards the gift of Prometheus. The rain does little to drown the roaring inferno, its fury uncontained.

She step out onto a large underground dome. It was devoid of objects, people and sound.

I remember this place

Structures and complexes appeared to fill the void.

I was trapped ...

One of the entrace then appeared collasped under a pile of rubble.

There was an great rumble.

A crew of rescuers in heavy machinery appeared desperately trying to remove the rubble.

There was panic and chaos

People appeared frightened and worried for their loved ones trapped, sobbing in arms of total strangers.

And I was here ...

An explosion of noise crashed into her head with the whirring thrashing of heavy drills and the thumping crunches of pnuematic hammers.

So this was me fifteen years ago during the Brotherhood of Workers celebrations. But I am now elsewhere and soon somewhere further beyond the boundaries of imagination.