NOVEL NEXT They Held The Line-Chapter Nineteen-Hive mother
Queen World of the Insectoid Empire, 2175 A.D.
The Hive mother waited for the last rebel sister to reach the brood chamber, keeping tabs on her progress through the Hive as she closely watched her through the eyes of dozens of drones.
After her victory and the ritual killing of the other rebel sister, the last remaining sister surrendered when her fleet had arrived and laid siege to her Hive.
The Hive mother was secretly grateful that her sister had chosen to accept her supremacy instead of forcing her to cull another sister.
She did not have to waste the lives of millions of drones or much-needed ships invading the rebel Hive, and she did not have to cull another sister. Yet.
Of the twelve queens they had when the swarming started, four were dead, and she was now Hive mother. There were only seven queens left, a terrible legacy she inherited from the Hive mother before her.
As the rebel sister neared the brooding chamber, she looked at the other six loyal queen sisters arrayed around her. They had answered her call to come and see their sister surrender and pledge fealty to the new Hive mother.
I need to make new queen daughters; seven queens are not enough to properly manage and defend the Hives. We are fortunate the animals are too engrossed in their own conflicts to press their advantage against us, she thought to herself as she looked at each of the six loyal sisters that had accepted her as Hive mother from the start.
She felt the Hive mother within wanting to share thoughts, and she opened her mind to her wise ancestor.
She detected that her advisor wished to say more, and she waited, her mind open.
The Hive mother within did not respond right away, and she continued to wait for more insight.
The anguish of having to cull her sister came back, just as terrible as the day she did it. The Hive mother within felt her renewed pain and continued sending thoughts.
She suddenly felt a multitude of minds touching hers, careful not to overwhelm her thoughts as they caressed her spirit and imbued her with feelings of love and gratitude for her desire to spare them from such pain.
They retreated, and she felt unworthy of being gifted an exalted lineage of genetic ancestors such as them. The Hive mother within sent thoughts again as the others continued to withdraw and return to their dormancy within her.
She felt a strong outpouring of emotions, the strongest of those being sorrow and regret, and more thoughts came to her.
< We are cursed to look back on our time of living and see how little wisdom we truly had. We now see our indifference and casual cruelty towards the worker drones who loved us unconditionally and never received our love in return. We see our insatiable lust for power and expansion. We were selfish and capricious, and we aggrandized ourselves at the expense of the Hives under our control.>
She felt more of her ancestor’s emotional turmoil buffeting her spirit, and she mourned for the ones within her, condemned to see the error of their ways only after they had passed from the realm of the living.
The turmoil lessened, and waves of contentment and joy touched her mind as the Hive mother within shared more thoughts.
The Hive mother made the image of her ancestor inside her mind, seeing her in all her glory as she once was when she ruled an empire that felt the warmth of many suns. She hugged the ancient Hive mother with her spirit, sharing her love and appreciation for the one who chose her.
They embraced, and for the first time, she finally found the motherly love she had been desperately seeking since she first emerged from her pupa.
The image dissipated, and the Hive mother within turned back into an orb of light that receded into the distance to join the other ancestors that dwelt within her.
She came back to the brood chamber, resenting having to return to her trapped body that would never again feel the warmth of a sun or the waters of the sky cleansing her exoskeleton.
She suppressed her unseemly self-pitying and stretched out her wings, fluttering them to remove any traces of dirt. She chose this path; she plunged the ritual dagger into her Hive mother’s brain. This was now her burden to bear.
The rebel sister entered the brooding chamber, escorted by the two attendant drones she was entitled to. She approached timidly, stopping halfway before bowing in obeisance. She sent thoughts, and the Hive mother accepted them.
The Hive mother stared at her prostrated form, conflicted by the need to make a choice on whether to punish her or show her mercy. I must do what is best for the Hives, not what is best for my desires, she thought to herself as she stared at her bowing sister.
She made her choice and sent thoughts to her sister.
The Hive mother felt her thoughts, detecting no falsehoods within them. She closed off her mind to her errant sister and sent thoughts to the other six loyal sisters surrounding her.
She felt their surprise and confusion at being asked for their input by the Hive mother. That was not the way of the Hives, and she realized with a flash of insight that they all felt like she was trying to trick them into revealing if they disagreed with her. She needed to correct their thinking.
Slowly, she felt their thoughts being revealed to her as they allowed themselves to freely let their thoughts be known without consequences for the first time in their lives.
They are like pupae, never truly allowed to grow into their own under the tyrannical rule of the prior Hive mother, she thought to herself sadly as she felt them struggling to share thoughts that were entirely their own.
They all wanted their sister back, and they were all concerned about the small number of queens remaining to maintain control of the Hives. They wanted her to make them new sisters to replenish their numbers, something she had been reluctant to do while the Hives were fractured.
She could not put it off any longer, and she thanked them for sharing their true thoughts with her.
She looked at her sister, who was still bowing with her head touching the floor as she waited for judgment. She opened her mind back to her and sent thoughts.
She felt the surprise and gratefulness in her sister’s thoughts as she slowly rose up and faced them.
Her sister walked over and joined the others. The Hive mother let them commune with each other for a few moments before sharing thoughts with them all.
As her sisters listened to her thoughts, she could feel their worry and doubt about the state of the Hives in their minds. One sister sent thoughts, addressing them all.
Another sister added her own thoughts.
The Hive mother felt the arrogance in the thoughts of the sister, and she felt the anger that rose in her at the callous disregard for the lives of the drones the sister left behind. She sent thoughts, letting her disapproval come through.
She felt the minds of her sisters’ recoil from her thoughts, not understanding her anger. They had a right to use their drones as they saw fit, and now the Hive mother was telling them they did not.
She pressed deeper into their minds as she sent more thoughts.
She drew upon her new powers as Hive mother, increasing the strength of her thoughts as she felt her mind tap into the vast network of ancestors within her and their combined mental power.
The seven queens cowered under the unexpected onslaught of her mental powers, trying to close off their minds from the painful psychic assault. She pressed deeper, ripping away the weak mental barriers they tried to put up and feeling their minds quiver as they laid bare before her.
She felt their arrogance flee before her. It was replaced with terror as she continued to tear through their minds unimpeded. She showed them all the times they let a drone die unanswered.
She showed them all the times they killed a command drone for the slightest mistakes, or worse, for no reason at all. She then accessed her own memories and showed them all the times she communed with dying drones, answering them and fulfilling their dying wish.
The queens became filled with shame and regret as she allowed them to see and feel the exchanges between her and her drones when she was queen. Her drones were afraid; they knew they were dying. They sent thoughts to her, asking for her pardon because they could not work anymore.
She would respond to them, giving them the gift of her gratitude for a life of service and granting them permission to claim their reward of eternal rest. In their simple minds, the fear of their coming death would dissipate as she caressed their minds with hers, letting them know she was grateful.
Their fear would be replaced with pride and joy as they finally received recognition from the queen they served and loved without reservation. They would die at peace, the only favor they ever asked for in their short lives of endless toil fulfilled.
She felt the change in the minds and spirits of her sister's as they were forced to see themselves for what they truly were: selfish, arrogant, and unworthy of being queens. She withdrew from their exposed minds and returned to her own, letting them recover from the violation.
She was in her own mind again, and she looked at the queens, seeing the fear they now felt towards her in their eyes. She waited as they reassumed control of themselves, letting her anger die out before sending thoughts to them again.
She saw them react to her thoughts, and one after another they all reverently bowed to her. Their thoughts came to her, filled with total obedience as they all called her Hive mother. Her ascendance was now complete, and the empire was hers.
She told them to rise and face her; there was work to do. As they all looked at her once more, she sent thoughts to them again, more conciliatory this time.
She waited as they reluctantly opened their minds to her, still terrified of what she had done to them before.
When they were ready for her thoughts, she created a mental image of a star chart with all the animal stars and planets they had abandoned and shared it with them.
They all absentmindedly responded to her as they all started turning their full mental energies into the task she had set before them. She withdrew from their shared thoughts and sent a command to the drones in the small chamber behind her.
She did not have to wait long, and ten drones came in groups of two, each group carrying a small white mass that writhed in between their claws.
The first two drones walked up and held out the egg to her, knowing they were holding something sacred.
She gently took the egg into her claws, careful not to squeeze it too hard or drop it. She brought it close to her eyes, staring at it undulating within her grasp.
She felt an overwhelming sense of love, contentment, and worry as she gazed at it. It seemed to know that it was being held by a Hive mother, and a thought whisper came from it, asking for the gift of life.
She slowly put out her tongue and kissed it, concentrating on making sure the right enzymes were being injected in the right proportions needed to begin the chemical processes.
She removed her tongue slowly, barely able to contain her excitement at finally being able to create a daughter queen for the first time.
She moved the egg closer to her thorax and activated her silk glands. She cradled the new future daughter queen on one leg and used the other claw to pull out the first strand of silk, attaching it to the base of the egg.
She repeated the process on the other side, and she slowly started to turn the egg as she gently wrapped it in her silk as her two glands spun the fibers.
Soon, the egg was completely wrapped, and she handed it back to the two waiting drones.
They carefully took it within their claws and backed away to bring the egg back to its place where it would undergo chemical processes now that she had kissed it with the gift of life.
The next pair of drones moved up, and she gently took the second egg from them. Then the third, the fourth, and then finally the fifth egg was kissed and wrapped.
As the last two drones took the final egg away, she felt the Hive mother within wanting to share thoughts with her. She eagerly accepted them, feeling delirious after what had just occurred.
As the Hive mother within retreated, she put herself into a dormant state. Soon she was dreaming of helping her new daughters stand and take their first steps as queens, feeling their claws in hers for the first time.