The Journal of BubbleLand Studies
Scented into wax by me, zzzzz'ZOE, the Royal First Cousin, on this day, Twenty-Three Twasmire, in the year 15910.zzzzz'ZOE, For The Queen It is unthinkable to propose, as some have, that zzzzz'Drom, in her fifth 'z could not have foreseen a disaster as complete as the one we were about to uncover at SeaPort Downs. Infallibility has been a phrase used lightly of many bee regents, but zzzzz'Drom is up to a weighty use of it. I know in my heart that her wisdom has foreseen these things, and that a redemption of our circumstances is close at hand.
SeaPort Downs has long been her darling, a manufacturing city for our great manufacturing race. At SeaPort, production was raised to something higher -- Hives became a thing of art, of play, of love, even. No longer mere homes, SeaPort hives were a great toy for the masses, so successful that all Beedom begged zzzzz'Drom to tax the non-Buzzer races, if only she might build the Bees better and more advanced hives. At SeaPort, zzzzz'Drom gambled for glory, staking the joy of the Upper Classes against the unrest of the masses, hoping that Bee happiness would 'drip down like honey' to those less fortunate.
It was late in the day when our party reached SeaPort Downs, exhausted from our flight, from carrying our horror at the thousands of bees and moths we had seen dead. The high barking of gulls, the clanging of ship bells, all resonated with the bustle of a shipping center, a proud shipping center. But this happy chorus couldn't cheer us.
We sent Lu'Ulf and his wolves to get news from the Wolf messengers of SeaPort Downs, and flew up to a height from which to survey the city's twin hives, new and old.
The golden magnificence of Meadows 15911 was enough to steal the beats from the wings of many of us, who cried the Queen's Name in joy. Meadows 15911 was nearly twice the diameter of ScentHive 15906, whose prototype shape loomed in proud obsolescence in the background. My antenna, however, scented a too-strong odor of RookWeed, which dampened my joy.
One of our younger number, Bill'zz'Bom, inquired as to whether we could drop to drink at the Hive's Welcome Flowers, cultivated for strangers around all Urban Hives. I bid him go, and any others that so wished.
Bill'zz'Bom returned shortly. "zzzzz'Zoe," he shouted. "There are no Welcome Flowers." "None?" "None. Others have gone to ScentHive 15906, but even from here, you can see the rings of flowers are absent." "And look!" shouted one of our number. "Wolves in Chase!" Down below, seven wolves, their gray and black bodies tiny like mites, shot away in all directions. Dozens of wolves chased each one, as a single deep black wolf howled direction.
"Bears are at the Hive!" I shouted, thrilled to the depths to give the ancient Bee war cry, but frightened to death at the same time. All bees are heroes only once. Perhaps that is why we are so obedient to those that order us into battle, and why it is so important that those we obey be infallible.
In tearful, suicidal echelons, we fell from the sky, ready to defend Meadows 15911 and its Queen from whatever enemies had attacked it, ready to join a buzzing cloud of bees we could see defending its crown.
Bill'zz'Bom was first to reach it, circling the flickering black cloud, then plunging inside one of the hive ports. An explosion of black burst out at his entry, and another at his exit. "Deserted!" He cried. "Nothing but RoseMoths!
"Please tell the Queen . . . " He shouted across to me, begging leave to give his stinger and his life to one of the RoseMoths."No!" I ordered. "No life for a deserted hive!" Bill'zz'Bom spun in the air, his wings torn between obedience and youthful honor. "Please tell the Queen . . . " He repeated.
Another adrenalin drunk voice spoke up beside me, in answer. "Your Promise has been kept!"
Bill'zz'Bom somersaulted in salute, and dropped into the cloud of moths. I couldn't bear to watch the mindless moth convulse in death throes shared by those of my best and brightest young bee.
I ordered the rest of our party into the heights. "We HAVE a promise to our Queen! Who among us thinks that zzzzz'Drom doesn't know of these things already? Will her infallible purposes find any bees left to carry them out?"
There were no answers.
"Okay, then. We will speak to the Wolves below, and find out what has happened."
The deep black wolf waited for us. My heart fell as I recognized him. "Lu'Ulf!"
The big wolf flicked his ear in invitation, and I landed there only for a moment's shout into its caverns. "Lu'Ulf, traitor to his Queen!"
"But, Whoa!, not to the, Whoa!, Hunt, or to the, Whoa!, future!
"Meadows, Whoa!, 15911 is moth-eaten six years before its, Whoa!, time!
"To, Whoa!, the Hunt!"
I was disgusted. "The Hunt! The Queen shall breed the end of your songs, Lu'Ulf, and if I know her, she has already laid the eggs of Scorpion Bees to fly once more, and drop upon your children's necks as in the past!"
Lu'Ulf howled in defiance, shaking the ear in which I sat. I sprang out, and into flight, hearing his departing words. "There is, Whoa!, One who comes! One who, Whoa!, builds the Hives small! One who, Whoa!, outraces the Scorpion Bee!"
"Death is swift!" I shouted back, my words less real with each angrier word. "Yes, death is swift." As every bee knew. Or should know.
I flew then away from the clearing in the grass, from that courtyard of easy challenges, and gathered my soul again into myself, seeking a most private place, one where a young bee was drinking the last draughts from his senses, shaking with the chill and sweat of death, desparate to keep in focus the greens and blues of grass and sky, the scents of familiar flowers, and the love of a Queen, yea, the love of a Queen, enough love to keep fire in the heart, even while cold death raced to sprinkle it with ice.
I arrived at Bill'zz'Bom's side too late. The drip of drool down a mandible was all that moved where once were the million gyrations of life.
Death comes swiftly to the stingerless.
"The Promise has been kept!" I shouted. "Show his soul Mercy, Queen zzz'Omma, Who Watches!"
8 May, 1996 -- Expedition Report -- 23 Twasmire, 15910
