LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 51 – Fifbee
We - Queen and Enno - took deep breaths, trying to calm down. Beatrice was fussing about, again coming out of nowhere. As soon as something had seemed wrong, Beatrice had been there, asking questions and making orders of other bees.
“Are you alright Mother? Please rest. I - Beatrice - am doing everything in my - Beatrice’s - power to keep everything under control. Confound it, what is this?!”
I - Enno - was already coming to a few conclusions. It wasn’t hard to imagine that fiddling with the B-boxes was once again having bizarre consequences. Specifically, all of this could likely be tied to the C Bee U (of course I- Enno - had to call it that).
“Of all times, why now? The plan was to continue smoothly; the number of Linker Bees that have hatched are to expectation, so Bella should have been ready to go.”
Beatrice’s comment was somewhat alarming. That much time had passed already? already passed, so the next stage of the Yiwi Operation should already go underway. However, of all things. The nausea that we - Queen and Enno - were feeling was not exclusive to us - them. Both Bella and Belle were also suffering from some mysterious sickness.
“The both of them became sick at different times, and at different times from us - Queen and Enno. I - Queen - do not think Bella will be fit to go to Yiwi.”
There’s nothing we - Queen and Enno - can do for Bella to get her into shape to leave immediately. If we - they - want to keep the plan running on schedule, a different bee will have to be sent. Didn’t Bella also have a protege? Bella also had a protege, one she had named Bert. Bert was a crybaby who only felt at home while flying around and gathering food. He would have to do.
But once Beatrice was made aware of the switch and began her preparations, I - Enno - had another thing to take care of. Besides throwing up.
Enno took a deep breath once again. He tried to let go, to allow the urges to overtake him.
“Why are you - Enno- speaking like that? Referring to yourself with your own name is somewhat strange.”
Enno pointed out to Queen her own sentence. What Enno had realized was that the C Bee U had caused some sort of unintended consequence, some sort of strange phenomenon. Even though they thought of themselves, they could not properly refer to themselves.
The C Bee U was handling all thoughts. But it was on the outside looking in. Or on the inside looking out?
“A strange phenomenon I- Queen - admit. But something like this cannot be sustained! It will cause confusion among the hive members! We - the hive - are at a crucial juncture with the Yiwi Operation. The mission will decide our fate in the world dominated by humans. We - the hive - cannot allow this to stand in our way!”
Enno agreed.
“Stop that!”
He agreed, but he told Queen that a solution could be possible. All he would need to do is fiddle with the B-boxes some more…
“But do we - Queen and Enno - have time for that? Forget our - Queen and Enno’s - personal jabs, this strange phenomenon does not only affect speech. Look at the hive! Productivity is noticeably dropping as hive members become more and more confused!”
I - Enno -. Rather, Enno would have to work quickly. He would need Queen’s help. As Enno spun a branch wildly, he thought of a way to fix this issue quickly. The most obvious answer would be to completely disable the C Bee U, then go piece by piece, trying to figure out which part caused the problem. Was it the complexity?
[Tapped Mind: 0% / 70.76298%]
[Mind Locks:
- Life (5%)
- Float (0.66%)
- {Kin Link} (8.57702%)
- {B-Box} (15%)
]
Immediately, a few things were notable. First: wow, the Kin Link was getting expensive! Most of the sudden cost came from the humans.
{Kin Link
- {Bees}
- {Other
- Yelah - 0.72
- Grehn - 0.69
- Vlugh - 0.69
- Rette - 0.7
- Toh - 0.8
- Wenrey - 0.5
- Bayley - 0.5
- Dip - 0.2
}
}
While some bees like the Valkybees were unusually expensive, the humans were, on average, far, far more expensive to maintain. By themselves, the Linker Bees only took 0.000033%. It was when they linked up with another Mind, like the humans, that they automatically drew more Mind. The result? Unsustainable costs.
“But that is not the current concern. We - Queen and Enno - should focus on the C Bee U.”
Queen was right. Enno turned his attention to the B-box Lock. If the Kin Link was amassing Mind quickly, then the B-boxes were an all-consuming monster, sucking up Mind like candy.
{B-Box
Currently, the C Bee U is using 9.8% Mind, with a high chance of increasing over time. The remainder of the hexagon, including the storage and processing of memories and Links is taking ~5.2%, and constantly increasing.
Summary:
- C Bee U - 9.8
- Hexagon 1 - ~5.2
}
Now that was interesting. Rather than the simple list, the B-box section read more like a report. Wait. 9.8 percent?! Enno couldn’t believe it! Just the C Bee U was tripling the amount of Mind being allotted.
He quickly got to work. I disabled the C Bee U and oh thank god I can speak normally!
“Finally. I, we, us, our. Perhaps I am unworthy of being a bee; I am becoming much too accustomed to individuality.”
It’s only natural. Individuality is freedom in its own way, something you’ve gotta admit you’re lacking a bit.
“Quite true. But as for the C Bee U, it is certainly a powerful tool. Its value cannot be underestimated, but… Well, for one thing, why does it use so much Mind?”
I was also concerned about that. No doubt, it made sense for something powerful like that to be costly, but I thought it would be pretty efficient. Would the cost improve if I used fewer boxes?
“While you fiddle around with the C Bee U, I think we should check on Bella and Belle. Our illness is one thing, but I cannot recall a moment where another bee has fallen ill.”
Good point. Thankfully, this was what B-boxes were made for. With growing concern, I shakily left my chambers. Bella and Belle were currently resting in the nursery, so I made my way through the left side passage.
My nausea was still strong, so I was forced to float slowly through the passage. It was a nice passage. Bess had done a good job. In fact, I think she might need a break.
“A break?! Bess? Her work is too crucial!”
Well, sure, but look at the hive! The wall was about to be complete, whcih was practically half the battle. And this central hive was constantly growing! Whenever she wasn’t working on the outer wall, Bess came to central hive to eat. Except she also worked on the central hive while eating. She barely rested!
The central hive was also coming out in a hexagon shape. What was with bees and hexagons? Each major room was hexagonal, the rooms were made up of hexagons, the passages were hexagons. It was ridiculous!
“Our room does break the mold. Though the central hive is a hexagon, our room is an out-of-place addition to one side. Not counting Beatrice’s room in the center.”
Hexagons aside, I managed to enter the nursery without any accidents.
Then I saw Bella and Belle. And I had an accident.
“Are you two alright!?”
“Urgh… Yep. Never better.”
“Yes… Mother…”
“You’re definitely not okay!”
The two of them were looking pretty bad. Several hexagons around them were filled with some liquid that was decidedly not honey. They had done their best not to flood the hive with sick, but it just seemed to keep coming. They were looking green, noticeably so. Their antennae sagged and their eyes looked… wrinkled?
“How could this have happened? Is it because of the C Bee U? No, that can’t be right. Food?! You two do handle food the most.”
“I am not sure, Mother, but rest assured. The food we have created is safe. However, it is suspicious that both Belle and I are the ones who are afflicted. What does not make sense is out subordinates.”
Their subordinates? Ah, of course. Recently, they had been teaching the bees that worked under them to make food. Even the gathering drones could be taught to deliver raw material to Belle’s workers. So, since Belle’s workers were healthy, that made a case for the safety of the food. So then, what was wrong?
“It could be something inane? A simple illness?”
“Unlikely,” Beatrice interjected, even though I thought she was somewhere completely different. “Because we do not know the exact source of the illness, we must take every precaution. Mother, I apologize, but I will have to ask you to quarantine with Bella and Belle in a different location.”
Oh. Well, alright then. And that was how I found myself thrown into an empty room with two sick twins.
“I regret that this is our only solution, Mother. However, we know nothing about this illness. Is it contagious? Where does it originate from? How serious can it be? Until we know more, we need to take strict precautions.”
“Don’t feel bad Beatrice. I think it’s the right decision. Thankfully, we don’t need to go out to do our jobs. At least mostly.”
“Agreed. However, not being able to produce more bees will be a blow to my plans. Bella, you are in an unfortunate position. From now on, do your best to ensure Bert adequately performs his duties. He is… well I believe he may need more experience. Belle, you are in a much better place. Your workers are already well-oiled machines, so please continue your administrative duties.”
The sick twins did their best to nod as Beatrice floated away.
“Hey, listen you two. Don’t feel compelled to work too hard. You need rest to recover. The faster the recover, the better you can work. So make sure to get well soon.”
“Thank you Mother.”
“…Zzzzzz.”
Belle and I stared at Bella. Somehow in between nodding to Beatrice and my little note she had fallen fast asleep.
“Bella… were you nodding off?”
Oh, that was a good one, Belle. I suppose I was going to be spending more time with these two. They would make decent company, and I wasn’t worried about being bored. Between my nausea, the C Bee U conundrum, and of course, Operation Yiwi. Ben and friends were nearly there after all. If nothing else, I could spend my days stuck in here looking around a huge human city.