Chapter 2

~ Arac ~

Aboard a Maruvian vessel silently shadowing the Terillian freighter a lone drone was losing his will to live. Arac’s body trembled and he could feel himself breaking out in a cold sweat. Whatever humanoid DNA his line had been gifted with throughout their long evolution was working against him at the moment. Wishing more than anything that he had inherited an insectoid exoskeleton rather than a propensity towards hypovolemic shock, he closed his eyes against the spinning room.

There were seven hundred and thirteen drones and a single queen aboard his vessel. Queen Kabelda’s ruthless nature and penchant for cruelty distinguished her, even among her own kind. What was the use of living when it meant watching her commit one atrocity after another?

Arac had been hanging at the queen’s leisure for almost five days. That was a long time to go without food or water, even for a drone. He found the dehydration got to him in ways her slow painful claws and endless verbal taunts could never quite match. It been a very long time since she had extended the claw of kindness to him. In the beginning he’d thought himself fortunate to be the one to spawn her young, and therefore had worked tirelessly to please her. As the lunar cycles wore on, he realized what futile effort it was.

Kabelda had no desire to be pleased by him or anyone else, preferring to take offense at every turn. Inflicting pain was a much more enjoyable pursuit than mating for his horrible queen. She might refer to it as punishment but Arac knew better. Since he was her queen maker, they had spent many hours together. He bore the brunt of her need to inflict cruelty, and understood the true gratification she derived from inflicting pain.

Kabelda had left for the morning, and in his quiet relief Arac barely noticed his sire slipping into the room. Quickly kneeling beside him, Vraden brought a hydration pack to his lips. Arac turned his head. “Let me die. I can’t keep doing this day after endless day.”

“Why can you never submit?”

“Because I hate every single thing about being a queen maker.”

His father squeezed a gush liquid into his mouth. “You hate everything about our current queen. Don’t confuse the two. Being a queen maker is a great honor.”

“Perhaps it was for you. It has brought me nothing but pain and misery.”

Knowing the futility of continuing their longstanding argument, his father changed the subject. “Our queen has another ship in her sights today.”

“Why does that not surprise me? Warring and breeding are her only cares in the ‘verse.”

Leaning in, the older drone whispered, “There are queens aboard that freighter, and I mean to secure one for us.”

Arac’s head snapped up. “You seek a new queen to replace Kabelda? Such things are not for drones to decide.”

“I am not totally bereft the knowledge of right and wrong, my son. I wish only to offer opportunity. The queens will decide if any among them wish to challenge Kabelda.”

Trying not to get emotional, Arac asked, “You do this for me?”

The older man looked into his eyes, and Arac could see the fatherly love hiding there. “Forgive me, my son. I cannot sit idly by while our queen destroys one as perfect as you.”

“Your bias as my sire precludes you from seeing that I am merely a worthless drone, one of many aboard this vessel.”

Cupping his hand over one cheek, his sire spoke with such sincerity that it broke Arac’s will to argue. “You are not worthless. You are capable and strong, a queen maker like your sire and his sire before him. Though it is not our way to care about such things, I find that I value the one among the many, because you were born of my flesh and grew up at my knee, soaking in all the knowledge I have to offer as a male.”

The fact that Arac had been denied the opportunity to see to his own young tore at his emotions. Feeling a single tear slide down his humanoid face, Arac cautioned the older drone. “Careful, my sire. You risk much on a hopeless endeavor.”

“I risk only what is mine to chance.”

“My sons, what can you tell me of their welfare?”

“All thirty-two of your young from prior spawnings are well, my son.” Looking slightly to the side, he made a small noise of frustration before speaking again. “Eleven of the thirteen in your last offering yet survive. You know Kabelda culls both the eggs and the hatchlings from every round of breeding.”

Feeling queasy in the pit of his stomach, Arac replied, “I am well aware of her inability to accept even minor flaws in our young. I have been her breeder for coming up on two solar cycles now.”

“Stand fast, my son. With any luck our next queen will feel differently about such things. Your mother never culled our young that way. In fact, she gave her dying breath to protect you all. You are alive today only because of her sacrifice.”

Something about knowing queens could be valiant and protective gave Arac hope. Sucking down as much of the hydration packet as he could stomach, Arac’s body decided to live another day. Only this day was different from all the others that came before. Today, he knew deep down inside that he could endure whatever was to come, because of the sliver of hope welling up in his soul.

Later, when the queen returned to torment him, he could easily endure it. When she ran her claw down his back, Arac was surprised to note he barely felt it. Jerking in his bonds, his mind was far away, dreaming of a strange alien queen. In his fantasy, the new challenger was huge, colorful, and strong. She was a being capable of easily defeating their vicious queen. In his personal dream world, their new queen was not only victorious, but she cared nothing for queen makers. Being cast aside was his only hope for freedom from a life of endless breeding and pain. As the blood flowed, he longed for the safety that obscurity would provide.