Chapter 8

Hard To Digest

~ Haden ~

“What did you think of the storyteller’s latest tale?” The older drone who had healed Haden’s battle wounds was becoming a fixture in his life. The healer’s name was Korbin, and he often joined Haden for meals in the dining hall.

Tearing his lid off his food box, Haden dug into the savory vegetables. After swallowing his first mouthful he replied. “It was a fascinating tale. One can glean much about what is important to humans from listening to their folklore.”

“I could not understand why the bump back was living in a clock tower.”

“I believe my storytelling queen called him a hunchback. I have given much thought to this. I believe it was to hide him away because he was deemed unattractive.”

“Yes, but why a clock tower instead of a cave or an isolated cabin like in her first story?”

“Perhaps it was to make a point about the male letting his life slip by in isolation.”

“That makes sense.”

“I like that she always keeps the ending open. Do you think gypsy queen chose the humpback or the prince?”

“I hesitate to guess. On the one hand the hunchback was kinder and more selfless choice. However the prince was described as handsome and just nice enough to capture a queen’s interest. She always makes the choice almost painfully difficult to make.”

Korbin laughed as he shoved more food into his mouth. “It’s true. This is the reason her stories are so popular. All the human queens say her stories are not presented as they are written in Earth myth. They insist the storyteller twists them in her own peculiar fashion to make statements about our present times.”

“My new queen is most fascinating.”

“She still will not give her name?”

“It is known by only a select few.”

“You must know.”

Haden sighed, trying to keep the smile off his face. “I do, but do not ask me. This name hiding is strange. However, it is my job as a potential mate to keep her confidences, is it not?”

“Of course it is. I would not induce you to betray a queen’s confidence.”

“I did not think you were the kind of drone to do such a thing.”

“Have you mated her yet?”

“I have not. It is my understanding that human queens do not like to be rushed in such matters. I come only when she calls for me and stay only as long as I have her interest.”

“You are a lucky drone. I hope she will soon tell a new story. Watching the video feeds is fascinating. I suppose you must hear her stories firsthand?”

“My new queen is a good conversationalist. I do not press her for stories because when she talks about herself it gives me insight into how she thinks and sees the ‘verse. That is better than stories to me.”

“Do you ever wonder if she sees parts of you in the characters in her stories?”

Staring up at his new friend, Haden pondered it a brief micron. “I believe she would see me as the hunchback, unpleasant to look upon with all my scarring. A drone such as myself should not make an appropriate dining companion for a high status queen, yet she wishes to dine with me every evening.”

Picking at his food, Korbin stated flatly, “I have met all the queens that would be an age mate and none have chosen me.”

“There are other age mates for you to meet on our home world. Some of the family units like older drones. You are likely to receive many invitations to join family units because you are a healer.”

Snorting a laugh, Korbin’s antennas slumped. “Queens prefer warriors. Every drone knows this is true.”

“Maruvian queens may prefer warriors. Human queens seem drawn to healers. They are considered high status mates on Earth. I believe most family units feel safer with a trained healer in the home. If you think clearly about it, you will see how advantageous that could be for a unit spawning young.”

Perking up a bit, Korbin shoved some food in his mouth. He appeared to be pondering the situation as he chewed. “I suppose that could be true.”

“I suppose you heard the unsettling manner the battle was resolved?”

Nodding, Korbin’s dark eyes grew large. “Never in my wildest dreams did I suspect the secret your commanders and their queen uncovered. I went back through the medical database and could find no scrap of evidence that our queens were being controlled by parasites.”

Haden shoved a bit of chelva in his mouth. Chewing on the savory flatbread, he swallowed the bite before speaking. “I am as shocked as any here. If you think about it, this discovery explains much about our people.”

Shooting him a dark look, Korban responded in a low voice. “They have been controlling the numbers of our queens for thousands of years, allowing only enough to be born for them to prey upon. One queen for each parasite was a system that made sure we never had a control group of non-infected queens to compare them against. It aided in keeping their treacherous secret, even from those of us who should have known.”

Jerking at the news, Haden closed his eyes. “When I think of all the queens that were bred into existence and the many more who were murdered in the shell, I find it hard to control my fury.”

“Strange that it took human queens so little time to get to the truth. In many ways they are saviors. How can they so easily see what is hidden from us?”

Haden explained, “The clue is in their stories. The characters are always curious, daring, persistent, clever and highly individualized. I believe their stories speak to the qualities they value about themselves. Whereas we value cohesion, unity and order, the humans value individual will, diversity and unify only for a higher cause.”

“They are nothing like the vicious queens we have known. Now I must remind myself that we have never really known out own queens, only their symbionts. That angers me as well.” Korban’s voice was laced with emotion as he spoke.

“I try to reconcile the image of our queens with the information we learned. Our queens are not supposed to grow three times our size, Korban. The lashes on their backs are actually the parasites that control their minds and force their bodies to undergo a transformation into the terrifying beings we have known.”

“I am a healer, Haden. I probably paid closer attention to the data than you did. In the case of the Maruvian queen we captured, her symbiont was only recently imbedded. She did not have enough time for the transformation to take full effect.”

Haden shook his head, trying to get his thoughts around what his friend was explaining. “May the gods guide and protect her, Korban. I am choosing to hate the parasite rather than the innocent queen it attacked and hoped to control.”

Haden quietly ate his food, tasting little of the delicious selection of nutrient-dense offerings, consumed as he was with this idea that the beings he’d spent his entire life serving and worshiping were mere hosts for some kind of evil alien symbiont.

He’d seen young queens. They were the size of a common drone until their hormones kicked in as they neared maturation. It happened about the time their lashes began to grow, spreading out like tentacles intent on wreaking havoc on the world around them. How easy it would have been to mistake the introduction of a symbiont for the final stage of maturation. It made his blood run cold to know his own father had mated with such a cold hearted creature to give him life.

What they had learned left him with more questions than answers. The foremost of which was how did the symbionts procreate? Now that the blinders were off, he recognized the lashes as seeming like something that might have spawned from the sea. Were the waters of their long lost home world once infested with the creatures in ancient times? Was it some kind of body modification their queens experimented with, thinking it would enhance their ability to fight?

Looking up, he noticed that Korban had slipped away while he was deep in thought. Shoving the last few bites in his mouth, Haden cleared his tray and headed back to the unit he’d been assigned to manage. They had originally been tasked with protecting the queens, but as the battle was over and they were safe, he’d reassigned most to assist with repairs to their energy relays. Many had been blown during the attack and were a critical system needed to ensure everything from lighting to air processors were functioning appropriately.