The clear green stone glowed in the dim room. It was the width of a human palm but as the surface cleared, small but distinct figures could be seen moving across its shiny surface.
“What is this?” Sovereign Ysldred X’izith of the Hive peered into the bright green depths. “What is the stone showing me?”
“I know not, my Sovereign,” the sentient scholar-worker beside him buzzed, grooming its antennae anxiously. “I know only that the E’lo stones will sometimes show scenes important to their owners—though why it is important is for you, my Sovereign, to decide.”
“I thought the Druvian E’lo stones were only meant to be useful for instant transportation around the universe,” Sovereign X’izith snapped impatiently.
“Regretfully, the transport stones we took are not yet functional,” the scholar-worker said apologetically. “But as you can see, my Sovereign, the seer stone appears to be functioning. It may give us an insight into the Kindred’s plans and motivations if we keep watching.”
“Maybe…” Sovereign X’izith rubbed at his empty eye socket irritably. He had been half blinded and maimed in a recent battle with one of the damned Kindred who had also stolen the female he had designated as his Breeding Queen. Concentrating on the tiny figures in the green E’lo stone with his one remaining compound eye made his head ache.
Still, the stone, which had been stolen from an upcoming sale of Druvian artifacts in the Toloth System, might provide a window into his enemy’s mind and movements. Taking it and the E’lo transport stones had been a risk but one which would hopefully pay off in the end.
The Hive had moved from their spot in the Blind to the arid, freezing mountains of Mars with the Kindred being none the wiser. There, the underground burrow the workers were constructing grew larger every day. Hive slaves that pumped oxygen, which the humans needed, had been put in place as well as the larger glow-bugs which generated heat and radiance. Soon X'izith would be ready to start abducting females from the small blue and white planet called Earth and implanting them with grubs.
But there the Hive had hit a snag. Though the smaller scouts—the ones no larger than Earth sized insects—had been able to get past Earth’s atmosphere to collect samples and data from the Earth females X'izith intended to take, the protective energy net the Kindred had placed around the planet kept out larger scouts and space craft.
Somehow X'izith knew he had to find a way around the energy net—a way to get to the females he needed to implant with both common and royal grubs that the Hive might survive and thrive and spread to conquer the entire rest of the universe.
That was where the E’lo stones came in—maybe they would provide a clue as to what the Kindred were doing and when, if ever, they relaxed their vigilant watch on the Earth.
“The Nameless Ones, Gods of Nothing, grant it shall be,” X'izith muttered to himself, bending over the glowing green stone again. “Show me my enemy’s plan,” he said, though he did not know if the stone could hear or obey him.
In its green depths, he saw the figure of a tall Kindred male—at least, X'izith thought he was Kindred. He had strangely mismatched eyes—one blue and one green. Glowing sparks like pinpricks of flame danced in each, seeming to betoken some hidden power. He was taller than the average Kindred—over seven standard feet—and his shoulders and arms were thick with muscle. X'izith could clearly see his physical power because he was fighting the green, scaly-skinned Horvath which was dragging him along at the end of a pain leash.
“Let me go, you bastard! I swear by the Seven Hells I’ll roast you alive!”
“Come,” the Horvath grunted, yanking on the leash which no doubt sent a charge of agony through his massive prisoner’s frame. “There izz no point in rezzisting. You are a zzlave and will be zzold no matter how you zztruggle.”
He appeared to be dragging the Kindred through a lavishly decorated hall. On one side of the hall a group of women dressed in severely cut suits were sitting. Their eyes were wide with surprise as the slaver struggled with his captive. On the other side was a display of precious stones arranged on one table. Some were as big as a fist while others were as tiny as a fingernail and they ranged in color from brilliant green to deep blue to vibrant purple.
With a start, X'izith recognized the Toloth auction house where his workers had gone to steal the E’lo stones in the first place.
“What is this?” he hissed. “Why does the stone simply show me its origin? This is useless! It shows the place it came from—nothing to do with the Kindred leaders and their plans!”
“My Sovereign…” The scholar-worker who had recommended stealing the stones in the first place had begun to groom its antennae nervously, almost compulsively. “Mayhap if we just keep watching…”
“No!” X'izith turned petulantly from the stone and limped heavily to a nearby fungus cluster growing from the wall of his new room. He sank onto it and reached with his three remaining arms to massage the aching, twisted mass of scar tissue that marred his abdomen and wrapped tight around the base of his breeding barb.
Even if he could get his claws on an Earth female suitable for implantation, he wasn’t certain that he had the strength to breed her just now. The very act of using his barb was certain to be tremendously painful which meant he would have to make each breeding count.
“Where are you, my Breeding Queen?” he muttered to himself, envisioning an Earth female with just the right DNA to carry a brood of royal grubs. “Where are you and how can I get to you?”
He would have to find a way. Even if the E’lo stones they had stolen were useless, he would have to find a way to get the perfect female and fly her back to his new base on Mars. Then and only then would the future of the Hive be secured.
The Nameless Ones grant it shall be so, he told himself wearily. No matter what happened, he would never give up. Not until the survival of his species was assured.
The Kindred and the humans alike would feel the cold shadow of the Hive spreading over their lands before he drew his last breath—Sovereign X'izith swore it.
And he never broke his word.