//------------------------------// // Sharing truths: 2 // Story: They're home. // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// 2119 got bored by watching the snowball war rather quickly, realizing that tactical maneuvers, subterfuge, and other combat aspects an infiltrator would appreciate definitely aren’t drone forte. That didn’t mean the drones weren’t improving in game two –especially when they decided to do ‘elimination’ again instead of the suggested point battle so that some could get to building fortifications again– it just meant that in order for the game to be interesting for 2119, they would need to be playing this for years and strategizing beforehoof. To amuse himself, he decided to even out game two a little bit when it started to tilt in the direction of the red team that won game one as well.  “99651 isn’t covering its right side at all,” 2119’s disguised voice whispers in 99760’s head. The drone catches on and, in a few wild strikes of its goop noodle, it wins its melee and quickly ducks when 99651 turns black. Several snowballs fly over its head immediately. 2119 smirks. Some innocent puppeteering can’t hurt, especially if it leads to game three. Plus it helps kill time. By now, only a couple drones remain in “active service”, and they’re having problems hitting targets hidden behind layers of walls, trenches, and de-colored drones constantly building more and seemingly having even more fun doing so. The solution is obvious, and most of the remaining drones understandably opt for melee combat using various soft goop implements. “99015 just blindly throws balls from behind its barricade,” rings inside 99118’s mind after 2119 assesses the battlefield, “You can just run through the walls with a little bit of digging.” 99118’s pauses, briefly processing the new idea crossing its mind, before grinning and slamming directly through its barricade in a shower of snow. In response, 99015’s foreleg lobs a couple of snowballs in the vague direction of the barricade, but before it can even throw the last of its supply, 99118’s crashes through the middle of 99015’s snow wall. “Boop!” 99118 pokes the opponent with a goop noodle. “EEP!” 99015 turns black while bouncing away on reflex. When it lands, it looks at its now dark hooves with, “Awww yiss, building time!” It rushes off, beaming, towards a group of drones making holes in the old skiing slope for reasons which 2119 hasn’t bothered to find out yet. With 2119’s anonymous help, the blue team’s advantage gradually grows until the red resistance breaks and the second game ends.  “Game over! Score is now tied at one-one,” the infiltrator mentally calls out so that everyone hears, no matter how deep in the snow they are, “Let’s have a five-minute break before the final game. Is everyone okay? No one’s hypothermic?” He doesn’t really need to ask, but he confirms the chorus of okay responses via the status of each hive link. As expected, they’re cold but the constant activity is doing wonders to keep the drones from freezing. In response to his call, the drones start returning from their business and gathering around in preparation. “What’s hypertermite?” one hesitant drone raises its foreleg. “A big bug,” replies 2119, unfazed. “Ah. Nope then, we’re all small bugs here,” the drone shakes its head, satisfied. “Excellent,” 2119 nods approvingly and the drone shoots him a relieved smile, “If you like building so much, let’s change it up a bit for the last game and play ‘capture the flag’. Regroup, recolor, plan out your tactics, and let’s see who wins extra presents… or whatever 65536 promised.” The infiltrator links up with the drones and transmits the rules of the game to them, watching their eyes light up with joy as they realize how much building will be involved. That should keep them busy for the rest of the day. *** 10k croaks in pain and tears shoot out of its eyes.  At first, the operation felt like yesterday’s attempt, painful but bearable. Eventually though, as 65536 kept going, the pain somehow started compounding and 10k’s body started moving involuntarily away from the “surgical claw”. Right now, the carapace on 10k’s head and neck is entirely peeled off, leaving behind a green membrane and a layer of healing goop from 57999 “Sorry,” 10k apologizes as 3012 tightens his grip on the drone’s still armored shoulders, retaining surprising gentleness. The dramatic difference in physical strength between a warrior and a drone lets him be careful when he’s pressing against the 10k’s carapace while still successfully restraining it. “You’re doing great, 10k,” 65536 gives the drone leader a soft, reassuring smile, while peeling off another square of 10k’s carapace, layer after semi-shattered layer, until it reaches the bottom fragments which it has to cut off from the green membrane serving serving as changeling “skin”. “You are the one doing great,” 10k retorts, licking off some blood from the corner of its mouth left over after grinding its teeth, “I’m just lying here and trying not to pass out in pain.” “That’s the difficult part,” 65536 nods sideways and 57999 grabs a small chunk of 99111’s soap goop and cleans the new wound while 10k hisses as the coagulated blood from the ruptured membrane gets washed away, leaving behind mild stinging. 57999 applies its goop next, covering the surface in the healing gel. Like since the start of the surgery, it takes all of 10k’s self-control not to immediately regrow the carapace around the area, “If you want to take your mind off of things, you did offer me a full story about Smiley,” says 65536 once 57999 is finished. 57999’s and 99380’s ears perk up. “If 387 told you all he knew, there’s only a little more,” 10k’s ragged breathing and voice raspy from its previous screaming that eventually turned into weak croaking make it difficult to understand, but it’s speaking slowly and there’s no other sound in the small cave, “I… I…” 10k pauses, “65536, can someone do the right thing but in such a… wrong way that… that it feels like it’s not the right thing at all?”   “That’s far from rare, buddy,” 65536 nods, “Brace yourself, I’m cutting again.” “HNNNNGH!”10k’s vision lights with sparks and it keeps focusing on its breathing, quick that it is, to remain in the real world, “You know, I’m glad to hear that,” it says after a moment while 65536 and 57999 clean the new wound, “And that… kinda sums it up.” “I’m gonna need some details here. 387 just said that when you learned that Smiley caused 47989’s death, you… screamed some pretty unpleasant things at her and later asked the Queen to send her away with 99999.” “Smiley didn’t get 47989 killed,” admits 10k quietly, “It’s true that when I first heard about it I thought Smiley did something stupid to cause the tunnel collapse like… like with High Score and 36658, but then I saw her memories.” “Whoa, wait, how?” 65536 pauses before the next cut. “You can read Smiley’s mind?” 99380 who has been physically silent so far joins in, audibly surprised, “I didn’t think even the Queen could do that.” “Smiley can show you something she wants to. I don’t know how difficult it is for her to do or what her limits are, but she can do it,” says 10k and starts with a brief summary for 65536, “She and 47989 were reinforcing the tunnels leading to the area of the Queen’s project, but that place is full of Rumblers. We- I thought the new tunnel-building techniques would be enough to survive them but I was wrong. Due to the carapace enhancements I designed, we were able to move around without alerting them, but whenever someone dug into any pocket of open space and caused a landfall there was a risk of a Rumbler crawling in to check. We lost… too many drones in a short span of time, and after 47989’s death the Queen finally decided to stop all operations in that area.” “Makes me wonder which mining area could be so important that the Queen would take an interest personally,” muses 65536. “It’s the Crusher,” says 10k after a brief pause. 99380 looks blankly at 65536 and 57999 as the two veterans gasp. “You don’t think-” “No,” 10k weakly moves its head from side to side, “I don’t think we’re returning to the time of public executions. Why the Queen would need the Crusher is beyond me, though, but she did until we lost 47989. Then she agreed it was too dangerous to continue and let it go.” “Huh…” is all 57999 says as it scratches its head. 65536 has to silently agree. The hive leadership they know would never just leave a critical operation. Maybe, maybe they would reconsider their approach but drones have always been part of the cost of business. While 65536 knows the Queen is different now and the top ranks care, it has dipped its hooves into politics enough to know that goodwill only goes so far. However, both it and 57999 trust 10k’s judgement because it’s the closest to the hive’s leadership. “That’s good to hear,” says 65536 diplomatically and raises its claws to keep operating, ”I hope this was enough for you to catch your breath, buddy. Let’s keep going because I doubt it’s a good idea to keep you peeled for too long.” 10k winces and 65536 starts cutting again. This time they manage to strip 10k’s entire chest before 99380 walks over, taps 65536’s shoulder, and shakes its head. 10k is crying and wheezing, but they all know by now the drone leader will pass out before it asks them to stop. 65536 nods back and starts cleaning 10k from its head after which 57999 reapplies the healing goop. “Buddy?” 65536 asks quietly while gently prodding the frog of 10k’s foreleg. The raggedly breathing drone looks back at it with terror and pain in its eyes.  “How long- are we… done…?” 10k croaks quietly, “No…” “I’m sorry, it’s just a break. We’re only about a third way done and we can’t stop until we’re finished,” 65536 attempts a comforting smile, but 10k’s agony is just too much and the trembling drone leader whimpers. While 10k’s instincts and body are failing in the face of the pain, it proves its will by attempting to take a controlled breath and saying: “Keep going… just hold me down.” “We can give you a moment to rest, so we will,” counters 65536, “I told you I needed you awake for this.” “I wish you didn’t,” 10k forces a smirk, “I suppose I can keep talking about Smiley.” “Please, do.” “99380, just so that you don’t need to pull the knowledge out of the head of someone I sent down there - Rumblers make an area unstable. As they pass, they crush solid rock into smaller pieces, and 47989 was digging through a previously ground-up section while Smiley was reinforcing the tunnel behind it. 47989 made a mistake and went too quickly, collapsing the ceiling on itself. The pocket of rocks wasn’t heavy enough to crush a drone, so it didn’t need to activate the emergency cocoon, but it got stuck. Smiley did everything right, remembering to finish at least a quick tunnel reinforcement instead of rushing to 47989 and risking further collapse while 47989 was carefully digging itself out. Unfortunately, the collapse alerted a Rumbler,” 10k sighs, 57999 looks down at the floor, and 65536 frowns. They know where this goes, “Smiley tried to dig 47989 out faster but had to escape as the Rumbler’s approach started breaking the entire tunnel despite the quick patchwork. 47989 told her to run and popped the cocoon. From the last hive link information we got from all the devoured drones, it does nothing against Rumblers other than letting the caught drones hibernate and die painlessly,” 10k goes silent. “Then why did you blame Smiley?” asks 65536 as everyone else listens intently. It does notice that 10k’s eyes dart to 3012. “I told you,” 10k breathes out slowly, “At first it reminded me of High Score and 36658. I only learned what really happened several worky times later after Smiley managed to share her memories with me. By that time, we discovered 99999’s unique ability which I reported to the top ranks because the Queen is making a list of discovered goop variants and specialities for every drone.” “99999?” asks 65536, “I haven’t sensed a drone by that rank yet.” “It hatched recently. The Queen sent it away to repay a debt and I’m not allowed to tell you what that’s about, 65536, but it’ll be safe and in good company. That gave me an idea, and I offered to send Smiley to escort 99999. The reasoning I gave was that she had some outside knowledge and she was getting much better at writing… and that I didn’t want her to put other drones at risk by panicking and doing something stupid. 387 and the Queen trusted me enough not to read my mind about it… and I lied to them,” it looks at 3012. “Keep going,” says the warrior flatly. “I told Smiley I didn’t want her here anymore. I blamed her in her face for 47989’s death. I lied to her in that regard too,” 10k pauses again, “I had to. I didn’t want her to want to come back.” “But why?” asks 65536. “I wanted her to be safe,” admits 10k, “She’s a veteran like us and she’s been through a lot, but she still is… Smiley. I… I wanted her to be like you, 65536, not like us. She doesn’t have to keep digging down here until she makes a serious mistake once. We all know how easily that can happen. I repeat, I knew 99999 would be safe and cared for, and the Queen agreed to let Smiley go as well, for good if Smiley decides to stay where they’re going.” Everyone stays silent for a while until 65536 raises its claws. “Ready?” is all it asks. “No, but do it,” replies 10k. This time they manage to peel both forelegs, a slightly less painful experience than working on the barrel, before 65536 deems 10k too exhausted to remain awake. “I was thinking about what you said,” says 65536, “And I hate that you hurt Smiley like that. The Queen will doubtlessly learn that you lied as well-” “I will tell her myself,” says 10k firmly, “If this ‘surgery’ thing doesn’t help, I think I’ll do it sooner rather than later.” “3012, can you not report this until 10k decides to do it itself?” asks 65536 carefully. “I can, but if a higher rank reads my mind that’s it,” says the warrior. “10k…” 65536 takes a quick break to formulate what it wants to say in its head, “What you did was very-” “Bad? Yeah, I know.” “-very High Score-y of you.” “What?! High Score would never-” 10k objects with a surprising burst of vigor despite its state. “Lie to a high rank in order to give a vulnerable drone hope for a better life?” 65536 smirks, completely shutting down 10k’s reply and leaving the drone leader silently opening and closing its mouth.     “I’m not High Score, 65536,” 10k eventually recovers, its tone stern. The corner of the Nightguard drone’s mouth twitches and it raises its glowing claw again. *** In preparation for the final match for all the extra noms, the drone teams built two bases from scratch, each team taking a drastically different approach. One team occupied the skiing slope and drilled it full of holes, turning it into a small version of the hive. The claustrophobic, labyrinthine insides hold nooks and crannies which, if drones had any tactical mindset, could prove to be excellent ambush spots against the enemy team trying to take their flag- uhh, their goop stick with a ball on top. In reality, however, those are remnants left behind by drones who got a bit too carried away by preparing the base, although they can still serve as confusing dead ends for the enemy team trying to find the location of the fl- stick. Team two took the underground approach, and their part of the battlefield is marked by several entrances scattered around the plain otherwise bereft of anything except barricades and trenches built as cover for the previous games. As per the rules, each team has hive mind access only to the map of their own base as well as the locations of their team members, meaning that drones have to gradually explore enemy territory on their own and adapt on the fly. 2119 watches the near-empty battlefield. Out of the roughly hundred drones participating in the final game of capture the flag, only about twenty are visible with a naked eye. The red team members are watching from the skiing slope, snowballs ready, while the blue team members on the surface are hiding behind cover with much less ammo. To the infiltrator, it’s clear that someone on the blue team actually thought about strategy a little, and is using the surface only to spot enemy attack parties sent to take their stick. Unlike the drones, 2119’s hive mind overlay shows everyone even if they’re underground, and he can see that the blue team is digging tunnels leading towards the skiing slope, about to break into the red base from underneath. What the blue team clearly doesn’t know is that the reds are redy- I mean ready all over the maze to quickly answer the enemy invasion no matter the angle.  Despite the practical use of the bases, drones clearly have some innate artistic streak, and the blue team’s entrances aren’t just holes, but arches decorated with pillars. Same applies to the red base where the outer holes of the skiing slope are windows with frames, and the main entrance has two snowponies seemingly guarding it, one standing by each side and both suspiciously resembling the statues of High Score and 36658 down in the main cavern. Even to the practical infiltrator, it feels like a bit of a waste to have all that be destroyed during the final game, but snow is temporary anyway so 2119 doesn’t regret much when he mentally announces: “Prep time’s up, everyone! The final game starts now, and the first team to score three flags wins.”