//------------------------------//
// More questions than answers: 3 
// Story: They're home. 
// by Nameless Narrator 
//------------------------------//

“-mean?” 10k moans quietly in the real world, memories of the ‘nightmare’ quickly evaporating from its head and leaving behind only a reinforced need to admit the lie to the top ranks.  

Information starts trickling through its hive link, forming an image of the world even before the drone opens its eyes. It’s late into worky time, and the closest drones are 99856, 99111, and 99971. Just those two things are what 10k needs to know it’s inside the High Score Cavern. More and more awake with each breath, the drone leader lets its mind spread through the hive links of others, reaching 65536 far above it and immediately learning that the Nightguard, while exhausted, is delaying rest and busy with putting the finishing touches on its own special surprise. Reaching out further, 10k touches 99380 who is somehow part asleep and part working in the throne room on unlocking the newfound skip. All three response team members are busy several levels down where an old tunnel collapsed and released some new kind of gribblers. With the help of 99856’s cleaning goop, the entire lair will soon be empty.

Come to think of it, how come we never run out of yellow-shiny even on upper levels? Same with gems. We dig a full seam out, a collapse happens, and there’s suddenly more? I’m not complaining because we don’t need to keep digging in deep tunnels all the time, but where does it come from?

Several mental jumps later, 10k links up with the two remaining quicktrotters solely responsible for moving reserve eggs into the caverns near magma streams-

10k pauses, concentrates, and withdraws its mind fully into its body.

Why is thinking and linking up suddenly so incredibly easy?

Only now, finally, 10k opens its eyes and sits up, reflexively hissing in pain. There is no pain, however, only the surprise of 10k bonking its head against the ceiling of the small alcove it’s been lying in. Pressure, unpleasant tension under its carapace, tired weakness maybe, but no spiking, grinding, or ripping pain it’s gotten used to over the past year and a half. Without 10k’s conscious input, its body takes a deep lungful of air still ashy from the fire, and its chest bulges further and further, only serving as a reminder of how shallow 10k’s breathing has been all along. 

Is it this easy to get used to bad things and forget what can be?

The progress of the shock that’s taking over 10k is slow, so it just sits and breathes for who knows how long. Its mind starts spreading through all available links again, almost of its own volition, and showing how limited 10k has been for the longest time. Its vision blurs and, for a moment, 10k thinks it’s aggravated its wounds and all the nausea and pain are coming back, but when it closes its eyes for a moment to stop the blurring and opens them again, the world lights up with a complex hive mind overlay. Drone proximity, time of day, reminders, list of everyone’s tasks, warnings, everything 10k focuses on gets context immediately. It briefly looks over everyone’s shifts it’s planned for the next worky times and finds a mistake after mistake - imperfections, wrong timings, inadequate drone assignments. So many things to improve to make the hive more efficient and drone lives easier. However, the influx of knowledge and awareness isn’t a one-way street, and a thought crushes through 10k’s rising elation like a derailed train and shatters everything.

It was me. I misplanned 47989’s and Smiley’s shift. I could have sent someone else, I could have timed it for slower progression, I could have...

“I’m sorry, 47989, I couldn’t think straight,” 10k lets out a raspy whisper, “And it’s too late to make things right. It won’t bring you back, so the only thing I can do is… be better,” it turns around to face the open space of the cavern and finally gives attention to a hive mind message marked as urgent with the author being 65536. The moment it opens the section of the hive mind the message is referencing, 10k draws the attention of ‘Voice’ and preempts the contact.

“Hi, Voice. How’s it going? Why is my head telling me that you‘re not A Voice anymore?”

“Welcome back, 10k,” replies Voice in a warm tone, “Things are going surprisingly well, the surprising part relating to your second question. Queen Chrysalis and I had a discussion. It wasn’t smooth, but I’m now officially an accepted part of the hive. With 65536 busy right now, I’m supposed to brief you about your new schedule,” Voice brings 10k’s attention back to the message which reveals itself to be a rather long list of worky time activities.

“WT1, round trip, slow walk around HSC. BT1, yoga, allowed positions-” reads 10k, “What is this?”

“Your schedule for the next fifty cycles. 65536 designed it last sleepy time after the surgery so that you could start your recovery right away. It said it’ll have an extended sleepy time today once it’s done with its surprise.”

“Any idea what it is?”

“No. I only know the blueprint for the currently unused surface shaft related to it and it doesn’t match anything I can think of,” admits Voice, “I don’t think that knowing ahead of time is important, though.”

“You’re right,” 10k shrugs, reading the schedule for itself, “WT21, light trot around tunnel path x9-s10-w. I used to carry eggs triple that distance, up and down too. Isn’t the recovery schedule a bit too slow?”

“Which brings us to what I was supposed to tell you,” Voice grows serious, “65536 said the schedule, despite being on a careful side, was non-negotiable. It knows natural recovery procedures it’s tried on itself, and you’re not to try and heal anything using transformations either. The Queen agreed and said that, to avoid temptation, any deliberate misbehavior will result in revoking certain drone privileges in general, not just yours.”

“Grumble grumble,“ says 10k, “Speaking of threats, now that the Queen knows about you, are you still… on our side?”

“Yes, 10k, nothing has changed, as surprising as it may seem,” Voice pauses, “Well, one thing did. I’m not supposed to help high ranks unless they’re drone friends and only if they specifically ask.”

With utmost care, 10k shuffles towards the edge of its floor-level alcove, and finally attempts to stand up. It immediately changes its opinion on 65536’s schedule as even rising up leaves it out of breath. Despite that, it forces a determined smirk.

“Thanks, Voice. Time to stop being lazy and get back to work, even if the only thing I’m carrying is myself,” it briefly re-checks the schedule to find when it’ll be allowed to dig, and can’t stop itself from moaning out loud, “Worky time three, first attempt? Awww, holes…”

“While your body is in recovery, perhaps a more mental effort is in order?”

“Yep, that’s what I was thinking about,” 10k nods, gathering the courage to move its legs. The surgery feels distant despite happening only hours earlier, yet the excruciating pain is only in 10k’s memory. Exhaustion and weakness aside, its body proves one more time that it’s working much better than in what feels like ages. Step by step, shifting of weight from leg after leg, everything works differently now that there’s no pain forcing every movement to follow the path of the least resistance, and all that frees 10k’s mind for work, “There’s a lot of scheduling and optimization to be done, and I still need to think of something extra useful to accomplish before I admit to the Queen that I lied to get Smiley away from all this. At least I have things to do while waiting for my body to fix itself- there’s a high rank right behind me, isn’t there?”

“While I won’t know until you turn around, I doubt that, 10k,” Voice responds in a calm tone, “If nothing, then because you’re currently not being called names or worse.”

“I’m glad you’re getting comfortable enough to joke around, Voice,” 10k smiles but can’t help turning its head around. Nope, the HSC is still empty.

“It’s easier without the need to hide.” 

“Good to hear that,” 10k is slowly picking up pace, now taking a couple regular steps in a row without having to stop to steady itself. Its strength is draining rapidly, though, “Holes, 65536 was right. Even today’s schedule might be too much. How, though? I’m not saying I felt better before the surgery, but I definitely felt stronger.”

“The latter parts of the surgery didn’t go particularly well. Thankfully, 3012 did a great job holding you down without harming you.”

“It’s all a fragmented blur,” says a changeling used to the ability to replay any recent memory that’s not shattered by panic or trauma at will and in vivid detail.

Voice hesitates.

“Maybe it’s better that way,” it says in the end, “I don’t think any of the present hive drones are going to forget it any time soon, judging by the mental echoes I can sense from them. I can’t comment on 65536.”

“That bad?” 10k stops.

“Yes,” Voice doesn’t elaborate.

A memory of it screaming at Smiley at first just to alleviate its pain crosses 10k’s mind before it shakes its head.

“Then I need to make sure I don’t need a surgery like that again. For that, I need to do the right things, things that help, and I need to figure out what those things are first.”

“Perhaps doing something personal for the Queen would be a good start.”

“It would, but what can I do? I can barely move. My only value right now is as a planner, and anything I achieve will be done by sending others to do it.”

“Then plan something big and do it effectively and safely.”

“Yep,” 10k nods, “One question first - the schedule is pretty limiting regarding movement. If I need to talk to other drones, do I have to do it via links?”

“The first few days are restrictive, so yes. Your mind seems to be working more than fine. If you need to talk face to face, though, I suggest you do it during your walking schedule.”

“Good idea,” 10k stops, scrunches its nose, and suddenly changes direction and starts walking towards the back section of the HSC, “Thanks for being here, Voice.”

“No one should be alone in their darkest moment.”

“36658’s wish.”

“Exactly.”

With its legs starting to shake out of exhaustion, 10k makes its way to 99856’s testing grounds, fixing any previous mistakes it can find in the planned drone work schedule. It’s going to take way more time because whenever 10k shuffles the shifts it opens another batch of potential optimizations. 

The smell of smoke greets the drone leader as it opens the rebuilt door to the testing room, which hosts a new decoration in the form of a stone sticking halfway through the goop, and 99856 immediately rises from huddling over a new circle of stones serving as a fireplace that is being used for whatever the chemist is interested in right now. Its goop goggles are stained with black ash occasionally mixed with white spots, a highly unusual color inside the hive, and melted in places. Even through those, 10k can see 99856’s eyes go wide. Of course, the instant ear-to-ear smile is a good hint to 99856’s mood shift.

“10k! YOU’RE ALRIGHT!” it rushes towards the drone leader who backs off, stumbling due to the rapid movement. A drone not wanting to be hugged is enough of a sign for 99856 to stop, however, “Huh?”

“No hugging for now,” 10k smiles back, “I still feel pretty brittle.”

“Alrighty!” 99856 nods, “Can I do something for you then? 65536 said that 99111 and I are supposed to be at hoof for you, which I think means be ready to help. 65536 sometimes uses really weird word mixes.”

“Those are pony expressions,” 10k reaches out and carefully pats 99856’s head, avoiding any colorful splatters left over by recent experiments, “And yes, there is something I want. Do you have more cleaning goop?”

“Nope, I haven’t made a new batch in a while and the rescue guys took my old squirties,” 99856 shakes its head, “If you want it, I’ll ask 99111 to give me its goop. It’s easy to make more. The difficult part is not splattering my face in the process, but I got a blowy tube for that now. My muzzle chunks aren’t shooting off anymore when I sneeze and I sneeze less too because my nose isn’t melting from the inside as often!”

“I’m glad to hear that, 99856. Next time, though, tell me when your bits start falling off, not after you get lucky and solve the problem before you lose the important parts.” 

“Got it!” 99856 nods. When neither drone drives the topic further, it asks, “Wanna see a weird shiny- uhh, fire?”

“Sure, I need to catch my breath anyway.” 10k glances over the chemist to the new fireplace, “Only for a moment, though. 65536 left me a list of things to do so that I heal properly and don’t break into pieces again.”

“Oh, okay! I’ll make it quick,” 99856 turns around and giddily returns to the fireplace under the new vent where several goop-coal chunks are burning, “Look look look, 65536 taught me this,” it presents its forelegs and 10k can see the chemist’s hooves transform. Weirdly, 10k’s new visual overlay leaves behind a hive mind marker. When 10k reads it, it leads to a transformation guide, “I can turn my hooves into this weird white dust that makes fire go poofy and really hot for a moment. Look!”

99856 peels a strip of the top layer of its hoof off and flicks the leftovers into the burning fire. The following flash of bright, white light is accompanied by a wave of heat.

“Neat trick,” says 10k, “You should show it to everyone this breaky time. It’ll be fun to try out the new hearth,” words come so much easier now.

“Eeeh, let’s maybe not do that yet,” 99856 scratches its head, “I tried mixing this magna- maggie- mag-something with goop first and…” it points to several rock fragments randomly dotting the floor and finally to the stone brick embedded halfway through the goop door which 10k noted previously, “It needs a bit more testing.”

Almost involuntarily, 10k’s mind assembles information the drone itself can’t know, and a new topic unlocks itself.

“Magic?” mutters 10k.

“Huh?” 99856 tilts its head. It remains patient, though, knowing full well that ideas randomly pop in drones’ heads all the time.

“Thes means the magna-” 10k’s head twitches involuntarily due to an uncomfortable sting of pain as more knowledge floods in, “Magnesium goop explodes with a lot of force and heat, right?”

“Seems so, but I didn’t find a way to test it without the risk of blowing myself up yet, so all I know is what happened the first time.”

“Gotcha,” 10k nods, its mind racing and only vaguely connected to its body. It raises its foreleg and-

“No transformations!” Voice’s whisper stops 10k’s experiment. 

“99856, give me some of your hoof magnesium, please,” says the drone leader instead of shapeshifting. 99856 wordlessly obliges, curious where this is going.

Next, 10k spits out a glob of goop and mixes the silvery white strips from the hoof’s surface with the green resin. More information flows in, making 10k’s body follow a vague plan being born only a single nerve impulse ahead, and 10k spits out a small goop chip into which it carves the symbol from 65536’s heating stones, “99856, let’s move behind the door. Right now!”

While the two retreat out of the testing room as quickly as 10k’s legs let it, the drone leader pours some love into the chip which starts heating up, presses it into the magnesium goop ball, and lobs it into the room while 99856 closes the door. From the corner of its eye, 10k notices that 99856 doesn’t stay by the door but moves aside all the way behind the solid rock wall, and does the same. 

The door rattles.

Unseen by anyone, the snow that fell into the surface end of the new vent blasts off towards the sky.

“How did you do that?” 99856 is looking at 10k, eyes wide and mouth open.

10k blinks as if waking up from a daze.

“Huh? I… I think I… just did what 99380 does all the time,” like moments before, 10k’s mind presents an answer immediately, “Someone- 99450 figured out how to make heating goop so I tried using it to trigger your magnesium balls. Let’s check the result,” it nods towards the door, “Can you please open it? I’m not allowed to overexert myself.”

“Yup!” 99856 slides the goop door open, “Oh, warm.”

Everything previously lying on the floor has shuffled positions, but there’s no new mess, which means the new mix must have exploded and burned up into nothing at the same time. Only a sharper version of the minty smell of goop that wasn’t present before remains, and a heavily scorched section of floor. From the corner of its eye, 10k spots a strange glitching effect on the hive mind overlay, but when it looks directly at it, there’s nothing, so it just rubs its eyes to no avail and shakes its head.  

99856, just sniffs the air, quickly looks around, and beams.

“Just about what I expected. Look at all the scratches on the walls and the floor is still warm,” its pointing hoof follows the words, “What you threw must have been a lot stronger than when I tried it myself. Good thing we weren’t inside, my goggles wouldn’t be enough,” it taps on its protective equipment, “I like the bright shiny effect more than the big boomy.”

“Maybe if you add only a little bit to the coal goop, you’ll get shinier fire.”

“GASP! EVEN SHINIER DANCING SHINY?!” 99856 jumps up with so much strength its goggles fly off and break on the floor. 10k isn’t worried, it’s just easily fixable goop.

“It’s just an idea. Maybe it won’t work like that, but it’s worth trying,” 10k shrugs and returns to the original subject, “Later, though. I still need the cleaning goop, a lot of it, and in a shell that’s safe to carry but also easily cracked. Preferably in a-” 10k’s mind presents a new use of a known word that fits the requirement, “-barrel,” 10k traces a shape of a barrel with its hoof, and it appears on the floor as a hive mind image visible even to 99856.

“Whoa, that’s neat!” 99856 rubs its head, retaining the focus on the important thing for once, “What for?”

10k takes a deep breath, already preparing to give its reasoning.

“I want to try to kill Rumblers.”  

To its surprise, though, 99856 only returns an uncharacteristically bloodthirsty grin.

“I’ll take care of it,” it says, “If you want it quickly, we’ll need some bubble bricks for 99111 to eat.”

“Good thinking. I’ll ask 65536 if it brought any,” 10k nods, “And one more thing - since you can make goop that resists cleaning goop, can you make an emergency cocoon out of it?”

“Oof,” 99856 pouts, “That’s gonna be a toughie. Can I get someone to help me?”

“I’ll do a sweep and ask everyone if they’re interested in your work. We could use a second chemist, and providing mental support is the only thing I can do right now.”

“Alrighty. I should get to mixing then,” 99856 heads out of the testing room again.

“Thanks, 99856,” 10k follows.

“No problem. It’ll be great to finally have something that works against Rumblers. How do I test the big cleaning, though?”

“Leave that to me. You just make sure the barrels are safe and the cleaning goop works and spreads.”

“Will do!”

Without more words, the two drones split in the hallway, 99856 rushing towards the laboratory and 10k hobbling back to the HSC.

I hate that my only way to redeem myself is to risk others, but that only means I must lessen the risk as much as possible. Still, now that we have time to test Rumbler movement patterns, I can work with it.

Neither of the drones notices slightly scorched 156 watching them from the hallway with narrowed eyes. She’s not physically invisible, that would be too difficult, their minds are simply not allowed to process the infiltrator’s presence.