Playing games: 2
“GUUUYS!” 65536 calls out loudly, its voice echoing around the throne room, “Alright, who got the most ball catches?”
Up on the throne, Chrysalis dissolves the solid ball of goop she’s been “entertaining herself” with and rolls her eyes.
This is our best way of figuring out who’s the most suited for digging vents and building things. How are we still a species?
“I got three!” calls out 99501.
“Ha! Four,” 99109 raises its hoof next.
65536 listens as several more drones report their results. It’s not worried they would lie or anything, they know how easy it is to check and they don’t want to hurt other drones. Eventually, it counts off twelve drones whose job today will be getting rocks for the throne room chimney, building it, and digging the new vents. Moments later, it mentally shares with them the plans they modelled last night with 387 and the others, and gives the plan a go. Four drones rush off immediately while the other eight just group up, waiting for further instructions.
“Okay, everyone! Thank Her Majesty for letting us sleep here tonight, and let’s go!” orders 65536.
“Thank you, Her Magic Stick!”
Chrysalis waves her hoof.
“Just go. And obey 65536, I’ll know if you don’t!” she says menacingly.
A couple minutes later, she finds herself alone in the throne room and dives into the hive mind.
Finally, some peace and quiet.
***
65536 leads the drones through the main entrance of the hive where it quickly finds itself flanked by 2119 and 3012.
“The Queen can’t spare anyone else so she told us to keep an eye on you,” explains the higher ranked infiltrator, “Don’t worry, we won’t interfere in any way unless you want us to or you’re in danger.”
“I don’t think anyone will mind if you have fun with us,” 65536 smiles at them, tilts its head, and points to either of the sentries respectively, “Hey, did you swap the clothes I gave you?”
“Yes, we did,” 3012 nods, “We’re trying to see what feels better for whom. Is that a problem?”
“Nope! That’s very smart. Now-” it turns around and sees the crowd of drones hesitantly stepping on the spot just outside the entrance, looking around with mouths slightly agape, “Uhh, guys?”
“What’s the grey stuff on top of this huuuuuge cavern?” asks someone.
“Why is it so cold?” meeps a different drone.
“This white-cold thingy is slippery,” a drone kicks up a shower of snow, “But also crunchy and powdery. It’s more like white-confusing.”
10k limps over to 65536.
“We could use some kind of introduction to, well, all of this, I think,” it pokes the snow, “The only ones who know anything are 57999 and its assistants and that extends to ‘snow is cold and plants need warmth’.”
“Good thinking,” 65536 nods, “Alright, everyone! This white stuff is called snow. It can be solid, or you can just dive into it, or it can be slippery, it all depends on many things. No matter what, it’s just very cold water with some extra stuff in it. You can eat it if you want but you’ll get chilly quicker. In fact, I encourage you to experiment with it because there’s a LOT of it, as you can see, and you might find a way in which it might help the hive.”
“Ooo, sparkly!” a drone looks down at the stomped section of the sloping ramp leading from the hive, prompting 10k to look up and see the sun behind parting clouds and livening up the otherwise steel-grey sky.
“The Great Shiny is here to see what we’re doing,” jokes the drone leader.
“Eeee! The Great Shiny!” drones look up en masse, mesmerized but beaming from ear to ear, “It’s real! IT’S REAL!”
“So pretty…”
“It’s real and it wants you to be good drones and listen to 65536 right now, got it?” 10k raises its voice.
Drones start quickly nodding and roughly a hundred pairs of eyes lock on 65536. Without realizing it, the guard drone slips into a drill sergeant mode and starts pacing back and forth while raising its voice.
“Vent digging team, you can go. The plans are accessible in the hive mind, temporary section pp-fj-P0-234. If you finish early or if it becomes too cold for you to continue, contact me,” it looks at the chosen eight drones who nod back and, as it often is with drones, follow the first one to move, “Everyone else, there are a couple activities I’ve been thinking we could do here. Of course, you are free to explore the surface in your own way, just stay within sight of the main group. Now, how about we start with some sledding? We can make sleds and skis later, but first we need to build a slide from the snow. Come on, let’s roll all this snow into a proper hill!”
***
While most drones swarm around 65536 and start gathering snow, several split off for some more specific exploration as encouraged. One of those is 99856 who quickly notices that, while powdery, the snow that gets under its carapace doesn’t scratch it like all other materials. It examines the gaps in its armor, shakes its legs, and watches sprinkles of water come off.
Since 65536 said this snow was just water with extra stuff, why is it water now? How does it snowify? How does it waterify again?
99856 grabs a hoofful and eats it. Moments later, it hucks out a glob of goop back into its hoof and examines it up close by looking at it, sniffing it, and finally licking it. Finding nothing special, it lets the goop chunk drop on the snow and watches as it quickly melts a hole all the way down until it stops on the ground.
Huh, the snow sheet is almost a full drone high but it seems to be harder on the bottom. Maybe because it’s packed?
It grabs more snow, eats a couple hooffuls this time and, while waiting for its internal chemistry to work, gathers more and pats it into a harder disc between the frogs of its hooves.
Yup, gets harder when packed together. Let’s try this…
It hucks out a fresh glob of goop on the packed snow, and observes two things. The expected one is that even the harder snow disc shows very little resistance even to barely acidic goop. The fresh find, however, is that the goop is slightly more runny.
Snow, maybe even water makes goop more… goopy. Note to self - make a trip to the safest stream in the deep tunnels and get some more water. Note two - make a much bigger jug. Note three - get more snow and compare the two.
***
As the artificial snow slope grows, fueled by the drone desire to make the biggest slide ever as well as the need to warm up by moving, 99111 pokes the packed snow with its grabby back arm. The outstretched claw slides into the wall with some difficulty.
This could work as a building material, but 65536 said it was just water.
The drone briefly reminisces about its trip to the tropical island one year and a half ago and puts two and two together.
Ice cream!
So it needs to be very cold to make water into this “snow”.
Its interest wanes almost immediately as it starts looking around at most drones having fun and a couple of curious outliers working on their own. The material isn’t usable for building or forging purposes, and 99856 is already over there, mixing goop and snow over and over in varying ratios, so 99111 can go over its list of results within the hive mind later, or even just ask.
“Hmm, what to do?” 99111’s fifth leg scratches its head.
Just out of curiosity, it makes a small box out of the tamped snow and spits goop into it. Like during 99856’s experiment, it just melts through. With that avenue of research firmly in 99856’s trustworthy grasp, 99111 finds itself out of ideas. Granted, the surface is mostly unexplored, but all that’s everywhere the eye can see is snow. With a sigh, it stops looking into the distance and finds itself scrutinized by a trio of rather new drones whose eyes are locked on its back leg.
“Hi?” it says in a questioning tone, “Do you need anything?”
The drones all speak out at once:
“How did you get that grabby?”
“Can I get one too?”
“Do you dig with it?”
99111 blinks in surprise.
“Is this the first time you’re seeing me?”
“Nu uh,” says one, shaking its head, “We saw you last breaky time when you told us to follow you.”
“Oh…” 99111 pauses, “I have been sleeping in the workshop a lot since the music box broke. Maybe a bit too much,” it chuckles and faces the patiently waiting drones, “I suppose you mean how you can get an extra limb that stays on, right? You’re not just asking how to shapeshift.”
*Nod nod nod nod!*
“Sure, let’s slip into the hive mind and I’ll show you how it went,” 99111 smiles and sits down, shivering at the cold touch, “Maybe I’ll think of something to do in the meantime.”
The drones bounce up and down before joining the tinkerer.
***
10k feels relieved, a feeling that’s been avoiding it for a long time now.
It’s not because everyone around is busy and full of love. That’s a state of affairs it’s been working tirelessly to build since it’s been put in charge of drones, unofficially at first due to simply being a top rank and later by being officially picked by the Queen.
No, it’s because, for the first time since the island events, its entire body isn’t in pain.
During their short trip from the hive here, 10k noticed that its carapace felt a little numb, especially its hooves in contact with the snow, so it decided to take it a step further and dug itself a hole to crawl into. Digging without pain –an activity that was gone from 10k’s life for nearly two years– was only the first surprising benefit. The second one affected its entire body - it was cold, then the cold burned for the briefest moment, but that was nothing new, and finally everything went blissfully numb.
Now it’s lying on its belly in a small burrow a short way away from the drones building the slide, buried in the snow with the exception of its head. 10k is simply relaxing and focusing on its breathing, half awake and half inside the hive mind, finally able to lie on something without grinding its teeth in discomfort. Not feeling anything from the neck down is only a minor drawback. Without its body to constantly bother 10k, it’s so much easier to focus, and it slips into the hive mind without any real direction. It immediately connects with the overwhelming, but not oppressive in the least, presence of 99380, which empowers 10k’s mental senses like a gentle guiding hoof. In the real world, 99380 is happily running around and helping everyone else build the ever-growing snow slope.
Huh?
Two mental signatures burning together like a beacon bring 10k’s attention to them, and its mind follows, revealing them to be 99 and 387. To the drone’s surprise, neither of those seem aware that 10k and 99380, in a sense, are present. Soon, 10k gets so “close” that it slips into a mental space they’re occupying and gets a visual input.
Right now, 99 and 387 are running through a natural tunnel, following what looks like a drone. The speed difference is balanced by the fact that the tunnel isn’t big enough for the high ranks to run comfortably in, and they’re not transformed for a reason 10k can’t immediately see. Despite that, they’re keeping the drone within view no matter the changes in terrain. To 10k, something about the tunnel feels strange, and it’s not just it being a mental construct. It takes a moment to figure out, but it quickly realizes what it is - the tunnel is safe. There are no distant noises, strange echoes, dangerous smells, or dozens of other tiny hints a drone must learn in order to reach the ripe, old age of week two. Despite the difficult and shifting terrain underhoof, the winding and splitting tunnel the unknown drone is fleeing through is as safe as it can be.
Eventually, however, the flight ends when the drone reaches a small, dead-end cave where it turns around and, to the shock of 10k, smiles.
“Interesting,” it says and its voice is immediately familiar to 10k as the Voice, “You have a completely unique way of manipulating the hive mind, 387. Wait, no… rare but not unique. That’s strange.”
The warrior narrows his eyes as he enters the cave, lowered into a combat stance. 99 takes place next to him, her breathing heavy after the chase.
“Good idea for you to take someone as different as 387 with you, 99. I couldn’t counter his manipulation in time,” says the Voice as the drone sits down, hind legs spread and forelegs propping it, “So, I learned a lot from watching 387 work, but what were you two expecting from this encounter?”
“Well, 387, what do you think?” 99 looks at the warrior who isn’t letting his eyes leave the drone.
“It’s unlike any hive mind entity I’ve ever seen before, but it IS one. It doesn’t present any external markers,” replies the warrior, “It doesn’t seem to be increasing our love expenditure despite it being, frankly, stupidly powerful either, which is beyond weird. Good on you for not telling Chrysalis first.”
“The Queen does tend to overreact,” the Voice nods.
“Don’t second me, we’re not friends,” 387 barks at the drone.
“While you might not be mine, I am yours,” counters the Voice.
“The drones think it’s a friend,” comments 99, “And the memories of its actions that I could safely dig out of their heads support the assumption.”
“It could also be playing the long game,” 387’s tone turns dark, “Wouldn’t be the first.”
“Which is why you’re here,” 99 nods.
“All I can say right now is that it’s not some manipulation by Chrysalis or anyone else. As for the identity of this… being, it feels unique even to me. I don’t know.”
“Awww,” the Voice mumbles in disappointment.
“What?” 387 transforms its hoof into claws and physically grabs the drone, turning it from side to side.
“I was hoping to learn more about myself,” says the Voice, unbothered by the manipulation, “No one I can access has any information.”
“Does that mean you can’t access my mind?” asks 387.
“You are different from everyone else. I mean, almost everyone else. Now that we’re up close and I’ve had time to examine you, I can sense a mind similar to yours arou-” it falls on the ground as 387 lets it go.
“Who?!” 387 growls.
“I don’t know. I can only support those whom drones consider friends.”
“Wait, does that mean drones don’t consider me a friend?” asks 387, tilting his head and momentarily latching onto what seems to be an inconsistency, “Or 156, or the Queen?”
“It doesn’t,” the Voice shakes its head, “You are unique, or you were until now. Your question is more correct for 156, as she isn’t close enough to the drones. They also don’t consider the Queen one of them,” it quickly adds, ”Not in a bad way, more a higher being. It’s difficult to explain the limits of my… designation either. Maybe we are all thinking about it the wrong way, but I don’t have a better guess at the moment,” the Voice sighs, “Sorry. I will work on figuring it out and I might be able to answer soon.”
Its tone is so genuine that it gives even paranoid 387 a pause, and he looks at 99 who is silently watching the situation unfold.
“Does that mean I can talk to you whenever?” she asks.
“Yes, it does,” the drone interpretation of the Voice nods, “All you need to do is think about me. Drones normally just refer to me as Voice.”
99 decides to test something.
Voice, what number am I thinking of?
“You’re thinking of number 532213,” says the Voice.
“Can you do the same with me?” asks 387 after trying to do the same without invoking any reaction from the Voice, just to test if it’s lying.
“No,” it shakes its head, “Your mind is alien to me but I feel like I will be able to become a part of you like with everyone else-”
“Don’t,” says 387.
“I can help.”
“No.”
“As you wish. If you need anything from me, you’ll have to call through your hive link then.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” says 387 flatly, “Now, let’s get back to the mind similar to mine. What can you tell me?”
“Nothing,” says the Voice, “I noticed it only recently. Now that I have experience with you I at least know what it is.”
“Can you track me?”
“I can now, to a limited degree,” the drone nods, “I’ll get better at it with time.”
“Can you track the other one?”
“No, I can’t.”
“Can it mean it’s not a drone ‘friend’?”
The Voice pauses before nodding.
“I suppose it can.”
“Alright. 99, we’re done here,” 387 looks at her.
“What do we do with… this, uhh, entity?” she pokes the unmarked drone.
“You try to figure out a way to tell Chrysalis about this that won’t make her try to purge the hive mind the only way I can think of - killing every changeling in the vicinity and then erasing her own memories. I have to find- if there’s another flutter- old changeling- I gotta go.”
387’s mental image vanishes and, moments later, he becomes impossible to sense for 99. She opens her eyes in the real world, and the warrior is gone as well. The mental trap they tried to construct in order to ensnare the hive mind entity unravels as 99 isn’t able to keep it together on her own. To her surprise, once the trap is gone, she hears the Voice say:
“Is there anything else I can help you with, aside from 415’s warning?”
“You know about-” 99 sighs, this worrying entity is proving to be way out of her league, “Yeah. That’s bad. What do you think-”
99’s words cut off for 10k and the drone leader stops being able to listen in.
“Sorry, 10k,” says the Voice, “This topic is something 99 considers extremely private. Knowing about it might harm her trust.”
“Oh,” 10k’s mental presence gathers enough for it to be able to reply, “Sure, that’s no problem. I was kinda drifting off anyway. I’m glad you made friends.”
“I wouldn’t call it that, but it’s a start.”
With the Voice’s reply, 10 finds itself alone in the dark.
Uhh, I would like to wake up now.
Nothing.
It can barely even sense other drones.
“99380? Can you hear me?” it tries to connect to the strongest mental presence to no avail. In light of that, it returns to its only contact, “Voice?”
“Yes?” a reply comes, causing a small amount of relief in 10k.
“I think something’s wrong. I can’t wake up or call anyone.”
“I don’t know much about the outside. Give me a moment,” replies the voice. A brief pause later, it adds, “They’re coming for you. No matter what happens, don’t fall asleep.”
“Alright,” 10k nods, “I’m not tired or anything anyway.”
The moment it says that, however, a familiar wave of numb weariness washes over it. Unfortunately, it’s familiar in the bad way, and brings back the memories of the time 10k thought it was dying inside the crumbling underground complex a year and a half ago. Now it knows that at the time it was just the effect of 36658’s special agonyslayers, but what could it be now?
10k takes a deep breath, keeps its eyes open, and begins doing yoga. Pushing through the pain which even its mental form goes through helps fight the dizziness.
You’ve been here before. You know help is coming. You know what to do.
There’s no reason to panic.
So 10k does something completely un-dronelike, and doesn’t.
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10 K is drone designation, not a suggested operational temperature.
It's your inherent adorableness. And I suppose a mad and stubborn tenacity to persevere through most any circumstance regardless of how dire, and honey it's gotten dire a couple of times...but it's mostly the inherent adorableness.
Calling it now that some drone manages to come up with an ice breath ability from doing this.
Dang, just when I think I've got a gauge on the Voice's capabilities, it goes and surprises me once again. It seems it wasn't exaggerating--so long as it is seen as a friend to the drones, the Voice has near perfect awareness about just about anything active within the hive mind, and even then that restriction is more just a stumbling block it can still overcome rather than a hard barrier. And the only reason it imposes any other boundaries at all for itself on this capability is really just because it's polite and wishes to respect boundaries.
All which just means--don't ever tick off the Voice, by which I mean seriously tick it off, because I suspect if it is ever put in a situation where it thinks those boundaries need to be broken anyway for whatever reason...it would probably be the most seriously OP thing within the hive mind. Probably still not enough to overpower, say, Chrysalis herself, but still enough to give even her trouble if it ever put its mind to it, and most every 'ling else wouldn't be able to to do much of anything to fight it if it came down to it (though I figure the drones could probably reason with it if push really ever came to shove).
Luckily for them all, then, the Voice truly does seem to be totally benevolent and wishes no harm to anyone, making such a scenario unlikely. So much the better.
Also, I figured 10K's attempts to chill in the snow like it was would probably run too high a risk of it freezing...but still, for a moment there I had the hope that it'd found away to at least give itself from temporary relief from it's many aches and pains. Should've known that would be too easy though.
11788170
Ohhh, that's a good one. I didn't think of that.
11788797
What'S the quote - "You don't know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have."? Drones just gotta keep droning.
Yeah, Chrysalis, any ideas why?
The best ice magic drones can offer is brain freeze.
I defintiely didn't mean for the Voice to come off as inherently powerful, more pervasive, so I probably should have clarified it a bit. Voice didn't block 10k's link or anything, 10k was too far from the action and was hitching a ride on 99380's general signal boosting and Voice's view, so 10k just stopped providing its own audio/video feed.
That could be exactly because its field of operations is limited and determined. Consider it a similar difference between graphics processors and classic computer processors for mining cryptos.
We'll see how the situation unfolds.
I mean, it did
It's not as if I don't have this little series lying on the library's shelves, that's all about death being peace and respite instead of something to fear.
11788859
11788978
Blaze isn't musically talented, but I think someone did learn to play an instrument later. Maybe it was Three, Gem, Magpie? I can't remember.
ah, hypothermia?
11788993
yep
11788859
Actually, what I was surprised about was Voice being so fully aware of 10K doing it, and it remarks on it so casually, as if everyone knew 10K was listening in, when it very clearly seems Voice was the only other one who did (because no way 99 or 387 would've tolerated 10K effectively snooping like that if they were aware of it). Obviously 10k's no master user of the hive mind, but this fact still demonstrated Voice is pretty capable within the hive mind, at least more than what I've come to expect from the average changeling.
So maybe I was reading too much into it Voice's capabilities here, but it still demonstrated it's no slouch this department regardless.
11789170
Oh. Then yes. 387 and 99 were preoccupied and, as indicated by Voice's calm behavior, they couldn'T have hurt it even if they wanted to and it knew it. Not that it means that Voice could harm them in any way, just that they know squat about the technical aspect of hive mind entities. As we know, neither 387 nor 99 are particularly good at changeling mental trickery. 387 is great at hiding himself, but that's because his species.