It took a while to accept it, but the word was definitive and no one actually expected them to lie to us. We offered our help, whatever would be of any use to them, but they refused. Not out of any malice or disrespect, but because there was nothing we could do. Nothing we knew, or could know, would help them in this time of need. In fact, the only reason they even told us in the first place was so that their disappearance – or hiatus, as they called it – wouldnt be questioned. It was a traditional time of grief they said. We had to accept it. All of it. We had promised, after all.
Reporters, diplomats, celebrities and all manner of everyday people lined up to request one final audience. They were each refused. Again, not maliciously or with any rudeness. They wanted – needed, some suggested with undertones – this time to undertake their rites and rituals. We stepped back. We gave them space. A promise is a promise.
We didnt know then how they would affect us now. It was a learning curve for everyone and I dont think that even they, as a whole, truly understood the change they had brought forth in us.
They came from somewhere. They had no words for how they ‘travelled,’ just that they came from a place that was dying. A power they didnt understand and thus couldnt teach us brought them to our world en masse in the early days of the 2040s. Almost immediately the world changed.
How could it not? They looked like angels. Not the multi-eyed, weirdly circular things from the Bible, but humans with bright white wings. They were about the same height as us, but they were all weirdly smaller. Like the proportions were off. They flew around and just existed. From our point of view, we had a new species to share the world with literally over night. Of course, the religious people went crazy, but thats not this story. No one wants to tell that story. Again.
Once the weirdness wore off and earnest conversations could be had, we learned they were extremely intelligent and could offer us much. In exchange for being treated – legally – as humans, they gave us free access to their knowledge and their skills. It was very common to see three or four of these angels at a worksite doing any number of things. Once they understood our technology, especially the internet, they made short work of improving each and every aspect of it. They were making our lives easier, for almost nothing.
Slowly we gained their trust. Incidents of bigotry or violence against them were treated much more quickly and harshly than the equivalent against humans, which, again, is another story that would need more energy and effort than this one. They never raised a hand against us. They never showed any hostility. No antisocial behaviour at all. They lived in their specially constructed hives – their word, not ours – but were happy to spend time among us. Some even moved in with human families, and while there hasnt been any confirmed angel-human relationships, its hard to know for sure.
As a showing of their trust towards us, some people – specifically chosen – were allowed into their hives. They were shown how the angels lived and yet more ways in which they could help us change how we did. And then one day someone, a favourite actor of one of the important angels, was invited into their main hive. Situated where they appeared that one night, in a field just outside of Des Moines, it stood roughly as high as a five storey building.
They led the actor to the very top where they showed him their Queen. Their most valued representative and the one angel who was able to speak for all of them without needing to be questioned.
From that day on, that actor was a diplomat. Being the sole bridge between the Queen of the angels and the humans who hosted her, and her people.
We learned a great deal from this relationship. We were able to fill in some of the gaps that even the angels didnt know. We dont think this was a deliberate action on the part of the Queen, merely that they didnt understand how we understood things. They thought very linearly. The idea of going back to fix a mistake in something they had already, wrongly, understood didnt occur to them. In a lot of ways, their knowledge was a lot of double handling. From this, we started to understand how they could create something that brought them here – from wherever – and no understand how it worked. It was during these talks that we learned that the population that arrived here was not even a full tenth of those left behind. But now they were stuck, unable to, both, go home or contact them. They often repeated their thankfulness that they had brought a Queen with them, or else they risked extinction.
For years we have lived in close, harmonious proximity to these creatures. We have learned much from them and, in turn, they learn much from us. They have this calming nature to their presence and this is being used – consensually – to help with anger management. So far, the results are looking promising and we already have agreements with the angels for other such uses for them.
Which brings us to today. The worst possible news that could befall them, and something none of us considered. Their Queen is dying. They dont know what happened, but her health took a turn in the last few weeks. They managed to keep it from us for that long, but it was no longer possible to keep us out of the loop.
We hadnt given much thought to their physiology. They refused, understandably, to let us examine them in a medical manner and many of us thought they had a longevity that was longer than our own. They claimed ignorance on that, since they didnt know how our world would affect them, but also said that where they were from, they too lived less than 100 years each.
Scientists noticed the angels use of the words ‘hive’ and ‘Queen’ and asked them questions from our understanding of creatures like ants and termites. Could they not birth a new Queen? A replacement? The idea seemed reprehensible to them. Offensive even. Yet, it was not something they had considered for this specific circumstance. Once the initial anger at the idea had worn off, they seemed to think about it. This was, after all, not their usual environment.
The hive was closed. All connections to the human world were down. It was only us now, us and her. If we couldnt find a way to save her, then it would just be us and very soon after that, just the humans.
Everyone had been recalled and were starting to appear. We had spread out over much of this world, so bringing everyone home was a challenge. But we would manage it. We always did.
The space under the surface was teeming with our people. Each of them going about their assigned tasks as they should.
The hive was nearly ready. It had taken years, but we were almost there. But this illness that has befallen her is unexpected. If she perishes before we are ready, then it was all for nothing.
The humans have suggested a new Queen. A replacement, but such an idea is sacrilege. We dont have the authority. Yet, we are far from our home. Far from repercussions for such an act. She is a Queen, after all. She has some autonomy on how the hive should behave. She could make such a decision. But as far as I know, she has not been asked.
She lay on the bed, magnificent despite her malaise. There is no mistaking her for what she is: a Queen. Like all Queens, she is considerably larger than the rest of us. We are, on average, about the same size as a human in height. The queens are ten times taller.
Many of our kind tend to her. Some human machines have been brought in to assist. Their physical healthcare is much more advanced than our and what weve used seems to be aiding her. She is asleep right now. She sleeps more than shes awake. Which is also troubling. She cannot provide more workers if she is asleep.
Im told she wakes once or twice a day to give orders to us. It has been roughly a day since the last time she woke, so I wait by her face, sitting on her bare skin, waiting for her to open her eyes so that I may suggest the worst thing possible. But she should understand. She has to. If we cannot fulfil our mission here, then the others, those we left behind, they will all die and our entire species would be extinct.
“I would rather not ask something so awful,” I hear myself say. Ive locked part of me away in the back of my head. Separate from the connection. From my body, almost. Its like watching TV. She is looking at me with eyes that are almost empty. They are not the bright and shining hope they should be. “But I fear that we have no other choice.” My voice is panicked and wavering. She can hear it. My fear.
“My child,” she croaks. Her voice is in my ears, a feeling I do not wish upon anyone. But it is also in my head. I should feel privileged to experience both. But I just feel sick. “That solution was the first thing I tried. I should have tried earlier. Before I fell ill. I have tried many times to produce an heir. But each time there is something wrong with the offspring. I fear I do not have many more attempts left in me before I am gone.”
“What other options do we have?” my voice is no longer tinged with fear, its now almost emotionless. There is no hope, and my voice shows it. “Were giving up?”
“We are not,” she says, and in that moment I hear it. I hear the pride and the conviction she showed before we left. The reason why she was able to lead as big a colony as she did. The power of her convictions became ours. And for a moment I felt it again. But it disappeared quickly. She was too weak. “I have one other option to use, and its so much more worse than what you might think.”
I didnt think anything. I couldnt. She was a Queen, with much more knowledge than I could possibly have. “If it saves us,” I said, looking into her withering face. “Then you should do it.”
“One of you, one of the colony, will have to be made into a Queen,” she croaked.
I heard the words in my ears. A sensation I cannot ever forget. But I also heard it in my head. Which meant that everyone else heard it too.