The nursery part of the Hive Supremo, also known as the brood comb, was unchanged since my last visit to powder so larvae with morphotyping pheromones.
Rows upon rows of brood cells spanned from the floor to the ceiling of the hive like a skyscraper in a bottle. Each cell was labeled with a serial number and the date when the last egg was put inside. The massive walls of cells were split by sectors with different broods and planned morphotypes. Here and there, a few cells will be contrastingly empty in this wall—left like this for service needs, usually.
Thanks to this filing system, it was easy for Nurse Bees to navigate the rows. It was easy for us, too—I and Ambrosia flew right to the youngest erging brood without even asking for directions from the Nurses.
Which were here anyway; ergence of every brood was a major event, but those with new genes were always special.
"It should happen at any mont now, Father, Mother-Queen," the Chief Nurse responsible for this nursery sector declared. "We've prepared a place from where you can wait and watch beforehand—it'd be tiring to hang on an opposite wall for so long!"
She gestured at a wall of brood cells on the opposite side.
It was filled with uncapped larvae (which by now beca such a common sight I began finding them cute despite their ugliness), but a single cell in the middle was left empty except for a couple of chairs.
"Very prudent of you, Chief Nurse," Ambrosia said, nodding. "Let's watch from there, Necty."
So we did.
Ergence of a new brood was always a special mont—a miracle of transformation and new life! And as long as that life didn't belong to young Queens, the newborn even didn't try to kill each other.
It wasn't long before it happened.
The first claws pierced the wax cap of a bee's brood cell—and these claws were longer and sharper than any bee ought to have!
I stood up from my chair in agitation and shock.
Nearby, other bees began tearing their way through the caps of their cells—much slower, and with much shorter claws.
In no ti at all, the first bee shredded the wax and erged outside—as wet and clueless as any other newborn bee. But her hands and feet ended with a set of claws, each of which was as long as her fingers!
They were slightly curved and looked wickedly sharp and equally unwieldy. With a glance at her status, I knew what they were: "Slashing Claws V", which replaced the "Chaotic Evolution I" gene on this bee!
Since the trait was in the bee's status, not mine, the system didn't provide with a full description. But their appearance was self-explanatory.
Before I could examine the young bee better, a flock of Nurses sward the area. They began fussing over the newborn bees, helping them to clean up, dress, and eat sothing for their first flight through the hive.
The Nurses' backs prevented from seeing more of the long-clawed bee, so I turned to Ambrosia instead. My wife was watching the erging bees with quiet amazent.
"Have you seen it, Amby? This was Chaotic Evolution at work… Damn, I hoped it would give my daughters sothing more useful than claws that make even holding things hard!" I worriedly chewed my lip.
Ambrosia stood up to put a hand on my shoulder.
"Rember Worriesgone's words and push these thoughts out of your mind. Those claws will *definitely* be useful. They look deadlier than a knife or a hamr. Or, perhaps this girl will beco a Physician."
I forcefully exhaled.
"Well, at least those are claws and not scissors. Girls in my world live with super-long fake nails sohow and seem to be fine. Mostly. But I was half-expecting more outlandish genes to appear. I guess there's still ti."
There were 7560 bees in this brood, and since the chance of "Chaotic Evolution" to activate was 5%, I expected 302 bees—give or take—to have new genes.
My calculations proved to be correct.
Most young bees erged absolutely normal. Only a few had distinguishing features, and after all the initial procedures, these bees were ushered by Nurses to wait separately from their sisters.
Half an hour later, half the young bees had erged from their cells, and around 150 chaotically evolved bees were waiting for my examination in an empty space at ground level of the nursery.
They were a strange sight.
So were covered in heavy chitin plates; others had long horns or fangs poking from under their teeth; third ones blended with their surroundings, and so didn't look different from normal bees—but they had different genes, too. I saw them.
"Queen!" A few young bees raised their heads toward us when I and Ambrosia got closer.
"Why are we here? Shouldn't we… work?" a bee waved her antennae in confusion.
"Ah, sweeties, not yet! You still don't even have any education!" a Nurse swooped in, smiling at the young bees. "These are your Father and Mother, the most important people in this hive, and in the entire Bee Empire. But you will learn all this and more when you go to school! For now, they just want to look at you."
"That's right. You could've already noticed that you look different from other bees… But this is alright. Every bee is unique in her own way—your differences are just more pronounced. You still all are our beloved daughters!" I announced grandly.
As I spoke, my eyes scanned the gathered bees. It looked like so genetic mutations were much more common than others. There were a dozen bees with one of the claw genes, but I've spotted only one with "Acid Blood V". For better or worse.
There were not only so genes I never bought but also those I've never seen. Things like "Hibernation V" and "Poison Breathing V".
'So researchers will have to test what these bees can do. As a part of their job orientation, of course—'
My words were interrupted by a sharp scream from above us.
"NOOOO! The deaths! They won't stop!"
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