How could I refuse a request like this?
Several days later, when Worriesgone organized everything, I and Ambrosia ca to the Hive Supremo’s radio tower. Worriesgone herself was with us, full of shy anticipation.
It was actually built not anywhere close to the hive itself—the construction of sothing of this size would’ve damaged the surrounding buildings—but several kiloters away. Still, the Hive Supremo was easily visible from here and vice versa.
The radio tower, with a massive antenna reaching toward the sky and built on a hexagonal grid of steel beams, didn’t look much different from the radio towers of my world. The real magic happened in the building at its base.
There, four radio operators were waiting for us amid simple consoles of radio equipnt, trying to look slightly less excited than they obviously were. Stacks of paper were lying on several tables, and sheets with schedules were pinned to a wall.
If this were an Earth radio station, it would’ve also had stacks of audio cassettes or vinyl music records, but there was nothing like it. Because bees hadn’t invented audio recording yet!
There were Researchers who worked on this, but for now we could only transmit audio—not record it.
"If this radio transmission goes well, do you think you could repeat it, Father, Mother?" Worriesgone asked. "I know that you have a lot of things to do besides coming to the radio tower for speeches."
"I don’t see why not. Our girls should ab-so-lu-tely hear our voices. Don’t you agree, Amby?"
My bee-wife nodded.
"They should rember that everything they are doing serves not just their own hive, but the colony—the Empire—at large. So sub-hives forget this and end up competing for resources with others when they should be working together instead."
"I was just thinking that in a single radio session, there’s no way for all the bees to hear our voices. Not to ntion that every day there will appear more broods that will need to hear the sa..."
With these words, I approached what I recognized as a sound receiver and sat on an empty chair next to it.
"I don’t see a second chair, so... Amby, why don’t you sit on my lap?" I asked, grinning at her, and slapped my knees. "There’s plenty of space!"
She walked up to and looked all over, then shook her head. Before I realized what was going through her head, Amby picked up from the chair, sat in it, and placed on HER lap!
Of course, I could’ve easily resisted her—she was pretty strong, but my strength was much more busted! But I didn’t.
Amby’s lap was much softer than the chair.
The bees watching us gasped and looked away, looking scandalized. Only Worriesgone looked almost unperturbed.
"This way is much more reasonable. My lap is larger than yours, so I will sit in the chair," Amby said, fixing in place with a pair of arms. "Worriesgone, but note that next ti there should be an extra chair."
"Mother-Queen, we could free you a chair imdiately! This is not reasonable at all!" a Researcher cried out in the corner.
"No chairs necessary!" I declared. "Your Empress’ lap is the best chair there can be for your Emperor! Oh, c’mon, it isn’t like we are kissing or holding hands or talking about love in public! I’m not even talking about having sex, although *this* wouldn’t have perturbed you so much, wouldn’t it?"
The five bees watching us went quiet and even dared to look at us again, while Ambrosia only nodded in her most regal manner, agreeing with my words.
I shook my head and turned to a bee who looked like the leader of the radio team.
"Now what? Is there so protocol of radio transmissions I should know? You check sohow that people on the other side hear you, right?"
"We ask one of the guards posted near the radio tower to check the ti outside and tell it to us every hour, Father," a radio operator Artist Foehamr said. "Then we follow the schedule! If the sun hides, we try our best to guess. Finally, there’s a Researcher with a radio receiver in Hive Supremo who ssages us to tell whether or not we are transmitting."
All but one radio operators present here were Artists (except for that one Researcher), but Foehamr stood out. She clearly was a Warrior Bee in the past, and has chaotically evolved massive claws—and also only two arms.
Both of her right arms ended with stumps. When she flicked the tumblers on the control panel, Foehamr’s movents were awkward and slow—but her claws didn’t nick anything.
"It’s almost ti for your scheduled transmission, Father, Mother-Queen. Bees all over the Empire have already been told that this is when you will give it."
"The sun clocks are still the extent of our tikeeping... This is just another thing to do sothing about," I muttered. "Alright. Let’s turn this thing on."
"Yes, Father! Everybody, silence."
The bees went quiet all as one—only their thoughts and telepathic ssages could be heard.
Foehamr turned on the radio and looked at .
’It’s ready.’
I cleared my throat.
"Citizens of the Bee Empire, your Emperor and Empress speak to you. No... Girls, your mother and father are here, and we want to say..." I paused and glanced up at Amby’s face.
She smiled back.
"We want to say that we love all of you."
I bead brilliantly at her and continued:
"No matter how far removed you are from us in generations, you are all our daughters. Even if we never saw you, we still love you just because you are here. You deserve it."
"Sotis, there’s a need for a sacrifice. All of you understand and accept this," Ambrosia spoke gravely. "But we always try to save as many of you as possible. Because the Bee Empire is the most important thing that can be, but each of you is precious, too."
And now was my ti for a concluding word.
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