"You want to see what will happen with us after we stop being a hive mind," the bee who was speaking for them said. The hive mind was smart enough that this wasn’t a question—especially since the bees in it were inford beforehand what was expected of them.
Despite this, right now I felt a wave of anxiety coming from the hive mind, and it made anxious together with them.
"What’s wrong, girls?" I asked. "The predictions said that it’s harmless. If you like staying this way so much, you will be able to do it later..."
The idea that soone would want to remain part of a hive mind when given other choices was bizarre to , but I could accept it. I could!
No matter how much ti I spent living as a bee, my girls were all born bees. There were always cultural differences that ca from it. I could understand and accept the fact that sotis my daughters just had wildly different priorities in life from anything I could empathise with.
"We know, Father," the bee said solemnly and raised large shining eyes at , together with all her hive mind sisters. "But... We are scared. Right now, we can feel individual consciousness inside our own. They are asleep, but they are there. When we were separate, we couldn’t feel the consciousness that is us right now. Does this an that it will disappear completely when we fall apart? What would it an for us? If we reunite again, will we create the sa hive mind, or another one?"
I opened my mouth, then closed it.
Instead of , it was Tabletina who replied.
"The complete disappearance of consciousness ans its death, and the death of its owners," she said. "There are several signs of life: having a consciousness that could be sensed telepathically, having a status panel that can be seen with Father’s eyes, breathing and consuming food... By two of three of these signs, the hive mind is a separate creature from the bees who are a part of it. So it will die separately, I assu. Since bees could gather in hive minds in many configurations, I doubt your current mind will just ’go asleep’."
I jolted. This made perfect sense, and I fucking hated it. Especially since I knew that there was no such thing as a "soul" that could persist even when the hive mind was gone.
"Shit. Then forget about separating, girls! I guess if you are fine this way, you can... keep staying like that. Although it will be hard for you not to go farther than ten ters away from each other..."
’This will be ineffective. Clearly, only Hardbees will be the perfect candidates for becoming hive minds,’ Researchina thought, but didn’t protest my decision out loud.
Instead, it was the hive mind who did it.
"No, we volunteered knowing the risks, Father! We knew that we must find out if our new ability has any side effects. It was a mont of weakness to hesitate doing it. But if we just have to die, we will gladly sacrifice ourselves so that others know what to fear."
I was about to protest, but I felt the hive mind’s determination. Their incredible intelligence let them understand the situation and my position clearly.
As their Father, I didn’t want anyone to die, but as their Emperor, I had to finish this test. The hive mind didn’t want to suffer from the conflict between these two, so they didn’t give a chance to stop them.
They just broke the hive mind connection as quickly as it was created.
In an instant, the newborn and naless consciousness was snuffed out like a candle. Fifteen bees gasped for breath and staggered, losing their synchrony and looking completely dazed.
Imdiately, Tabletina dashed to the nearest one and began checking her health; none of the bees lost any health points, though.
Ambrosia stepped next to , and I felt sombre gratitude coming from her.
"They were a good bee," she said. Then, telepathically sending the ssage only to , she added, ’They didn’t want to burden you with this decision. This is the level of thoughtfulness that very few bees in the Empire have.’
’Yeah,’ I replied, nodding sadly. ’On all fronts.’
While we exchanged words, the forr hive mind bees have regained their bearings. I turned to the front girl—the one who was the mouthpiece for the hive mind earlier.
"How are you, dear? Any pain? Other feelings?"
The bee shook her head.
"I feel fine now, Father. And I rember being in the hive mind perfectly," she glanced at her sisters and smiled. They were all looking at each other like they saw each other for the first ti. "It was wonderful."
"Really?" I raised my eyebrows.
"Yes, Father. We were large, powerful and smart. We could do a lot of things for the hive! Our ’selves’ were asleep at this ti, but we had a powerful new self instead," she explained. Then the bee added more somberly. "They barely had ti to find what they could do before they had to die."
I couldn’t say it better.
No wonder Undecided couldn’t tell if I was happy after this testing or not. A new being was created only to die. And they didn’t even have a na...
I let out a long breath.
"Thank you for your sacrifices, girls. And... Amby, Worriesgone. Please, arrange the hive mind Wonderful-15 to be put in the lists of born and the lists of dead bees. Add them to the next morial service... Everything as if they were an ordinary bee."
"This is a... wonderful..." Ambrosia smiled wryly, "idea, Necty. I think the na Wonderful-15 was taken already, but not Hive Mind Wonderful-15."
"Yes, Father, Mother!" Worriesgone said, nodding rapidly. "The citizens of the Bee Empire will know their na! Hive Mind Wonderful-15!"
I nodded, feeling sowhat better about all this.
"Father, are we continuing with the tests, though?" Tabletina asked .
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