The original goal of creating hive minds was to study the "mysterious sound" the Champion Tree told about.
It didn’t share any more details about with it since then, and generally was very inert. Its education and indoctrination were still far from being complete because of how slow they went, but they were progressing. The last major success of its teachers was making the Tree accept that the well-being of its offspring was directly linked to the well-being of the Bee Empire.
I hoped that with the incredible ntal capability of hive minds, they would be able to crack this strange code.
Instead of letting Precio-Us spend their ti doing all sorts of tasks, I ordered Researchina to put them through full Researcher training. After this, 90% of Precio-Us’s ntal and physical power would go into researching this project.
Precio-Us obediently followed my directions and weren’t at all disappointed that I removed them from their previous job positions. This wasn’t strange for bees, but even bees had preferences (which is why we had job orientation as a part of a school curriculum).
I asked Precio-Us about it, and they gladly replied.
"It’s hard for us to have preferences at all, Father. It was a strange concept at first—our ntors had to explain it. We know that every mind that sleeps within ours has its own preferences, even if they didn’t know it when they beca our mind. But there are so many of them that they all blend together, and most of the ti, it just doesn’t matter in the end. We know that we like dancing and sweets. Almost every bee does."
The answer made perfect sense in hindsight, but was at the sa ti too strange for to easily co up with it myself. Regardless, it made less worried that I might send them to jobs they aren’t fit for.
Around the ti when Precio-Us began researching the "mysterious sound", the first Jellybee Queens erged from their pods. There were only a dozen of them—a test—but several dozen more were on their way.
To my relief, they were just like ordinary Queens in all ways that mattered. Which ant that they almost started a fight upon their ergence...
Amby always made sure to place pods of the young Queens far away from each other, so that the Queens could be caught and stopped before their instincts drive them to fight each other or Amby.
But this ti, thanks to their powerful telepathic abilities, the Queens sensed their brood sisters from a distance, and using their powerful evolved wings, flew directly to each other!
Good thing they were still too weak and clueless and easily stopped by the hive guards, or it could’ve been disastrous.
In every other aspect besides their ability to get along, my daughters were as wonderful as always. They breezed through their educational program, which prepared them for their future role in the Bee Empire.
Like all Queens, these girls loved the idea of becoming mothers to countless bees. They much less liked the fact that their hives would actually be ruled by soone else, but Amby and their tutors convinced them that this was much better for them and for the Empire.
And they didn’t need to bother with Drones to lay eggs! At first, they didn’t like this either, but I personally found argunts to convince them otherwise.
"Drone Bees are all awful, my princesses. It’s only for the best that you don’t have to deal with them! Each of them has to be kept on a leash and a chain; otherwise, they are dood to do sothing dumb! If they see a Queen, any Queen, they will start doing their awful, awful hip thrusting... They won’t even care that they have a Queen already! And unlike Queens, they do nothing productive in their lives except mating. And they are also dumb. You can’t even imagine how dumb they are. Dumber than a rock, literally."
The row of Jellybee Queens that had been listening to all tilted their heads, and I saw the sa question appear in the eyes of them all.
"Father, but you are a Drone Bee. Are you all these things, too?" the nicest one asked... almost kindly.
"Mother sotis thinks that he is very silly," another replied, much less nicely. "So this isn’t untrue..."
"But Father is powerful, smart, good! Everybody says so!" the first Jellybee Queen replied.
"Yes! Yes, I am all these things!" I exclaid, waving my hands. "I’m special and evolved, unlike the other Drone Bees, who are all unevolved, wild beings with an intelligence score of 3."
"Ah."
"Oh, I see."
I huffed and folded my arms over my chest.
"I should’ve spent more ti with you, my dears. It’s clear that without your father’s close eye and guiding word, you have not gained much respect for ..."
To my great pleasure (and so relief), they actually protested.
"We respect you very much, Father, please don’t be sad!"
"Sad Father—failing colony. Father can’t be sad!"
"I’m sorry, I was just asking..."
I bead.
Adorable! These girls weren’t bratty at all! Well, maybe they were 5% bratty. The one who was "just asking" didn’t sound or feel very remorseful.
I forgave them all, of course. When, a week later, it was ti for my girls to set out toward the sub-hives that would beco their new hos, I gave each of them a hug goodbye before they went.
In another month, the Bee Empire was going to have many powerful new generations. And many more hive minds, since those were basically impossible to avoid now.
More and more hydroelectric power stations will be built, and electricity will spread over the Bee Empire. Perhaps with the hive minds’ help, we will be able to invent electric-powered utilities that I was missing from my days on Earth.
Plumbing and electricity-powered water pumps will be a great start.
But while these things were happening in the Bee Empire, on the other half of the continent, my girls were fighting in a war!
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