All Halo material belongs to 343 Industries.
Here's Chapter 1! Hope you guys enjoy!
Chapter I: A New Breed
Veronica and Ron rushed through the wide and bright corridors of the research building, occasionally stopping to allow small unmanned transport vehicles to pass. They continued through the labyrinth of hallways, passing by the various wings of the research institute. All of which dealt with insects.
The entire building was specialized for entomology. Doctors, Phd students, masters students, even the eager undergraduates from academies and universities from across planets came to this massive place.
Veronica and Ron were heading for the Apiculture wing, which dealt with an assortment of bees. They walked and walked, greeting the occasional scientist or student until they reached a particular door. It was well fortified, with a panel next to it. Veronica waved her hand over it, causing it to light up and the outline of a hand to form. She placed her hand upon the outline and hovered her head in front of a hole that formed in the wall. The panelled flashed green, with a 'welcome' replacing the outline of a palm.
The door hissed and opened, allowing them to enter. The walked through the dimly lit hallway, passing by a variety of plaques and pictures. At the end of the hall was another armored door, with a circle entrapping a pyramid. Within the strip of black tracing the outside of the circle, under the pyramid, read 'Office of Naval Intelligence.' Within the circle inside of the pyramid was several cameras that recorded in different modes.
With a click and thud the door split and slid open, revealing a plethora of activity behind. They duo passed by security and were faced by a massive square room. The ceiling stretched many meters high, with great beams of metal that reach from the ceiling to the floor as support. This ceiling, though, looked like a normal daytime sky. This was the same kind of technology that they saw in the Orthopteran wing with the crickets.
Before them was a marvel, massive glass walls that came from the corners to the sides of the them that met near the middle of the room. On the other side of those walls was a beautiful landscape. Veronica and Ron pressed forth, passing a map that indicated ponds and other locations in the artificial landscape.
"Jesus, how many acres did this take to make? This place is enormous!" Ron gawked.
"I'm not sure, but judging from what they're doing, they really don't want anyone knowing what's happening in here... or what is gonna be living in here."
"It's a smart idea having it considering its surrounded by the other facilities, because I'm sure that there would be some overly curious civies who try to find out what's going on here."
They reached where the glass walls met, at which the base was a hallway. They walked down it, which lead to another large building within the environment that was constructed. They were surrounded by glass, and there was an occasional bridge that went over the walkway. Soon they found themselves before another door, with another large symbol covering the face of it. Veronica went through the scanning procedure once more with her hand and eye. Ron assumed this room was meant for higher clearance personnel.
"You sure I can come in? I me-"
"You'll be fine. Just keep hush about this, you know the rules." She said as the door opened to them.
They entered the dark room, where several benches were illuminated. At the center was a large holotable that could be used to display images, videos, or general information necessary to a discussion. They could see a blue display of what appeared to be a large queen bee.
"Veronica!" A voice shouted, sounding very elated.
Far to their left was Doctor Price, smiling eagerly. He, and several of his other working lab technicians, surrounded a massive glass case. Inside this case the very thing he called them to see. It was her majesty herself with a few of her daughters.
"Look how big she is! Three feet long!" He shouted exuberantly.
"Why are her workers so much smaller than her?" Veronica peered at the orange and black fuzzy bees.
The queen was enormous, her head swivelled side to side with curiousity. Her thorax was dark, almost black, bulky, and mostly bare unlike her daughters. The most impressive part was her abdomen. It was long, probably taking up a little over half of the total length she had. It was primarily a vivid orange that, like a gradient, turned black near the end. Her attendants were much smaller than her, being about six inches in length with some variation. They were feeding her well.
The queen turned her head, staring directly at Veronica. Her head tilted, which disturbed Veronica slightly. She was inquisitive, just about as inquisitive as Jedrek.
"How are they possibly this big Dr. Price?" Ron asked, almost incredulously, "I'm just really curious. I've been working here for several months, told to keep hush about this, but I don't want to walk around just thinking, 'oh they're just big insects.'"
Veronica almost scolded him, but Dr. Price nodded. He didn't appear irritated at all. Instead, he appeared delighted by Ron's inquisitiveness.
"You two have to promise me something. That what we speak of here, does not leave this room." Dr. Price waved to the technicians, dismissing them.
"ONI has been working hard on a program to produce super soldiers without the fatality rates they experienced in a prior program. I'm sure you two are well aware of the ORION Project, with the Spartan-II's. Well, ONI's section three has asked me and various other scientists to come up with a serium to create more of those soldiers in a less lethal fashion."
"Mind my language doctor, but holy hell." Ron's jaw had slacked some.
"Remember, keep this information to yourselves. I felt it would be good to let you two know what was going on, considering there's a looming threat out there. I would hate to see my top technician and her undergraduate go missing because of some verbal slippage." Dr. Price paused, hoping he had not made a major mistake.
"Anyways, I decided to test this serum on insects first. This was to see if it would have any adverse effects before I moved to using lab rats. Sure enough," He motioned to the queen bee and her cohorts, "there were interesting results. We first tested crickets. Then we tested hornets, who have a different developmental cycle. And then so on and so on."
"We knew the crickets were enormous, and thus should not possibly survive. We sent a few adults through x-rays and performed a dissection on one. Apparently, these insects have developed endoskeletons. That in turn adds great support to their bodies, which somewhat explains their continuous growth rather than molts. The next most shocking thing on the list of findings were lungs... actual functioning lungs in their abdomens. Next things on the list were a centralized heart and brain. The head cavity actually contained a full brain, and a heart was inside the thoracic cavity."
"Woah, woah what? How is that possible?" Ron stared, wide eyed.
"I believe it is due to the serum containing some forms of human DNA and that there may have been some gene exchanges. The details are fuzzy, but that is what these experiments are all about."
"This is a lot to take in, doctor." Ron sat upon a stool, staring at the queen who appeared to be staring back at him.
"The strange thing, though, is that the serum does not have this same effect on lab rats. It does as expected. They become stronger, faster, and better with some enlarging of the overall body. Our other lab has been working with that for the past year, and human trials are due to start."
Veronica chimed in, "Appears they're expediting the research so they can get their soldiers faster."
"No shit." Dr. Price scoffed.
Ron gave a surprised glance, but quickly drew back on a calmer expression, "Do you plan on continuing their existence? I imagine, given their size, that there will either have to be some huge wild flowers. That or they'll have to rely on us their entire life."
"No, they certainly could not survive naturally. As cruel as it may sound, their entire life will be subject to experiments to help us better understand the serum and its effects on invertebrates and if there are any possible adverse effects that may be yet to come."
"So they're trying to get you to produce them a serum the third Spartan program?" Veronica inquired.
"More like make improvements, something better than what they already have. So they may be trying to build another company... or preparing another program altogether. I'm not sure, but that is all I know so far. They don't like to share too much information. Shoot, I was surprised they were kind enough to let me in on that."
"They're desperate, that's probably why." Ron suggested, "You got homicidal aliens threatening your existence. Someone you need wants to understand what's going on, you'll give a little information just to get them going."
"Right." Dr Price nodded, "I like this one Veronica. You made a good choice."
"So with all the modifications these insects endure, does cognitive function improve?" Veronica inquired.
"We're not entirely too sure yet. A section of our studies does address that. We have not reached that stage of research however. Why do you ask?" Dr Price furrowed his brows, curious by such a question.
Veronica pointed towards the queen bee. She was now very close to the glass nearest to them. No aggressive behavior was displayed; instead there was instead a sense of curiosity about her. Her head turned, as if to see what was happening. Or to hear what they were saying. She clanked her mandibles together and returned to her daughters, as if she were frustrated by her self being discovered.
"This happens with every enclosure involving these supersized insects. The cricket colony. The vespids. Even with the mole crickets!" She exclaimed.
Ron then blurted, "Even some of the termites show this kind of behavior."
"As one Alistair Cooke once said, 'curiosity is free-wheeling intelligence.' We may need to address that area of study earlier than expected. At what point have these specimens been showing this kind of behavior?"
Veronica answered, "Several weeks now, and this behavior usually starts being displayed by the second or third instar stage."
"Interesting. I would keep an eye on those groups." Dr Price insisted. "We should get her situated at her new home. I'll call in the team."
The queen rested on her belly. Her deeply black eyes peered towards the humans outside the invisible barrier, her triangular head occasionally swiveling to get a better view of something. Her small dainty, yet sharp mandibles clicked together as she stared in wonder. Her new mind was soaking in all manners of stimulants and knowledge. Her world was bright, at least where she was. Outside, there were little lights of various colors and sizes. Some greens, others blue. Most peculiar though, was another color that shone at her. Instinctively she recognized colors like blue, green, purple, and so on, but not this one. This may be the color that humans called red. The man standing outside. He was clearly the most aged among them. His oval face was lightly wrinkled, his sapphire eyes carried a bright twinkle that indicated a mind equally bright. His eyebrows were a light brown, yet thin and graying some. A likely sign of stress, even through his overtly light-hearted nature.
She remembered chewing her way out of the cell that encapsulated her. The workers were well assisting in that activity, easing her out. She felt heavy once she was out, her exoskeleton still hardening some. She was much larger than the young workers. Easily well over triple their size. She remembered her hunger. It was powerful and raged through her body. It was a good thing her steadfast workers fed her right away. Her mind was still calming after the intense several minutes of her emergence.
The aged human in white before her talked to her after she was well fed, and she was captivated by that event. Her neurons were firing and developing new pathways. She soaked up the new knowledge quickly, while her mind remembered all the information she gathered as a larva. The voices and meanings of the uttered words. His voice in particular was the one she heard most. It was how she knew of his nature. His mannerisms spoke of intellectualism, yet he was also energetic and very positive. He had a smooth voice that soothed her. It was as if he were some adopted parent of hers.
She learned much of their language, or at least enough to know what was being said. She could understand the meanings behind the words uttered by him and his peers. He spoke to her throughout her life, especially when the other voices vanished and he was the only one left. He often spoke to her, even when she was a larva. She knew the secrets he held, that even when he was a usually happy individual she knew his unhappy side as well. She was the quiet listener. He spoke of his worries; for himself, his colleagues, his projects, and the world he lived on. She looked up to him, she aspired to be as smart and caring and as intelligent as him. She knew nothing of fathers, but this human was possibly the closest thing to it to her.
Perhaps hours later, two new humans showed up. They were unlike the workers who worked for the man who she knew as Doctor Price. In fact they were much like him. She felt some type of feeling, something akin to jealousy. There was no reason for it. Perhaps it was like that of a child who loses attention. She crawled towards the three of them to get a better look, and to better hear what they were saying. The young woman, younger than Doctor Price, yet older than the young human male, was a beautiful one. Her hair appeared to be a mix of blonde and brown, tied into a neat bun behind her head. Her face was lightly freckled, with evenly spaced almond eyes that were ocean blue. Her eyebrows arched over, and appeared very neat as though she groomed them often. Upon her square face were naturally pink lips that seemed pursed, as though she were intensely thinking.
Adjacent to her was the younger male, who's hair was ruddy and short. He was shorter than either of the two, but he was stout and looked strong. His face was rounder, and appeared thicker than either. His eyes were dark, like the deep brown of fresh nutrient rich soil, and deep set on his face. Upon his paler face were a pair of thin lips. With the way he appeared to speak to the others, he was an intuitive one. Her observations were cut short when suddenly all of their eyes rested upon her. She was caught and she felt a wave of intimidation sweep her. She clicked her mandibles together with annoyance and walked away to her attendants.
What came minutes later was a surprising hiss of air. She looked over to her daughters, whom had seemingly lost coordination started wobbling. Eventually they fell asleep, and she too started to feel what they felt. Her head felt light, and tiredness started to overwhelm her body. Her limbs felt heavy and eventually blackness swept her vision.
It was early morning. The 'sun' in the facility matched the sunrise occurring outside. Dr Price was already in a mechanical suit, overseeing the massive sized bee hive set up inside of the monstrous enclosure. The day prior, they had moved the queen into a container. A sort of cage, with metal mesh that the workers could feed the queen through. The queenless lab raised bees had responded very well to the presence of the new queen. He hoped that they had chewed through the soft candy blocks by now and accepted her completely into the hive. The foragers were already out, more than likely taking advantage of the large native foliage and artificial feeders.
He prepped the large smokers attached to his forearms. Smoke kept the bees calm, should they become aggravated by him going through their home. Though, this worked on normal honey bees. These bees were huge. Each bee around half a foot long flying by his suit. They looked like birds zipping by him.
He took the metal top off and placed it to the side, and smoked the bees on the innermost wooden cover. The bees retreating into the hole in the center hole. So far, it seemed like this operation would be going by the normal routine.
He took the inner cover off and peered inside. It was absurd. These bees were working along like normal honey bees, only that everything was much larger. He looked through the ten frames inside the box. He searched through, seeking out the center frame that had an 'X' cut into it. He found the frame and lined up the hands of the mechanical suit to grab the frame. He could hear the bees buzzing outside the glass of his cockpit. A few had already scurried across the outside.
He pushed the ends of the frame to one side, lightly, and then lifted. The bees most likely had produced propolis, which would have glued the frame ends to the box itself. He turned the frame directly in front of him, after having it carefully extracted from the box. The bees didn't seem to mind his presence, or the fact he removed the frame. He found the box that had housed the queen. He peered through the metal mesh and found her not to be in there.
He looked around the rest of the frame, and turned on the flashlights of his suit. Surely, inside the cells he looked into were the eggs. She was released and accepted, and that was all he wanted to see. He slowly extracted the box from the frame and placed it aside. Carefully he hovered the frame over the empty space where it once reside.
What came next was a system failure of some kind. The lights of his suit flickered as he prepared to lower the frame. The gripping hands of his suit released the frame far to high and all that filled his ears was a torrent of buzzes. Not startled or surprised buzzes. These were angry buzzes. His smokers failed to operate as he pulled the triggers for them.
Nearly a hundred bees rose out from the crevices and, almost all at once, hurled themselves at the suit. The weight behind the combined impacts pushed his suit back and it lost footing quickly.
"Shit!" He hissed as he was lurched in his seat.
The bees scurried over the glass of his cockpit, biting at the seams where glass met metal. They were smart, as they seemed to know that he was inside the machine. He stared at one bee, whom seemed to stare directly at him. This one was big, almost a foot long herself. He was watched in horror as the stinger slid out from her abdomen. It was fairly long, and very much sharp. The bee thrust the stinger at the glass, more and more forcefully.
It never let go of their stare. He watched as a chunk of glass broke away. Then with another impact, a crack formed. The glass should've been able to hold up to this. How strong were these bees? Horrified, he watched as the crack grew, and the light from the outside slowly vanished as more bees arrived.
The buzzing was so loud, and so angry. These were supposed to be somewhat docile bees, but perhaps he was wrong. There were scientists on Earth who had tried to make highly productive bees. They were successful, but at a cost. The bees they bred ended up being the most angry bees to ever exist. He hoped he had not done the same.
But suddenly, the light was returned and the bees who was staring him down turned its attention elsewhere. Doctor Price lifted himself, trying to see if something was happening outside. The bees had split as though Moses himself had made an entrance. The larger bee stepped aside, and he watched as a truly monstrous bee crawl up from the chest of his machine to the glass. It was the queen.
She stared at him, and the bees were all staring at her. She was the matriarch. Their leader. It was very clear to him that the nature of this society was far deviated from the societies of normal honey bees. He recalled what Veronica had asked the day prior; about how the change in physiology also incurs a change in their cognition.
Everything was at a standstill. The air was thick with tension. The only thing between him and the mass of bees outside was the cracked glass. Would he live to see another day? Would the bees spare him? Or would they finally wear the glass down and end his life where he was?
The queen spread her jaws open, and out came the red tendril of her tongue. She then proceeded to run her tongue up the glass. Doctor Price was frozen. He was frozen because he was confused. The bees surrounding her left, flying off. The larger bee remained, staying by the queen. Surely enough, the queen soon left. Doctor Price could only sit, or rather lay, against his seat. He was baffled.
He realized something. Something peculiar and unnatural. More unnatural than giant bees. The queen had left her hive to determine the fate of his existence. She left her safety. No honey bee queen would ever leave the hive. She would always run around laying eggs while the workers were left to perform every other task. A normal queen could not fend for herself. This was not ordinary bee behavior.
Eventually he was able to get the machine off of the ground and stand. Shortly after, the maintenance light flickered on.
"You went in there alone?" Veronica said, aghast.
"Yes, I wanted to see if she was out yet. The machines were field tested, so I did not go in unconfident in its ability."
"Clearly they need more work!" Veronica seethed, and then cooled down, "But the queen left her hive?"
"Yes. They stopped attacking, and she came up and... licked the glass."
Veronica stared at him dumbly, before laughing, "God I can't wait to tell Ron what happened."
"Where is our favorite undergraduate?" Doctor Price inquired.
"He currently maintaining the Cricket Laboratory. He just handled the hornet lab. They getting bigger, but slowing down."
"Speaking of big, what of the mole cricket lab?"
"Those things are coming up on rhinoceros sizes. They don't dig as much, and thank god they don't get too creative otherwise we would be getting into expensive territory."
They were sitting at the table where the honey bee queen hologram had been. The was a large rectangular table with several seats surrounding it. They were sitting across each other. A few seconds passed and then there was the ping of a notification. Doctor Price's face fell.
"Several unknown slipspace signatures were detected in a system not too far from this one a few minutes ago. We'll have to seek out a location closer to Earth."
"Damn, if only those bastards could skip over us."
"Can you get Richard for me please?" Price requested, to which Veronica nodded.
Doctor Price quickly thanked her as she left the room and he was left with a worried silence.
Took a while to get this one out. Hope you've enjoyed it! If you have any ideas or suggestions, throw them in the review. This can include where in the timeline this may take place, or names or anything in general. If you spot any errors, let me know! I'll be actively editing to remove any eyesores!