CHAPTER X: NO DIFFERENCE

It had been a day since Dim had been sent to the hornets. Ever since then, the feeling in the colony had been very subdued. Hardly anyone felt happy about him being gone for good, even though most had felt so when he had gone to the hornet's the first time. This was most evident by the fact no one was smiling, and everyone was working a little slower than usual. No one had proposed dismantling the rock trap. Everyone felt it should be left there as a sign of mutual respect for Dim and everything he'd done.

In spite, or probably because of, all the events that had transpired around Dim, everyone was doing their best to not talk about him, or even think about him. Even so, every so often, there would be a scene, usually in a corridor, where someone would suddenly run off to the bathroom. By now, everyone knew that this meant that that beetle had been thinking about Dim, and was trying (and failing) to hide that fact from everyone else. Few talked to anyone else, and several felt isolated from everyone else, and didn't know of the widespread tearful emotion throughout the colony.

The King and Queen were particularly regretting what they had done. They kept telling themselves that it was for the best, and that Dim knew that, and that the colony would be safe and that (hopefully) the colony would forget about it all in a matter of weeks. However, these mental reminders were always followed by muddled feelings that were a mixture of coleopteran-like guilt and frequent second thoughts.

Weaver, of course, felt awful. He really wished he had gotten to know Dim more. Weaver was quite sure he was not his name and would remind himself of the rock-trap and Dim surviving the swamp chase to confirm that Dim was of sufficient intelligence. He hated himself for being bad to Dim in their early years, and felt particularly guilty, even compared to everyone else.

But no one felt worse than Cora. If she had not been in love with Dim, it had been something close. She had not said a single word to anyone since he had left, and worked with her head down, away from everyone else. Anyone who did say anything to her did not get a reply. On one occasion, someone had said something about Dim in her presence. She had run off sobbing. Only Berry was there to comfort her (they were close friends).

And so this mood continued for the rest of the day. Nobody spoke of it, or asked why anyone or everyone felt this way. They all knew the answer.

The next morning dawned much the same. The workers continued to fetch more food, as there was a winter approaching. No new tunnels needed to be made, and there were no quarrels of any sort, so the earth moulders and the soldiers were taking the day off. To absolutely nobody's surprise, many of them spent the day in their crew rooms, just finding a way to pass the time. It also slowed down their energy consumption rate, meaning slightly less food was needed. But they couldn't have found anything to do even if they had the energy, physically or mentally.

It was late in the evening, and almost everyone was in the tunnels. A few slow workers were just making their last rounding on collecting food. It had gotten so scarce, that they had to walk quite a bit around the swamp to find anything ripe.

At the last moment, just a few workers were making their way up to the tunnel entrance. They were all former roommates of Dim. Then, out of the middle of nowhere –

Green gas exploded out of nowhere. Everyone started coughing and trying to make their way out of it, but it was like walking through a cloud of fog.

'Ugghh, what is this stuff?' remarked a male with a deep voice. 'It tastes like my pee!'

Seconds later, everyone collapsed, out cold. Soon after, the gas vanished.

Everyone who had been caught in the gas attack was slumped on the ground, in very irregular positions too.

Several seconds passed. Then, several hornets landed down. It couldn't have been clearer that they had caused the mysterious gas attack. They looked around at the unconscious beetles. One of the hornets went around, checking that all of the beetles were knocked out. After a few moments, she gave a thumbs-up to the rest of the squadron.

Several more hornets landed down, Queen Maula among them. She again had the ritualistic combat tattoos of red and black, with the devil-like appearance. King Palpatine was alongside her, looking more than a little agitated.

'Excellent!' smirked Maula. 'That recipe of pupa egg shells, spider venom, and our own stinging liquid made those gas grenades work! You got the rest?' she addressed the other hornets.

They held up a big, curled-up leaf each, which could only contain the deadly gas.

'Perfect!' she said. 'Now follow me, and don't say a word.'

Making no noise at all, the group crept up to the tunnel entrance. Queen Maula went first, leading them with secret hand signals. They bent double to go in, as the tunnels were designed with beetles in mind, and hornets were a little taller (although not nearly as big).

Queen Maula stepped up to the first crew room. She gestured for a gad grenade. One of the hornets passed her one. She readied it in her hand.

In one sudden move, she kicked the door open and flung the grenade in. She then quickly pulled it shut again.

From inside the room came coughing, mumbled questions, the sound of beetles lunging about in their dizziness, and finally the sound of all the beetles collapsing.

'You three!' whispered Maula to 3 of the hornets. 'Stab holes in the wings of every beetle in there. When you're done that, follow on!'

The three she had addressed nodded to show that they had understood. They crept into the room slowly. The rest of the group moved on, clearly intent on performing the same horrendous task to every crew room.

Cora was in her crew room, looking at nothing in particular. Some beetles were talking to others about general stuff, just like workmates after work whilst still at work. Of course, she was not. Some had already tucked themselves in their earth moulds.

Cora couldn't stand thinking about Dim here. She needed to be on her own. She slowly got up, and made for the door. Several noticed her leaving, including Berry, but all took it for granted. She had already done it five times today, at least twice as much as anyone else.

After going out of the room and closing the door, she slowly made her way down the corridor, not really paying attention to where she was going. The bathroom, the water room, the canteen, she didn't really know. She decided on the canteen. There was always some food left over there to eat, however small.

She was halfway towards the canteen (which was in the deepest part of the tunnel structure) where she heard voices behind her. Looking around, she saw several shadows of figures moving down the corridor. But they didn't seem to have coleopteran body structure...

Then, she caught some of what they were saying.

'OK, that's that room taken care of,' said a harsh female (Queen Maula). 'Just a few more and all those coleopterans will be knocked out!'

Cora panicked – it must be the hornets! She would stand no chance against several hornets all by herself. And there were too many to try and get past them.

Without thinking, she quickly turned around and ran down the corridor, hoping that they hadn't noticed her. She didn't hear the sound of running, so she assumed they hadn't noticed her. But they would if she didn't find some place to hide.

Suddenly – oh no! She was at a dead end! There was only one room to the side, but she had never gone in there, so it was probably locked. There was no way out!

Then she realized – Dim had told her about how he briefly avoided detection at the hornet's nest by the hornets by balancing himself at the ceiling in the same manner.

Quickly, she flew up and balanced herself there. Seconds later, Maula, Palpatine and several other hornets appeared around the corridor. She instantly recognized Maula from Dim's description, although he hadn't mentioned the devil-like appearance from the red/black color pattern. Or had she added that recently?

They all moved around by the door directly under her. She held her breath, sure they would find her.

'Okay, this is the last one,' said Maula. She grabbed a gas grenade and tossed it into the room, quickly slamming the door afterwards.

Cora waited; convinced her loudly thumping heart would give her away any second.

After a few seconds, all the hornets went into the room. This was her chance! Quicker then Quick, she let go. She fell to the ground. JUST before she hit the ground, she buzzed wings for a split-second, just enough time to break the fall without being heard. She then let, go and landed on the ground silently. The move had been more silent then a movie from the 1910's.

Before the hornets came back out of the room, she ran down the corridor, praying that they wouldn't hear. She was almost at the end when she heard voices. Against her will, she paused to listen.

'Drag those two bodies,' said Queen Maula's voice, 'we need their King and Queen for this plan to work.'

Cora snapped – they had the King and Queen. They had the bargaining power – there was no choice of a fight now.

Cora didn't know what to do now. She just ran. Through the tunnels before the hornets saw her, out through the tunnel entrance, past all the unconscious beetles, out of the colony clearing. She just ran, ran ran...

Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:38-00:41