CHAPTER V: UNSTEADY RECOVERY

I awoke to an unfamiliar scene. I appeared to be on some sort of resting bed. Looking around, I realized that I was in the tunnels of the colony. But the question was, which room? There was nothing else in the room but a few food items on a table (of sorts) next to me. There were two exits out of the room, and neither appeared to be blocked.

Then, it all came back to me. The alligator – the hornets – the swamp – landing on the ground. The last thing I remember was passing out in front of several fellow rhino beetles.

Wait. My wings had been broken, and my abdomen had been bleeding. I turned around, and saw that my rear abdomen was patched up with a small leaf. My wing joints were also patched up.

I tried to stand up, but the pain rushed back to me extremely quickly. Groaning, I sat back down again. How long had I been here? A few hours, probably.

'Oh, you're awake! Great!' said a voice.

I looked around for the source of the voice. Where had it come from? Before I could contemplate on it any longer, a beetle wandered into the room.

'Where... where am I?' I asked.

'You're in the sick bay of your colony, silly,' she chuckled. You're back home, honey.

'How... how long have I been here?' I said weakly.

'Almost a whole day,' she said cheerily. 'By the way, help yourself,' she said, gesturing to the food and drink next to me.

I had only just realized how hungry I was. Without hesitating, I snacked on a big kernel. When I was done with that, I drank a whole drop of water. The female beetle waited and watched.

'So, how do you feel, Dim?' said the female beetle.

'A lot better, thanks,' I said, eating a raspberry. 'Wait – how do you know my name?' I said, startled.

'Oh, the news of your return has spread through the colony like wildfire. Everyone in the colony knows your name by now,' said the female beetle. 'Oh, by the way, my name's Berry.'

'Yeah,' I said. 'So, how long do I have to stay here for?'

'Just two more days,' said Berry. 'Your abdomen should be fine by then. But, those holes in your wings aren't going to heal for quite a while, so keep your shell down and don't try to fly until they've healed.'

'All right,' I said. I suppose I should just be grateful that I managed to get away from Maula, mostly.

'Oh, that reminds me,' said Berry, 'the Queen and King want to have a chat with you. Oh, there's no need to move,' she said, as I strained to get up, 'they'll come and visit you here. I'll go get them.' She got up and moved towards the exit.

'Wait, Berry?' I said.

'Yeah?' said Berry, about to leave the room.

'By any chance, did anyone else come to visit me while I was out cold?' I asked.

'Now that you mention it, yes,' said Berry. 'There was a soldier named Weaver, and there was also an Earth Moulder named Cora not long after him.' Berry left.

I was left alone with the information she had just given me. How could that be? Weaver had always considered me inferior, he would have beaten me in that fight if it hadn't been for the alarm, yet he had come to visit me. Why?

Then there was Cora – as far as I was aware, she didn't even know me before that mating season. And I was pretty sure she and Weaver would have mated. That left no logical reason as to why she would have visited me. So, how could that be?

Still, both were bound to re-visit me at some point or another during the next two days, so I guess I would find out soon enough. I lay back, relaxed, and waited for Berry to return, while I slowly help myself to more of the food and drink next to me.

Only a few minutes later, Berry returned with the queen and king – escorted, of course, by about half a dozen soldiers.

'Here he is, your highnesses,' said Berry, gesturing the King and Queen forward.

Both of them moved forward, the soldiers following right behind them.

'Oh, you guys can wait outside,' said the Queen to the soldiers. They shrugged and filed out of the room. Berry went out too.

I now faced the King and Queen. They looked as lost for words as I felt. They paused briefly before speaking.

'Well, Dim, we're rather surprised that you managed to make it back from that hornet's nest alive,' stated the Queen.

'Yeah, me too,' I chuckled weakly.

'So, tell us how you managed it,' said the King.

'Well,' I began, 'I went off to the hornet's nest like you told me to. When I got there, I was taken to their king and queen. After I told them about the peace treaty proposition, they had some of their guards chuck me in a cage in their dungeon.'

'Goodness!' exclaimed the King. 'How did you get out of that?'

'I didn't,' I said. 'After a while, they had me brought back to their dining room, where I had a banquet with their king and queen.

'By any chance,' began the Queen, 'did you catch their names?'

'Yeah, I did,' I said. 'The king was called Palpatine and the queen was called Maula.'

'And what happened then?' said the King.

'They acted all nice,' I said, 'giving me food and, eventually, they said they concurred with the peace treaty. They sent me back here to tell you.'

'But,' said the Queen, a little confused, ' then why are you hurt?'

'Well,' I continued, 'I went back to check one fact, and I overheard Maula and Palpatine talking. They said that they had tricked me easily – they were biased in the view that we coleopterans were stupid – and they mentioned how they were planning an attack on us and to enslave us.'

'Did they catch you, though?' asked the Queen.

'Not immediately,' I said. 'I was almost at the exit when they found me.'

'Oh my!' whispered the King. 'How did you get out of that?'

'While Queen Maula was lecturing on how the only purpose of our species' existence was to serve hers',' I said slowly, 'I quickly tackled the two hornets holding me and I flew out the exit before they could grab me.'

'And you just flew back here straight, right?' said the Queen. 'Didn't they try and stop you?'

'Yeah, they did,' I said. 'I was flying over the swamp when a dozen of them caught up to me. I managed to get three of them trapped in a bubble, three more I tricked into crashing into the swamp, and another three I unloaded a small rock-slide on.'

'And the other three?' said the king.

'Out of nowhere, a great alligator attacked me. I avoided it, but the hornets stabbed holed in my wings, and started to fly off with me. Then the alligator ate two of them and chased the last hornet. I just about made it to dry land, and then I walked here, and that's it,' I finished.

The King and Queen remained still for several moments. They appeared to be thinking hard.

'Well, Dim, first of all, you were very brave in everything you did,' said the Queen. 'You put the colony first, and it was correct to fly back here, away from that hornet's nest.

'By the way, am I still banished?' I asked timidly.

'Not for the moment, said the king. 'Because, well, we only sent you off to the hornet's nest so that you wouldn't be a threat to the safety of the colony. We thought it was for the best. We never you expected to return, let alone with a story like that.'

I paused; stunned by the information I had just received. Was I truly not meant to survive? I didn't know.

'So,' I began,' what will happen now?'

'Well, we'll decide on the next course of action, and you can stay in here until you're fully healed. We'll tell the rest of the colony what happened. Do you want us to tell them to leave you alone?' said the Queen.

'No,' I said. 'I want to be able to answer their questions, if they have any.'

'That is all, Dim,' said the King. He and the Queen got to their feet. 'Have a good day.'

The two of them left the room. I heard the soldiers following them down the corridor. Berry came back in.

'Do you need anything?' asked Berry.

I shook my head and I lay back. I felt really tired. Without thinking, I fell off to sleep.

Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:14-00:16