CHAPTER VII: PLAN FORMULATING

All of my roommates – female and male, fat or thin, cute or freckled, soldier and earth moulder or worker alike, were all giving me applause.

Had I really done that much? True, I had finished off 11 hornets, but the way everyone put it, I had taken on them all at once. In reality, I had just used the environment against those hornets. Naturally, it did not occur to me to correct them – after all, seeing how out-casted I had been all my life, I figured I deserved some applause for once.

'Bravo,' yelled several female workers.

'Good on you,' said a male soldier I had never spoken to.

'Way to go, Dim, show those hymenopterans who's boss!' said a freckled male earth moulder. Of course, the beetles could not clap, as we had no arms, but they found other ways to express their gratitude.

'Hey, Dim, we were thinking of having a party,' said Quick, the room manager. She smiled at me, something hardly anyone had ever done before. 'Want to join us?'

I didn't know what to say. Whenever there had been a "party" in our room, my roommates had always found some excuse for me not being allowed. And now, not only was I allowed, not only was I invited, but the party was in my honour! Of course I would like to join them.

'Sure,' I said. I felt happier then I had ever felt in this room. 'But not for too long, I have to be up first thing in the morning to see the King and Queen, OK?'

'That's fine,' said Quick. She then turned to the majority of the other beetles. 'You all know what to do. Let's get this party started!'

Huge applause followed those words. Several beetles started preparing drinks and food for everyone. Most of the rest started dancing, doing the limbo, and more.

I decided to forget about the hornets for the moment. It was time to just amuse myself!

'And then the alligator's tail whacked me into the air and I just about made it onto solid land. I then limped my way here, and that's about it,' I said.

I had just been recounting my tale for what felt like the tenth time to some beetles. I was quite sure some of them had already heard it from me earlier in this party.

'That was one cool story!' said a female soldier.

'Yeah,' said another female soldier. 'One day, I'd like to do something cool like that.'

'You would?' I said. That surprised me – after all, that experience was terrifying!

'Yeah,' she said. 'It would make me popular, just like you are now. And, after all, we all want to make a positive difference.'

I was touched by what she had said. Had I truly made a difference? That was I had wanted to do all my life. Just fit it, but also make a difference of some kind. It was my goal in life.

Life. I had to use mine well, otherwise it would end up being a total waste, no?

To save myself attracting awkward stares from the crowd around me, I quickly swallowed a whole drop of water in one go. I then briefly recollected on the situation before Quick came up to me.

'Hey Dim, how's it going?' she said nicely.

'All right, thanks Quick,' I said. 'But could we end the party soon, I have to get up early, you know...'

'Right,' said Quick. She then turned to the room at large and whistled to attract attention. The chatter died down within seconds.

'Everyone, we're going to have to call it a day and end the party,' said Quick.

There were moans and groans from the crowd at this news. One male worker called out 'Who do you think you are, telling us what to do?' Quick ignored him.

'Alright, I want everyone in bed in ten minutes. No exceptions! Good night,' said Quick. She then moved off to tend to some last-minute business.

Gradually, everyone went off to their own individual earth bunks. When I got to mine and lay down on it, it struck me how much less comfortable this was compared to the bed in the sick bay, but I dealt with it – after all, you couldn't have everything in life!

Before I went off to sleep, I had one last thought – the hornets would never be able to identify me, among all us beetles. I was in no more danger than anyone else in the colony, really!

I was walking through a grass field. There was a golden glint everywhere, the sun was shining. I felt on top of the world!

Suddenly, ahead, there was a bright beam of light. I flew further. It was Cora. She was smiling at me. I ran up to her.

'Cora,' I said, 'there's something I want to ask you.'

'Whatever it is, Dim,' she said happily, 'I'll be delighted.'

I took a deep breath before I spoke.

'Cora,' I said, 'will you be my –'

Out of nowhere, we were suddenly grabbed. It was hornets, at least two dozen of them. Several of them held Cora tight; she had no chance of escaping. A couple others marched me a few feet forwards.

Then, Queen Maula flew down, landing right in front of me. She had a smirk that only an evil villain who had won could wear.

'Well, well, well,' she said. 'I have you now. You will now pay the price.'

She gave a hand signal to the hornets holding me. They released me, but stayed right next to me, obviously to prevent me from escaping.

'My revenge is complete!' yelled Queen Maula. She readied her stinger. She gave another signal to the hornets. They forced me to turn around, so that she was looking at my rear. They then pulled open my shell and held it steady.

Queen Maula stabbed me with her stinger. It was the most horrible pain ever. I had only a brief moment before –

She stabbed me again, and again, and again. She kept doing it, not relinquishing her chance for revenge.

I was crying, the pain was so bad. Anything, anything to escape...

I suddenly awoke. Looking around, I saw that everyone else was still asleep. They were all tucked into their earth moulds.

I breathed heavily. It had only been a dream, turned into a nightmare...

I decided to go for a walk. I quietly got up without waking anyone. I slowly tiptoed around several beetles over to the exit. One or two of them stirred, but none of them woke.

I got to the exit of our room. Very carefully, I pushed the door open with one of my feet. It creaked slightly, but everyone else stayed asleep.

I went outside the room, walking very slowly. I decided to leave the door open, so I could get back more easily later.

I slowly walked through the tunnels. I was half expecting to meet someone, but I was lucky. Within two minutes, I was at the exit of the colony tunnels.

I jogged out the entrance and looked around. It was the dead of night. There was no one in sight. The only thing to be heard was a slight, quiet wind on the grass stalks, and the only thing to be seen was the moon in the sky.

I sat myself down on a small rock a few feet from the tunnel entrance. I looked around to see if there was anyone else in sight. I was quite alone. I looked up at the moon.

What was going to happen next? The hornets would stop at nothing to get us, that much was certain. Queen Maula might even have a worse fate for me then the one I had dreamed. But how would we stop them?

We still did outnumber them, but they were much more powerful. Anyway, a straight fight would just lead to bloodshed, which was the last thing we wanted.

I thought for a moment. We could appease them... No, that wouldn't work. Appeasement, throughout our colony's history, had never actually worked – the appeased had always taken advantage of it. Anyway, Maula would stop at nothing to get her revenge on me.

If only there was a way to drastically cut the hornets' number, or scare them off or something... Anything could work – after all, we were in a whole lot of trouble, and desperate for a way out

And, saying we did succeed, would I be allowed to remain in the colony? Probably, as I would be at least somewhat responsible for ending the problem that had plagued our colony since our ancestors' time. The hornets had taken over us a couple of times in the past, but a few of us had managed to escape them and rebuild a new colony every time. However, they most probably had a method to prevent that saying they successfully took over us again.

I glanced up at the moon again, as it shone brightly over us. The moon had always fascinated me, in a way. Sometimes I had wondered whether there were insects there too – I mean, why not? We could not fly there, for it way too far away, but the moon fascinated me all the same.

I wondered what everyone else thought about the hornet problem. They must all fear the, but none of them could truly know how evil Queen Maula was – after all, I was the only one to have seen her. Then, taking me completely by surprise –

'Uh, Dim,' said a voice behind me. I jumped half an inch. When I had recovered, I looked around. It was Cora.

'Sorry about that,' said Cora, 'I didn't mean to scare you.'

'Oh, it's no problem,' I said. Compared to Maula, that had barley been scary at all. 'I... I just... couldn't sleep, and I... wanted to get some fresh air...'

'Same here,' said Cora. She looked around, and her eyes fell on the rock I was sitting on. I saw her gaze lower and notice that about half of it was unoccupied.

'May I...' began Cora.

'Sure,' I said. She sat down next to me. A few moments passed, where both of us were determinedly looking anywhere but each other. Eventually, I plucked up the courage to speak.

'So,' I stalled, 'how come you're up?'

'Well, said Cora, 'I was just getting a drink of water by the storage in my crew rooms. Then I heard someone scuttling past the doors. I went outside my room and saw you walking outside. So, I just followed you, wondering what was on your mind.'

'Oh,' I said quietly. That was something of a surprise. 'Well, I was just thinking about the hornets and all. I was pretty lucky to escape them alive. I'm kind of weak, even for a worker...

'Really?' said Cora quietly. She paused briefly. 'Because, well, I always felt I was a little weak too. I'm not exactly a pro earth moulder. It's not a very satisfying job, either; very dirty, you know. But, when there are no new tunnels to make, at least we get some time off. We often volunteer for Health and Beetle Services when we have free time to doss. It's useful to still help out the colony, keeps out dignity up, you know?

'Yeah,' I said. I was truly at a loss for words now. I had no idea what to say next. I decided to revert to the hornets again.

'The scariest bit was when I bumped upwards into a tree root with rocks on it, causing them to fall off and bring several of the hornets into the swamp. I was so afraid that the rocks would get me instead, you know?'

'Yeah,' said Cora. 'After all, rocks are really heavy. Any rocks falling at a fast speed would bring down any insects, even probably about two dozen hornets if they were there.'

The sun suddenly rose over the horizon, flaring out the moon. At exactly the same moment, perhaps because of the sun, perhaps because of what Cora had said – maybe both – I just had a sudden brainwave.

I now knew how we could defeat the hornets. It was so simple, and so complicated at the same time. All I had to do was tell the King and Queen about it and hope they would accept the idea.

With a jolt, I remembered, that I was supposed to meet them first thing in the morning. I quickly jumped up, accidentally knocking Cora over.

'Sorry,' I said stooping to help her up, 'I just remembered, I have to see the king and queen now.'

'Oh, right,' said Cora. 'See you later, Dim.'

I nodded and I ran as fast as I could back towards the tunnels. Suddenly, I had another idea. It was somewhat predictable, but it was worth it... I darted back to Cora quickly.

'Thanks!' I said, quickly kissing her on her right cheek. Before she could do anything, I darted away again. I would find out more about her later. For now, she had given me a brilliant idea against the hornets.

A part of me could barley believe I had dared to do that. In a way, I was somewhat afraid of what her reaction could be. However, if everything else went according to plan, it should work out great.

I quickly raced through the tunnels to the King and Queen's room as fast as I could. I passed a couple beetles along the way, most clearly getting up for work. Like before, they greeted me nicely. It was so great, being popular, that I was in no desire to lose that even remotely.

In no time at all, I was outside the King and Queen's chamber. I paused briefly – anyone who barged into their room without permission would get in deep trouble. Despite my new-found popularity, it probably wasn't worth it. I gently knocked on the door with my front left foot. A second later, it was opened a creek. There was a soldier beetle just inside the door.

'Yes?' said the beetle.

'I'm here to see the King and Queen, they wanted to see me first thing in the morning,' I said quickly.

'What's your name?' frowned the soldier beetle.

'Uh, Dim,' I said.

'Hold on a moment,' said the soldier beetle. He vanished back inside the door. I waited for a few moments. He reappeared.

'They'll be ready in a minute or two,' said the soldier beetle. 'Go wait outside the court room. Oh, you're not in any trouble,' he assured me, clearly reading the worried expression on my face.

I nodded to him before turning around and jogging back down the tunnels to the court room, which wasn't too far from the main tunnel entrance. I was there in less than a minute. I then sat on a small rock outside, waiting.

All too soon, the King and Queen arrived.

'Good to see you're punctual, Dim,' said the Queen. 'Let's go on in, we just want to chat about the current situation, that's all,' she said.

I smiled and nodded. We all went inside together along with a dozen or so soldiers. Now I could tell them about my plan and hope that it would all work out in the end...

Approximate Chapter Running Time: 00:20-00:25