Smith said that, so far as he was concerned, the bees might all be
consigned to hell. "I'm not going to have anything to do with the agent
I had, any more!" he declared. "I'm going to get in touch with that
chap, Dulnop. What is he like, doc?"
Kinney told him, and then Van Emmon asked for details of the herdsman,
Corrus. "No more bees in my young life, either. From now on it's up to
us. What do you think?" turning to his wife, and carefully avoiding any
use of her name.
The architect knew well enough that the rest were wondering how she
would decide. She answered with deliberation:
"I'm going to stay in touch with Supreme!"
"You are!" incredulously, from her husband.
"Yes! I've got a darned sight more sympathy for those bees than for the
humans! The 'fraid-cats!" disgustedly.
"But listen," protested Van Emmon. "We can't stand by and let those
cold-blooded prisoners keep human beings, like ourselves, in rank
slavery! Not much!"
Evidently he thought he needed to explain. "A human is a human, no
matter where we find him! Why, how can those poor devils show what
they're good for if we don't give 'em a chance? That's the only way to
develop people--give 'em a chance to show what's in 'em! Let the best
man win!"
Billie only closed her mouth tighter; and Smith decided to say, "Billie,
you don't need to stand by your guns just because the Sanusian working
class happens to be insects. Besides, we're three to one in favor of the
humans!"
"Oh, well," she condescended, "if you put it that way I'll agree not to
interfere. Only, don't expect me to help you any with your schemes; I'll
just keep an eye on Supreme, that's all."
"Then we're agreed." The doctor put on his bracelets. "Suppose we go
into the trance state for about three minutes--long enough to learn
what's going on to-day."
Shortly Billie again using the eyes and ears of the extraordinarily
capable bee who ruled the rest, once more looked down upon Sanus. She
saw the big "city," which she now knew to be a vast collection of hives,
built by the humans at the command of the bees. At the moment the air
was thick with workers, returning with their loads of honey from the
fields which the humans had been compelled to cultivate. What a
diabolical reversal of the accepted order of things!
The architect had time to note something very typical of the case. On
the outskirts of the city two humans were at work, erecting a new hive.
Having put it together, they proceeded to lift the big box and place it
near those already inhabited. They set it down in what looked like a
good location, but almost immediately took it up again and shifted it a
foot to one side. This was not satisfactory, either; they moved it a few
inches in another direction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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