“Hey, you guys. Ready for us?” Cobby shouted a greeting as he entered the cavern with Kane. Scanning the piles of material, he remarked, “What a mess. How the heck are we going to carry all of these big timbers out of here?
Kane flopped down on the ground, shirtsleeves rolled up and grime around his neck. “I’m beat. Being a laborer is not for me. Give me the real dirt of the Womb’s green meadows. I think I’m a farmer at heart now. Whoops, sorry, Dad. I know you had your heart set on me being a boat captain like you, but when was that? A hundred years ago?”
Cobby grabbed him in a choke hold, setting him off yelling. Unexpectedly, they stopped, turning to Echo who remained motionless. “Uh oh.”
Non-threatening auras hit them all. “Do not worry, Brothers. I know they have no horse, but that they are horsing around. Correct?”
Scotty and Kane relaxed. “Well, it took you long enough to get it, Echo. What’s it been, fifty years?”
“Okay, boys, let’s stop with the fooling around and get down to business.” Chloe clapped her hands for attention. “Don’t be late for dinner, please?” She turned with a wave and walked away with Echo still on her hip, Caesar padding softly behind her.
That’s my family, Scotty thought with pride. “I don’t think we need to worry about moving this stuff. Johno has a plan.”
Cobby spoke up. “Yeah, he said the elephants will help. Let’s hope Tobi’s in the mood.” Making himself comfortable, he took out a role of paper. “This is the map I had Wil draw for us. Hey, speak of the Devil.”
Wil’s voice came from the entrance. “Hello, everyone. I thought I’d join you if that’s all right? We can’t afford to make any mistakes when we leave here and we need you all to get the seeds in the ground as soon as possible.”
They happily greeted Wil and made room for his wings as he joined them, examining the map Cobby laid out on the ground.
Curling his long legs and tail under him, he leaned over the map. “Here’s the entrance to the Hive. We’re on a hill that overlooks what was formerly Scott’s family home.” He turned to his fellow Elder. “You know all this land was part of Netty’s inheritance that her bastard first husband tried to steal, don’t you?”
Scotty could see him shake off the acrimonious memory, so long in the past but still able to draw sourness.
“Here’s your old house. I should say was your old house.”
Scotty leaned in. “That’s the old watering hole we used to play in.”
Wil circled the area with his finger. “That’s exactly where we want to start the fields. It’s close to the water and the only flat land in the areas. The rest is all hills. We can build our shelters on the level foundations of what used to be your neighbors. As we build up around the hill it will give us a good defensive position.”
“Defensive position?” Cobby and Kane asked at the same time.
Cobby scratched his trim beard, crinkled eyes questioning. “What would we need to defend ourselves from if we’re all that’s left?”
“Whoa, you men must understand. We have no knowledge of what new creatures we may encounter out there, but I can guarantee that there will be some. The Womb does not confide in us. We serve the Womb.”
Scotty cleared his voice. “I gather from Echo and Baby that there’ll be some pretty big changes.”
Wil shrugged. “I guess we’ll have to wait another day and see.” Everyone did a double take.
“Do you mean what I think you mean?” asked Cobby.
Wil broke out in an eager grin, lighting them all on fire. “Yes. It’s time. Daisy’s due back with Netty and Abby in a few hours. We’ll let everyone make a fuss at dinner, then we’ll spring the surprise.
“All right.” The men clapped each other on the back, excitement wild in the air.
*
“Listen, babe. Has the Dez ever let you down before?”
Ginger Mae shook her fingers out with nervousness, rocking from foot to foot. “I know, Dez. I just want everything to be perfect. It feels like she’s been gone forever.”
Dezi put down his paring knife to wipe his hands on his apron. The handmade pin that Daisy had made him sixty years ago, proclaiming him ‘Kitchen Boss’ sat prominently on the upper strap of the apron.
The Hive, along with his confidence and position of authority, had turned the scrawny, sad letch into a robust man with a way around the kitchen like no other. Ginger Mae gazed into the now pleasant and masculine calm face. What a wonder the Hive had done for Dezi’s health and self-esteem. After all this time, Dezi still remained her most treasured confidant.
“Ya gotta let her go, Ginger Mae. She may look like she’s six years old, but she’s a grown woman; a woman that I can’t even understand half the time.” He reached out to stroke the side of her head. “I know it’s hard for ya ta take, but it looks ta me like Netty and Abby have plans for her—plans that Daisy looks forward to.”
Ginger Mae rested her head on his shoulder, an uncomfortable feat as she was a full head taller than him. “I know, but I don’t want to know. You know what I mean, Dez.” She sighed.
“Yeah, I know, babe.” They both turned as survivors began to trickle in, first Clyde and Salina with the quiet Jennifer who, after all this time, remained a withdrawn and damaged woman; the effects from the Time of Seth leaving a lasting legacy.
Chloe and some dogs entered next, Echo fluttering above the ubiquitous Barney. Caesar stuck his mammoth head in to be shooed away by Chloe. That meant Scotty and Kane must be in the hallway.
“You better help Kenya to her chair. It’s gunna get crowded in here soon. See if you can scare up Karen and Gloria. It’s their turn tonight.”
He jerked his head toward the kitchen nursery where laughter and infant voices accompanied Father Garcia’s daily report to the moms on the eating and elimination habits of their babies. After all, they didn’t do much more than eat and poop. Everyone else was happy to leave that area to the mothers and fathers.
“Okay, I’ll go get them. I’d help, but I’m just too nervous.” Waving to Hud and taking her leave of Dezi, she crossed the room to collect the evening’s kitchen slaves.
After she finished admiring the infants and directing Karen and Gloria to Dezi, she heard a commotion at the doorway. Glancing up, she saw a huddle around a newly arrived Cobby, Wil, Scotty and Kane. Wil had his arm wrapped around a beaming Netty. Abby and Daisy were nowhere to be seen.
Eagerly, she made her way from the nursery, skirting tables and chairs to see her daughter. Netty reached out to embrace her. “Where’s Daisy?”
“Don’t worry, Ginger Mae. She’s just in her sleeping quarters. She’s changing into a gift Abby made her. From fabric she made out of a fibrous plant she found on Oolaha. You’ll be so surprised.”
“But is she okay? The operation . . .” Ginger Mae felt like she would burst from holding her breath. Netty smiled her most gentle expression.
“My dear, you will be so proud.” Moving Ginger Mae along toward the tables, she shouted out.
“Come, everyone. Let’s sit and get settled for dinner. Daisy will be along in a minute. Let me tell you, she’s starved. The food on Oolaha leaves a lot to be desired for a normal human.” Netty craned her neck to Dezi. “I’m sure our intrepid Chef Dezi will not disappoint tonight. Best of all, we have another surprise.”
Buzzing and demands for hints filled the room as everyone found their seats. Shirley and Johno filed in with the keepers to add to the din.
A hush blanketed the room. Abby stood at the door. “It everyone ready?”
Ginger Mae stood up at her table, craning her neck to see Daisy. Abby hurried to sit next to Jose, leaving Daisy to make her entrance.
The atmosphere was charged with expectation mixed with arresting fragrances and mouthwatering smells as Gloria and Karen set platters of culinary wonders on the tables, then took their seats. The crowd grew restless, Ginger Mae inching toward the door.
She blinked rapidly, a gold luminance appearing at
the doorway as Daisy appeared. “Hello everyone,” she said in a voice no one recognized.
The child woman stood motionless, aware all were trying to digest her changes. She stood taller, wrapped in a loose sarong of the most remarkable fabric ever seen by a human eye. It reflected a golden luminosity, casting glints of ever-moving sparkles on Daisy’s skin. The sparkles roamed her face, even appearing in her eyes. They gave her the look of a creature not of this Earth.
The sarong thickened at her neck to fall like a pyramid to the top of her shoulders.
A hush fell over the kitchen as Daisy reached up to part the fabric at her neck to allow it to tumble to the top of her breasts. She shook out her short hair, which roamed with sparkles, giving it a life of its own; vibrant and lush.
Ginger Mae gasped at the changes around her daughter’s throat. A five-inch band of sheer, translucent material grew as if attached from her throat, forming a complete circle around her. She could actually see the throbbing of her daughter’s heartbeats through the ring. Another, thicker, band of—what . . . bone? Is it some kind of bone?—fell in ripples down to the top of her breasts.
None of the sparkles touched the transformations. They appeared stark and barren in contrast.
“Daisy . . . what have they done to you?” Ginger Mae reached out to her daughter, hesitant and shocked, afraid to touch.
“Mother. Dear, dear, Mother. They have transformed me. You will understand. Allow me to demonstrate.”
Within seconds, light radiated from the band made of cartilage around Daisy’s throat and neck. The light danced, colors blinking and strobing, a light show of pattern and dimension never seen before.
From below the bands of light, the witnesses heard a humming that vibrated softly in the room, getting louder as the vibrations too began to dance, the patterns somehow more familiar.
Abruptly, the vibrations and colors vanished. Daisy replaced her sarong, now draped to cover the transformation.
An uneasy silence met her performance. Abby and Netty rose from their seats to usher her into the room, walking right past Ginger Mae, who stood stunned.
Hud rushed to her trembling side. “Easy, babe. Let them explain.”
Shaking Hud’s arm off her shoulder, she ran to face the Elders. “Daisy . . . baby? What . . . what just happened?” Ginger Mae’s voce was hushed and choking. Abby stepped up, raising her hand. She slapped it away.
“No. I’m speaking to my daughter if you don’t mind, Abby.”
“Please, Mother. This is not necessary. I’m fine. Abby and Netty are just trying to help. This is my choice.”
Ginger Mae’s face caved in, suffused with blood and anger. “You’re still my daughter, young lady, and you still answer to me.”
Hud appeared alongside Ginger Mae. His face filled with hurt for his wife, he tried again. “Hon, let’s just sit down and talk about this. Daisy doesn’t answer to anyone. She’s a grown woman, honey.”
Ginger Mae stared into the face of her daughter. She still saw a six-year-old stare back, looking like she was playing dress up. As she hesitated, Hud snaked an arm around her waist, ready to catch her as she collapsed into tears. “Shhh, it’s okay. I’m here, babe. I’m here.” Hud stroked her back in rhythmic circles until she reduced her sobs to sniffles. Abby handed her a hanky. Everyone watched the tableau, remaining silent.
Daisy approached her mother. She held out her thin sparkling arms. “I love you, Mother, and always will. Please. Can you just remember that and let me go?”
Ginger Mae knelt down to embrace Daisy, the strange lumps of cartilage under her sarong pressing into her breast to frighten her. They pulled back, Ginger Mae wiping her tears and taking a breath. She furrowed her brow and shook her head at Daisy. “I’m sorry, Daisy Chain. I just can’t help it.” Daisy winced at the nickname.
She patted her mother softly. “I understand. Truly I do, Mother.”
Ginger Mae brightened. “Well then. Do you think you can tell me what that demonstration was all about?”
Daisy’s smile ran from ear to ear, the sparkles dancing quicker. “I was talking, Mother.” Daisy turned to include everyone.
Clyde slapped his hand down on his table top. “What do you mean, you were talking, girl? I didn’t hear a gosh darn thing. Well, except some vibrating. You got one of those ole cell phones on you?” Clyde’s ever belligerent voice slapped everyone in the face. They all accepted he was a changed and damaged men since the horrors of the Time of Seth, but many thought he was often tiresome, the lone challenging personality in the happy Hive.
“No, Clyde. As many of you know, I’ve been studying the languages of other life for many decades. It’s one thing to be able to now read in the thousands upon thousands of dialects my mathematical brain allows me to decipher, but to truly communicate, one needs to be able to speak.
“My operation has enabled me to do just that.” She pulled on her sarong, revealing the effect of her operation.
“Not all species have a voice box or tongue like we do. Many species speak in sound, like our animals do. Many speak with light frequencies—some of which you cannot even see.” She placed her hand to her face.
“What appear to be decorative sparkles are really a combination of hormones and enzymes, produced by my skin from the graft of a gland during my operation. It reflects and interacts with light when I wear this gown. That’s why you can see it. It enables me to interpret frequencies of light you can’t see, many not even found on this planet.
“My new growths around my neck are actually made of cartilage that grows from inside my new . . . voice box, if you will. It’s an organic organ grown just for me and transplanted inside me to allow me to talk in the language of frequencies. The bottom of my new growth is reserved for allowing me to talk in the frequency of sound. Again, some so silent a human ear can’t hear them. Just like the way Tobi and her herd communicate subsonically through the pads on their feet over long distances. I hear through the receptors on my bib, as I call it. I also send out my own subsonic signals through the bib. That’s what you heard, Clyde.”
Ginger Mae, stood nervously. “That’s all so . . . interesting, Daisy.” She swallowed hard. “And if that’s what you need to be happy right now, then I’m all for it.” She gave her head a resounding shake for emphasis. Plastering on a phony smile, she grinned at Abby and Netty. “Well, if this is all over now, why don’t we sit down and eat?”
Cheers and hoots rang out as the hungry survivors dug in to Dezi’s mouthwatering grub, Daisy’s and Hud’s eyes lingering silently on Ginger Mae.
Everyone sat as the subject appeared to be closed, laughter, gossip and drinking distracting them all, and the evening returned to normal. Every once in a while, Ginger Mae would catch Daisy glancing at her pensively.
She just kept that big ole smile plastered in place like any good mother dying of heartbreak would. For she knew exactly what this operation would mean. It meant she would lose her daughter for good. She would lose her to the stars. It was just a matter of time.
*
As dinner wore on, Chloe, Scotty, Kane, and Kenya looked forward to the announcement they knew was sure to come. Unable to keep a secret from the girls, they had shared the anticipation of a surprise.
After squashing her massive abdomen up to the table, Kenya spoke up. “Chickeys, you darn well know the only surprise that will interest me is when I get surprised by the birth of this watermelon.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call the baby a watermelon,” Kane said.
Kenya rolled her eyes. “Oh, reallllly? Care to carry it around for the next two weeks? This babe is ninety years old. That’s how long I’ve been lugging it around. I want to be normal again. I don’t even remember what normal feels like.” Kenya’s voice rose a couple of octaves.
Scotty and Chloe shot Kane a dirty look. Cringing, Kane swiveled his head wildly, Baby not in sight.
“Where is that little dude when we need him?” An aura stuck them all as Baby crawled out fro
m under the table.
He scrambled free, expanding his wings and flexing his tail. He snapped his wings back in place, taut against his body.
“I am here, Brother Kane. I knew you would need me.” Baby’s solemn furry face turned toward Kenya.
“Do not fear, Sister Kenya. If a watermelon is taking up space for the baby, I am here to rectify it.” Baby held out his elongated, leather fingers, the cup-like suctions at the end now crinkled and flexing.
Kenya pushed herself away from the table, all eyes on her bursting belly. She held out her hands. “Come here, my little man. You’re the only one that gets me.” She gave Kane the evil eye. “If you were just a little taller, I’d marry you.” She gave Baby a juicy kiss.
Baby just stared, silent and transfixed. An aura finally hit them. “If you were more cerebral, Sister Kenya, I would take you to Oolaha when I leave this planet.”
The friends were stunned. Scotty sat straight up, his jaw hanging.
“I don’t know if I should be flattered or pissed,” Kenya complained.
“Echo, what’s this about leaving?” Scotty words reflected everyone’s surprise. Echo gave a quick bow, moving back to Barney, who waited anxiously at the fireplace.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Scotty stated.
“Neither do I.” Chloe raised her eyebrows. “Should we try to drag it out of her?”
“No. If she wanted to tell us, she would. Look . . . Netty and Wil are speaking.” They all turned their attention to the front of the room where Netty and Wil stood laughing.
“And now that we’re finished with this wonderful dinner, I would like to thank Dezi,” Wil said.
Dezi waved from his seat next to Hud and Ginger Mae.
“I would also like to take this chance to say welcome back to Daisy, Abby and my lovely wife.” Wil turned to Netty, who stood at his side, snaked his lion-like tail around her waist and leaned in for a very public kiss. She laughed at his antics.
Wil faced the members of the Hive again, his eyes flashing and twinkling more golden than usual. He waited a moment, dragging out the suspense. “And . . . I would like to announce that tomorrow after breakfast, we will take our first journey topside.”