We sit on the deck of what the human girl calls an "escape pod". Or, rather, lie on it. After the prolonged battle on the space station, I, for one, and exhausted-- sadly, I am so out of form that a mere few hours of killing, and I am ready for some rest. Never have I considered the possibility that I might run out of energy for rage, and yet now, I am experiencing just such a state.

For I should be in a rage, still, after what I have seen. The abominations I imagined-- or, perhaps, the human girl put into my head somehow-- were every bit as real and monstrous as she implied. I slaughtered every last one, with the help of my warrior, who was caged among them. We killed the weak human woman, the one my releaser and current guide wanted dead... but then we left. I still do not understand just how we came to be on this escape pod; my memory of our own escape is hazy with weariness.

One memory stands out.... The human man, cradling the body of the woman I have just slain, and Bristaness standing over them protectively. I could not bring myself to harm him, my loyal drone, just to end the life of a weak, grieving human man. I do not know why he wanted the man spared, but the girl was satisfied, and so we left. She has promised us a home, a planet all our own with which to begin a new hive to replace the one lost to the falling space-rocks. Since I do not know how to fly this escape pod to get to this place of our reward and our future, we continue to travel with her.

This human girl.... I can almost admire her, even while I wish to tear her apart for her arrogance and impudence. She is strong and brave, and reckless in her lust for death, just as I. If these puny, fleshy things can be said to have queens, perhaps she is one-- nothing but a spec to a queen of my people, of course, but a powerful mind and spirit among her own. It will be a disappointment to kill her, though I know I must, once she is no longer useful to us.

::You should kill her now,:: Bristaness frets. I lift my head from Charliss' flank, where my warrior has graciously allowed me to pillow it, just enough to snort at him.

::Then how would we reach this planet she has promised us?::

It seems reasonable enough, yet Bristaness shifts restlessly. Charliss nips at him, eliciting a weak hiss; they are brothers, Charliss the older and Bristaness the younger. Charliss the dominant and Bristaness the submissive-- Charliss the wiser and Bristaness the more worrisome. Strong and knowing, and sweet but simple. ::I fear that she is not trustworthy,:: Bristaness says sullenly. ::That is all.::

I simply cannot let this questioning of my authority continue. ::I am your queen, and I say we must continue on this course for now. I will end her life when the time is right. Until then, she is an asset, at least until we reach our promised home.::

Bristaness turns his face away from me and does not open his thoughts to me, but I am too weary to press him. I shall take his silence as acquiescence and let the matter rest. ::When will we reach this new home you have for us?:: I ask the girl.

"Not for a while, yet. We have a stop to make first."

Bristaness lifts his head to turn his face in her direction, alert. I do the same, growling low. ::A stop to make? And what, prey, are we to do there?::

"This is an escape pod, not a deep-space vessel. We have to refuel. Besides, I think you might find this stop very... interesting."

Subsiding a little, but with my teeth still bared and wary, I keep my senses trained on her. ::Why?::

"There are more of your kind there. After a fashion."

::My queen, be wary....::

I snap at Bristaness to silence him, and focus back on the girl. ::After a fashion?::

A shift of her body, the sound of a shrug. "The blood is diluted, the minds weakened. They bond to humans, like the abominations. They serve them."

::Impossible!!:: My shriek, of the mind and the voice, does not make her flinch, nor does my scramble to my feet. ::Culls, all! I would rend them apart! No self-respecting one of us would ever--!::

"Well, perhaps you will get the chance to rend them," the girl suggests non-committally with another shrug. "We will be docking there; perhaps you can make an, ah, excursion."

::My queen....::

::Bristaness! Silence!::

He ducks his head and shrinks back with a high-pitched whining of apology, satisfyingly. He may be used to the wisdom of the older queens, but now he is my drone, and he must learn obedience!

"You can decide once we get there," the girl soothes before I can question her again. "You can even come with me, if you wish a guide-- I know where a number of them are. I wouldn't mind paying a visit to one or two of them, myself...."

::I would not need an insect like you to remove a few culls from existence.::

"Perhaps not, but perhaps so. There are mages there, as well."

::And what good will you do against a mage, human?::

There is smugness in her voice when she answeres, "Anything I wish; they only have one mage on that station like me."

::You?!::

She stretches her mouth into her predatory smile, turning towards me at last and holding up a crackling, hissing ball of magic-scent. Charliss surges to his feet with a roar, and Bristaness scrambles back frantically behind him, but all I can do it stare and growl. I had not even imagined that she was a wielder of magic! How am I to destroy her if she holds the one thing I cannot destroy, myself?

"So much for your weakling human, hmmmm?" she croons. "Worry not, queen of beasts, no mage on that station will harm you, even if they have any cause to try. I have put too much time and thought into this for things to go wrong now."

::You mean to use us again. To use me again!:: How could I have been so blind? How can I possibly escape this trap she has laid for me?

"There is nothing wrong with using anyone-- even a queen of beasts such as yourself-- as long as the usage is mutual. I do not lie about the abominations. Some of them are so deformed you would hardly recognize them."

This time, I resist the flood of images which I know, now, are coming from her, tempted though I am to savor them with hatred and anticipation of the kill. ::I will not be used!::

"You don't have a choice, dear beastly one," she coos sweetly, almost laughing. I should rid the universe of her, more than these abominations-- and yet, and yet-- such a mind and spirit she has! "Think of it as a final indebtedness to the one who freed you and yours," she suggests, adding slyly, "and as a chance to purge Star City of a few of its culls."

::Be wary, oh, be wary, my queen,:: Bristaness whimpers, and this time I do not snap at him. He is wiser than I, it seems, to suspect her of treachery.

And yet, I still am forced to admire her....

Chapter Six

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