"Granny Bug?" Zhao Chen was somewhat astonished.
"Yes; this place here is Granny Bug's place." Perhaps by reason of that sweet a moment since, the little bug-girl had not so much fear of Zhao Chen.
Could this T6 Hive Mothership be the Granny Bug of whom the little bug-girl spoke?
Zhao Chen thought of this possibility.
"But… Granny Bug, to protect Little Bug… has gone away already," the little bug-girl said, lowering her head in her dejection.
"You know… that this ship… that your Granny Bug is no longer here?" Zhao Chen asked in astonishment.
The little bug-girl nodded, and put her hand against the ground. "Granny Bug has yet a very little life-fluctuation, but there is no communicating with her any more. The last words Granny Bug left me were… that Little Bug should sleep well. That one sleep would set all right."
Zhao Chen knit his brows and asked, "How long… have you slept?"
The little bug-girl shook her head. "I don't know; after I fell asleep I did not know what happened. Until you woke me now."
Having said so much, she paused.
She looked with great care at Zhao Chen and Ah-Yin. "You truly will not eat Little Bug?"
Zhao Chen could not hold back a smile. "You have not had a bath in ten years, and are all over dirt; who would eat you? And besides, are you as good as that sweet just now?"
"The sweet is good, indeed." The little bug-girl nodded gravely, and then said in a small voice, "Little Bug isn't dirty. Mama and Granny Bug both said so. Little Bug smells the sweetest."
"Why can you speak our language?" Zhao Chen put a question.
The identity of this little bug-girl before him was very likely bound up with the hive-race indeed.
Then why could she hold speech with him?
"Language?" The little bug-girl tilted her head and said, not understanding, "I don't know what language is; I am only imitating you."
"You… can imitate… every language?" Zhao Chen asked in surprise.
The little bug-girl wore a face all question marks.
Ah-Yin spoke at this point at his side, only the language she used was one Zhao Chen had never heard.
And then, the little bug-girl used the same language as well.
After several exchanges that Zhao Chen could not understand,
Ah-Yin said, "She possesses a kind of psychic power of mind, and can imitate all languages directly; we need speak but one sentence, and she grasps it wholly, and can hold speech with the other."
A universal translator?
Zhao Chen examined this little bug-girl closely. "You are called Little Bug?"
Little Bug shook her head, then nodded and said, "I am called Hive Princess, but Mama and Granny Bug both call me Little Bug."
Hive Princess.
So the hive-race had names as well.
"Do you know why you came to be here? And who it was that assaulted you? Do you know what happened here?" Zhao Chen opened his questioning.
A sorrowful look rose upon the little bug-girl's face; she drew up both legs, held her knees in both arms, and said in a small voice, "Bad people broke into Little Bug's home. They killed Uncle, and Great-Uncle, and Auntie… and carried them away besides. Mama took us and fled from our home, and led us wandering outside. But… there was no place that welcomed us. Everyone who saw us… drove us away… beat us…. Afterward, that pack of bad people came after us again. Mama… Mama fought with them, and covered our retreat, mine and Granny Bug's and everyone's. After that we were parted from Mama, and we never saw Mama again."
Hive Princess hung her head low, and tears came into her eyes.
She sobbed and went on, "Afterward, I and Granny Bug and the rest fled I don't know how long; most of the way I was sleeping. Until the last time I went along, and Granny Bug woke me. Outside they were fighting again; those bad people had found us again, and bullied us. Little Bug was very frightened. Little Bug wanted to go home…… Granny Bug told Little Bug that they would protect Little Bug, and that Little Bug should sleep a while longer, and that when next she woke, someone would take Little Bug home. After that… Little Bug fell asleep. Have you… come to send Little Bug home?"
Little Bug raised her head, watching Zhao Chen and Ah-Yin with her crystal-bright eyes.
Hearing this story,
Zhao Chen was somewhat dumbfounded: the hive-race within this story was nothing at all like the hive-race Zhao Chen knew!
Ought not the hive-race all to be savage and bloodthirsty?
Why did they feel so small and weak?
Facing Hive Princess's last question, Zhao Chen's tongue was tied.
He did not know how to answer.
Zhao Chen could only turn the subject aside. "Then does Little Bug know how long it is since she left her home?"
"Not remembered. A long, long time." Hive Princess shook her head.
No notion of time.
Then there was no knowing at all how long ago the things Hive Princess had just related had happened.
There was not even any knowing when this war here had taken place.
They could only, afterward, determine the time of this war by investigating the traces upon those Hive Mothership wrecks.
Zhao Chen rose, scratched his head somewhat helplessly, and looked toward Ah-Yin at his side. "What are we to do next? What your mistress bade us find… is… this?"
Zhao Chen pointed at Hive Princess upon the ground.
What threat was there in such a little bug-girl?
Let alone Zhao Chen, likely even Annie could bully her, were she here.
And yet that leader of the Machine Race had expressly sent him over here to find her.
The purpose within it could not be understood at all.
"The mistress only charged us to find; she did not say what to do when found." Ah-Yin's answer at this point was somewhat wooden.
Zhao Chen held his head.
Well then, this was a piece of trouble he had found for himself.
Zhao Chen turned and walked toward the outside.
Ah-Yin looked at Zhao Chen, and looked again at Hive Princess upon the ground with her face all bewilderment.
And then followed Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen walked outside the bud.
"Commander." The Panther-Girl waited outside; seeing Zhao Chen come out, she was at once set at ease.
Zhao Chen halted all of a sudden.
He set his teeth, and gave himself a slap outright. "You fellow, always meddling in what does not concern you."
Having said it, Zhao Chen turned again and walked into the bud.
Leaving the Panther-Girl and the rest outside with faces all confusion.
Ah-Yin, on the contrary, showed a trace of a smile upon her face.
Some minutes after.
The Panther-Girl and the rest saw an astounding scene.
They saw the Commander walk out with a little fellow held in one arm.
That little fellow was somewhat like a little girl, but had a strange brown shell upon her.
Seeing so many people outside, the little girl at once shrank her neck timidly, and pressed herself closer to Zhao Chen.
Though this Hive Princess was of the hive-race, yet there was no ill smell upon her.
"Don't be afraid; they are my people. If you come with me, I will protect you. If you are not willing, you may stay here," Zhao Chen said coldly.
The little girl lowered her brows and eyes; she looked back at the bud behind her, this place where she had slept for who knew how many years.
She said softly, "Little Bug… doesn't want to be alone… Little Bug will go with you…"
Hearing Hive Princess's answer, Zhao Chen gave the order to the party.
Return.
Walking upon the gallery, Hive Princess waved at the flower-bud receding behind her. "Granny Bug, bye-bye."