THE HIVE

Chapter 7∆

I get closer, tilting my face upwards, whispering sharply, "What is it?"

He swallows. "There's something happening right beneath your feet."

"Huh?" I raise my foot up. There's nothing there. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on. Do you really think it would be stuck on your foot? Really?"

I frown. Then place my hands to the ground. That same sensation as before in the warehouse I woke up in, when I detected Uranus. Tremours... A sudden shiver runs throughout my body thinking about the encounter and how scared I was. That means— I press the side of my body on the floor of the metal walkway, myself now about a quarter ways in between the two buildings of the hive and the temple which also houses the meditation hall. The walkway is almost like a bridge, connecting the distance between the two buildings, as there's a gap between them. A rectangular gap that lets me see the underground. There is some sort of a basement down there. But there's no way of getting down from here.

"There's clearly something happening under there," I say, feeling the vibrations though the side of my body come up through the plate of the walkway.

"Tiana," he calls my name. It makes my heart flutter. So I look up. And when I do, his expression almost causes a gasp to come out of my throat. "They are building something. Hidden from our sights."

He looks so pale. I didn't notice it earlier but he has dark circles underneath his eyes. "How do you know? What have you seen?"

He looks away. "What I've heard..."

Uncertain, I repeat, holding his arm, "Heard...?"

He nods. "Yeah. I'd show you. You can observe it as well. It was just an accident for me when I stumbled on this. But, I'd never forget what I felt. I've been running towards it ever since. It's become a wild goal of mine. I can never catch rest if I don't reach a conclusion."

"Paul, you're scaring me." My hold on his arm grows tighter.

"Do you mean to say the yikkims are doing something shady behind the reach of your senses?" Vessel says, having heard the entire conversation.

"Yeah...yeah. I- I'm sure. I'm sure they are doing something that they are afraid of showing us. Maybe if they do, we won't sit still. We won't obey. We'd want to fight back or... or escape. The voices want to escape after all. I can hear it. Their desperation and yearning. Even though I don't understand the words. I feel the emotion."

"What voices? The yikkims'? I mean, the voices of these aliens?" my voice has automatically grown high.

The horror grows in his eyes. "No," he murmurs. "It's different. It's not them."

"Then who?" I ask.

He turns his face ever so slowly at me. "That's what I want to find out, Tiana," he wraps his fingers around my arm. They are cold to the touch, yet so strong in their grip. As if it's a death grip, never meaning to let go.

I become frozen in my place, unable to move. But thankfully, he lets go of my arm, and walks forward. "I've pulled you in Tiana. You can't back away," that's all that he says, as he treads the walkway more and more...like a ghost.

"He's emotionally scarred, it seems," Vessel says from under me, his tone thoughtful, and might even a bit concerned.

"What made him that way is what scares me the most," I say, pulling my fingers into a fist. It has no strength at all.

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We pass by the meditation hall into the corridor that I passed by when I was here with Uranus. The corridor is narrow, something you'd expect from an underground establishment. These lights glow bluish, iridescent when I look back to see them grow more purple. And the carvings carry on over these walls like roots, covering it in a snake-like fashion. Having an almost... organic feel to it. It's unnerving. I just can't put my finger on why I get that feeling. But no matter the unsettling nature, there isn't an out of it for a while as it goes quite a few ways until the opening slowly hitches near and welcomes us into a grand space. The temple.