The Hive
Chapter 2: Hive Minds
Slave Dave fumbled for his phone by the bed. 5:30 AM. Claudia wouldn’t be contacting him until 9:00 AM. But now he was awake, and he couldn’t go back to sleep. He reached for the blind and drew it up six inches, to reveal a grey dawn. He lay back and let Claudia subsume his thoughts. His obedient cock grew quickly hard, but his obedient hands remained behind his head. He pictured her now, asleep, lying naked on her side with one smooth creamy leg bent, her pussy just visible. He moaned and his fingers stroked his shaft. He stopped himself: No. Not today of all days, when he was to begin his new life. His eyelids grew heavy, and he dozed off.
He was suddenly awakened by the sound of his phone buzzing and rattling on the floor. It was a WhatsApp message from Claudia!
It said.” Turn On Your Laptop. Can’t Connect.”
He rushed out of bed into the living room, which was completely bare except for a large packing box in the middle of the floor, on which perched his MacBook. The power cable had come out. He hastily connected it. The light on the power connector glowed orange. It would take a few minutes before the laptop could be powered up. He stumbled back to the bedroom to message Claudia back, but his phone was already buzzing. She was voice calling this time.
“Hello Princess, Sorry, I—”
“Never mind. Listen to me. You’ve packed, right? Your cell is ready. Don’t forget your key. And your laptop, of course. Go. Now.”
Slave Dave called a cab and gave the driver directions the new place Claudia had found for him, which he’d not yet seen. He arrived at a dingy and depressing-looking apartment block in Stonebridge Park, occupied mainly by immigrants as temporary accommodation. A Somali woman hanging out clothes eyed him warily as his fumbled with the padlocked latch on the narrow graffiti-covered metal front door. He stepped inside. It was a single room, barely ten feet by ten feet. The bathroom was merely a partitioned off shower and toilet. Below the single, grimy window was a small kitchen sink. The cooker was a double electric hot plate. The squalor was intentional, he felt; to remind him of the depths to which his Mistress had driven him.
But it had heating, and there was a Wi-Fi router. Within a few moments, he had set up his laptop. Seconds later Claudia had taken control over it via TeamViewer. She started his laptop’s Skype and initiated a video call to her.
She was seated at her desk, her camera at the floor by her feet, angled upwards. Her long, wavy raven hair tumbled over her shoulders.
There was no green light on the laptop’s camera. Claudia hadn’t started it. He thought maybe something was wrong with the laptop, but was startled to hear her say “Nice shirt. The blue colour suits you.” How could she see him? Or had she simply guessed? She laughed her evil laugh.” Smile.”
Slave Dave frowned, confused by this order.
“SMILE, I said. That’s better. Now I can always see you. Always hear you. You can never hide from me. Look up. At the ceiling.”
Webcams, one in each of the four corners of the ceiling. Why so many? But he didn’t have time to ask because Claudia was speaking again:
“Now. Naked, kneeling.”
He quickly undressed and kneeled on the cold, dusty linoleum floor and faced the laptop. His dick was hard.
“Turn around. Show me your ass. I wanna see my little moneybee’s ass.”
He turned. The fresh tattoo in the small of his back was of a black and yellow bee, and the words “Claudia’s Money Bee”.
“Good. I bet it hurts you still. Now: You have no name anymore. Understand? You’re now just number 260. Say it. Say your number.”
“260.”
“Good. Stay there, on your knees. I’m closing Skype, but remember I can still see and hear you. Always.”
Slave Dave obeyed, rocking slightly. His balls churned and ached.
He watched his laptop, as helplessly as if he were physically bound, while she closed Skype. The cursor darted around the screen, windows flashed open and moved around quickly while she deftly logged into his online banking and transferred his daily tribute to her. His Gmail window appeared. He was too far away to see what she was doing, but she was deleting messages, replying to others. Now she connected him to her paid site. Then suddenly the screen went black; she had locked it. But he knew she was still watching him through the cameras.
He had sold his car and most of his possessions for this. Now he’d even sold his apartment. None of his family, none of his work colleagues would ever understand this need to be completely controlled, to live such an abject life. He didn’t really understand it himself. But Claudia understood.
If 260 harboured any regrets about his ruination, he would die without ever once acknowledging them.
The Queen’s Garden Party
Claudia lit a cigarette and watched the guests though her sunglasses, while they laughed and chatted on the lawn. A natural loner, she’d wandered away from the others to the back of the garden. She despised small talk.
Lee spotted her, and walked over to her. Claudia offered her a cigarette.
“No thank you, darling. Much as I feel like one.”
“Not good for the reputation for someone who deals with addiction to smoking I guess.” Claudia’s Romanian accent had a tinge of American.
The two women eyed each other. Claudia looked away, aware she was being probed.
“How do you like it here? Is this your first visit to London?”
Claudia felt that a flash of irritation at this, as though Lee saw her as a peasant. A gypsy, a crude curva.
“Yes.”
“Well, there are a lot of wonderful restaurants and shops here. You must visit Jermyn Street.”
“One of my slaves here is taking me to a Japanese Restaurant.”
“Oh, very nice. I assume you won’t need a chaperone, because I can provide one if you like.”
“No, he’s a completely harmless wanker. He doesn’t have a lot of money. He buys me only cheap things from my Amazon wish list. I think this meal will be the biggest spend for him since I knew him.”
“You never know how much people really have. Maybe he’s hiding it, even from you. Maybe he’ll even join the Hive one day.”
“Maybe. But now he only comes to me one or two days in a week. But I’m gonna take him from his wife, for sure. And then it will be easy.”
“I have no doubt of it, Claudia. Be careful, though, when you meet him. Always remain out of reach.”
“Of course. You know how I am. It’s natural.”
“Good. And by the way, thank you for the latest volunteer. I can’t remember his number.”
“260. Look:”
Claudia opened an app on her phone. She flicked through her slaves’ webcams until she found W260. She and Lee watched him, from their bird’s eye view, still naked in his cell, like a caged beast. There was an empty pizza box on the bare floor.
Claudia sent him a WhatsApp message: “Enjoyed your pizza, slave?” She saw W260 start and look up fearfully one of the cameras.
Lee smiled.” Poor man. But this is what he desires.”
Claudia put away her phone.” Yes, he’s poor, for sure.”
A man had approached them in the meantime, and now stood close by. Claudia noticed how he gazed at Lee like a devoted dog.
“I have to circulate. Claudia, this is Richard who’s just started working for me. He’ll be a fully trusted drone, once he’s fully inducted, but he already knows what we do.”
As Lee left to rejoin the others, she and Rich exchanged a momentary loving glance.
Claudia smiled, but only with her mouth.” Hi.”
“Hi. You’re very beautiful.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Are you Romanian?”
“Yes. Are you?” Claudia knew he wasn’t.
For answer, Rich burst into song:
Ekh! Rumania, Rumania, Rumania ...Geven amol a land a zise, a sheyne.Ekh! Rumania, Rumania, Rumania ...Geven amol a land a zise, a fayne.Dort tsu voynen iz a fargenign;Vos dos harts glust kenstu krign:A mamaligele, a pastramele, a karnatsele,Un a glezele vayn, aha!
Claudia laughed.” What’s this? German?”
“Yiddish. I’m a Jew. Do Romanians like Jews?”
“The ones with money, yes.”
“Oh, then you’ll love me.“
“I would love your money, but not you.”
“Good enough.”
Claudia removed her sunglasses and stared at him with her irresistible mixture of defiance and allure.” If you didn’t belong to Lee, I would drain you so quick and take everything.”
“Yes, my beautiful poisonous princess, you would. But you’re right, I belong to The Queen.”
Claudia relaxed. There was no need for her to play any games with this one. At least, not yet.
“So, you’re going to be in The Hive, I mean in the country place?”
“Yes, in the country. I’ve never been there. Have you?”
“No. This is my first time in the UK.”
“I hope you like tea and warm beer.”
“I like Japanese tea, and cold sake. And nice, polite English slaves.”
“I’m lucky, I’m not your type of slave. I’m not nice, or polite, or English.”
“No, you’re my type. You have money. But soon Lee will have it.”
“You mean the Hive will have it.”
Claudia smiled coldly and blew a big cloud of cigarette smoke, as if to say, “Yeah right.”
As far as Claudia was concerned, the conversation was over. But Richard still hung around. So Claudia began to explain to this moron, just exactly what the deal was:
“Lee is clever. She takes only fifteen percent commission —”
Rich interrupted her.
“I know the figures. You obviously don’t know what I’m doing for her. I’m going to be working on the Hive’s finances. The whole thing. That’s how much she trusts me. And I understand how it works. And more than that, I’m going to look at registration for charitable status, portfolio diversification, tax efficiencies.”
For the first time, Claudia looked at him with interest. Sex talk didn’t get her hot, but money talk did.
“And I’m going to improve the incentives too. So it will be more in your interest to refer volunteers, and for you to stay with the Hive, rather than going solo. She wants to retain her investment. All that hypnosis training she gave you.”
Claudia laughed.” ‘Investment’? She told me she was doing it for her vision to create a better world.”
Rich fought his anger.” She is. You don’t have to agree with her aims, but she’s sincere. You...” Rich trailed off.
“Finish what you started to say.”
Rich calmed himself. “You haven’t yet made enough money to see her point of view.”
Claudia narrowed her beguiling dark eyes.” How much do you think I make?”
“Last year? $130,000.”
Claudia was silent.
“And this year, probably double that. If you stick with the Hive, that is. You’re right: Lee is clever. She’s seen that the best way to build the Hive is to appeal to the wealthy people who are fed up with greed. People like me. Greed is a dead end. You just haven’t made enough money to reach it. But I bet you’ll reach it one day. And you’ll understand. In the meantime, you and the other princesses are the perfect honey traps for her. Even if you’re motivated by greed, she isn’t.”
“You believe this? Oh God, she’s good. Nenorocit.” Rich didn’t understand that last word, but he had a pretty good idea what she meant.
“So, Mister Rich Jew who is fed up with greed, why not give your money away to charity, like Bill Gates?”
“Bill Gates is spending his money to help eradicate polio. I’m spending mine to help eradicate unhappiness.”
“You want to eradicate other people’s unhappiness? Or just your own? I have slaves like you: They give, they give, but it’s really just wanking. It’s business.”
“Hey. I don’t need a lecture about business from a hooker. Okay?”
“Why not? Maybe you enjoy it. Maybe it’s a new fetish for you.”
He struggled for a riposte, but Claudia was too quick: “You won’t survive in The Hive. You’ll always be a loser wanker. You’ll always want this:” She pulled down her tight black tee shirt to show her cleavage. She leaned close to him, and whispered in his ear: “You’ll dream of me every night, in your little bed.”
Rich was suddenly overtaken with the urge to kiss her full red sneering lips, to plunge his dick deep inside her and fuck her senseless. She saw his face, red with anger and lust.
“If you want really to be mindfucked, give me your money. I’ll fuck your mind so bad.”
Rich was dumbstruck. feeling completely outwitted, he turned to go back to the safety of Lee. But Claudia grabbed his arm and presented him to her like a miscreant child.
“Here is your accountant. He got lost.”
“Thank you. Don’t go wondering off again, Richard. There are all kinds of evil things in the woods at the back of the garden.”
Claudia laughed. She loved being called evil.
I Am Not A Number
Rich stretched his legs and twisted the cramp from his back. He paid the cab driver, who drove off, leaving him in the calm silence of the countryside. He stood before the green-painted wooden door set in the tall ivy-covered wall and pressed the intercom. Nobody answered. He took out his phone. No signal. After holding his finger on the intercom button ever more persistently a few times he gave up, and sat down on his suitcase. Surely somebody would come in or out shortly.
After five minutes, just when Rich was about to give up the whole thing and start walking back to the nearest village, which was about three miles away, he heard a man’s voice from the intercom.
“Hello?”
“Hello. It’s Rich Brunner. I’m new.”
There was a pause.
“Do you have a Hive number?”
“Yes. Three. D-3.”
“Ok, I’m terribly sorry Rich. I hope you haven’t been waiting too long.” The door swung open.” Just follow the path, through the wood, all the way along. Straight down.”
As Rich walked through the doorway, he noticed cameras along the wall. They were pointing inwards, not outwards. The door swung shut. He looked at it., noticing that there didn’t seem to be any way of opening it from this side.
He walked for a few minutes along a shady path, accompanied by the rattles and bumps of his suitcase’s casters. He hadn’t seen anyone, but he heard, ahead of him, the sound of dogs barking. The woods were typically English, birch, oak and beech. A squirrel scampered about among the undergrowth. An American grey: An ex-pat, like him.
At the end of the wood, the path met a large gravel driveway, and Rich saw a set of buildings, arranged in a square around a central courtyard. At the nearest end there was a gap in the buildings, over which a wrought-iron arch stood, with the image of a cow, with a bell around its neck. It must have been a dairy once.
He stopped and looked around. The place was nestled in a lush valley. Strange, curved buildings, their roofs covered with grass and flowers, had been delved into the hillside. Bright flowers were everywhere; bees buzzed happily among them. It looked like something out of Tolkien.
He saw people working on terraces in the far hillside, like a Chinese engraving of paddy fields.
A woman in khaki shorts passed him, pushing a big wheelbarrow filled with earth, accompanied by a three-legged black Labrador. She gave him a friendly smile and hurried on.
Two young men sporting binoculars stood on a low drystone wall and peered out over the valley. Rich heard one of them mention water tables.
A woman ran past him, her long dress flowing, into a building, late for some appointment.
Feeling out of place in this pastoral idyll, Rich proceeded through the arch into the courtyard, to find out what the hell he was supposed to do next.
A tall, fit man in his sixties smiled and waved at him from a doorway, beckoning. Rich approached. The man shook his hand firmly. Rich stared at the man’s forehead. Right in the middle was printed, in black, about a centimetre in height, the number 6.
“The man laughed. Yes, it’s my Hive number. And before you make any jokes about ‘The Prisoner’, I am definitely not a number, I’m a free man.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, number six.”
“You too, number three. Come in, come in. Do you want some tea? Home grown, right here in The Hive.”
Rich entered through the doorway into what looked like an old railway ticket office and waiting room, complete with a row of wooden chairs.
“Sit down, won’t you?” I’ll be out in a moment. The man disappeared behind a counter and came out again brandishing a clipboard and pen.
“Right. First things first: Phone, please. We don’t allow them here. And your laptop too. And your passport.”
“But, er, mister six —”
“I’m a drone, like you, so it’s D6. Or if you insist, you can call me Colin, if it makes you feel more comfortable.”
“No, D6 is fine. I think I’m gonna need my laptop, you see I have a lot of stuff on here I need. And I’ll need Internet.”
“Yes, of course you’ll get it back. We just have to get it validated by infosec. Don’t want any nasty outside viruses.”
Rich opened his case and handed D6 his laptop, reluctantly.
“Do you have a password for your laptop? They’ll need that of course.” D6 poised with his pen.
“Yes, its, er...” Rich mumbled something inaudible.
“Sorry, I didn’t get that.”
“fuckjessicaRabbit23. All lower case, except for the R.”
A young man entered with a glass of weak-looking black tea on a glass saucer. He handed it to Rich, smiling broadly.
“Thank you, er, 104.”
“You’re welcome, sir.” The man grinned even more widely.
Rich took a sip. It was delicious, aromatic and exotic.
“Wow. Great tea. You really grow it here?”
“Yes. We grow everything we eat and drink here. And soon we’ll be getting all our own energy too. But I guess you knew that.”
“Lee mentioned it, yes. Is she around, by the way?”
D6’s expression changed.” No, she’s not around. Um, you know you shouldn’t really refer to The Queen by name. Not here.”
Rich stared for a moment.” Ok. I won’t mention Lee’s name again. Oops, sorry. See what I did, I mentioned her name. I said ‘Lee’ again.”
“You know, she’s not just your queen. She belongs to all of us. And we all belong to her. Which brings us nicely to your orientation.”
“Aren’t you going to show me where I’m going to stay, first?”
“Don’t worry, it won’t take long. I’ll get W104 to show you the way.
Chastity Begins At Home
Rich was led by the ever-smiling W104, around the side of the dairy, past greenhouses, vegetable plots and an apple orchard to a little cluster of buildings. They were all hexagonal in shape. Some were tessellated to make larger buildings. Cute.
“In here, sir. Remove your shoes first please.” He called me ‘sir’ again.
Rich found himself in a womb-like hexagonal room, with a glowing amber lamp in the centre of the vaulted ceiling. The floor was covered with thick, deliciously soft wall-to-wall carpeting.
W104 remained at the doorway.
“If you want, you can remove your clothes in here sir, it will become very warm. I will come for you soon.” Before Rich could respond, he shut the door quietly and quickly. Like the door in the outer wall, there was no way to open it from within.
“Relax.” The voice was Lee’s, but seemed to come from inside him. Something about the position of speakers, Rich thought.
And then the walls lit up with glowing, swirling patterns. He smelled a delicate perfume, some sort of incense.
“Relax, Richard.” She was speaking directly to him, it wasn’t a recording!”
The patterns slowly gave way to a video of her, repeated on each wall. But the videos were all slightly different.
“Relax!” The six Lees all repeated this command, each in a slightly different tone.
“Lie down, and relax.”
Rich sat. He didn’t feel like lying down.
“Go on, Richard. Lie down.” Was she really there, watching him, or was this a recording? He lay down. The room began to feel warm.
“That’s right. Breathe. Slowly, in, out....”
He lay back. For minutes, her voice guided and slowed his breathing. Then she became quiet for a while, while he sank further into relaxation.
“Welcome, D3. That is your name. D3. Say it: ‘I am D3, and my mind is open’.”
“I am D3, and my mind is open”.
“You are now subject to the laws of the hive. As a Drone you have privileges, but we are all subject to the laws. Even Your Queen is subject to the laws.”
Richard had stripped to his underwear. He lay back and spread his limbs, feeling the soft, thick carpet on the back of his legs and arms. He let out a long, contented sigh. And then, from within him, her voice recited the laws.
The first law: No bumbling. A bumblebee flies alone, and can never join a hive. Honeybees fly together, and can never leave a hive. You’re a honeybee. You must remain in the Hive, always.
The second law: Everything you do must be for the good of the Queen, and for the good of the Hive. Because The Queen the hive.
The third law: No violence, no anger, and no sex. No harsh words, no masturbation. If you are tempted, or you feel a strong urge, you must work instead. The energy that drives you to feel sexual or angry thoughts must be channelled into work. And praying to Your Queen will help. Come here, into a prayer cell, and pray to me, and I will channel your energy back into the Hive.
The fourth Law: Be respectful to all those who serve you, and all those who you serve. As a Drone, you are served by the Workers, while you in turn serve the Queen directly. But remember, noblesse oblige: You have duties of respect to those that serve you.
The fifth law: No personal possessions, no greed. All that you once had, you must cast away, or donate to The Hive.
The laws continued, down from the very general commandments, going into further and further detail as they progressed, down to minutiae.
Rich felt them flow into his mind like a blood transfusion, from the broadest arteries down to the tiniest capillaries as they ramified, feeding and nourishing every cell of his being.
Address those of higher rank as “Sir” or “Mistress”.
Address those of the same rank by their number, or as “brother” or “sister”.
The intentional killing of animals is not permitted, with the exception of parasites.
Drink no more than one cup of wine with your meal, except on the night of the solstice.
Play music or sing only in the party areas or far fields, and only at party or work times.
A library book can only be borrowed if it has a red label.
If bread becomes stale, return it to the baker, do not throw it away.
After an eternity, The Queen ceased her recitation.
“Now, D3, rest, sleep. Let the laws sink deep, like water into dry earth.”
He slept, instantly.
He was awakened by 104.” Good sleep? Come sir, it’s time now to get your number on your head. Welcome, welcome!”
Holy Mother of God
Only trusted Workers like Joanne, who’d proven her absolute loyalty to her Queen, were allowed to leave the physical confines of the Hive to work in the gift shop in the nearby town of Taunton. It didn’t have a lot of customers. It sold mainly Hive-grown produce.
Joanne looked up from her book at the sound of the little bell tinkling as the door of the shop opened. It was one of the visitors to the area, Sister Catherine. She’d been in three times before, in the last week.
Joanne’s pink cheeks flushed with pleasure, tinged with guilty desire.” She must know. It must be so obvious.“
“Hello again, for the fourth time! I just loved that honey! And the bread was marvellous.”
“I’m so glad. I—how are you enjoying your stay?”
“Oh, it’s lovely here. Just what I need.” Sister Catherine looked pensive for a moment, and then brightened.
Joanne involuntarily fingered her long flaxen fringe, which covered her forehead completely, hiding her Hive number.
“What can I get for you today, Catherine?” She said I could call her Catherine.
“Well, today, I wanted... well I wanted...”
Joanne’s heart beat faster.” What?”
“I wanted to talk, Joanne.” She burst out laughing.” To confess something, actually!”
“What did you want to confess?”
“Look. I know you can’t leave the shop, and have to go back as soon as you’re finished. I wish we could just, you know, just meet for a cup of tea or something. I wanted to ask your advice. I don’t know why, but I feel that you won’t, you won’t judge me.”
Joanne saw, there in Catherine’s eyes, a familiar sadness. And now Joanne suddenly understood why she was so taken with this beautiful woman.
“Just a moment. There’s a kettle. And the shop is quiet today.”
Once the tea was brewed, Joanne handed Catherine a clay mug.
“Mmm, delicious!”
Joanne sipped her tea, and waited for Catherine to pluck up the courage to tell her what had been bothering her.
Catherine sighed and began, hesitantly, at first, but more confidently, as Joanne, a good listener, encouraged her with sympathetic nods:
“I’m leaving. I’m not cut out for this.” She tugged at her habit.” I joined, because after... a bad relationship, a very bad one... I wanted to take a vow of chastity, to lead a simple life, in the service of Christ.
“But although I love Him with all my heart, I love Him though he were my child, but not my Saviour. I feel His pain, and know how much He suffered on the cross, and yet, and yet... it’s a mother’s tears I weep. You see, I—I lost my own son, my baby. I—He...” She broke down.
Joanne began to weep too, and went to hold her.
Through sobs, Catherine continued, “I had an abortion. I was fifteen. I was, it was a family member. I don’t want to say. The worst. The worst you can imagine.”
Joanne held Catherine and rocked her. And she decided, one way or another, she would bring her to the Hive, where she would be healed.
As Catherine left the shop and passed down the little lanes, she sighed deeply, shaking off her emotion. How far was she prepared to lie in order to get to the truth? Clearly a long way. She reached the bed and breakfast where she was staying. Once inside, she tore off her cowl to reveal her long curly golden hair. She reached for a pack of cigarettes and lit one. Then she opened up her laptop and continued working on her exposé of The Hive.
Dope will Get You Through Times of No Money
Rich leaned back in his chair and looked up the ceiling in frustration.” Hey! It’s happened again! HEY! Brother five!”
“Whattup, Rich?” D5, whose real name was Joe, never bothered with hive numbers. He poked his shaggy head round the door.
“C’mere, look. It’s just fucked up. See?” Joe waddled over. He wore his usual red 4XL red Hive tee shirt, with the words “BUZZ ME” written on it. He’d told Rich he’d got it as a special order, because of the size. The crotch of his jeans sagged almost to the knee. He was barefoot.
“Okay, dude, the keyboard is so clogged up with your dick cheese I’m gonna haveta take it apart.”
Rich raised his hands in the air.” Be my guest.”
Joe was the nearest thing Rich had found to a friend in the year he’d been here. But he really didn’t know very much about him. There seemed to be an unwritten law in Hive not to talk about your past life.
As Joe worked on Rich’s laptop with a screwdriver, he spoke to him.” You know, it’s not cool that you get so stressed. It’s not Hive, man. We came here to get away from that shit.”
Rich exhaled.” Yeah, yeah. You’re right. It’s this fucking job. I’m dealing with the outside all the time, with banks, lawyers, I’m half in half out the whole time.”
“You and me both, man.”
“You? When do you have to deal with outside the Hive?”
Joe eyed him, deciding whether he could take him into his confidence, but said nothing.
He put down the screwdriver.” Hey. Wanna get high?”
“What? Is it fixed?”
“No, but it’s a small job. Wanna get high though?”
“I don’t think it’s allowed.”
“Sure it is. The Queen’s cool. She knows the difference between the bad drugs and the good drugs. Coke, chemical stuff, alcohol is out. All the addictive shit. But weed is cool. I have a worker grow it for me, over by the river.”
Rich hadn’t smoked weed since he was a student.” Okay, let’s get high. But you will fix my keyboard after? I mean you won’t get too stoned?”
“Hey, look at me. What do ya think?”
Rich looked at him. He was a cross between Jerry Garcia and Hagrid.” We’ll find out, I guess.”
The weed felt strong, maybe because Rich hadn’t smoked it in so long. The back of his neck felt numb, and the windows seemed to be made of honey. He laughed at the funny honey windows.
Joe sipped on the last of a roach, held the hot smoke in.” So, what are you in for?”
Rich laughed.” Murder. Isn’t everybody?”
“Murder? I guess so. No, really, what got you in here? Drugs? Because you don’t look the ‘back to nature’ type.”
“Sex. I had a sex addiction.”
“Me too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. So I figured I was either going to end my days in San Quentin, or here.”
Joe and Rich sat, idly, each lost in their own stoned thoughts. Joe decided to tell Rich more about himself, although Rich hadn’t asked him.
“Yeah, man. Chicks... You don’t feel it, man, because you’re a guy and you’re straight, but I have this magnetism.”
Joe checked to see whether Rich thought this amusing, but Rich was staring vacantly at the corner of desk through red, heavy-lidded eyes.
“Mainly little chicks, who like a big guy, a guy who knows how to dominate them. Sometimes I don’t know who was dominating who. There was this one girl, Lara. She was always pushing me to take it further. She liked it when I slapped her ass, real hard. You know, big red hand-shapes on her ass. Then she got so she started begging me to slap her face.
Rich stirred.” And did you?”
“That was just the start of it, man. It got real dark. I cut her titty with a razor blade once. I was doing coke off of it. Blood everywhere. I freaked, but she fucking loved it man.
“I kept her locked her up the basement of my place. Jesus H Christ if the neighbours knew... I’d take her dog food, and she had eat to eat it out of a dog dish on the floor, same as my dog did.
“I’d watch TV and strum my Strat, and she’d be on all fours, with my dick in her mouth. The whole fucking night. I’d wake up in the morning, and she’d still be down there with her head in my crotch, sleeping, , with my dick still in her mouth. A big mess of her drool and my joy-juice, all over the floor. She got more of a kick out of it than me.
“After a while, I got bored with her and threw her out. I drove her all the way to her parents’ place in Austin and just threw her out the car outside their house, and drove home.
“But even though I got rid of her, I musta somehow got this reputation, ya know? This aura, that chicks who were into that just latched on to.
“One time, three girls came over to my place, groupies from the band I was working for at the time. They got naked, lay down on the floor in a row like three sardines, and you know what they wanted?
Rich stirred.” Er, no. I don’t think so...”
“They wanted me to piss on them. Piss in their mouths, piss all over them. Some kind of fucked up bet, or I don’t know.
“I hope you’d had a few beers...”
“You bet. So I peed on them. Then one of them begged me to take a dump in her mouth. That was it. That was fucking IT, man.
“Too far?”
“I realised I was just outa control. I’m telling ya, I was pretty close to blowing my brains out. I knew a musician. A pretty big name, I don’t want to tell you, you’ll call me a namedropper. But he told me about Our Queen here. So I saw her. And brrrrp! Just like that, she fixed my head.
“But after that, you felt empty, right.”
“Right. Yes indeed, you know what I’m talking about. Empty. So I checked in here. And liked it. In fact I love it here, man.”
“What did you think of The Queen? I mean when you saw her?”
“She was five fucking aces. I thought at first she was a dyke, because I felt nothing from her, you know, sexually. But now I know it’s because she’s just beyond it man. She’s up there.” Joe stretched an arm up.
“Yeah, she’s up there, all right.”
There was a lull, while The Queen floated in their stoned brains, up there.
“Wanna see how lucky you and me are to be here?”
Joe heaved himself out of his seat.” C’mon. Take a look.”
Rich followed him into the next room. The control room, where only Joe was allowed. He had an array of four giant monitors on his desk.
Joe tapped rapidly on the keyboard.” Check this shit.”
And then Rich saw them, through the webcams the Hive had installed in their squalid little apartments, all the honeybees, all the slaves, in their little cells, all round the world, buzzing, buzzing, making all that honey for The Hive.
Joe walked out of the room.” Hey, Joe, where are you going? How do I get rid of this on the screen? Man I feel sick. Joe? FIVE!”
“Gimme five minutes. I’m just fixing your keyboard. Keep looking if ya like. Those are the guys who pay for all this shit.”