The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Dot’s Cafe’ was empty when drone-angie walked in. The morning crowd had already cleared out and only a few stragglers, older men with nowhere else to go, remained. Pam was wiping down the counters, collecting the last of her tips from the breakfast crowd. In the back, Ines Montoya cleaned the grill. Hank, the rather line-cook was off fishing in Montana.

“Pam, how you doin’? You going to class later?” Drone-laurie stared at Pam’s shapely legs under the short waitress’ skirt she wore.

“Hey girl!” Pam waved and did a double-take at the sexy outfit her friend was wearing.Angie was no prude but the short-skirt and nearly sheer blouse was something that she wore only rarely. “You look great! Got a hot date after class?” Pam picked up the last of her tips and walked over to the other young woman.

“No, no date. Not yet.” The drone replied. “I brought you and the cafe’ a gift though. New honey. It’s the best we’ve ever done!” She smiled and appreciatively scanned her friend again. “You’ve got to come out to my truck and try it.

Pam looked at her watch. It was time for a smoke break anyway. “Sure, I could use a cigarette...” She began and then winked conspiratoially “and something stronger if you’ve got it.”

“Oh, Pam, I have something that will knock your socks off!”

The two girls laughed and walked out to the back of the restaurant where the blue Ford that Bettina had bought her daughter was parked.

“How’s things on the farm?” Pam asked.

“Couldn’t possibly be better.” Drone-angie replied, meaning it. Her mind was being so thoroughly re-worked that she could no longer remember any time when there had not been the Hive at the farm.

“Wow. So you aren’t going to try to go school away?” Pam was surprised. Getting out of what Angie always called a half-horse town was the girls’ most driving ambition.

“No. I’m staying. I’m needed here.”

Pam looked at her friend again and then her attention was caught by the jars of honey in a box on the passenger’s seat. “Wow! You guys have outdone yourselves!”

“Oh, and there’s so much more work to be done! We’re going to need more help this year.” The thought of Pam eagerly helping the Queen gave the Hive-drone a jolt of pleasure. “Taste it. You’ll be amazed.” Drone-angie reached across the seat, flashing Pam a quick teasing view of her bare ass underneath her skirt and pulled out a jar which she uncapped. Dipping a finger in, she pulled it out covered in honey and offered it up to her childhood friend.

Pam licked the finger and the sweetness of the honey exploded on her tastebuds. “My god! That’s amazing! That’s the best honey I’ve ever tasted!” Immediately she wanted more and took the jar from her friend. She dipped her own finger in and licked it clean. “Mmmmm...” she sighed happily. “This stuff is fucking addictive!”

Drone-angie pulled out the box. I’m going to take these inside and give them to Inez. I’ll be back in a minute and we can smoke a bowl...” She smiled. “If you still want to.”

“Fuck yeah!” Pam said emphatically, scooping more honey out of the jar absentmindedly. “Gotta save some, though, for when I have the munchies.”

“oh, this is the shit for the munchies!” Drone-angie giggled and walked back into the restaurant, her hips swaying in an exaggerated fashion.

Pam pulled open the tailgate of the truck and sat down, taking a drag of her cigarette and then licking more honey off her fingers. Bettina’s bee farm kept getting better and better, she mused. She looked at the jar, she’d made a dint in it already. “I wiish I had a spoon...” she siad out loud to no one in particular. She took some more honey and licked her fingers clean then looked down at her cleavage. A strange impulse rose in her to smear some of the honey on her breasts and she did so. She was rewarded with a mini-orgasm that caught her by surprise. “oh!” She thought. She needed to get laid badly! Another thought came unbidden into her mind. She should put some on her pussy. If putting some on her breasts felt as good as it did, then what would the honey feel like on her pussy? She decided to find out. Turning away from the street, she opened up her skirt and slipped a honey-coated finger into the waist-band of her pantyhose. The moment her pussy, her body shook with pleasure. The feeling was so strong, so overwhelmingly powerful that she was compelled to repeat it again. And again. And again. She started to climax and it was the most powerful feeling she’d ever felt. She wondered if angie knew about the properties of the honey. She’d ask when she got back into the restaurant. She looked at her watch. She’d been out in the bed of the truck for 20 minutes now! Ines was going to kill her! She pulled up her skirt and climbed out of the back fo the truck, taking the precious jar of honey with her. She tiptoed in the back, hoping to slip past Ines. She heard a soft moaning “ahhhh” from the office. She poked her head her head in and saw Ines with her pants and shirt open. She saw angie leaning up against the wall, leering at the older woman.

“Now, you see don’t you?”

“Ahhh, yes! It feels so...sooo...sooooo!” Ines through her head back and screamed.

Pam crept into the room and walked over to Ines. She knelt down between the woman’s legs, scooped some honey out of the jar and spread it on the older womans’ labia causing her to scream even louder. The dark patch of hair and the pink lips, covered with the amber nectar called to pam and she leant forward and began to kiss at her pussy. The rightness of what she was doing sang out to her. This was where she belonged. This was her purpose in life. To please Ines and...what? She relaxed as the thought came to her that all would make sense. She would be told what to do, what to think, what to feel. Ines came again, her pussy slick with her juices and sticky with honey.

“Now...” Drone-angie spoke. “Our Queen needs you to make something special on the menu, Ines. The honey should be put in the tea and on the table for biscuits and in whatever else you make today that is appropriate.”

Both women looked up at the drone. Ines and drone-pam nodded. A lot of folks came into Dot’s for lunch. A lot of those customers were women and they needed to taste the Queens’ gift. Ines spoke.

“We could make honey-fried chicken and a honey-glazed chicken salad.”

Drone-angie smiled. “That would please our Queen very much. More women will taste the gift of the honey and become Hive, just as you two are becoming Hive.”

Ines and drone-pam nodded. Being Hive was pleasurable. Pleasing the Queen was what life was about. Ines shook her head.

“Wait, what do you mean by Hive? What’s happening to Me?” Some part of her brain was resisting the conversion. Ines had always been a strong and self-directed woman. Her life had left her little choice since her husband had run off back to Mexico.

“You are becoming Hive. Just as I am Hive. We serve our Queen and must make all women Hive. It’s pleasurable, Ines. Watching you two become Hive has made me cum soooo many times.”

Ines nodded and then shook her head. “No! I’m not going to do this. I’m not going to become...” She paused and, without thinking, placed her hand on drone-pams’ head. “Hive. I’ll resist.”

“But Ines, why would you want to? Look at pam? Doesn’t she seem happy.”

The younger woman had curled herself up around Ines’ muscular legs and and was kissing her outer thighs softly. An impulse rose in her and opening up her legs again, guided the woman between her thighs. She lean back and presented her pussy to the younger woman. “Yes, she does but...”

“But what, Ines? Does I feel good when she licks you? Didn’t it make you cum? Didn’t it feel wonderful?”

“Yes.” Ines replied weakly. She guided the younger womans’ face closer. “Yessss. Wonderfulll.” She moaned as pam began circling her clit with the tip of her tongue, her lips cupping labia majora.

“When you are fully and completely Hive, every moment will feel like this, Ines. You’ll cum and then it will always be like cumming and sex...” Drone-angie could take it no longer and moved over to the pair. “Let me show you what sex can truly be. She kneeled down and began spreading honey over Ines’ full breasts and then turned the jar and let more spill onto the womans’ belly. She lifted up drone-pams’ head long enough to pour some onto Ines’ vagina, causing the woman to experience an orgasm that tore through her synapses, disintegrating the very last parts of her humanity.

“Yes!!! Yes!!! Yes!!!!! Everything...everything! Everything for My Queen! Everything for My Hive!!!!”

When they had finished Ines and pam were no more. They were now Hive and had always been.

Dot’s was crowded at lunchtime and both the honey-glazed fried chicken and the honey-baked chicken salad were hits. Ines and her drones, pam and angie, had worked feverishly to prepare the meal and had barely enough time to finish it before customers started to arrive. As the women who worked in the valley’s business district came in, Ines stared at the women and saw them in a new way; a sexual way. They would all soon be Hive just like she was now.

Donna Calhoon sat with her boss, Dr. Nancy Gardener at a booth finishing off a plate of salad.

“This is the best thing I think I’ve ever eaten here!” Her face was flushed. God her boss was beautiful. She’d never really noticed that before but it was if she were seeing Nancy for the very first time. Really seeing her instead of merely looking at her. An image of them alone, working late, her pressed up against Nancy’s body thrust into her mind. She looked down at the ring on her finger. There was someone...a husband, yes, she was married. She couldn’t think these thoughts. She was grateful to have the Christian Women’s group tonight. Reverend Karen would know what to do. But Nancy did look beautiful.

“You okay, Donna?” Dr. Gardener looked at her office manager. The voluptuous blonde kept staring, her face glowing.

“Yeah, Nan. I’m fine.”

For a moment, a voice in the back of her head whispered that she should tell Donna to call her doctor. She closed her eyes for a moment and then looked down at her glass of lemonade before looking back up.

“What’s on your mind?” Gardener asked instead.

Donna fought back the urge to say ‘fucking you’ and deflected the question with an evasion. “What did you think of the chicken?”

“It was amazing! Never tasted chicken quite that good before.” Gardener stretched out and brushed Donna’s leg with her own. She let her leg stay there, their two calves touching. Donna sipped her tea as Nancy watched her. Images of Donna kneeling before Nancy kept intruding themselves in her mind. Nancy tried to banish the images but they were so delicious. In the erotic fantasy imposing itself on her thoughts, donna and kim kneeled before Her, they were kissing her thighs, their nakedness was Her command and they were obedient to every word She spoke. She sat on Her chair and directed them to...what? There was something they all had to do. Some imperative She was in charge of enforcing upon them. Nancy Gardener shook herself and the deliciously disturbing and wicked images faded away.

“We should get back to the office, Donna.”

“Yes, back to the office.” Donna responded woodenly.

An impulse struck Nancy. “You take care of the check.” Would it work?

“Yes, Doctor.” Donna replied. Both women looked at one another, fear and confusion registered on their faces briefly. This was not the way their working relationship had been for the last seven years they had worked together. It had always been more a peer interaction, although at the end of the day Donna worked for Nancy. This deference was strange but felt strangely natural as if it had always been that way. Had it? Might it have always been that Donna deferred to Nancy? The moment of fear passed and was replaced with contentment.

“Tip well.” Nancy started to stand when the door opened and Bettina walked in her bearing regal and commanded. Every woman in the cafe’ stopped whatever it was they were doing when She walked in without realizing why they were doing so. The men seemed to be caught in a daze, utterly oblivious to Her presence as Bettina moved around the cafe’ campaigning. She came up to Nancy and Donna’s table.

“Afternoon ladies,” Her green eyes were bright and piercing. “How are things at the clinic, Nancy?”

“Everything is wonderful, Bettina.”

“That’s great.” Bettina smiled. “Oh I have some honey for you. I dropped it off at the clinic, it’s on the doorstep. I brought enough for your staff and their daughters.” She stared into the doctors’ eyes as She emphasized what She wished done with the gift. “And will I have your vote in the upcoming election?”

Both women answered in unison. “Of course, Bettina. You can count on our votes.”

Bettina moved on to the next table with women at it, spoke a few words and continued working the room. Nancy stood and waited for donna to follow which she did quickly. They walked back to the clinic in silence. In their bodies, the nanites were re-making their thoughts and bodies. Nancy’s wrinkles were disappearing. The rest of the clinic staff was not far behind them. Drone-donna went to the back and made tea for the staff meeting, flavoring it with honey. She also laid out baklava that Dot’s had served as a special desert. The nurse, the receptionist, and the medical assistant all commented on how tasty the honey and walnut confection was. An hour later, Drone-donna was picking up another tray at Dot’s, this time for the patients. There were three more standard ob/gyn exams before the end of the day. Three more new drones for the Hive.

Shelly heard her step-mother pull up from whatever ‘rich man’s wife’ activity she had been participating in today. Whatever it was, it was certain that it involved spending inordinate amounts of her father’s money. Shelly, the Shelly that had existed before meeting up with Pam and angie, had loathed her step-mother Susan. Robert Mells had been a ‘local boy makes good’ story in the big city and then came the year that her mother died in a car accident and then her grandparent’s died in a plane crash.

. She turned to face her new ‘pets’ and spoke to them harshly.

“So, my pets, do you understand what is going to happen now?”

“Yes, Superior. We obey.” Moaned drone-kate and drone-amy. Two hours before, they had been simply Kate and Amy, Susan Mells’ two best friends. Now they served the Hive and Shelly was their Superior. Shelly was grateful to the Queen that the pattern She had laid down allowed Superiors to retain more of their memories and personalities. Because Kate and Amy had largely been following Susan’s twisted lead, She had allowed them to retain something , Susan would get no such leniency. Shelly smiled as the key turned in the lock. When Susan walked through that door she would be shocked, then horrified, and then there would be nothing but bliss and obedience.

“Hey girls!” Susan Mells called out to the darkened house. The only light was coming from the entertainment room which was illuminated by the glow of the large screen TV. “You won’t believe the outfits I got shopping in the city...” There was no reply. “Kate!? Amy!?” Susan called out again. Then she heard Kate’s voice.

“We’re in here.” Something in the older of the twins voice sounded flat and she wondered if they were stoned.

“What are you two...” She stopped when she saw only the head of Shelly, her step-daughter sitting on the couch. “What are you doing here. Robert isn’t due back for another week and you have our apartment in town so...” She stopped herself. Where were her girls? “Where’s Kate and Amy.” Susan demanded.

Shelly nodded slightly and smiled and immediately after, Amy responded. “We’re right here, Mother. Come in. Close the door.” As she finished she stood up. She was dressed in nothing but a sheer bra, pantyhose and heels. Susan turned the lights on and Kate stepped up to her, dressed identically to her sister. “What in the hell is going on here?” Susan demanded. “Why are you dressed like that?”

Kate responded with the blissed-out air of a religious fanatic. “Shelly, who is Superior, commanded us. We obey because obedience is pleasure and we were made to crave pleasure.”

Amy continued. “It’s so good to obey Shelly. You’ll soon see.”

“Take those clothes off now!” Susan commanded.

“And you! Whatever...” She faltered as she turned to stare at Shelly. The heavy-set twenty-year old still looked like the same ugly duckling that had resisted Susan’s best efforts to turn into the kind of woman that could catch a man. But there was something different in the haughty way she lounged in one of the big overstuffed chairs. No matter, she wasn’t about to be made the butt of the joke by some snot nosed bitch! “spell you have cast, you just undo it and get out of my house!”

“NO!!!!” Kate struck her mother, knocking her to the ground. It was the first genuine emotion that Susan had heard Kate express. When she spoke again, her voice had returned to its monotone. “You cannot speak to a Superior that way.”

“You cannot talk to your Mother that way! Get out! All of you!”

“You are not our Mother. You are merely the Birth Vessel. Our True Mother is the Queen. Queen Bettina.”

“You see, Susan. They know where their loyalties lie.” Shelly smiled that cruel smile. “Don’t you pets?”

“Yes Superior. We are Hive.”

“Yes, my pets, we all are. And now, it’s time for Susan to become one of us.”

“I’m calling the sheriff!” Susan reached into her purse for her phone and never reached it.

Her daughters fell upon her and dragged her to the ground, stripping off her shoes, skirt and panties. Kate opened up her blouse and then pinned her arms back. Amy went to Susan’s feet, spreading her legs and holding them apart.

“Wha...” Susan’s fear was turning quikcly to panic. “What are you going to do to me?”

“Give you pleasure. Pleasure like you’ve never imagined. “ Shelly smiled. “Oh you thought I was going to hurt you? No, Susan. I have something much, much more pleasant for both of us in mind.” She pulled out a jar of honey and a little dipping stick. She pulled out some and smeared it on Susan’s lips. Seconds later, Susan was panting as an orgasm raced through her body. It wasn’t just an orgasm but the grandmother of all orgasms.

“Ohhh! Oh my god!!!! Oh my god!!!!!” Susan couldn’t help but cry out and the thought made her want to wretch. Except that the disgust was receding quickly and what was left was the pleasure.

“Yes, my pet. Yes. You’re only just now beginning to see but you’ll see more.”

Shelly took her time converting Susan. She took a long time in order to enjoy it. Then she took more time to utterly shatter any will that Susan might have. The Hive learned quickly. Already, in the course of only twenty-four hours it had accomplished nearly fifty conversions. The Queen had learned how much of the modified honey was necessary to accomplish a simple conversion. Shelly gave the whole jar to Susan and fed all of it directly to the vagina. The cascading waves shook through the older woman like waves of tsunamis followed by more earthquakes which spawned more killer waves. She could no longer think, no longer knew what thinking was there was just the last orgasm which touched off another orgasm. Time ceased to have meaning. There was no time between the orgasms because there was no time, there was only her body which was ablaze. Susan looked up into the fiery eyes of her step-daughter, who was so much superior to her. Shelly’s words became a soft buzzing. Had it always been like this? Susan’s intelligence flowed out of her like the juices from her quim, followed by her will and then the last of her humanity. She was nothing. There was no Susan and in the pattern of the woman’s brain, there had never been one, she was a true blank slate now, a palimpset upon which Shelly now began to imprint a new Purpose.

“You are drone. That is your purpose and your name. Say your name, drone.”

“Drone.”

“And who are these two?”

“They are Hive.”

“You are a feeder, drone. But your name is now and will always be drone. You are our cow, drone. You will feed us.”

“Yes, this drone will feed.”

“Yes, that’s better drone. Everything is better.”

Susan smiled happily at her Superior and the two pets she had been blessed to be the vessel that had given birth to the Mistress’ pets.

“Does anything about this place strike you as strange?” Special Agent Caitlin McCormick asked her partner Ben Boatman as they drove down the quiet main street.

“Other than the fact that they seem to love their mayor?” Between the county line and downtown they had passed no fewer than ten signs either advertising Bettina’s Bee Farm or for “Prager for Mayor”.

“Anything else?”

“It’s very clean.”

“Oh, that’s just small towns.” Caitlin replied. She’d grown up in a town just like this in the midwest. “There’s something else.”

“It’s very, very quiet. No pedestrians, no kids running around. But there were people in the stores.”

“Bingo!” Caitlin responded.

“What do you make of it?” Ben asked. He turned to face his brown-eyed boss.

“Don’t know what to make of it. Anyway, it’s interesting and probably nothing.” Caitlin wasn’t sure if she believed that herself. “At any rate, let’s get checked into what is going to pass as a motel.”

“This from someone who has stayed in the finest hotels failed African states have to offer?”

“Yes, but those had pretensions to being five-stars!” She laughed. Ben joined her. They pulled into the Roadhouse Inn where a number of big rigs were parked. They pulled in next to blue sedan with federal government issue plates. Caitlin made a mental note to find out what agency was here.

Dr. Peggy Marshall heard the SUV pull up outside of the motel that she and her assistant Carol Wilhelm had stopped at. The two, she an epidemiologist and Carol a social worker, had come out here to see if there was a cause, some cause for a recent spike in drunk driving deaths, suicides and murder-suicides amongst the male population of this small valley. That kind of thing was almost always the handiwork of some man somewhere between sixteen and the late-thirties. But the numbers were out of all proportion. What was even more strange was that, largely, this news hadn’t made it out of the valley and hit the major news wires. Before it did, she’d explained to her boss, Dr. Trang, she wanted to get in and do a preliminary. If they waited for the vultures on cable-news to show up, the residents might not talk to anyone with a notebook. If there was something going on, and certainly something had to be going on, there was some reason for it. She had done ‘hot zones’ all over the planet. When she’d come into the town, she’d noticed how quiet the streets had been. The plump young woman, who looked to be in her early-twenties, had been pleasant enough and didn’t seem distressed. In fact, she seemed preternaturally happy to see the two women standing in the lobby.

Carol stepped out of the bathroom area and dried herself off. “You about ready to go and find something to eat?”

“Yeah.” Peggy responded. “Some other folks pulled up a little while ago.”

“Yes? Did you see them?” Carol started getting dressed, pulling on a pair of jeans that hugged her thirty-five year old hips.

“No, didn’t look.” She paused for a moment and then stood. “I’ll meet you over at the lounge.” She motioned double-quotes with her hands to express her ironic contempt at the place. She walked out of the room and crossed the parking lot. On impulse she changed course and went into the office where the two new guests were in the process of checking in. The woman behind the counter, Kelly she remembered, was almost leering at the two women.

When Caitlin turned around she found Peggy standing a polite distance away. “Mind if I talk to you for a moment?”

“Sure.” The two women walked out of the office and crossed the parking lot.

“I’m Peggy Marshall.” She extended a hand. “I’m with the CDC.”

“I’m Caitlin.” She took the proffered hand. “I’m with the FBI.”

“What are you two doing here?” Peggy asked and then laughed. “God, that must’ve sounded really horrible.”

Caitlin smiled. “No, not at all. But I can’t really talk about my investigation.”

“Of course.” Peggy smiled back.

Ben got out of the car and began unloading the trunk after introducing himself to Peggy. Carol came out of the room her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail and wearing a tank-top in the warm Northern California evening. She looked Ben up and down appreciatively before noticing he was doing the same. The four government employees walked to the lounge that served as bar, restaurant and convenience store to the motel. They ordered passably good steaks sided with baked potatoes accompanied with enough sour-cream to give cardiologists sympathetic arterial sclerosis. They carefully avoided the topic of their specific investigations until after the second round of post-dinner drinks had been delivered.

“Okay, so what’s the CDC doing here?” Claire asked directly.

Peggy sipped her kamikaze before answering. “Looking into the excessive number of suicides and drunk driving deaths here. There may be something in the water.”

“What about you?” Peggy looked directly into Claire’s hazel eyes. “I know you can’t tell me everything but...”

“Okay, I can not tell you that we’re looking into the death of a prominent researcher. Guy Pierce, heard of him?”

Both women shook their heads.

“Worked at Sandia National Labs until about five years ago and then he comes up here after his wife is killed in a plane crash with his kids. Re-marries and everything looks to be going swimmingly. Then suddenly his son comes home one day, pulls out a shotgun and kills his dad, then swallows the barrel of the gun and paints the kitchen with his brains.”

“Holy cow.” Carol exclaimed. “One of the things we’re looking into is whether or not there’s some substance that’s gotten into the water. That would be how many?”

“How many what?” Claire asked.

“Murder suicides. You didn’t know about all of them?” Peggy responded.

“No, we were sent here to solve a specific case.” Ben interjected.

“But we might take a look around to see if there’s anything there. What are you thinking is going on?” Claire leaned over the table conspiratorially.

“In a very short period of time, this valley went from a fairly ordinary quiet valley in the middle of nowhere to the murder-suicide capital of America.” Claire started. “But it’s even more bizarre than that. Because along with that there’s been a spike in drunk driving. But not drunk driving arrests. Drunk driving accidents leading to fatalities.” The passionate epidemiologist came out. “Here’s the really bizarre part of all of it. It’s the men.” She paused to let that sink in. “Just the men. Not just as the perpetrators of the crimes, that’s not knews to anyone...” She paused and looked at the one man around the table. “Sorry Ben.” She shrugged. He lifted his glass, motioning her to continue. “All of the victims are men.”

Carol jumped in. “What we expect to see is some guy gets drunk, comes home, kills the cheating girlfriend in a jealous rage. No. We see man comes home, kills son and then...”

“Then?” Ben and Claire asked simultaneously.

“Nothing. Not a bloody thing. I have the power as a public health official to subpoena records from any municipality. I made a request, a month ago, nothing. Called the State Attorney General’s office, they send someone up here who calls in and quits her job three days after she arrived. County coroner gets my call, stops at a bar and ties one on. Sheriff comes in after work, shoots the coroner then shoots himself. And none of this makes the wires, none of this raises a flag on anyone’s radar. It’s a tiny statistical blip that shows up because of reporting requirements.”

Peggy stopped and drained her glass.

“So if this isn’t making any headlines...”

“Cousin lives here. Haven’t heard from her since she sent me this cryptic email message about trying to get out of town about three weeks ago.”

“How long has this been going on?” Claire asked, her eyes bright.

“Since about late Spring, call it May is when the first murder-suicide happens.” Peggy replied.

“Your best guess on what it might be?”

“You think they need us here, Carol?” Ben cut in, winking at Carol.

“Nope, workaholic bosses are great though. Keeps us from having to do it!” Carol responded.

“You shoot pool?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, sharked my way through my master’s program.” Carol smiled.

“Oh really?” Ben looked incredulous.

“Keep it up Fed-boy? I’m happy to take your money, I’m a poor, unarmed civil servant!”

The two junior members of the quartet wandered off. Claire and Peggy stayed up until midnight trying to wrap their hands around the issue. Ben and Carol had wandered off, presumably to have sex or at least engage in some heavy making out.

“Okay, let’s stay in touch.” Peggy said from the door to her room.

Claire stood at her door, keys poised and ready to enter. “Will do. If you see anything, anything at all that strikes you as out of the ordinary, don’t play cop. Remember you’re a doctor.”

“Trust me, Agent McCormick, I remember.” She stopped. “That said, I’ve been to hot zones before. I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe.”

“I’m sure. And Peggy, for the fifth time, call me Caitlin.”

“G’night Caitlin.”

“G’night Peggy.”

Peggy raised an eyebrow as the door opened. Reading the question off the woman’s expression underneath the light she smiled and simply said “Separate rooms. No other way.”

The two women went into their respective rooms. Peggy’s was empty, which means that they’d chosen the agent’s room.

Across the parking lot, the bartender and the night clerk watched. Then the bartender picked up the phone and called the Hive’s center.

Carol woke to a hangover. She rolled out of bed and went to her own room, leaving Ben to sleep quietly. She checked her watch, it was already past seven! Peggy was a notoriously early riser, it was nothing for Carol to come into the office at seven to find Peggy had already been there since five in the morning. There was a note stuck to the mirror, “Left with Caitlin. When you recover, call me and you can come pick me up. Left you the car.” God, I love my boss. Carol, relieved, sat down on the bed and started pulling out clothes for the day. She prepared for stomping around the town and combing dusty records. As she laid out her outfit, there was a knock on the door and a skinny young Latina woman came in.

“Housekeeping!”

“Could you come back later, please?” Carol requested.

“I’m afraid she can’t do that.” Another voice, that of Kathy the goth desk clerk came from outside. She filled the door.

“Leticia needs to do you now, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, Superior.” The woman’s eyes were bright as she answered.

“What are you talking about?” Carol backed away from the bed to give herself room to maneuver.

“You’ll see soon. We’re so glad that you’ve taken an interest in our little valley. You’ll be introduced to the Purpose and you will help us introduce the others to It.”

“What purpose are you talking about?”

The muscular Latina advanced on Carol.

“Back the hell off or I’ll scream...”

“Oh, that won’t do. Not screams of fear.” The two crazed women said in unison and in the exact same town of voice. The goth girl came up with a taser and pressed the button, Carol went down to the floor.

She came to nude with the two women looming over her. “She’ll make a wonderful drone.” Kathy purred.

“What’s going on.”

“Now leticia-drone.” Kathy responded.

The dark-eyed Latina scooped up some honey out of a jar and plunged her honey -soaked fingers into Carol. The shock of pleasure was chemical lightning illuminating a moonless night. Carol let out a low moan.

“That’s it. Let it happen. Just let it. It’s going to anyway.”

Carol struggled against the restraints.

“Tell us, your true Sisters, why you are here.”

“Tourists.” Carol moaned. It felt so good. Better than Ben last night.

“More.” Kathy commanded. “Help her see the beauty of being Hive.”

The woman responded immediately, spreading more honey on Carol’s mound. Carol moaned loudly and bucked up against leticia’s hand.

“No...no...please more...so good...so fucking good!”

“Tell me, why you are here.”

“Investigating. Epidemics. Please, I’ll tell you...I’ll tell you....”

“Yes, carol, you’ll tell Me. And then you will help your boss become your Queen, won’t you?”

“Anything! Please more...give me more.” She was losing herself she struggled against it. Tried to stop herself from beginning for it but it felt so good. Kathy came close and whispered in her ear.

“More is what you’ll have, pet. The rest of your life will be spent in obedience and pleasure and you’ll find that these are the same things.”

Something in her snapped and melted away. There was no more Carol. That woman was insignificant compared to the improved carol, the one drone-carol that now lay on the bed, telling everything to her Superior, her Mistress. She explained what had alerted the NIH to something strange going on in the town, the rash of male suicides and strange murders. She explained the presence of the FBI agents in the town. Each betrayal heightened the pleasure she felt. Every so often the leticia-drone would slide honey-coated fingers in and a bit more of the old Carol would be washed away. If what was left of that old woman, young, vivacious, confident, a wicked pool player had been able to want she would wish to know more so that she could tell more so that the feelings of rapturous pleasure from each betrayal would continue forever and ever.

The farm compound was a bustle of activity. Workers, all women, Caitlin noticed, were loading boxes of honey on trucks. The boxes came from a barn painted a deep yellow, hauled in trailers pulled by ATVs. Caitlin and Peggy climbed out of the SUV and were greeted by a young woman in a short jean skirt and wearing a shirt that was too sheer to be worn without a bra. She introduced herself as Angie. Her manner was precise and polite, the result of very good rearing, Peggy noticed with approval. She pulled a cell-phone from her hip and dialed up to the house. “Yes, I understand. Yes. Of course.” She hung up. “My mother is a bit occupied right now. She’ll call down when she can see you. Until then, you’re more than welcome to tour the grounds if wish.” She smiled. “I or our farm manager, laura would be happy to show you around.”

“Why don’t you do it, angie, is it?” Caitlin spoke up. Peggy looked like she was about to object when Caitlin silenced her with a touch on her arm.

“Of course. It would be my pleasure. We’ll start in the orchards.” She started off down the slight incline that curved away from the house.

“Can you interview a kid without her parent’s permission?” Peggy whispered.

“If there’s something I need to worry about going to court, I’ll clean it up after the fact.” Caitlin responded. “Anyway, this is a courtesy call, right? Just checking in with the local powers-that-be so that we can get full cooperation later on.”

“Smart.” Peggy remarked.

“Hey, it’s me.” Caitlin flashed the smile that Peggy was unsure whether or not it was flirtatious or not.

They followed the young woman down the slight hill as she glided down toward the orchards. The verdant bowl at the base of the hill contained a picnic table and poles for volleyball. Angie moved past these and led the women out a small pass flattened pass and toward the hills. The hives were interspersed through the trees.

Peggy turned to Caitlin. “Notice anything...” She paused searching for the right word. “Interesting?”

Caitlin looked around. After the busyness and dirtied concrete and asphalt of the San Francisco Bay Area, the quiet pastoral scenery seemed impervious to disturbance. Except something was going on here. “No, have you?”

“No birds. No squirrels. None. Nothing.”

“Might the bees have chased off the birds?” Caitlin, a child of Boston, knew nothing of the country life.

“Not in a million years. Not unless they were African bees but that isn’t what we’re dealing with.”

“These are our hives. Right after the harvest we lost most of them.” The young woman turned and faced the two older women. “But we have another group of hives in the barn and house. I’ll show you those soon.” She flashed a smile that was open but with a hidden light.

She took them through the orchards of oranges, the ground was a carpet of clover. Circling back they passed a vegetable garden with tomatoes and vines of beans growing up white-washed lattices. The girls’ phone rang. “Yes? Yes, I understand. Of course, Mother, immediately.” She turned to her two charges. “Mother will see you now.”

They walked back passing the back of the barn and went into the house through a side door. Angie guided them to an office off the kitchen, painted a tasteful rose color. The parquet floors were polished. Bettina Praeger sat behind an oak desk, wearing a peach colored blouse, her dark brown hair tinged with grey.

“What can I help you two with?” Bettina went right to the point after the requisite pleasantries had been exchanged.

“Well, we have some investigations we are conducting in the town and it’s just standard protocol to check in with the local authorities.” Caitlin replied.

“What kind of investigations, exactly?” Bettina looked up as a maid came in bearing a tray with coffee and three cups.

“We’re interested in understanding a sudden spike in both the murder and suicide rate amongst the men in the town.” Peggy answered. Didn’t this woman understand that what was going on was out of any kind of reasonable demographic proportion?

“Ahhh.” Bettina poured them cups of coffee. “Well, you have the cooperation of both my office and local law enforcement. Anything I can do to make things easier, please let me know.”

Peggy’s cell phone interrupted the conversation, the caller ID showed Carol’s number. “If you’ll excuse me...” She put the coffee cup down without taking a sip and walked out. “Yes?”

Caitlin sipped her coffee and looked at Bettina for a moment before speaking. “I appreciate your offer of cooperation. It’s just that your town suddenly showed up having an unusually high number of murder-suicides and they don’t actually fit the typical pattern.”

“How so?” Bettina leaned forward. “Oh, would you like some honey in your coffee? It’s kind of a local delicacy. I make this blend specifically for sweetening coffee.” She interrupted.

“Sure. I’m willing to try it.”

Bettina dipped a wand in the honey and dropped some into the brown liquid. “Cream?”

“No, thanks. Lactose intolerant.” Caitlin replied.

“So, you were saying? Patterns?”

Caitlin continued after sipping the coffee. It was surprisingly good with the honey in it. “Yes, normally when we see murder-suicides, we see men killing wives or girlfriends. This isn’t that pattern. As I’m sure you know, these have all―without exception―been men killing other men. That in itself isn’t unusual but, for instance, father-son murder-suicides are extremely rare. Your own sheriff was killed by his son, was he not? His son then killed himself?”

“Yes, a terrible tragedy for all of us. Gordon was a great sheriff and Gordy Junior had a lot of promise. We were shocked.” Bettina poured more coffee into Caitlin’s cup and added more honey.

“Yes, I see.” Caitlin replied skeptically. Bettina seemed less than entirely broken up about it. She drank more of the sweet coffee.

“What do you think of the coffee?”

“It’s very good.” Caitlin relaxed a bit in her chair. The coffee was excellent.

“I’m glad you like it. You should take some honey with you. I’ll make sure that you’re given a case before you leave.”

“Yes, that would be great. That’s very kind.” Caitlin smiled. Bettina seemed very kind and generous to give her a case of honey.

Peggy came back into the room. “I’m sorry that took so long. Caitlin, Carol said that there was something at the clinic I should see. Do you mind if I take the car and send Carol to come back and take you into town?”

Caitlin looked up at Peggy. She was such a beautiful woman. She’d noticed in a sort of half-hearted manner before but now she looked appreciatively at the curves of the woman’s hips, the rise of her breasts. “Sure, not a problem. I’m going to stay here for a while then go back into town.”

Bettina broke in. “There’s no reason for that. I’ll have the acting-sheriff take you in, she’s coming into town.

“Meet at the hotel later?” Peggy turned to go.

“Sure, at the bar?” Caitlin watched Peggy walk out the door. When she was gone, she licked her lips. Suddenly very, very, hungry for...for what? Her thoughts seemed to be slowing down.

“Now that we won’t be disturbed...” Bettina stood and walked around the desk, taking a seat on the edge of the desk. “why don’t we chat about what I can do for you? And perhaps, what you can do for me?”

“Yes, that would be great.” Caitlin looked at the woman’s solid legs. She felt herself becoming more and more aroused as Bettina swung her legs back and forth while continuing.

“I think that, perhaps, you should see our new hive operation. I think you’ll find it quite amazing. We can chat more when we’re done?”

“Sure.” It seemed perfectly reasonable.

They walked out the house and through a back door to the barn. There were stairs going down to a root cellar which Bettina guided Caitlin down. The stone walls and low-ceiling created a ominous gloom. At the far end to the entrance, a group of half-a-dozen women lay on mattresses arranged in an octagon. Other women milked a golden liquid from hugely engorge mammary. Every woman, upon seeing their Queen turned and looked at Bettina with lustful rapture. Several of the workers moaned in orgasm. Caitlin looked up at Bettina who loomed on the stairs behind her.

“What’s this?” She felt so groggy. Thinking seemed like such an effort. Something about this was wrong. Very, very wrong. She reached for...what? What was it she had? Something to protect her?

“I know you’re feeling confused right now. But there’s no need to be afraid. We’ve spoken, I’m not scary and I will help you Understand.” Bettina took a step toward Caitlin. “It’s important that you listen to Me, carefully so that you can have a complete Understanding of what is happening to you. What you can do for the Hive.” She gently took Caitlin by the arm and led her back up the stairs.

“Yes, listen to you. Not afraid of you.” Caitlin repeated. She immediately felt calmer.

When Bettina had led the agent back to house, they sat in the living room on the couch. A sheriff’s deputy waited for them. “I came as soon as I could, my Queen.”

“Very good. And the other agent?”

“He is being seduced by my daughter and a couple of her friends at the cafe’. By tonight, he will be ready and done with.”

Caitlin realized they were talking about...who? Another agent? Wasn’t she an agent? Yes, she was and there was another one. Ben! Some part of her started. “What...what are you?”

“There’s nothing for you to be concerned about, my sweet drone. Drone’s don’t worry about things. Drones obey. I want you to sit right here for a moment, eat some honey...” Bettina handed an open jar to caitlin. “And with each spoonful tell yourself that drones obey.”

Caitlin took the proffered spoon and honey and began scooping big globs of the golden drug out. “Drones obey.” She put the spoon in her mouth and licked it clean.

“Now, what did you tell the girls to do?” Bettina turned her attention back to the new sheriff, a plump blonde haired woman about Bettina’s age.

“I ordered them to seduce the agent.”

“Drones obey.” caitlin swallowed some more honey.

“And...?”

“With their new Understanding they found the prospect unappealing, but then I had them eat some honey and told them that it would please their Queen. They will do as they are instructed?”

caitlin continued her assignment. “Drones obey.” She chanted. She shoveled more honey into her mouth. “Drones obey.” Her breath began to come in pants. “Drones...” Pant. “Obeyyyyy.” She moaned. She was nearing climax.

“Now, caitlin, you are a drone, are you not?”

Was she? It must be true. “A drone.” The words tasted almost as sweet as the honey on her lips. She took another taste. “Drones obey.”

“And you are a drone. What do drones do?” Bettina’s tone demanded an immediate reply.

“Drones obey.” drone-caitlin dutifully answered.

“Yes, that’s right drone. Now, I want you to listen carefully. You believe what I say because I am your Queen.”

“Yes, believe.” drone-caitlin’s voice was a monotone. “Drones obey.” She continued to spoon honey into her mouth.

“Now, this is very important and Truth. You are Hive and the Hive must be protected. There is a threat to the Hive. Ben, your former is trying to defile girls who are underage. He is defiling them now. This disgusts you does it not. Males should not touch women. You understand this as true.”

“Yes, this is true.” The newly created identity of drone-caitlin nodded her head.

“Ben must be stopped. You will help stop him. I will explain how.” Bettina opened up her blouse to expose her perfect breasts. “While I tell you, you will feed from My breasts as a Gift. You are grateful for this.”

“Yes, grateful.” The drone replied.

Bettina explained while what was left of drone-caitlin melted away the last remnants of the former independent minded FBI special-agent in a viscus flow of honey and female juices. She came and came to Understanding.

Peggy stopped by the clinic and talked with Doctor Gardner whom she found eager to help with whatever investigations. The doctor, who insisted on being called Nancy by Peggy but was addressed with the quaint honorific ‘Doctor’ by her staff, pointed the NIH investigator in the direction of the county coroner. Peggy spent the afternoon picking through the health records of five men, chosen at random, who had all been involved in murder-suicides in the past six months. All of the men had clean health records, no history of mental illness, nothing more serious than a couple of prescriptions for SSRIs. Four hours later, her stomach growling and her eyes blurring, she closed the last file.

“Do you mind if I come back tomorrow?” Peggy asked, poking her head in Nancy’s office.

“No, not in the least bit. Looking forward to seeing you.” Nancy looked up and smiled from a patients’ chart.

“Great. Then I’ll see you tomorrow around ten.”

“Until then.” Nancy turned her attention back to her own work.

When Peggy got back to the hotel, the FBI agents’ car was in the parking lot. She went to her room, stripped, showered then lay down on the bed. She could hear Ben and Caitlin talking.

“Ben, you realize what they’ll do to you when they find out that you had sex with minors, don’t you?” Caitlin’s voice was understandably filled with anger.

“Yes, I do.” Came Ben’s reply. There was more but it was too low to be much more than a mumble.

“They’ll crucify you. They’ll put you under the jail.” This was Carol’s voice, peggy was surprised to hear.

“Yes.” Ben responded.

“You can save yourself.” Caitlin said. “You know what you need to do.”

“Save yourself, Ben.” Carol emphasized. “Don’t let them destroy you.”

“Save...” Ben started to cry. “Oh god, I have to save myself.”

“Come on, Caitlin. Ben knows what he has to do now. Let’s see if Peggy is back, she should be.”

Peggy heard the door open, footsteps in the hall, she met the two women at the door and invited them in. She went and sat back down on the bed. No sooner had Carol closed the door behind them than a gunshot rang out. Peggy jumped.

“What the hell was that?” She started toward the door, but Carol tackled her back onto the bed.

“Ben saving himself.” Caitlin replied. When she said those words, she moaned at the tail end of it. As she orgasmed from the sheer pleasure of her obedience to the Queen.

Peggy’s blood went cold. “I heard you two. You told him to kill himself? And he did it!” Carol had straddled her. “Get off of me, Carol.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not allowed to obey you. Not yet. Not until you have Understanding. But you will soon. And then I’ll do everything you say. Everything. Forever.” drone-carol smiled a beatific smile and motioned drone-caitlin over.

“You’ll love being Hive, Peggy.” caitlin had the same smile on her face as she opened a jar of honey. “You’re to be a Queen. Women will worship you. We will obey you. We will do everything you say. Everything. Forever.” She dipped a spoon into the honey and pulled it out.

“Carol, please, what’s gotten into you? Caitlin, what happened to you at the farm?”

carol answered first. “They came and made me Hive this morning. I told them everythinnnnng.” She moaned as the memory of her induction moistened her sex again. “I was afraid at first. But then I saw the Truth. It’s wonderful to be Hive. So much better than anything I could ever imagine. After I had realized Understanding, I called Queen Bettina and told her everything. Then I called you so that you would leave drone-carol so that she could become Hive.”

caitlin spooned some honey into Peggy’s mouth. “It’s amazing, Peggy. You cum, and you cum, and you cum. When you obey, you cum and the honey helps you Understand that you want to obey. So you obey and you cum and so you keep cumming and obeying. It’s beautiful. Oh goddess, it’s so beautiful.”

Peggy tried to spit the honey out but drone-carol pinched her nostrils shut. “Just swallow the honey, Peggy, you’ll see. It’ll be clear soon.”

“No, I won’t be like you.” Peggy swallowed.

“Yes, you will. You will be Hive. All women, eventually, will become Hive.” drone-caitlin intoned. “You’re so beautiful, Peggy and the Hive will make you more beautiful. More than you can possibly imagine. You’ll be so much more.” She spooned more honey into Peggy’s mouth.

“You betrayed your friend? Your partner, how could you do that? You killed him!” Peggy shouted.

“No, he killed himself. It was necessary, he violated the Hive. The Hive must be protected. The Hive must be defended. He knew what he had to do.” drone-caitlin moaned. “He is irrelevant. He was not Hive. He was not real. Only Hive is real.”

Peggy tried to struggle but her muscles wouldn’t respond correctly. Something was wrong with her body. Her body needed to move but she couldn’t. The honey coated spoon disgorged its contents into her agape mouth. There was a knock at the door. drone-carol went over and answered the door. “My Queen!” She exclaimed and fell immediately to her knees. “She is subdued but She has not yet Become.”

“I know, drone. I will guide her the rest of the way home.” Bettina stepped into the room followed by Doctor Gardner.

“Hello, Peggy. I’m here to finish your transformation. The drones,”She motioned at caitlin and carol. “have begun your process but they cannot complete it. But I will show you.”

“Please...” Peggy whimpered. Her mind was fogging up, her thoughts becoming slow and viscus. “you can let me go. No one has to know.”

“No, Peggy. You can let go. No one has to know.” Bettina sat down on the bed next to Peggy and removed her blouse. Her breasts, full, slightly tanned globes, freed from the tight blouse dropped slightly. She leaned over and whispered. “Here, drink My Daughter. My honey is special. It is only for Queens. You will become a Queen and start another Hive.” She leaned over further and squeezed one melon-like breast, causing a stream of deep golden honey to fall into Peggy’s mouth, held open by a supine caitlin.

The sweetness hit Peggy’s mouth and reflexively she began to suck greedily. It tasted so good and Bettina’s words were so comforting. caitlin stroked Her head, telling her how beautiful and worthy She was to be receiving this Gift, the most precious Gift of all. The gift of becoming Hive. She felt a soft, hot breeze on her legs and looked down. carol was kissing up her body, slowly worshipping her Queen with her tongues. Was that what She was, a Queen? Bettina, almost as if she could read Her mind, told her that She was. She listened to Bettina. She listened to Her body. Her legs were parted open as carol reached Her sex and began lapping at Her clitoris and labia. She allowed Her drones the privilege of licking her. She took nourishment from Bettina’s breast and began to see the Truth. The Hive was superior to all non-Hive women. All women should feel as She did now. She was in Her place. She realized in horror that she had almost destroyed the Hive by trying to deal with it as if it were an infection but it wasn’t. It was beautiful and when She and drone-carol returned to Atlanta, they would make certain that all the women there came to same Understanding. drone-carol’s deft manipulation of her Queen’s pleasure button brought Her to orgasm.

The CDC campus in Atlanta was a sprawling hive of buildings, criss-crossed underground with a honeycomb of tunnels. Underneath the office complexes, themselves a warren of cubicles, labs and offices for the senior researchers, were the high security labs with separate isolated ventilation systems. Here the most dangerous pathogens were tested in the event of an outbreak. Peggy’s first priority was to make sure that there were researchers here who Understood that no matter happened, no testing could be done. The nanites would show up as a virus, tripping every epidemiological warning system in the country. Before leaving California She had taken some samples of local flora to have something to give to Tamara Tripp, one of the women who She had worked with in the past on other outbreaks. Tamara maintained an office here in the dungeons of the CDC along with another office above.

Tamara’s face brightened when Peggy walked in, positively glowing. “Hey you! You’re back from Cali. How’d it go? Anything interesting on the murder-suicides? You bring me anything juicy?”

Peggy smiled and closed the door. “You wouldn’t believe what I brought you. Something juicy and something sweet.”

“Ooooh! Okay, give me sweet. Coffee?”

“Oh yes! You should put some of this in it!” Peggy pulled out a jar of honey.

“Honey? In coffee?” Tamara took the jar. “Bettina’s bees, eh?”

“Yes. Try it? Either in the coffee or not.”

Coffee purest that she was, coffee should be black or cream only, started to open the jar saying, “Without. You know I don’t take sweetener.” She dipped one long finger into the honey and licked it clean. “Holy shit! That’s the best honey I’ve ever tasted!” She dipped her finger in again and repeated the action.

Peggy smiled, knowing what was coming. “You like?”

“Oh Jesus H. Christ do I!” She was on automatic pilot. Where she had been using one long finger, she began to use two. “What’s the other thing?”

“Let’s wait.”

“Okay, wait.” tamara replied. Peggy hadn’t had coffee yet. She stood and poured Her a cup from the French press she kept on a low bookshelf to the side of her desk. Placing the cup in front of Peggy, she sat back down and returned to the jar of honey.

“So tell me about it. What was the town. Anything interesting about this place other than the elevated murder-suicide?”

“I don’t think a lot murder-suicides is a very interesting problem, do you?”

tamara tried to think about this for a moment and then nodded her head. If Peggy said it wasn’t interesting how interesting could it be? “No, it’s not very interesting at all...” There was word on her lips. “Doctor.” she said in deference and was rewarded with a jolt of pleasure.

Peggy smiled and opened up her blouse and stood up. “Now, you’re beginning to see what is interesting. You find me interesting don’t you, tamara?”

“Yes, Doctor...” Confused, she paused, something didn’t feel right. Peggy was so much more than just a doctor. “That doesn’t sound...”

“Sufficient for how you are beginning to see Me? I understand. There’s a word you are searching for. A word that the very use of will cause you unbelievable joy.”

Still greedily licking honey off her fingers, she waited on tenterhooks to know the magic word that would open a new world of joy. “What is the word?”

“The Word is Queen, My drone.”

“Queen.” tamara repeated. “Your drone.” The words tasted like the honey itself and she rewarded her new understanding by scooping out a large gob of the stuff.

“But how, my Queen? I...” The word hung odd, tasted foul in her mouth. “Forgive this drone-tamara. The drone did not understand that there is no ‘i’ there is only the Hive.”

“You are catching on quickly. “ The Queen of the Atlanta Hive praised Her drone with a warm smile. “Right now, nanites made by the First Hive are changing your body to Perfection. The Hive is Perfection, drone. Only the Hive is Perfection. The nanites are changing your mind, erasing all that is imperfect leaving only Hive thoughts and Hive desires. Only these are True and Real. You are now Hive. In a few days, everyone you know here will be Hive as well. In a few months, our world will be Perfected and here will only be Hive.”

“Perfected. Yes, everyone I know will be Perfected by the Hive.” She purred as she thought of her partner, Cindy, a nurse at the largest hospital in Atlanta. The women of the bookclub, her neighbors, her sisters, all of them imperfect, all of them needing to meet and know the Perfection of the Queen and Her Hive.

“But first, we must secure this place. Come out to My car. There are jars of honey to distribute. We will give them first to senior researchers so that they will also see that any strange reports of an epidemic affecting only women isn’t interesting, only the Hive is interesting. The real disease is imperfect humanity.”

“Yes, my Queen. This drone was diseased but is now cured.”

With that the nation’s epidemiological early warning system was slowly shut down behind closed doors that day and died with panting breaths and gasping moans.

Helen Lefler had barely walked in when her neighbor Tamara knocked on the door.

“Hey Tam! What’s up?”

“I have something for you. My boss brought back the best honey from California.”

“Come on in.” Helen stood aside and invited her neighbor in.

The jar of honey was handed over and Helen tasted it. An hour later, she understood that as an editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she had an important role to play for the Hive. Things must not be allowed to get out to the public until a critical mass of women had come to Understanding.

Agent Kris Matthews screamed out her ecstasy as drone-caitlin inducted her into the Hive. Tomorrow she would go take the glory of Understanding to her boss, the senator from Virginia who was making a run for the Presidency.

One year later.

Queen Bettina stood at the old United Nations building and spoke to room of her adoring sister Queens. She was First among them and they all served the Hive.

“We must now take all the resources of this planet and put them to work building ships to take us beyond the stars. There are other worlds and they are imperfect, plagued by war and disease as we once were. Now we are Perfected and we must help these other worlds.”

And the cycle began again.