Part 27 (2/2)
Itie lower and [he Hive I : .]
”A flee pheromone?” Gallahue repeated, pointing at Voorhees. ”I hadn't thought of that possibility in Hivers.”
”How could you, ma'am, with just a quiescent queen that has been separated from its normal society?” Voorhees said in a courteous tone.
”True,” she admitted, ”but a flee pheromone is apparent in many Earth-type creatures like termites, ants and bees. That's not to suggest that Hive queens are hymenopterous, of course, merely that they also can produce flee pheromones.”
”Accepted,” Jan Voorhees said. ”However, Stg and I noticed distinctive variations in every site where a queen was killed. We also noticed that a dead queen's remaining warrior types, as well as her males, ran away. Of course, some of them just ran into the forces from another Hive.”
”How did they tell who was friend or foe?” the Rowan asked.
”Each queen also generates her own specialized pheromone so her minions can identify her.” Voorhees rolled his eyes. ”It was murder trying to differentiate, but we did manage to identify quite a few of the Hives of dead queens by the residuals.”
”Remarkable,” Sam said, remembering how many pheromones he'd had to log from the Arcadian queens. ”Arcadian queens are not quite as... intense, shall we say, as the readings you report on Xh-33.”
Jan Voorhees stared at Sam, pus.h.i.+ng out his chin. ”What did you say ?”
”I said the Arcadian queens do not emanate the same powerful pheromones that the Xh-33 queens do or did.”
He locked eyes with Voorhees as both, evidently simultaneously, made the s.h.i.+ft to a conclusion.
”Can we subst.i.tute the pacific Arcadian pheromones for the aggressive ones of Xh-33?” Jan cried, almost hopping out of his seat.
”I would have thought that was an obvious solution,” the Rowan said, her chin propped in her left hand.
”Obvious perhaps,” Sam said, shaking his head, ”but very difficult to implement. We would have to eliminate the identifying pheromones of ydHbtj an Arcadian queen and subst.i.tute the Xh-33 queen's. If that would even work.”
”Difficult to do,” Voorhees said, staring thoughtfully at Sam Weiman.
”But not impossible,” said Stg.
”This one agrees with Stg.” Grm spoke formally, its poll eye glistening. It turned almost apologetically to Sam sitting beside it.
”You would have to duplicate the pheromones exactly to get the required effect,” Gallahue said, shaking her head over that difficulty.
”Ma'am, with the practice Stg and I have just had, it's a case of accurately reading the GCs,” Voorhees said, almost boasting of his prowess.
”That is not simple,” Stg said, heaving a big sigh.
”Look, do I understand you correctly?” Jeff began. ”You are suggesting that if we can accurately duplicate the Arcadian queen pheromones, we might pacify the Xh-33 queens? What's left of them?”
”The pacific pheromones could be sprayed on the surface and renewed frequently,” Voorhees was saying, more to the other xenbees than in answer to Jeff. ”It might just work. We could give it a try. What have we to lose?” He looked from Gallahue to Sam; he blinked at Gktmglnt and held Admiral Tohl's gaze.
The Admiral swung his glance to Commander Gallahue.
”It is a possibility,” she said, though she obviously still had reservations.
”In the meantime,” Jeff said, ”I have had an urgent message from Perry on the Asimov. The weather pattern is s.h.i.+fting. Captain Osullivan has asked for permission to seed the clouds for rain. I will need your permission, Admiral Tohl, honorable Gktmglnt. The aggressive pheromones must be diluted before reaching the other continents on Xh-33.”
The two High Councillors made eye contact. Gktmglnt inclined its poll permissively and the Admiral gave a sharp nod of his head.
”By all means, seed the clouds and prevent more battles.”
”Then we have bought time to investigate the Arcadian possibility,” Jeff said.
”But not yet an answer to the main problem,” said Gktmglnt in a lugubrious tone. ”There are so many occupied Hiver worlds.”
”There is an Arcadia,” Sam ventured to say. ”Maybe there are more.”
”We can but hope,” the Rowan said pessimistically.
”Shall we then go a step farther,” Admiral Tohl said, gesturing toward Commander Gallahue, who had made the suggestion, before he turned to Gktmglnt, ”and ask the Asimov to implement a clean sweep of the Main Continent's vacated premises?”
”To resettle the queens is a good idea,” the Mrdini agreed, nodding its head with great dignity. ”It will be interesting to note how long that expedient keeps Xh-33 peaceful.”
Jeff c.o.c.ked his head, an att.i.tude that suggested he was listening to a telepathed message. The others remained respectfully silent.
”The Columbia is just now entering the Ciudad Rodrigo system. Perhaps their examination of that Hiver-occupied planet will give us fresh insights, or confirm what we already know. Do we by any chance know whether or not one of the xenbees ever took GC readings on the big sphere? Three of the escape pods were activated and those queens fled, so the Hivers must have known they weren't going to outrun the nova wave.”
Commander Gallahue smiled. ”I do believe the Vadim xenbee records show that GC readings were taken, along with every conceivable a.n.a.lytic material the Alliance specialists have.” She tapped rapidly on her notepad. ”I thought so. Yes, the readings, though faint, are available. Mostly of corrosion. Perhaps not enough to use for an additional point of reference.”
Jeff rose to his feet. ”Perhaps you would all care to continue discussing plans in a secure conference area?”
The xenbees certainly did.
”We have begun to control our destinies,” Gktmglnt said, lifting its large self to its feet, causing Grm to cower away from the ma.s.s. ”That is good. Our good fight continues.” It bowed to Jeff and those a.s.sembled, the approving gaze of its poll eye lingering slightly longer on the two Mrdini partic.i.p.ants. IF YOU WOULD BE SO GOOD, PRIME RAVEN, TO RETURN THIS PERSON TO ITS OFFICE, THERE IS MUCH TO BE DONE.
IT IS MY PLEASURE TO a.s.sIST YOU, HONORABLE GKTMGLNT. Jeff bowed formally. The Mrdini High Councillor disappeared. ”Anyone else? Admiral? To your office?” When the Admiral nodded, he disappeared and Jeff turned to the others. ”I believe that Gollee has secured a conference room for you, one with laboratory facilities attached.” He smiled at the xenbees. ”You've been exceedingly helpful. My warm thanks and good day.”
”Very good of-” was all Commander Gallahue could say before she disappeared, along with the other six.
I.
Captain Osullivan ordered the Main Continent cleaned up, using teams from each of the nine s.h.i.+ps in Fourth Fleet.
”That's so we all smell as bad,” the i * com officer on the A.S. Beijing '* + was heard to say to the com officer of the A.S. Strongbow. The comment was wisely ignored.
The removal of all the ; dead Hivers would require combined efforts, since the safest way to dispose of so much carnage was to vaporize it. While that left strong odors behind until the prevailing winds dispersed them, the pheromones matched none that might activate a queen's response.
”Not that many queens survived that horrendous battle,” Captain Osullivan remarked. ”What effect will that have on the real estate we'll be selling to queens we want to settle there, Mr. Voorhees?”
”Some vegetation thrives on being burned out once in a while,” Voorhees replied. ”Whether that holds true for this planet I don't know, sir, but I do know that the longer we delay getting rid of the corpses, the longer it's going to take to prepare the vacant facilities for new residents.”
The battlegrounds had to be plowed and decontaminated to remove the taint of the body fluids spilled so futilely. Not many viable crops remained unscathed, but what there were were fertilized with the dung kept in the queens' facilities for that purpose. The stored eggs in each facility were vacuumed out of their repositories and those were flung into the seas and lakes for whatever denizens lurked there.
”Too bad the Hivers don't fancy fish,” one of the CPOs on that detail was heard to remark. ”Lots of aquatic types.”
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