Light… sounds… smells… I felt the trembling of the ground as my legs flowed out of the shell that encased me. One after another they touched the dirt for the first time. A voice beckoned me forward and I barely had time to think before my body obeyed of its own accord. Moving with so many others of my kind, our green speckled forms skittered through the tunnels lined with soft blue luminescence. The symphony of a thousand steps surrounded me as countless new brethren swarmed in the direction the voice beckoned.

I wanted to ask the voice where we were going, why we were traveling there with such haste? My questions fell on deaf ears however, or perhaps they were never asked at all as I felt my mind being forced to focus on another task. The orders kept echoing in my head;

Pick up, Carry, Travel, Drop, Pickup, Carry, Travel, Drop.

My thoughts tried to interrupt the orders being forced upon me but to no avail, my will succumbed to the whims of the voice. Finally, the voice quieted as a last command was given, rest.

My eyes closed for the briefest moment before opening again. All my brethren around me were asleep, their chittering silenced by the voice’s command. Why then was I not? I looked around at the walls of the room in which we slept, covered in blue glowing mosses and fungi, and packed to the brim with my brothers and sisters. Hundreds of siblings slept, their black and green scales rising and falling with each breath they took, mouths inhaling and expelling the hot, damp air that filled the room.

I heard a sound coming from the far end of the room. Upon turning my gaze to investigate I saw a much larger version of my brethren standing guard over the entrance. Her thick plated scales surrounding sharp bone growths out of her back and tail. She stood almost completely still, her eyes scanning both the room and the only entrance to it.

Slowly, I rose and started to make my way towards her. The process was strange, as if I was lost and lonely. The commands given to my body were my own for once instead of those given by the voice. Upon realizing this I stopped moving, something was amiss. It seemed unnatural to not be following the voices orders, perhaps I should lay down and rest as it had instructed.

I looked up towards the guard again only to realize it was staring back. The moment my eyes met its gaze I heard the voice in my head again, only this time much more faint.

Guard Drone Chamber, Scan For Intruder, Enforce Order, Guard Drone Cham…

The orders echoed throughout my mind as I started to obey the voice. I felt a quick tap on the head and looked up to find the female guard standing over me. I was near the entrance to the drone chamber and the guard was snarling at what seemed to be my attempt to take her position. Coming to my senses, I quickly backed away from the guard and found a spot to lie down and think.

How did I get across the room so quickly?

I had no recollection of covering that distance, could it be that I was really that fast? I thought back to my other experiences with travelling and working within the tunnels. No it couldn’t be that I was fast, otherwise the tasks that the voice commanded of me wouldn’t have taken as long as they had. A thought struck me as I racked my brain for an answer, what if I just didn’t remember walking towards the guard?

I looked at the guard again and immediately heard the whispers once again.

Those were commands from the voice!

As the realization struck me the guard’s gaze quickly snapped to me and I felt a sharp pain in my head. It was as if a powerful gaze had fallen upon me and was combing through my skull. I quickly laid down and closed my eyes. Beside me I felt my siblings stir and the gaze bore down on me even harder. Without thinking, I took my claws and scratched a small “X” into the glowing moss in front of me. Just as I finished doing so my body shuttered as a command from the voice echoed through my head.

Rest.

As the voice commanded I fulfilled my tasks. Gargantuan tasks that would not have been possible without the help of the swarm. Caverns were carved, glowing moss cultivated, and prey harvested with the ease of a massive collective of individuals. The voice provided guidance, the voice provided food, the voice provided safety.

Pick up, Carry, Travel, Drop, Dig, Carry, Travel, Place, Locate, Attack, Dismember, Feast, Dismember, Carry, Travel, Drop.

Time seemed to bend to the whim of the voice. I remember the great structure it had us build, the great forests and prey of the above, and the danger that some of those prey represented. The drones sacrificed were worth the hordes of food brought back from the hunt, the voice assured us of this truth. The wound I’d received would attest to my contribution to the swarm and my dedication to my family. The voice praised me highly as I was directed through the passages with my siblings.

Rest

I laid down at the voice’s command and started to close my eyes. Slowly they fell out of focus but not before realizing a small patch of moss that had grown in a strange way upon the wall. Slowly, they opened again to investigate the moss. I noticed that it had grown more slowly than the surrounding moss in a strange shape. Suddenly, my eyes slammed open and the soft whispers of the voice faded from my head. I looked around and realized how few in numbers my siblings had become.

No longer were there many hundreds of individuals resting in the chamber, rather only around eighty to ninety left. Every so often a guard would enter the chambers while patrolling the passages but would not stick around to watch over the sleeping siblings.

How long had it taken to lose this many? How long had it been since I’d scratched the moss off this wall?

I looked at the wall horrified, the moss had almost completely grown back in and the “X” shape was now barely visible. I looked around at how many of my siblings were left then down at the open wound on my side. I faintly remember the screams of pain from my siblings as we attacked the above prey. I could picture their bodies lying on the dark cold ground, away from the warmth and glow of home. I shuttered, I did not want to end up like them. I didn’t want to die. I racked my mind for answers, afraid to ask the voice, knowing that it would convince me otherwise.

If I don’t want to die then I have to listen to myself. I need the voice to not command me to die, so I must command myself.

As the thought crossed through my mind I felt a heavy force pressing against my head from all sides. I looked up to find a guard that had entered the chambers and all of my siblings staring at me. I could feel the waves of pressure emanating from each one as they eroded my mind with each passing second. Right as I started to hear the faint whispers of the voice beckoning me back into ignorance the pressure eased.

Before I could wonder what happened I heard the voice’s panicked scream as it ordered the swarm into action.

TO QUEEN, DEFEND HOME, HUNT INVADERS

Around me every sibling in the chamber rose and streamed towards the passages. I was almost pulled along with them as the voice’s urgency almost caught me off guard. Thankfully, I caught my mind before it was too late. My body stopped moving in the passageway outside the drone chambers and my siblings streamed by me. Keeping my wits about me I followed them, we were heading towards the above and it would be a good opportunity to slip away. I’d felt the murderous intent behind my sibling’s stares, I’d heard the echoing whisper commanding them to kill me. Had it not been for these intruders I would be dead right now. Unthinking, unmoving, dead. I could not allow that to happen.

As the swarm approached the above four figures blocked the path. They stood on two legs while their forelegs swung objects in front of them. One even created fires that singed tens of drones in front of them at a time. I realized how dangerous these beings were as I watched them cut wave after wave of the swarm down. I pressed myself close to the wall as fire exploded from where I had been but a moment before, charring the scales of the siblings next to me. Miraculously, the smoke generated from the blast was all I needed to slip past the figures. Clad in silver from head to toe I barely managed to avoid their gaze as they surged toward the heart of the swarm.

In my head I could still hear the voice screaming as I raced toward the exit. Breaking through into the dark cold environment I ran. Hairs extruding from the ground brushing my scales as I surged past the monolithic towers around me.

Run, Run, Run. Get far away from here or the voice will call me back to be slaughtered by the invaders.

I was still running when I heard the voice for the last time. That voice that had held all the answers and all the collective intelligence of the swarm, was silenced after a horrific scream. That quiet allowed the thoughts and voices of all my remaining siblings to be heard for the first time, confused, angry, and without commands. Some faded away as if simple shutting down without commands while a few died violent deaths at the hands of the invaders. Many screamed that the invaders were blocking the entrance. One by one they all fell silent.

One last thing happened when the voice stopped talking however. The fog surrounding my mind dissipated and my thoughts became clear. No longer was I hindered by what I now realized was a fear of the voice.

Hearing the last few remnants of the swarm finally fall silent, I ran into the night.

-Author: Dmaned11123