Humans are Weird – Distraction
Original Post: http://www.authorbettyadams.com/bettys-blog/humans-are-weird-distraction
Second Father drew in a long calming breath and fleetingly touched a mental antenna over the situation. Fourth Aunt was tending to the injuries with full competence, and if she was snipping out reprimands as fast as she was applying membrane spray there was no doubt the young one she was tending needed a bit of discipline. There were no serious injuries, thank the Mother for that, and the tangy scent of panic and fear was fast fading from the air around him even if it still permeated his membranes. The afternoon sun was slanting down through the canopy overhead and he calculated that the human children had had time to walk back to their own hive and First Grandfather would be on his way back. Second Father activated his comm unit and sent out a general ping on the adult frequency and then walked with a tired step towards the hive hearth.
By the time he arrived in the arched center of their hive Second Grandmother and Second Grandfather were already sitting on the central couch quietly chatting as they groomed each other’s antenna. They were lucky to have both of them in the hive at any time and he was grateful that they were here. Second Father curled his antenna at them respectfully and sat down on a perch some distance from them. He was fairly certain that First Mother would not attend. She was too close to laying soon, but Second Mother should be here soon and he was eager to taste his mate’s pheromones on the air. One by one the most competent members of the older generations came in and took up their places. As the light from the day outside faded the glow-nodules that stood out everywhere a set of roots crossed began to brighten the room. Second Mother arrived and flicked an antenna at him, but took a place within a cluster of Aunts. Finally First Grandfather entered and made a show of shaking the sand off of his bootings before taking his place in the center of the cluster. Triangular heads tilted and antenna perked as the attention of the room focused on the last comer. However First Grandfather only turned his head pointedly at Second Father.
“Do you care to share what you know?” First Grandfather asked as the attention refocused on Second Father.
“It is my consideration that Human Friend Second Father Brice be removed from the certified care list at community activities,” Second Father said firmly.
He could tell that First Grandfather did not like the abrupt introduction and there was a general susurration of shifting limbs and a few frills were tightly pressed to their necks in scandalized surprise. The movement increased as it generally sank in that there would be no explanation or defense until the consideration had been approved. Second Father knew that it was somewhat presumptuous of him to do this in First Father’s absence, but they were all keenly aware that the actual heads of the hive would be too busy stringing new egg lines in the garden for days to deal with the situation. There was a little discussion as the adults considered his words, most of it being questions about what had set him off and reminders that he was a very competent Second Father even if he wasn’t First Father, but finally the voices stilled and all antennas and frills showed respectful agreement, if they were a little tense with curiosity.
“First Grandfather,” Second Father began after acknowledging their acquiescence, “would you please share the beginning of the story with our hive?”
“I was napping out in the east arbor,” First Grandfather began, “when I heard the sound of something large approaching through the underbrush.”
The was a flutter of surprise and unease in the audience at that and First Grandfather held up a restraining hand.
“It was simply First Sister returning from her play time with the human children,” he quickly explained, “though I admit, I was concerned about local predators at first.”
“But she went with a handful of cousins!” a voice excliamed.
“Why were they coming through the underbrush?” Demanded Second Mother.
“How, were they coming though the underbrush?” called out a second voice.
“Didn’t that tear up their membranes?” asked another.
“Human First Brother explained that he was trailblazing to make sure she wasn’t injured,” First Grandfather explained quickly. “And he succeeded to some degree. Where he failed Fourth Aunt is treating the injuries. The human himself was rather severely scratched up in the process, though it was difficult to tell how much was from the underbrush and how much was from his previous activities. As to why…”
First Grandfather heaved a large sigh and his antenna were twitching between annoyance and amusement.
“I will let Second Father take the story from here as he interrogated the children after I procured first aid for them both.”
Second Father accepted the shift in attention and flexed his psudo-frill in preparation.
“Once the human hiveling was receiving medical care I began asking First Sister for an explanation,” his antenna flexed in rueful admiration, “she was reluctant to offer any information despite having fairly severe abrasions and laceration. However when the human First Brother saw me speaking to her he ran forward, grabbed her hand, and stated that it was his fault-”
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"Humans are Weird: Let's Work it Out"
Genre: SciFi/Comedy
Word count: ~60K
Short Story Anthology
Humans are Weird – Questionable Substances - Audio Narration and Animatic
"Humans are Weird: Let's Work it Out" (Book 3) - Avaliable on Indiegogo October 2022
"Humans are Weird: I Have the Data" (Book 1)
"Humans are Weird: We Took a Vote" (Book 2)