THE HIVE

Chapter 15

I shouldn't be smiling, but I am. I thought I could do nothing. But I did get another clue. Maybe I can unearth what's going on after all! The Lost Eternal would conquer this alien world! Hahahahaha~

Quit it. Even children would cringe at that.

Way to blow me off, dude. My shoulders slump. I look back, while walking forward with short steps, the pain in my foot still throbbing. The anomalous metal slab is like any other around it. But...

I don't know why but something tells me, there's more to it. A lot more...

I pout. Obviously.

As if something prevented me... Why else would I not be able to get a hollow sound.

And you know what's most important? I FELT it. There's something on it. It didn't feel like a metal slab. I don't know what exactly it felt like though. Can't really find the right words for it. The metal surfaces here are usually a bit cooler than my body temperature, since it's actually a pretty cool weather here. Like spring. But this-

"It's the same temperature that I feel on my skin. It's the same temperature as the air around me." In other words, it's not behaving like a metal.

I stare at the area. The metal slab is like any other. There's nothing really there to be seen. But the feeling...

It's exactly what you're thinking, brother.

It's such a radical term. But this is an alien planet so, why not?

I steel myself before I allow the following words to come out of my mouth. "There's something invisible over there." I gulp again.

"A barrier."

Bingo!

I sigh. Well, this got even more complicated.

____________

How do you disable an invisible barrier? I ponder long and hard as I enter not the human hive, but the lab. There should be something here which can be of use.

I look around. I've been here for so long yet I haven't consciously made note of each and everything in here. There are a few beds here.

Twenty.

Yeah. And then there's the fancy equipments they stole from the humans. Why couldn't they get good beds as well? Why the marble slabs? They are difficult to sleep in. They have good beds inside the human hive. Why the partiality?!

Well, for one thing: marble doesn't catch fire.

I frown at that, not getting what he meant. But the very next instant-

My eyes open wide and cold sweat drips down from the corner of my eye. What, they wouldn't light us afire!

This is a lab. And back then, weren't you in a miniature hell?

-!

I feel something snap inside me.

And then I'm haunted by the same dreadful memory-

All around, it's like lava. It's hot in here. It's like fire itself became a room.

I catch my head. No. Stop it. STOP it! Don't bring those awful memories back to me!

I'm sorry. Marble is a neutral surface. So whatever they perform on you here... I think I need not elaborate further.

With my heartbeat heightened to dizzying levels, I sit down on the ground. I can't make myself even look at those beds. I catch my head. Close my eyes shut, tightly.