The War Apiary

Chapter 3 Mellifera (Meeting Hue Stourhead)

Chapter 3 lays out Mellifera's woes and her near jump to death. It also introduces Hue Stourhead and her co-scientist Helen.

Dr Mellifera slowly inspected the BEI BEE prototype under a microscope in her lab. The clock slowly ticked past midnight. Her uproar with her father that afternoon had left her in a bad state of mind. Anger, frustration, and betrail, all of these were major forces in her contemplation. It had been more than 17 years since her mother's sudden disappearance. She had been 6. Her memory of the woman was faint like a distant half-remembered dream. Apis, her father, had been no comfort in those trying times. For reasons unknown to her, he had drowned himself in work and research and neglected his daughter.

"Melli, you need to sleep." Said a voice behind her. She looked up from the microscope to find that her lab assistant Helen was standing by the door.

"I can't," Mellifera whispered. "Every night's the same, I dream the same dream and wake up with a broken spirit."

Helen came and wrapped her arms around Mellifera's shoulders. "Is this the one with your mother and you in the fields outside of Virtutem Spei?"

"Yes, and my father doesn't help, all he cares about is his stupid Expedition to the Spatia Glaciers!" Mellifera said frustratedly.

"Shhh, they might hear you," Helen whispered looking about nervously.

Mellifera stood and turned to look at Helen. "So what if they hear me! I want to be free of the fear of voicing my thoughts on this life!" She left the lab in a fluster and headed down the stone hallway to the elevator. The cold bare stone echoed her fear and brokenness. What horrors could they tell if they had a mouth to speak, thought Mellifera, What lies would they unravel?

"Where are you going?" Helen called from the lab.

"Away." She called as she stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for the observation platform that looked out over the city of Virtutem Spei. She tried her best to ignore the intimidating propaganda posters that glared down at her from the walls.

Floor after floor, 36 in all before the elevator reached the top where the observation platform was situated. It was a wooden deck that protruded over the edge of the cliffs. The doors opened and the cold crisp fresh night air filled the small compartment. She stepped out into the night. The salty scent of the ocean which lay not so far away could be tasted on the wind. Mellifera breathed in deeply. This was her escape, up here all alone. The beautiful view of the city lights below and the stars above. Tonight though had puffy clouds which the moons shone through the gaps. She rested her hands on the metal railing that span the edge of the cliff face. The city lights shorn in many colours. She tried to imagine all the lives and stories that were being played out down there. Happy families sleeping soundly. A couple on a late date through the ancient cobbled streets. The red and orange lanterns that lit the city swung in a light breeze. The updraft brought with it the smells of street food cooked in the many street stalls that Virtutem Spei was famous for.

Mellifera could nearly feel herself in these dreams of hers. She wished she could go down and write her own life and find happiness, but the reality was bitter.

A call of a lonely seagull possibly awoken by a rat or something pulled her back to her surroundings.

Wishful thinking never got anyone anywhere, she told herself. People who follow such thoughts end up like her father, demented and followed voices that they hear from ancient relics.

If only her father was sane and would accept her work. There were people starving out in the Nation and yet the Queens Concilium did not care. Her work would bring back the needed resources to feed them that the bees were so quickly leaving behind with their mass extinction.

It was a common thing for Scientists to chuck themselves from these hights, it was surprising that a better barer hadn't been set up to stop them, and as Mellifera pondered on her bitter life, the temptation to jump became very strong. To an extent that she even climbed over the railing and was just hanging onto the railing. The updraft blew her hair about like seaweed in an angry current. It would be all over if I do, she thought, but yet if I did what would I succeed in accomplishing? What could I change in this world if I don't, she asked herself, what lives could be made better. She looked down at the city below. The sounds of city nightlife could be heard. A cry from a baby, bark from an excited dog. An unhappy couple fighting, and the laughter from happy couples on late-night dates. There is always tomorrow, she remembered. If there is life then hope will follow, her mother once told her. She could just follow her father's wishes and work alongside Dr Arken Jones on the next expedition. Getting out might be good for her. She didn't like Dr Jones. He had been close to her mother before she disappeared, but when she asks him about her, he would go quiet and try to avoid her, resulting in him moving to Prata in Britannia.

She took a deep breath and returned to safety behind the barricade.

"You didn't jump?" A voice asked from the shadows.

Mellifera stiffened, she hadn't thought anyone would be up there.

"No need to be alarmed, your secret is safe with me." A man stepped out from a shadow cast by the square Elevator terminal.

"I didn't mean to- I thought no one was up here." Mellifera said.

"Nore did I, and yet here we are," replied the man. He extended his hand. "Hue Stourhead, yours?"

Mellifera shook his hand. "Mellifera Akakaidos."

He looked no older than her own self, yet his hands told that he had seen many hours of laborious work. "Ah." He smiled and gave a bow.

"Please," Mellifera took a step back, "don't do that."

He looked up in surprise. "But you are the head councillors daughter."

"Yes... and no."

His face took on an even more so puzzled look.

She brushed her hair out of her face. "It's complicated."

"I presume..." He then gestured to the railing, "that's why you were standing over there?"

She nodded and tried her best to swallow her emotions. "I am being sent on the mission to the Spatia Glaciers. I wish not to go." She whispered.

"It seems we both came up here for the same reasons." He muttered.

She looked up. "Your father is sending you on the expedition as well?"

He shook his head and laughed. "My father has long since left this world, instead it was my old Tutor. He made sure to chuck me onto the list of volunteering Scientists. I don't mind really but would prefer it if he gave me a warning beforehand. It will be exciting to go on such a trip I suppose. I come up here during the night to think things over in the peaceful bliss of creation and try to spot the ancient Ships that orbit the earth."

"I didn't know that there were some still up there." She said in surprise and glanced up at the clouded sky.

"If you watch carefully on clear nights, you can see them catch the suns rays as they orbit across the sky. But tonight is not a prime night for it." He said slowly as he looked up at the sky.

"We shouldn't be up here, at this hour." She said and shivered in the cold breeze.

He shrugged. "No harm is done by coming up here." He said bringing his eyes back to settle on her.

"I should go," she said and began to make her way to the elevator.

"I suppose I will see you around." He replied.

"Yes." The doors opened and she stepped inside.

Hue Stourhead stood still, watching her as the doors closed. He smiled softly and in turn walked to the edge and stared down at the city lights.