Brianna looked at the tall trees about her. Impressive specimens that had stood for hundreds of years, and smaller more scraggly trees that were struggling to gain light beneath the larger trees canopies. The smaller trees likely wouldn't make it - but that was nature. Even trees had their own struggle to survive.
Brianna didn't give a crap about that, though. She was a bioengineer, but her interest wasn't in trees. She studied insects, mostly. Specifically bees, at the moment - how they communicated, mostly, and how to breed them to be more resistant to disease. Her research was mundane, but rewarding.
At least when her idiot assistant, Deborah, wasn't messing things up. How many specimen slides had she lost to that damn bimbo's slippery grip? How many phone calls meant for her had been lost, to the other woman's shoddy memory? Deborah's only saving grace was that she was good with the bees, though heaven alone could say how they even tolerated such an idiot.
She'd only hired the woman because her father begged her to. Something about being the daughter of someone he owed money to. After only two weeks, however, she was more than ready to dump the brainless idiot by the curbs. She had planned to do it that very day, in fact, when an unwelcome interruption appeared.
That unwelcome interruption was now walking calmly in front of them: a lithe soldier, clad in black from head to toe to the point where Brianna wouldn't have even known she was a woman if she hadn't given her name as Alexis.
According to Alexis, there was something classified in this forest. Something that the military was stumped about. Something that required Brianna's help.
Brianna had scoffed, at first, but coming here on a private jet had done a lot to convince her that Alexis's claims were legitimate. Still, she was getting just a little tired being left in the dark.
"How much further must we walk?" Brianna muttered, mostly to herself.
"I don't know, but my feetsies are totally starting to hurt..." Deborah complained, beside her.
"I wasn't talking to you," Brianna scoffed, glaring at her assistant. If the woman had to be useless, then the least she could do was keep to herself. She was only even here to carry the supplies, after all.
"We're almost here," came a smooth voice from ahead. "Just past those trees." Alexis was pointing a black gloved finger straight ahead, to trees maybe fifty feet away. Brianna, for her part, was simply relieved that their destination was close, and that the real work could begin.
Deborah, by contrast, was eagerly moving from foot to foot, as if she couldn't wait to charge straight ahead.
"We move slowly," Alexis warned them, walking toward the trees. "We don't want to draw any attention to ourselves."
Attention?
Brianna couldn't help but wonder what would give them any attention at all in this forest. Were there animals about? Insects? Something to do with bees, perhaps? It was hard to resist the urge to pick up her own pace, but she carefully matched steps with Alexis all the same. She wasn't an idiot, like Deborah, after all.
Even walking slowly, it only took a few more seconds to reach the treeline, though. Alexis pushed apart the branches of the trees, making room for Brianna and Deborah to get through.
The sight on the other side sent a shiver of shock through Brianna.
"It's... A giant beehive..." Deborah whispered, voice pitched so low that Brianna could barely even hear her.
The words were undeniably correct, though. Sitting in front of them was a massive beehive, pocketed with honeycombs, nearly as tall as the trees that surrounded it. The only thing it was missing, and quite obviously at that, were the bees: not a single one of them could be seen hovering about the hive.
Perhaps more concerning was the single opening that could be seen, facing directly toward them. It looked like the entrance to a cave.
"You can't tell me you expect me to go in there?" Brianna demanded, unable to keep some of the panic from her voice.
"We've sent many men in, and they've all come out fine," Alexis assured her, a small smile on the woman's face. "The bee girls inside seem completely uninterested in us."
"Bee girls?" Brianna frowned. "How did you even know they were women? Well, I suppose at this size it might be-"
"No," Alexis interrupted. "I mean there are humanoid bee women in there. And we need your help learning how to communicate with them."
"Communicate with them?" Brianna frowned. "Yes, I suppose - they must use a mixture of pheromones and dance. Perhaps if I could see one, but... Surely it's too dangerous to simply go inside?"
"Yeah! I always wear a bee suit when I'm going to talk to the bees!" Deborah protested.
"A bee suit? I'd want a tank before going in there," Brianna complained, shaking her head emphatically from side to side. "There's no way you're getting me in there."
Alexis turned toward Brianna. Her face was almost entirely covered by a scarf, which she had tucked into a hood, but her eyes were still visible, a vibrant and determined blue. "Half a million."
"What..?" Brianna asked, confused.
"We'll give you half a million dollars if you can figure out how to communicate with them. Sounds like a good deal?"
"...And if I can't?" Brianna asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You'll get five thousand for the attempt," Alexis answered, smoothly. Her blue eyes were hard and cold; if she was lying, though, she was doing a good job of it.
Slowly, Brianna nodded. "Very well."
"I'm not sure about this..." Deborah whispered, looking about fearfully. "I like bees, but this is. Like. Totally too big! What if something really huge stings me?"
"The bee women are non-violent," Brianna reminded her. "Alexsis said so. Now be a dear, and carry my stuff - and I'll give you ten percent of the take."
"You mean I'll get five thousand?" Brianna asked, eyes wide.
"...If we succeed, yes." Brianna smiled faintly as she spoke, ignoring the hard look Alexis was giving her. It wasn't
her
fault that Deborah couldn't do basic math.
"Then I'll definitely help!" Deborah agreed. "I'll carry all your stuff for you!"
"That's a girl.." Brianna grinned. "Now lead the way, Alexis."
Alexis didn't respond, verbally, but did walk forward to lead them toward the opening in the hive. Brianna followed a step behind, thoughts of the money and what she'd spend it on filling her thoughts, while Deborah practically skipped along besides her.
Past the opening was a wide open space, with an amber colored floor. Standing at the other end of the room, in front of the only other door, was what appeared to be a woman. Her skin was yellow, with black stripes running across her being, and two black antennae stuck out from her black hair.
