Hellstrom's Hive

“Mr. Janvert, we have some things to discuss,” Hellstrom said. He leaned toward Janvert across the table.

Janvert, having finished his lunch, sat with his right elbow on the table, chin resting on his hand. He felt lost in thought, bemused by the whole situation: the present company, the Agency, the call from the Chief, this assignment, his former fears . . . Vaguely, he felt that he still ought to be alert and perhaps concerned about Hellstrom and the woman, but this did not seem worth the effort.

“It’s time we discussed our mutual problems,” Hellstrom said.

Janvert nodded on his supporting hand, chuckled as his chin started to slip from the hand. Discuss problems. Certainly.

Something about this rustic farm setting, the excellent meal, something about these people at table with him—somewhere in all this was good and sufficient reason for the transformed mood he now felt. He had fought long enough against liking Hellstrom. Perhaps it wasn’t wise to place complete trust in Hellstrom yet, but it was all right to like him. There was a difference between trust and liking. Hellstrom could not be held responsible for the trapped life of a nobody named Eddie Janvert.

Watching the transformation, Hellstrom thought: He’s taking it quite well. The dosages were relatively large. Janvert’s body was now processing numerous identifier chemicals. Very shortly, he would be accepted by any Hive worker as belonging to the Hive. This was double edged: Janvert would accept the Hive workers, too—any of them. His procreative drive had been suppressed, as had much of his critical ability. If the chemical metamorphosis worked, he would become quite tractable presently.

Hellstrom signaled to Mimeca to observe the changes.

She smiled. Janvert’s odors were becoming acceptable.

It’s this farm, Janvert told himself. He moved only his eyes to stare out the window beyond the foot of the table. The golden afternoon appeared warm and inviting.

He and Clovis had talked about such a place many times. “Our own place, preferably an old farm. We’ll grow a few things, raise some animals. Our kids can help with that when they’re old enough.” It was a fantasy they could share before making love. The poignancy of the unattainable made the present ever more sweet.

“Are you ready for a little discussion yet?” Hellstrom asked.

Discussion, yes. “Sure,” Janvert said. He sounded relatively alert, but Hellstrom detected the changes of tone.

The subtle chemistry of fellowship was doing its work. It was a dangerous thing because Janvert might walk openly through any area of the Hive now. No worker would challenge him and haul him summarily off to the nearest vat point. But it meant also that Janvert would respond openly to Hellstrom or any other Hive security interrogator.

Provided this technique worked well on an Outsider. That remained to be tested.

“Your law is a little late arriving,” Hellstrom said. “Shouldn’t you call and try to find out why?”

Late? Janvert looked up at the clock behind Hellstrom. Almost two o’clock. Where had the time gone? He seemed to recall chatting with Hellstrom and the woman—Fancy was her name. Sweet little thing. But someone was late.

“Are you sure you haven’t made a mistake about the FBI and the others?” Hellstrom asked. “Are they coming?”

“I don’t think I’ve made a mistake,” Janvert said. He sounded sad. The sadness brought a small surge of anger and adrenaline. Nobody made mistakes in this business! God, what a shitty business. All because he’d stumbled over that damned Agency file. No—that had been only a single step. The trap was far more complex than that. Eddie Janvert had been conditioned to accept everything the Agency represented. That conditioning had happened much earlier. Without all this, he might not have met Clovis, either. Lovely Clovis. Much prettier than this little Fancy person beside him. He felt that there ought to be other comparisons between Clovis and Fancy, too, but these eluded him. The Agency—Agency—Agency—Agency. It was a bad business. He could sense the leering presence of the hidden oligarchs whose influence could be felt all through the Agency. That was it! The Agency was a bad business.

“I was just thinking,” Hellstrom said, “that under other circumstances we might have been very close friends.”

Friends. Janvert nodded and his head almost slipped from his supporting hand. They were friends. This Hellstrom was really a very nice guy. He served a good meal. And it was sweet the way he said grace before eating.

The idea of friendship with Hellstrom fanned a tiny core of worry in Janvert, though. He began to wonder about his reactions. It was—Peruge! That was it: Peruge. Old Peruge had said something important—ohhh, way back there somewhere. He’d said Hellstrom and friends had some kind of—some kind of-injection! That was it, an injection. It turned a man into a sex-mad stud. Peruge had said it. Eighteen times in one night. Janvert smiled happily to himself. When you thought about it, that was really very friendly. It was much more friendly than the damned Agency where they watched like cats to find out who you cared for—the way he and Clovis cared for each other—and then used that against you. That’s what the Agency did. With a little reflection, friendship with Hellstrom became easily explained. The whole blasted Agency had finally become too much for one Eddie Janvert. Wait’ll he told Clovis about this. Eighteen times in one night: that was very friendly.

Mimeca, taking her cue from Hellstrom, touched Janvert’s arm. She had a nice, friendly little hand. “I thought the same thing,” she said. “We really should be friends.”

Janvert straightened jerkily, patted her hand on his arm. That was the friendly thing to do. Again, he wondered at himself. He felt he could almost trust this pair. Was that natural? Well, why not? They couldn’t have put anything in his food. That was an odd thought, he told himself. In his food. He recalled taking Hellstrom’s plate. Yes. Hellstrom had relinquished his very own plate of good food. Now, that was friendly. You didn’t hide unfriendly things in plain actions. Did you? He stared at the woman beside him, wondering idly why his mind was working at such a crawling pace. Peruge! Something in his food was out of the question. No injection, either. He continued to stare at the woman, wondering why he did it. Sex. He was not lusting after this pneumatic little woman with the friendly hands and melting eyes. Maybe Peruge had been wrong. Had Peruge lied? The unfriendly bastard was capable of it.

There could be perfectly natural explanations for this whole thing, Janvert told himself. What could he possibly have against Hellstrom except what the Agency dictated that he have against the poor man? He didn’t even know what that was! Project 40. Yes—there’d been something about—papers. Project 40. But that was Hellstrom’s project. It must be friendly. It wasn’t like the damned Agency. They just told you to obey orders.

Janvert felt a sudden need to move around. He pushed his chair back, almost fell over backward, but the pretty woman helped him recover his balance. He patted her hand. Windows. He wanted to look out the windows. Weaving very little, Janvert guided himself down the length of the table to the bay windows. A short stretch of water with no visible flow could be seen in the creekbed. The faint afternoon breeze swayed the tree shadows on the water then and provided an illusion of movement. The silence in the dining room carried a similar illusion. Casually, he wondered how his senses reported reality. It was a very friendly scene, friendly place. There was movement.

Why did he have this little niggling worry wa-a-ay down inside? That was the only irritating thing left in this whole situation.

Situation. What situation?

Janvert shook his head from side to side like a wounded animal. Everything was so damned confusing.

Leaning back in his chair, Hellstrom frowned. Hive chemistry was not working on Janvert in quite the way it would have on one of their own. Hive humans remained close enough genetically to the Outsiders for interbreeding. The divergence was only about three hundred years old. Chemical affinity was not surprising. It was to be expected, in fact. But Janvert was not responding with full and open friendliness. It was as though he fought a deep inner battle. Chemistry was not enough, then. That was to be expected, too. The human was much more than flesh. Some holdout place in Janvert’s intellect retained a concept of Hellstrom as threat.

Mimeca had followed Janvert to the window, stood now just behind him. “We really mean you no harm,” she murmured.

He nodded. Of course they meant him no harm. What a thought. Janvert put a hand in his jacket pocket, felt the gun there. He recognized it. A gun was an unfriendly thing.

“Why can’t we be friends?” Mimeca asked.

Tears began to flow from Janvert’s eyes, rolling slowly down his cheeks. It was so sad. The gun, this place, Clovis, the Agency, Peruge, everything. So sad. He pulled the gun from his pocket, turned to reveal his tear-stained face, handed the gun to Mimeca. She accepted it, held it awkwardly: one of those awful flesh-destroying Outsider weapons.

“Throw it away,” Janvert whispered. “Please, throw that damned thing away.”