Of the four on the earth, Smith was the first to make any comment. He
had considerable difficulty in throwing his thought to the others;
somehow he felt slightly dazed.
"This is--unbelievable!" he said, and repeated it twice. "To think that
those insects are still the masters!"
"I wish"--Billie's voice shook somewhat--"I wish almost that I had let
you warn Rolla. It might have helped--" She broke off suddenly, intent
upon something Supreme was hearing. "Just listen!"
"Quick!" a lieutenant was humming excitedly to the commandant. "Back to
the hives; give the order, Supreme!"
It was done, and immediately the bees quit the throng of natives and
their victims, rushing at top speed for their precious city. As they
went, Supreme demanded an explanation.
"What is the meaning of this?"
For answer the lieutenant pointed her antennae straight ahead. At first
Supreme could see nothing in the growing darkness; then she saw that
some of the sky was blacker than the rest. Next she caught a faint glow.
"Supreme, the deadly flower has come to the hives!"
It was true! In ten minutes the city was near enough for the commandant
to see it all very clearly. The fire had started on the windward side,
and already had swept through half the hives!
"Quick!" the order was snapped out. "Into the remaining houses, and save
the young!"
She herself led the horde. Straight into the face of the flames they
flew, unquestioningly, unhesitantly. What self, compared with the Hive?
Next moment, like a mammoth billow, the smoke rolled down upon them all.
And thus it came about that the villagers, making their cautious way
toward the bee city, shouted for joy and danced as they had never danced
before, when they saw what had happened.
Not a bee was left alive. Every egg and larva was destroyed; every queen
was burned. And every last soldier and worker had lost her life in the
vain attempt at rescue.
Suddenly one of the villagers, who had been helping to carry Corrus and
Dulnop to the spot, pointed out something on the other side of the fire!
It was Rolla!
"Hail!" she shouted, hysterical with happiness as she ran toward her
people. Cunora was close upon her heels. "Hail to the flowing flower!"
She held up a torch. Down fell the villagers to their knees. Rolla
strode forward and found Corrus, even as Cunora located her Dulnop.
"Hail to the flowing flower!" shouted Rolla again. "And hail to the free
people of this world! A new day cometh for us all! The masters--are no
more!"
The four on the earth looked at each other inquiringly. There was a
heavy silence. The doctor stood it as long as he could, and then said:
"So far as I'm concerned, this ends our investigations." They stared at
him uncomprehendingly; he went on: "I don't see anything to be gained by
this type of study. Here we've investigated the conditions on two
planets pretty thoroughly, and yet we can't agree upon what we've
learned!
"Van still thinks that the upper classes should rule, despite all the
misery we saw on Capellette! And Billie is still convinced that the
working classes, and no others, should govern! This, in the face of what
we've just--seen! Sanus is absolute proof of what must happen when one
class tries to rule; conflict, bloodshed, misery--little else! Besides"
--remembering something, and glancing at his watch--"besides, it's time
for dinner."
He and Smith got to their feet, and in silence quit the room. Billie and
Van Emmon were still fumbling with their bracelets. The two young people
rose from the chairs at the same time and started across the room to put
flip bracelets away. The wire which connected them trailed in between
and caught on the doctor's chair. It brought the two of them up short.
Van Emmon stared at the wire. He gave it a little tug. The chair did not
move. Billie gave an answering jerk, with similar lack of results. Then
they glanced swiftly at one another, and each stepped back enough to
permit lifting the wire over the chair.
"In other words," Van Emmon stammered, with an effort to keep his voice
steady--"in other words, Billie, we both had to give in a little, in
order to get past that chair!"
Then he paused slightly, his heart pounding furiously.
"Yes Van." She dropped the bracelets. "And--as for me--Van, I didn't
really want to see the bees win! I only pretended to--I wanted to make
you--think!"
"Billie! I'll say 'cooperate' if you will!"
"Cooperate!"
He swept her into his arms, and held her so close that she could not see
what had rushed to his eyes. "Speaking of cooperation," he remarked
unsteadily, "reminds me--it takes two to make a kiss!"
They proceeded to experiment.