Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [47]
Estarra could have wallowed in her pampered existence, but instead she promised herself to achieve more. When she had tried to talk to her father about her future, he had simply smiled through his black beard. "Whatever you want to do, dear." He had promised full support but offered no suggestions or practical advice.
Only her brother Beneto took time to tell her things. She envied the green priest his passion for serving the worldforest, but she didn't want to follow his path. Praying to trees was not for her.
Lights burned in adjoining dwellings, smaller fungus reefs that grew on separated trees. Green priests—most of them married couples venturing out this early—climbed the trees to greet the dawn. All day long they would read to the half-sleeping mind of the worldforest. Today, though, the priests seemed hushed and troubled about something they had sensed from the trees. Maybe Beneto would tell her about it later...
Curious, she explored for more than an hour. Finally, as a wash of daylight spilled across the forest and ground mist rose like praying hands, Estarra came upon a thicket of high trees. Hanging like a bulbous papier-mâché lump on the nearest trunk, a huge misshapen mass pulsed as crowded creatures stirred inside, nearly roused from their sleep.
Hive worms made their sealed structures from chewed vegetable matter, mud, resin, and extruded web fibers. The enormous colonies were both nests and cocoons, hundreds of meters in diameter. In the center a grublike queen gave birth to larvae that became large worms anchored to the colony's heart. The worms extended their segmented stalks outward with heads like huge petals surrounding a voracious mouth.
Normally, the worms extended from their nest to capture any prey that ventured within reach. After digesting animals and insects, they fed the nutrients back to the queen in the center of the nest. At night the sleeping worms drew their facepetals together like a flower returning to a bud.
When this phase of growth was complete, the larval worms pulled back into the nest, sealed the openings, and converted the hive into an armored fortress. Her work done, the queen died, and the sleeping worms digested her body while they gestated. It was incredibly rare to discover a pupating hive, especially one ready to hatch...
She had to find Beneto. Estarra hurried back, knowing her brother would be planting new treelings in one of the sun-dappled clearings. She found him working in the shade, surrounded by pots into which he packed fertile soil.
Beneto looked up at his sister with a smile that always warmed her heart. The marks of his accomplishments, tattoos and designs of the green priesthood, gave his features a totemic appearance. She thought her brother was very handsome and suspected that he would soon choose a mate—probably from among the green priests, though that was not required for marriage.
Beneto knelt, intent on his young trees. Gently, he stroked the tiny fronds as if to apologize for cutting them loose of the parent tree. "These four are scheduled for Dremen, where it's cool and moist but without much sun," he said to Estarra. "Though there's no green priest assigned to the planet, we will still plant a grove for telink access."
Beneto pointed to other strong treelings. "These two will be potted and carried aboard merchant vessels, though eventually they'll grow large enough that they'll need to be planted in soil again. At that time, we'll ask the trees where they want to go." Then Beneto noticed her breathless excitement. "All right, what have you brought for me this day, little sister? A new insect? An untasted berry? Or a flower with a perfume that will make me sneeze?"
"It's too big to carry, Beneto." Catching her breath, she told him about the sleeping worm hive. "It's big enough for a dozen families at least!