Chapter 46: Chapter 46

Gaia happily whistled a tune to herself, enjoying the wind blowing through her fur due to the fast pace of Clippy. Riding her girl was incredibly fun and she had the distinct feeling that the swarm drone felt the same.

The two of them raced past one of the large trees, scaring a herd of small animals away in the process. Gaia watched them lazily from her point of advantage and just as fast as she had found them they disappeared out of her point of view. Clippy was really fast and could make it from the hive to the outpost in half a day if she wanted to, so it was no surprise that Gaia couldn’t watch the herd for longer.

She lovingly ruffled the fur of her companion and the drone raised its head slightly in return, chittering its approval. Gaia dropped down on her belly while she continued scratching and admired the tips of the large mandible that were now visible. They were truly awe inspiring and nothing like her own small ones.

Humming to herself she watched the scenery fly past and relaxed. There wasn’t really anything that would dare attack her and Clippy during the day apart from the dragon so she didn’t have to be as vigilant as her hunter and worker sisters when they traveled to the outpost. Additionally her partner had very soft fur and managed to travel without moving the altitude of her body too much. If it weren’t for the loud thumbs everytime Clippy’s legs impacted the ground Gaia would think they were flying, completely different from riding the weird things called horse.

She smiled proudly, hugging the body of the large drone. The first time they had traveled to the outpost Gaia had been very anxious, worrying about all the things that could go wrong especially with the two sisters that wanted to accompany her.

Clippy suddenly slowed down and stopped to drink from one of the few streams that hadn’t run dry yet a moment later. Gaia didn’t mind and a few minutes later after the large drone was done they continued their journey.

The first time she had been anxious, but after they had left the hive and been going for a few hours, she had started to relax, to thoroughly enjoy traveling. Her mum thought it was weird that all her hunter sisters liked hunting and she liked traveling. Gaia only wondered why though. Their bodies had been adapted to suit their targets, they had been born for these activities so why wouldn’t they find joy in what they were meant to do?

She could only shake her head at the thought. Mother was weird like that sometimes and some of the older sisters too. 

Gaia had been thinking about this a lot and she couldn’t be sure why they were like that, outright stiff at times. In her opinion it had something to do with the human memories of their hive. They were both a blessing and a curse. All the knowledge was incredible and not only helped them at the moment, but would continue to do so in the future.

On the other hand, there were also the small cultural influences inside that knowledge however, or there had been until recently. The problem was that they were Antanoid, not humans and these influences had created some kind of shift as a result. They just weren’t compatible, their greeds were too different with humans by nature being greedy for themselves and Antanoid being greedy for their hive. Not to mention the weird power structure and deferential behavior of humans, Gaia just couldn’t understand that.

Weren’t they all one hive and everyone had their part to do, thus being as important as everyone else?

If one gear was missing the clock wouldn’t work.

Well, she had to admit that maybe mother was a teeny tiny bit more important than the rest, but she was an exception!

Gaia sighed absentmindedly. At least she hadn’t been influenced by those small cues of influence thanks to Brian. The hive brain had thankfully filtered all that out, even if it meant the newer generations didn’t know as much. She preferred that much more than being born with a cultural wound that healed only slowly.

Clippy’s keening pulled Gaia out of her thoughtful state and she looked up in surprise. They were already past the first smaller trees and should be nearly at the outpost. She must have been rather deep in thought.

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Clippy had to slow down a bit, the smaller trees and plentiful undergrowth too dense to allow the drone to easily traverse the area. They walked past one of the trees with the sour-sweet round fruits and Gaia handidly plugged herself one. Just before the branches got out of reach she managed to snack a second one and growled on top of Clippy’s large head, between her antenna before she fed the drone the fruit. Then she bit into the juicy thing herself and the both of them chewed happily.

About 10min or so later Sharri faded out of the underbrush, standing on a branch in a tree and Clippy stopped. The hunter waved at them with a knowing grin, fully aware that Gaia hadn’t stopped at the hive for too long before getting on the road again. “It’s been just two days and you are already back.”

Gaia grinned back at her sister. “It’s good to see you too.”

She smirked. “I see the forest is treating you well.”

Sharri hopped down from the branch and approached the two. “Ah, you know that compared to the giant forest this one is a true heaven for hunters.”

She gestured around with one hand and scratched Clippy under her chin with the other one. “So many hiding and ambush points, not to mention the many animals.”

Gaia nodded and they began to head to the outpost again. It was true that compared to this forest the giant forest may as well be empty. There were a lot more small animals here that just couldn’t survive without the undergrowth and the competition for hiding places was a lot less than back in the hive lands.

They entered the outpost clearing and Gaia could now see the last five standing rooms. They were in the process of moving to the river and the other 6 rooms had already been deconstructed and likely rebuilt at the new site. Two of her sisters were moving about, emptying one of the rooms and neatly stacking the wood that had been inside in front of it.

Gaia looked past the rooms at the area that had been freed of wood, only being able to tell because of all of the stumps. Sharri followed her gaze and seemed to remember something. “Right, nearly forgot, but could Clippy help us remove the tree stumps?”

She looked pointedly at the large mandibles that were meant to grab things with incredible strength. “We tried and we kinda don’t have strong enough ropes to pull the annoying leftovers out of the ground.”

Gaia slit down from her drone and shrugged. “We can try, it shouldn't be a problem.” Removing the tree stumps would make it easier for the vegetation to reclaim the lost forest.

Clippy moved over to one of them and took hold of the stump. Gaia followed, but contrary to Sharri she kept some distance. The drone visibly strained for a few seconds before it ripped the tree stump and quite a bit of root network out of the earth with a loud *thump*. The surroundings were showered in dirt and Sharri shrieked in surprise, standing right in the center of the rain.

Gaia grinned again and gave her sister a thumbs up. “See, no problem at all.” 

Sharri glared at Gaia and somewhere in the background, Clippy proudly presented her trophy to the other two sisters, who were praising the drone vigorously.

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