Hives

Raman or varelse?

He didn't ask the question out aloud. There was a silence to Rheindic Co that he hadn't felt in years (or millennia, if one didn't account for time dilation), one that hadn't been matched anywhere, and one that he did not seek to break. Space had a silence to it, but one still heard the hum of the ship. Eros had had a silence to it, but one still heard the echoes of human speech, and the formics that had died in the asteroid's labyrinths. Shakespeare had had a silence to it, but even there he had heard the sound of human voices, before hearing the words of the queen. And even Shakespeare had carried sights and sounds similar to Earth. It was a colony ideal for human habitation – Colony I in name, as well as function. But this world?

Rheindic Co was dead. The hives in front of him were its gravestones, the planet the graveyard, and he the…what, he wondered? Grave robber. Perhaps that was one step better than being responsible for xenocide, but still…

Raman or varelse?

The question entered his mind again as he looked upon the abandoned hives. To the untrained eye, one might have mistaken them for formic hives. His eye however, wasn't untrained. He'd seen pictures of formic hives on their homeworld, before he'd reduced it to molten slag. He'd walked among the remains of formic hives on the worlds they had colonized, before being taken by humanity in turn. These hives however, were not formic. The structure was different, the composition was different…it was like comparing Gothic to Art Deco. Both were forms of architecture by the same species, both might appear uniform to an outsider, but to the trained eye, there were differences that could not be ignored. These hives were not of the formics. They had been built by the klikiss, 12,000 years before the present day. And now, the klikiss were dead. Rheindic Co was dead. Many of their worlds were dead.

Raman or varelse?

Again, the question. In silence, he walked, and in silence, kept his eyes trained on the klikiss hives. He could thank his sister for developing the Hierarchy of Foreignness, whose terms he'd adopted. Perhaps it would one day be circulated in the same manner as The Hive Queen, even if it had changed people's opinions on him for the worse. But the question remained. Raman or varelse? Could humanity have communicated with the klikiss if they had still been alive? Could they have avoided three costly wars and the destruction of an empire? Or would they have been varelse – completely alien, and thus fated to be fought?

He couldn't say. None could say. He could access what data there was on the klikiss, but compared to the likes of the formics, the information collected was pitiful. Space was big. So big that even travelling at close to the speed of light could not overcome the tyranny of distance. Travelling to Rheindic Co would take time. It would take decades for any expedition to begin reporting its findings back to the Starways Congress, and the people who sent the expedition in the first place could be long dead. Mankind sought to colonize, while exploration was a luxury. So when the first surveyor ships had touched down here centuries ago, they had surveyed the planet, taken what notes they could on the klikiss, and then moved on. Now, Rheindic Co was silent. And still dead. An oddity in a galaxy full of intellectual curiosities that few would indulge in. In a way, Ender thought, that might make it ideal for the queen.

"Jane," he said, activating his cifi unit. "What do we know about the klikiss?"

"Oh, all sorts of things. What would you like to know?"

"Just give me the basics."

"Very well. The klikiss civilization disappeared twelve-thousand years ago by our current reckoning. All indications are that they were an insect-like species, not dissimilar to the formics, or ants of Earth. Like both species, they had queens, which ruled over their drones. Like the formics, they spread over numerous worlds. Unlike the formics, no contact was made with the klikiss before their untimely end."

"And what of their end?" Ender looked up at their hives – black structures that jutted out of the landscape like shards. "How did it happen?"

"Unknown. Our best estimates is that the klikiss warred themselves into extinction."

"Warred themselves?"

"Yes. The klikiss may have spread across the stars, but there is evidence to suggest that their expansion was anything but peaceful. Numerous hive sites show sign of external attack, or in some cases, internal. There is also evidence that the klikiss may have created a robotic servant race, which could have contributed to their end." She let out a chuckle. "Your robot apocalypse, if you will."

Ender forced a smile, even if Jane couldn't see it. "You don't need to placate me Jane."

"You, no. Humanity? They would still fear me."

True, Ender reflected. Over the millennia, he had seen humanity shift and…actually, not shift much at all. Time was tyranny, as was distance, but culture, it seemed, remained static. Entire worlds now reflected the geography of Earth, yet all were bound under the Starways Congress, as the nations of Earth had once been bound under the Hegemony. Humans feared. Humans killed. Humans had wiped out an entire race. What might they do to Jane?

"So the klikiss killed themselves," Ender said. He shivered, and not just because a wind was picking up. "They had a hive mind, they mastered extra-planetary travel, and still, they killed themselves for it."

"In essence, yes." Jane paused. "Some call it a boon. The klikiss were very aggressive, by any indication. If they had found your species in its infancy…"

She trailed off. Ender didn't ask for more. He could imagine that kind of carnage. He'd inflicted it himself. Here he was, with a ship that carried the last formic queen, standing in the ruins of a species that had committed both mass regicide and mass murder.

So would it be a good place for them?

He'd have to ask the queen about that. But he could guess her answer – no. She had eternity to find a new world for the formic species. He had just short of eternity. Rheindic Co was ideal for the formics to rebuild, in as much that it would be untouched by humans…theoretically. Still, it was known to humanity. And humanity might hate him for committing xenocide, but he doubted they would be receptive to the formics even after mourning their demise. But what was more…Rheindic Co was a graveyard. A monument to a dead race that had more similarities to the formics than he was comfortable with, let alone the queen. Could one rebuild their civilization in the shadow of another? Only the queen could say, but he suspected, no. They needed a fresh start. Beyond the reach of empires, or tombs.

"Ender, the wind's picking up. I suggest you return to your ship."

He nodded. Jane couldn't see it, but it was a subconscious movement. Sometimes, he forgot that Jane wasn't human. So on that note, he began to walk back to the ship. Ender the Xenocide, again walking in the shadow of extinction. On a planet called Earth, thousands of years ago, his mother and father had sometimes talked about God. God, if he existed, had an interesting sense of humour.

He didn't laugh though. And even if he had, its sound would have been eclipsed by the wind. For Rheindic Co was no longer silent.

In his mind's eye, it was screaming.