Chapter 3: Missing The Queen 

Back at the nursery, some baby bees were spiraling out of control because the queen was not there to read them bedtime stories and comfort them with her presence.

The queen bee had an aura the baby bees could recognize.

The nurses were running around, trying to comfort them, but they would not have it!

What is a colony without its queen?!

"Hey! You! What are you doing? Are you not supposed to be repairing the part of the hive that leaked or filtering honey? Why are you idling around?" Mrs Jane asked a random drone she saw in the hallways.

"ERM! I was.." the drone stammered, not knowing what to say to her.

He was scared, and his knees were shaking. He did not want to be out on timeout. The bees that were out on timeout were fed inferior honey and spoiled flower nectar.

They were sent on timeout for being lazy and not contributing to the hive. Everyone knew bees were always busy! And nothing irritated Mrs Jane more than seeing an idle bee.

"You were what?!" Mrs Jane asked again with one hand on her abdomen and her brow lifted.

"I was trying to go get some flower nectar!"

"We both know that's a lie! Quit lying boy!"

The bee had been caught. Most drones were lazy and always wanted to lie around looking for a female to mate with.

Nothing fumed Mrs Jane like an idle bee!

An idle bee made her abdomen shake. An idle bee made her antennas vibrate and an idle bee made her stingers tremble.

"PLEASE, don't put me on timeout," the drone begged.

"What Is Your Name?" She asked him.

"UM.. My name is Dickson", the bee said, as he was still shaking in terror from the wicked glance from Mrs Jane.

All the bees knew that Mrs Jane was not one to be toyed with.

Mrs Jane walked closer to him, with her arms behind her thorax. She sniffed his wings and looked at him closely with a deathly glare.

It was as if the drone should faint. He felt like he was close to death. 

"I know you were idle. I won't put you in timeout, but you will follow me to the meeting. You will follow me around today." 

Drones were male bees. They did not have much significance but to assist around the hive and mate.

With anger in her heart, Mrs Jane went to the control room with the drone she found in the hallways. She met Perrie working on the computer, calculating the amount of honey the bees had made for the day. 

"What are you doing, Perrie?" Mrs Jane said and Perrie became startled and stood up to greet Mrs Jane.

"I was calculating the amount and the quality of honey the bees had made for today," Perrie replied.

"What are your statistics?" Mrs Jane asked.

"Since the queen became sick, the quality of the honey has dropped drastically and the drones are too lazy to go out to get flower nectar for the workers to drink and have energy to produce better honey," Perrie continued reporting.

Perrie then showed Mrs Jane the camera footage of some drones having fun in the flower garden that was close to the hive.

They were gisting and discussing and drinking the nectar for themselves. They had fun and were playing, sunbathing, dancing and telling each other stories instead of bringing back the nectar for the workers to use in the hive. 

This infuriated Mrs Jane, and she looked back at Dickson with so much anger in her face.

"So, that is why you were loitering around the hallways?" Mrs Jane asked the drone.

He bent his head down and did not answer her question. His antennas were bent. 

"You wanted to go have fun with your other bee friends and forget that you had work to do, right?"

"I'll show those bees what I'm made of," Mrs Jane declared in anger.

Perrie just stood there behind the system, unable to talk. She knew why the hive had started to go into a frenzy. 

The queen! She had to be brought back to life, or it would get worse.

"Mrs Jane, can I suggest something?" Perrie asked.

"What is it, Perrie?"

"Are they not other measures that can be used to motivate the bees into working rather than threatening them?" 

"What are you trying to say, Perrie? Are you saying that my tactics are wrong?"

"No chief, that's not it! I mean.. let me show you something," Perrie sat on the chair and showed Mrs Jane more footage of the hive and the chaos it had started to enter.

Baby bees were refusing the subpar honey and the nannies were spiraling out of control trying to make the babies stay in order.

The babies needed honey to grow into drones and worker bees and the hive needed more drones and workers.

The walls of the hives were leaking and if they were not fixed early enough by worker bees, other insects could penetrate the hive and begin to eat the bees!

"The boy has really caused a lot of damage and if this cannot be fixed earlier, we may need a new queen!" Perrie continued.

A new queen?! 

This queen has reigned for years. Who was eligible to take over? The bees barely knew anything about crowning a queen and, so far, no one was eligible.

Perrie bent her head down. Was their once a bubbling hive coming to its end because of a little boy?

"The boy! What are his statistics?" Mrs Jane asked.

"On it, chief!" Perrie said as she typed on the computer to reveal Manny's statistics.

Mrs Jane had come over and was standing by her side and Dickson still stood by the entrance, afraid.

The computer used Manny's fingerprints from the parts of the hive that he touched. The hive was fully automated. This was something most humans were not aware of.

The computer displayed all of Manny's statistics for Mrs Jane and Perrie.

Name : Manny Diego.

Age: Eight years old.

Height: Four foot eleven

Race: Human

Agility: Nine out of ten

Strength: Ten out of ten

Kindness: Three out of Ten

Empathy for animals: Three out of ten

Empathy for insects: One out of ten

Respect: Two out of Ten.

Health power: Ten out of Ten 

Allergies: Pollen of hibiscus and walnuts.

The system continued to list his statistics. 

"He's an eight-year-old boy, and he has so much strength and time on his hands, no wonder," Mrs Jane said.

Then Mrs Jane's watch beeped! It was time for the meeting. It was exactly six in the evening.

"Perrie, you are joining us for a meeting.." Mrs Jane said and grabbed her by the wing. "Dickson, come forward," she also motioned to Dickson and when he came she grabbed him by his wing too. 

"WHAT?! I've not closed for the day!" 

"Tanzania, here we

come!" Mrs Jane said and with a blast in her watch and a twinkle of an eye, the three bees were teleported to Mufasa meeting hall in Tanzania.