Chapter 584: Fire at all cost
These words stayed in my head for the rest of the day, despite the amount of events that were happening around me and the Bee Empire at large!
Although I wasn’t physically present and didn’t even have the time to send an astral projection to watch it, countless bees and humans in The Fields Region were busy setting controlled living mountain fires.
For their sake, even some sections of our infrastructure were abandoned and sacrificed so that the living mountains around them could be set on fire. Of course, the massive fields with usnea trees were cut down by scythes and set on fire even earlier.
Thousands of people worked overtime before today to gather fruits from these trees first and not waste food, which was already growing sparser in the region. Not to the point of hunger, thankfully.
The gathered fruits mostly became emergency supplies for nearby sub-hives. Unlike bees, humans could actually live without food at all for a few days! Bees would just die outright if this happened.
Understandably, humans didn’t like their fields burning and their next harvests going away. But Whisper and her Agents did a great job convincing them just to deal with it.
The authority of the High King Farini was also higher than ever, so his subjects obeyed with relatively few complaints. No wonder. Ever since he got to power, his policies (half of them suggested by bees, of course) led the humans of the Bee Empire out of the shithole they were in and toward their former prosperity.
There were plenty of dodos to immunise people, hygiene was almost at a modern level, people had access to luxuries like listening to a special radio station for humans, and, of course, they had food and safety.
So yes, they had no right to complain if the Empire needed to burn some fields near their cities.
The bees that were planting usnea trees near the mountains finished their jobs a couple of days ago already. Their task was much simpler and less destructive, but by itself, it didn’t do much to move the ash cloud away.
Today, all of those who stared into the sky, filled now not with just ash, but also with smoke from countless acres of burning wood, hoped that this would work.
The fires were so large that if I left Hive Supremo, I could see them on the horizon even in broad daylight. The smoke from them was even easier to notice.
But I was too busy managing everything related to this operation to watch it closely.
There were a lot of things that required attention. A lot of times, fire tried to light something that shouldn’t have been on fire, or bee squads needed directions, or humans were about to do something stupid…
Dealing with this was mostly Workharder’s job, and she herself had subordinates for that, but they weren’t all-powerful. And when something so massive in scale was involved, they needed my guidance more than ever.
Even something as simple as letting a group of bees out to work or telling them to sit in their sub-hive so that they don’t inhale smoke sometimes requires asking me. What if the job of this particular group of bees was too important for them not to do it?
But by evening, everybody’s hard work was rewarded.
***
“It’s moving, Father! It’s moving!” Helping-Hands announced, barging into my office.
I jolted, since I was interrupted in the middle of a telepathic conversation with Workharder.
The usually calm and collected Attendant Bee was beaming brightly and almost dancing in place. Only a second later, she remembered her image and grew more serious.
“Father, there’s an urgent report from the sky observation team. They claim that the ash cloud has moved toward the mountains, and that the winds above us have changed directions.”
‘Father? Have you received my last message?’ Workharder asked in my head. ‘I said, the fire-fighting teams have contained fires near Blesswell City, but they went a bit overboard with the usnea tree planting. Now the entrances are blocked, and the humans can’t leave. Five were carried away with frostbite. The trees will protect them from more fires, but the Agents there already say how unhappy the humans are about being stuck inside.’
Thankfully, my incredible intelligence allowed me to easily carry on both of these conversations at once now that my initial surprise over Helping-Hands’ announcement was gone.
‘Workharder, these humans won’t die if they stay behind their walls for a day. Or a few. Just keep the fire contained. But don’t diminish it! It had just started working.’
‘What?!’
I turned to Helping-Hands.
“How quickly is the cloud moving?”
“Much slower than when it first flew here, Father. With its current speed, it will take at least three days to reach its destination.”
“Thanks! That’s great news. Could have been better, of course… But could’ve been worse!”
With this, I had something to reply to Workharder.
‘Our efforts have paid off, Workharder. But it will take at least three days to get rid of the cloud, and during this time, we can’t stop the fires. They must keep going, and don’t be weaker than they were.’
‘Oh! But… The living mountains can burn for a long time, but the usnea tree wood we have will finish burning much faster! In two days at most.’
‘Then bring more wood there! More living stone, too. Actually… There must be coal and gasoline stores in the area and near it that aren’t in use because the machinery broke. Throw those in, too—just keep the fires burning!’
‘Yes, Father! Keep the fires burning, no matter what we burn!’
‘Burn actual fuel, first. Only go on to human buildings if you are left without other materials,’ I pointed out.
‘Oh… Faaather, why did you think I would do that?’
‘Because the human buildings are mostly made from living stone, and they won’t die without them immediately. And also, because these buildings belong to humans.’
‘Fine. But this would’ve been really convenient, Father!’