Read Online Hellstrom's Hive by Frank Herbert - Free Book Online

the question. This was all so distasteful. He said, “Your credentials identify you as a salesman for a fireworks company. One of the others who intruded here worked for this identical company. Isn’t that strange?”
    Depeaux forced his words through a dry mouth. “If his name was Porter, there’s nothing strange about it at all. He told me about this place.”
    â€œNo doubt a fellow bird watcher,” Hellstrom said. He turned his back on Depeaux. Was there no other way to meet this threat?
    Depeaux recalled the bird the woman had knocked from the night sky. What was that weapon? Was it the answer to the mystery of Project 40? He decided to try another tack. “I saw some of your women friends kill a bird last night. They shouldn’t do that. Birds are an important part of—”
    â€œOh, be still!” Hellstrom spoke without turning. “Of course they killed a bird—and insects, rabbits, mice, and quite a few other creatures as well. We couldn’t waste the night sweep just picking you up.”
    Depeaux shook his head. Night sweep? “Why do they do that?” he asked.
    â€œFor food, naturally.”
    Hellstrom glanced back at his captive. “I must have time to consider the problem raised by your presence. I don’t suppose you’ll drop your subterfuges and tell me the whole story?”
    â€œI don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Depeaux protested, but he was sweating profusely and knew Hellstrom could read that sign.
    â€œI see,” Hellstrom said. He sounded sad. “Do not try to escape. The two workers there know they must kill you if you try to get away. There’s no sense trying to talk to them. They don’t speak. They’re also quite jumpy; they can smell your difference. You are an Outsider in our midst and they’ve been trained to dispose of such intruders. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
    Hellstrom strode from the room, pushing aside a sliding door. Before it closed, Depeaux glimpsed a wide corridor filled with milky light and thronging with humans—males and females, and all completely nude. Two of them passed the door as Hellstrom left, causing him to hesitate. The two, both women, carried what appeared to be a naked male body, the head and arms flopping, swaying.

 
    From Nils Hellstrom’s diary. It is a conceit that makes me write these lines, trying to imagine the specialists who will read them. Are you really there in some future time, or are you just creatures of my imagination? I know the Hive will need the abilities of readers for a long time, perhaps forever. But that’s an even longer time and it dwarfs my small utterances. You who may be reading these words, then, if you share my questionings, must realize that your talents as a reader may be abandoned eventually. It is a real question whether this specialty serves an infinite purpose. There may come a time when these words remain, but there will be no one to read them. In a practical sense, that is unlikely, too, because the material on which my words are recorded would then be recognized as useful stuff to be employed for other purposes. It must be a conceit then that I address myself to anyone. That I do so at all must be attributed to an instinct for short-term purpose. I support my brood mother’s solution to the Outsider problem. We must never merely oppose the Outsiders, but should work with compromise and constant pressure to absorb them into our unity. This is what we do now at my direction and, if youhave changed that, I tell myself that helping you understand me may be useful in your planning for the future.
    Â 
    Hellstrom had been awakened from his daysleep by a young female watchworker. Her observation screen had revealed the Outsider intruding on Hive territory. Hellstrom’s cell had been closed off for the privacy that a key worker could enjoy, and the young watchworker had come personally to