[i]The clicking and chittering of mandibles filled the room, hundreds of young Anarti all excitedly talked to one another, even their silent method of mental communication not enough to keep a raucous from being made; Bodies moving around as only the unbridled energy of youth could. Gossip and wild speculation spread among them as their first meeting with a queen would be at hand. [b]“What would she be like? Could she really read minds? Queens are 12 feet tall!“[/b]. Misheard facts and blatantly false rumors made their way around the young brood as the atmosphere reached a fever pitch. They may have only been two years olds, exoskeletons only just starting to truly harden and form, but this would be a day they would never forget. Scree started to feel… weird. Not unwell, but rather…. strange. As if he’d been spun around repeatedly, the world around him not quite coming entirely into focus. Colours seemed different, dull things interesting and colourful things blending into the background. The chattering continued, but slower this time, as more and more of them started to feel the same effects, a small ripple of confusion making its way through the crowd. [b]“Quiet!”[/b] The voice permeated every pore of his being, as all the Anarti instantly silenced. Suddenly how he felt no longer seemed to matter, the weird taste in his mouth no longer relevant. The clattering of falling objects once held in little hands rattled along the floor, a few of the less stable young ones following suit, each one slowly and groggily getting back up to their feet. What he wanted no longer mattered, Scree didn’t exist, there was only her. [b]“Look at me.”[/b] Hundreds of Anarti simultaneously turned to face her. Larger than even adult males, she towered over the young ones. This was an event that all the Anarti, both big and small went through in their lives. a remembering of the gift of free will given by the hive. The best way to show and treasure a gift? Take it away. Most of those here would never experience this again, only those dishonoured enough to have the gift removed a second time would have this inflicted upon them. [b]“Now, you need to wake up because-”[/b][/i] ---------- A screeching noise jolted Scree awake, unintelligible screaming causing the Anarti to frantically look around instantly on his feet. Pure confusion and terror filled him as he slowly remembered where he was. Strange metal building, trapped, and now the entire world seemed to be falling apart. The shaking started, sending Scree sprawling as landing bays opened and pieces of the ship started to move around. He wasn’t afraid of the unknown, but this building seemingly collapsing was a very known and terrifying thing, and he wanted desperately out. [i]THUD THUD THUD, THUD THUD THUD.[/i] The sound reverbed up the pipe into goodness knows where as Scree started thumping with all his might, no longer tapping, now full on pounding with both hands: Hoping to the love of the hive that someone would hear him. A noise. Not metallic or random blargling, but instead as if someone was moving around. He looked up, spotting a slightly different part of the ceiling and a makeshift ladder leading up to it. An exit? He climbed as fast as he could, his body not quite suitable for the narrow rungs, eventually making his way to the top. This was definitely an opening, the place where the panel fit flush to the frame clearly evident from this distance. He held onto the ladder with one hand, while trying to push his other forcep into the crack, feeling a moment of relief as he felt it move, giving him a little more space to try and lever it open, silently calling out to anyone who might be able to hear. [b]“Anybody there? I got trapped in your…. Home? and-”[/b] His cry for help broke off as he lost his grip on the ladder, hanging from the ceiling with his clawed hand still trapped in the panel, breaking off his communication into a more verbal chorus of screeching and clattering that could only be described as a violent shouting and swearing; desperately trying to either open the panel or free himself. The latter he managed to make happen, unfortunately causing the Anarti to no longer be held in place, subject to the laws of gravity as Scree hit the ground face first. Slow pained clicks, admonishing himself for his stupidity as he clasped his throbbing face with both hands, feeling a warm spreading sensation. He looked down, seeing his forceps covered in hemolymph, giving another slow pained set of clicking. He got back to his feet, eventually looking up at the now open panel, and stopped. Everything stopped mattering for a few moments. The pain of his probably broken face, the hemolymph dripping onto the floor from his mandibles, the shaking and blaring of sirens and other unintelligible noise. For looking down onto him, was two… things. All species before they meet others assume that intelligent life will be mostly like themselves. Scree had been expecting to find some kind of intelligent insect, maybe even Anarti who had broken off before the unification. Instead above him stood some kind of mammal? Like a livestock but bigger, and… he didn’t know what to make of the one that hung in the air, covered in beads yet unlike literally anything known to the Anarti, let alone Scree. He just stood their, mandibles gaping, not frozen due to a lack of questions, but with so many crowding for attention they almost created a backlog. [b]“Who are you? W-W-what are you? Did you build this? Are you both the same, or are there two types of you? How did you build this? What is this? Have you always been here? How many are there?”[/b] The questions eventually broke forth, quick and fast, the silent telepathic communication allowing for a more complex vocabulary than any amount of clicking about achieve, not that there was any lack of that; his mandibles clicking and his antenna bounding around as if made of rubber, the sheer excitement and curiosity bounding forth from Scree. [b]“Can you understand me?..... I probably should have asked that first.”[/b]