NOVPUBThere were five Oracles sitting nearby, all of them fairly young and probably not predicting anything more important or hard to notice than the weather. Until my approach, they were conversing between them in hushed voices.
Now they all turned to me like a gaggle of awed birds with cute, wide eyes.
"We… We aren't sure, Father," one of them said. "But we will try to think about it. Right now, yes?"
She turned to her sisters, who all began nodding.
"We didn't predict yesterday's storm. This was bad… Some unfinished buildings were destroyed, and sister Undecided scolded us for it," another Oracle said, then hummed thoughtfully. "But this was now. What was before? What will happen now?"
I sighed. If they kept being this unclear, I would get nowhere—but this was a common occurrence with Oracles.
"Will it help you if I retell how it all started?"
"Maybe?"
"Worth trying, then." I put a pair of hands on my hips and folded the other over my chest. "Alright, it all started when… Hm… Perhaps when I returned after my inspection. Yes! I was feeling just fine when I dismissed Destroyer and co, then went to surprise Amby…"
Like domino pieces, the five Oracles tilted their heads to the left one by one as I frowned, thinking.
"I was shocked by something at this moment. I can remember it clearly! Ah, yes. I was surprised that there were two Ambrosias. But… Why would I be shocked by that? And the feeling of wrongness appeared around the same time."
Oracles gasped. One of them even jumped to her feet, only to sit down.
"But, Father! There was always only one Queen in one hive—even in Hive Supremo! And Ambrosia is a special name of our Mother—nobody would dare to copy it! Even if they add some numbers to it!"
Other Oracles looked just as agitated as the one who spoke aloud and immediately began whispering among each other. 𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝒎
"Did you dream about this?"
"No! Well, maybe. I don't know!"
"Aaaah, this can't be normal, right? If there was a second Queen, we'd be told! Everybody would've been told! Who went to listen to heralds the last time?"
"I did, but there was nothing about new Queens. And I didn't dream about it…"
There was more and more chattering. Other Oracles in the hall, ones who weren't in the conversation directly but were surely listening, now looked just as puzzled and alarmed.
I rubbed my temple and raised a hand in a quieting gesture. It didn't work immediately, but eventually, the noise settled.
"You are right. Queens never liked to share, and one Queen was always enough for one hive. But… Maybe this is an exception? They are both Amby, after all. Even if they only became two people *today*…"
My other hand rubbed my chest.
"Father?" an Oracle asked timidly. "So this thing that happened—is it bad?"
I felt like I could finally put a finger on my weird anxiety. Its source was this strange dichotomy between my memories and my feelings. My logic told me I *should* be shocked and alarmed at a sudden cloning of my bee-wife, but my feelings refused to.
The result caused me nausea. I swallowed a lump in my throat.
"I think… I think it *is* bad."
'And I think we have an infiltrator in our midst! Somehow, she got in without raising any alarm… Perhaps during the storm. Or even earlier, who knows? She has some powerful ability to hypnotize people. She could even trick my system! It wouldn't be strange for her to trick my soldiers.'
I eyed the anxious Oracles.
'But she didn't affect them… Perhaps there's a limit on the infiltrator's ability to affect minds. Wait, what about Undecided? If she felt the same feeling I did—was she affected by the infiltrator as well?'
I had to see Undecided again. In the meantime, I waved, gathering the attention of all Oracles in the hall.
"Please, keep this meeting a secret. I will deal with these things, so you don't have to worry."
The Oracles nodded in understanding, gradually calming down at the sight of my reassuring smile and the sound of my steady voice.
I knew I could trust them not to gossip. Undecided had instilled in all her students the importance of keeping some things away from other people, so they weren't anxious about possible futures.
Oh, Oracles *will* gossip, but only with each other. They were careful around the Workers who maintained the Oracler and cared for Oracles themselves, too.
I bade them Oracles goodbye and flew to the hospital in search of Undecided. Just in case she heard, I sent her a couple of telepathic messages, but they must've gotten lost in the dreamscape of her mind.
Thankfully, Undecided was in the hospital's waiting room, sitting in a queue of other bees who were waiting for a Physician to get free.
The atmosphere there was much livelier than in the waiting rooms of Earth's hospitals. My girls, even when sick or suspecting themselves to be sick, eagerly talked to their neighbors to not get bored. Someone was even singing in a corner, and another bee was repairing her hammer—clearly not wanting to waste even a minute of her precious time.
Of course, this all quickly dimmed when the bees noticed my appearance. Awed gasps and wide-eyed stares followed me… as usual.
I returned all my daughters a habitual quick smile and approached Undecided.
"Forget what I told you earlier… We need to talk in private, Oracle Undecided."
My face must've expressed how serious it was, because she followed without questions, despite her obvious surprise.
Back in the Oracler, in Undecided's personal room—which was as private as I could guess right now—I explained her the situation as I understood it.
"So when did *you* start feeling weird, Undecided?" I asked. "This must've been when the infiltrator hypnotized you. Perhaps this affected your prophecies as well."
"When? Uh…" Undecided rubbed her forehead. "I think it happened… Hm…"
