Finally, Dr. Macron took the stage to introduce the freshman class. “It is a Sci Hi tradition to have the first-year students present their findings last. They are new to the school, and for many, this is the first time they have been encouraged to solve a problem using the scientific method. We have seen the fascinating projects the upper classes have worked on. And this year, the first-year students had an opportunity to engage in a truly remarkable scientific endeavor. I’m especially excited to have them share their results. The other classes have done their own share of amazing work, but none of the other students have actually entered the worlds they were studying, and their findings could impact the entire world.”
To begin the presentations, the teachers discussed the location of the hives each group had visited and then introduced the students as each team presented its data. The hives in Europe and North America displayed the most serious cases of CCD. The images and data the students recorded showed the bees suffering from several different diseases in addition to the varroa mites. Tests of the mites and the larval bees revealed that the mites were responsible for spreading the diseases. One student suggested it was similar to the way rats and fleas spread the plague in the Middle Ages.
Soon, it was time for Dr. Sharp’s students. “My students were assigned to study honeybees in Japan, where they have shown no signs of colony collapse disorder, whereas their relatives in North America and Europe are being wiped out by it. The students uncovered some very interesting findings, which we will share with you now.”
The first group of students from the Japan field trip mounted the stage and launched their presentation. Seated on the right side of the auditorium, Sid leaned over to Penny. “Are you sure you’re up for this? I can run the images since Hari is going to do all the talking. You don’t even have to come up onstage if you don’t want to.”
She shook her head. “I’m fine. I just can’t get the sight of all those dead bees out of my head.”
Hari’s voxpod beeped. “It’s our turn. Let’s go.” They mounted the stage as the audience clapped for the group that had just finished.
Once onstage, Penny used her voxpod to launch their presentation. Hari walked the audience through what they had learned about the Japanese bees removing the larvae and pupae infected by the varroa mites. “This may dramatically reduce the spread of the mites in the hive, which may also reduce the spread of some of the diseases that affect European and North American bees. It isn’t clear whether this behavior is the result of a genetic mutation or some sort of newly acquired instinct. Further study will be needed to arrive at the cause.”
Hari nodded to Sid, who stepped forward.
“We have one more thing to show. While we were inside, the hive was attacked by giant hornets. We put together a little movie about what happened.”
Penny started the movie, which was projected on the walls and the ceiling of the auditorium, giving the viewers a sense of what it was it was like to be in the hive. Penny had edited together the video footage they shot during the hornet attack, with dark, dramatic music added in the background.
When the first giant hornet showed up, the audience gasped as they saw the scale of the huge insect. Sid grinned when the sound effects kicked in. An echoing thud sounded as the hornet moved in, and then a loud roar taken from a very old kaiju movie that Sid liked rang out. The audience laughed for a moment, then gasped as the bees mobbed the intruding hornet.
Shaky helmet footage of Penny, Sid, and Hari fighting off the hornets with the shock prods was greeted with wild cheers from the students. As the film went on, the audience grew quiet as footage of the carnage filled the screen. Torn cells, emptied of honey. Bee larvae and pupae ripped open, screaming silently. Thousands of dead bees, some still twitching slightly, spread all around the hive.
When the movie ended, the lights came up. The audience clapped and cheered. The Tesla students stood and cheered the loudest.
Dr. Sharp took to the stage again. “That was truly an amazing experience. I would like to commend the students, Sidney Jamison, Hari Gupta, and Penny Day, for staying calm in such a difficult situation. We were all very fortunate. Those giant hornets are responsible for a tragic number of deaths every year in Japan. Luckily, no one was hurt….”
“How can you say that?!” Penny shouted angrily. Her voice echoed in the silent hall. “Forty thousand bees were killed! They didn’t stand a chance, even when we were helping them! If we’d had more batteries, maybe we could’ve held them off….” Her voice broke.
“Oh, my,” Dr. Sharp said, unsure what to do.
Dr. Macron quickly strode to the front of the auditorium and mounted the steps. She reached Penny and hugged her tightly. The robot floating over the stage picked up her soothing voice.
“Penny, you’ve been through a very difficult experience. I know that kind of destruction is hard to witness. You must remember, though, that the bees, and the hornets, too, are behaving just as they evolved to. We consider the bees beneficial because they pollinate flowers and crops that we value. I understand that you view the hornets as bad because they attacked the bees. As a person, I can sympathize with how you feel. As a scientist, though, I must stay objective. The hornets were just using their adaptations to help them to survive. Those adaptations include the way they prey on honeybees. The hornets aren’t doing it to be mean or vicious. They’re doing it because that’s what their instincts have directed them to do, the same way the honeybees’ instincts direct them to gather pollen and produce honey. Scientists must take their emotions out of the situation, recording the facts of what occurs. Sometimes, it can be very difficult to do, but we must strive to do so.”
Penny nodded, still visibly upset.
“The honeybees weren’t totally destroyed,” Dr. Sharp broke in. “Before we left, I sent in my assistant Verge to check on the status of the hive. The hornets never made it deep enough into the nest to find the queen. You held off the hornets. They left the hive before their campaign was completed. There were still a few worker bees left. They will rebuild the colony in time.”
“Really?” Penny looked up at him hopefully. “I didn’t know that.” She smiled at Sidney and Hari.
Dr. Sharp continued, “Yes, but it’s important to remember science isn’t about controlling the world. It’s about observing and understanding it. For the information we collect to be meaningful, it must be objective. Our personal beliefs and biases must be kept out of our experiments for accurate results. Sometimes, though, we change the very thing we observe just by observing it. The hornet attack was a natural phenomenon that we should have simply observed, not interfered with….”
“But the circumstances must be considered,” Dr. Macron added. “Scientists have the right to defend their own lives. We can’t forget that we scientists are people. We’re not machines. We’re not computers. And unlike bees, we don’t always follow the rules. Our process, and we ourselves, may not be perfect. But we try, and strive, and forge ahead. Not every experiment turns out the way we think it will, but that is part of the journey and the discovery of science.”
Dr. Macron’s words echoed in Sidney’s head. He hoped his journey with science was just beginning. There was nothing easy about attending Sci Hi, but he knew it was the first step down a path that led somewhere worth traveling. He remembered his mom’s encouraging words. He couldn’t wait to tell her about Sci Hi and his new friends. He knew she would be proud of all he had done. Sidney thought ahead to what the next terms at Sci Hi would bring. Aliens? Mutant body parts? Time travel?
Before his mind could float too far away, he was brought back to Earth by Dr. Sharp’s voice ringing out in the auditorium. “All right, everyone, I believe we have come to the moment you’ve all been waiting for—the winners of the coveted Sci Hi Prizes. And since I know you’ll all be too excited to listen once we get going, I’ll just say now that I have enjoyed this term immensely and look forward to welcoming you all back next semester. I can’t wait to see what yo
u discover next.
“And now without further ado!” Dr. Sharp continued. “Each term, awards are presented in the categories of biology, cosmology, physics, and chemistry. For those of you new to Sci Hi, I can tell you that past winners of the Sci Hi Prize have gone on to make amazing contributions to the sciences, and many have received Nobel Prizes for their work. Dr. Vary, if you would announce the awards, please?”
Dr. Vary climbed the stairs to the stage to announce the winners, starting with the seniors first. Each student called to the stage received a round of thunderous applause. Talos was on hand to present a large crystal trophy etched with the Sci Hi emblem to students who had made breakthroughs in fighting deadly outbreaks of the Ebola virus and a team that had found new ways to store data in a strand of DNA.
“And now we have the results of the Great Mutation Challenge,” Dr. Vary announced.
Sidney shot his friends a grin and Penny waved her crossed fingers.
“In third place is Team Omnivore with its vacupotamus.” An image of a huge creature balanced on hundreds of tiny legs appeared on the viewscreen. Its head was flat and wide, perfect for sucking up plants or small animals on the ground. The audience cheered.
“Second place was taken by Team Botanicide with its snaretree.” An image of a thick tree with dense branches that drooped down to the ground appeared. A small, cute deer-like creature was grazing near the tree. Suddenly, one of the branches jerked upward, yanking the deer off the ground, trapping it in a leafy “net” to be digested. The students applauded.
Dr. Vary spoke again. “Finally, the top prize goes to an organism that has thrived no matter what the environmental conditions or available food source. It was programmed to follow very simple rules that produced powerful results. The winner of the virtual biosphere simulation for this term is…Team Biopocalypse with its eyeball parasite!”
EYEBALL PARASITE
LIFE CYCLE
Sid grabbed Hari’s shoulder. “That’s us!” The screen showed images of the eyeball parasite’s life cycle. The students squirmed watching the little wormlike things attack the other virtual animals. “I’ll bet Pradeep’s never won anything like this, has he?”
Hari looked startled. “I wasn’t even thinking about that!” he said.
Dr. Vary continued, “The eyeball parasite is the most successful organism in the simulation, having infected almost eighty percent of all the creatures in the biosphere. It has spread to every landmass in an absurdly short amount of time. Because of that, I award the title of Most Successful Organism to Team Biopocalypse!”
Penny, Hari, and Sid ran back on stage to accept their trophy from Talos as the students cheered and clapped.
Sid raised his fists in victory and shouted, “Eyeballs!”
Questions for the Author
A life-long sci-fi fan, Timothy J. Bradley is happy to bring the big, weird, and wild side of science fiction to a new generation. He lives with his wife and son in Southern California, where he can’t help but wonder “What if…” every time he looks out the window.
When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
I didn’t actually think about writing books until about ten years ago. I had wanted to illustrate children’s books, but I hadn’t had any luck getting projects. I finally decided that it might help if I were to write my own book and illustrate it. I was able to find a publisher, and the experience was so fun that I just kept writing!
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received about writing?
Reading is really important for an author. I like to see how other writers structure a story and handle things like plot and dialogue. I often reread paragraphs or descriptions in books I like.
You’re both the author and illustrator of Hive Mind. How does this affect the way you work?
I’m an artist first, and I tend to think in images and “movie clips” when I think about a story—almost like puzzle pieces. Writing the story is a matter of arranging the puzzle pieces in the right order and typing it into my computer. Once I have a first draft of a book done, I go back and see what is still missing or might need to be described in more detail. I do lots of little sketches as I write, and those usually end up being the start of any illustrations in the book.
What character in Hive Mind is most like you?
I’d have to say that I have a bit of Sidney in me. When I was younger, I was always frustrated in school because we weren’t learning anything interesting, especially in science! It drove me crazy. I never complained the way Sidney does at the beginning of the book, but I thought about doing it lots of times. That made that particular scene really fun to write.
If you were a student at Sci Hi, what would you study?
Biology, definitely. Or maybe astronomy. But paleontology would be cool. Physics and chemistry are really interesting, too. And anthropology, for sure. Or maybe….
Can we look forward to more Sci Hi books?
Absolutely! I have more adventures in mind for the students at Sci Hi to get involved in. I’m writing the next book right now.
Questions from the Hive
The questions below aren’t a quiz or an assignment. There’s no right answer to these questions. And that means there’s no wrong answers to these questions, either. They’re just a way to get your mind buzzing as you think about the world of Hive Mind.
Have you ever taken apart something you were curious about? What happened?
The title Hive Mind refers to the swarm intelligence that social animals like bees, hornets, and fish display. What examples of swarm intelligence are seen in the book?
How does swarm intelligence differ from the type of individual decisions humans usually make? In what ways does swarm intelligence offer an advantage? In what ways is it limiting?
Why do you think Sidney dreams his legs are turning into stone on page 79? In what ways does it relate to the changes in his life? In what ways does this passage foreshadow the confrontation with the hornet in Chapter 7?
At the end of the book, how did Dr. Macron and Dr. Sharp address the three friends’ concerns about the bees? What would you have told Penny? Think about the different opinions held by the friends about the bees’ deaths. Which most closely agrees with your own view?
In what ways is Hive Mind similar to other books you’ve read? Which books does it remind you of? In what ways are the sci-fi details in Hive Mind similar to or different from these books?
If you were a student at Sci Hi, what kind of activity, experiment, or field trip would you like to take part in?
The Science of Sci Hi
Some of the science-fiction elements in Hive Mind, such as voxpods and the intermaze, were inspired by today’s tablet computers and Internet. Others, like the postal-delivery bot, may one day be real but aren’t yet a part of our world. Read on to sort fact from fiction.
CCD Causes
Colony collapse disorder is a real and serious danger, and scientists are studying what causes CCD and how to prevent it. Pesticides, viruses, and human actions are all being investigated as possible causes. Varroa mites spread a deadly form of deformed wing virus and are considered a leading cause of CCD.
Bee Balls
Hornets are a constant threat to bees. Bee stingers are too small to penetrate the hornets’ exoskeletons. To fight back against the giant Asian hornet, bees have been seen forming a what is called a “hot defensive bee ball.” When hundreds of bees vibrate together, the bee ball cooks the hornet to death over the course of an hour.
Meaningful Messages
Bees use movement and pheromones to communicate with one another. They are famous for the “dance” they use to direct one another to the best flowers. Each movement is interpreted by the other bees, and if they disagree, they may head-butt each other. Pheromones are specia l chemicals the bees emit. Each one produces a specific scent that spreads a message such as “Come over here” or “I’fm the queen.”
True Tech
Computer programmers ar
e already developing artificial forms of intelligence that can make decisions and judgments the same way the human brain does. And nanobots are being developed for use by doctors to scan and repair the human body.
Make It Your Own
If you loved reading Hive Mind, let the world know! Get creative. Try the activities below, or come up with your own way to show off your Sci Hi pride.
Collect and Reflect
Create Pinterest boards for each character. Pin art, videos, science reports, and gadgets that would fascinate and inspire Sidney, Penny, and Hari.
The Perfect Fit
Paint a dark T-shirt with a quote from your favorite character. Grab a bleach pen (and an adult) and start drawing.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Make a book trailer that highlights the most exciting moments in the book. Use the camera on your phone, or create a montage in a video app online.
Another Take
Create a comic-book version of a scene from the book. Work out what moments are most important and deserve close-ups. Create speech bubbles and thought bubbles to show how the characters are feeling.
Pop Quiz
Take this quick quiz to find out which Sci Hi character you resemble the most.
In a hundred years, you would love to see
A) a robot president
B) a cure for cancer
C) an international school for geniuses
On weekends, you’re most likely to be found
Hive Mind Page 8