Stygmergy
12 views
Skip to first unread message
Alex Mitchell
Aug 10, 2016, 11:34:32 AM8/10/16
to Monstrous Weather Netprov
"You know about bees, don't you? You should really respect bees."
I had been dozing off when the woman beside me started talking. Flights had been grounded since the cloud cover had descended, so I was taking the seemingly endless National Express number 539 from Bournemouth to Edinburgh. Usually in this situation I would pretend to be asleep, but that phrase caught my attention. I was sure I'd heard it before, the words buzzing at the edge of my memory like an earworm, almost becoming clear but then slipping away just as I was about to wrap my fingers around it.
"It came through my phone", she said, showing me the dead, black screen of her iPhone. The surface was etched with a fine web of cracks. I cringed as she swiped the ragged glass, afraid it might splinter and catch her skin. "They've been trying to tell us, we just haven't been listening. Colony collapse is just the start. The waters are running deep, but soon the rains will come."
I wanted to ask her where she had heard this, but she had already drifted off. I also let sleep slowly wash over me, the dull buzzing in the back of my head and the dark layer of clouds making it hard to stay awake. As the bus turned off Princes' Street I saw that the seat beside me was empty. She must have got off in Oxford or Birmingham. All she had left behind was that naggingly familiar phrase.
I collected my luggage and began the trek up the hill and past the castle to the university. The Internet was still down, and any form of digital storage was becoming increasingly unstable, so Mark was couriering the recording to me on an old audio cassette. Hopefully I could find the equipment to play it. The rain started just as I was turning into campus. Across from the main building, I could see a cleanup crew scrubbing off some fresh graffiti. All that remained of the tag were that last few letters: "ct bees".
***
Of course, this is just a story I heard that week when the Internet was down. We all heard stories like this. But we didn't listen, did we?
I had been dozing off when the woman beside me started talking. Flights had been grounded since the cloud cover had descended, so I was taking the seemingly endless National Express number 539 from Bournemouth to Edinburgh. Usually in this situation I would pretend to be asleep, but that phrase caught my attention. I was sure I'd heard it before, the words buzzing at the edge of my memory like an earworm, almost becoming clear but then slipping away just as I was about to wrap my fingers around it.
"It came through my phone", she said, showing me the dead, black screen of her iPhone. The surface was etched with a fine web of cracks. I cringed as she swiped the ragged glass, afraid it might splinter and catch her skin. "They've been trying to tell us, we just haven't been listening. Colony collapse is just the start. The waters are running deep, but soon the rains will come."
I wanted to ask her where she had heard this, but she had already drifted off. I also let sleep slowly wash over me, the dull buzzing in the back of my head and the dark layer of clouds making it hard to stay awake. As the bus turned off Princes' Street I saw that the seat beside me was empty. She must have got off in Oxford or Birmingham. All she had left behind was that naggingly familiar phrase.
I collected my luggage and began the trek up the hill and past the castle to the university. The Internet was still down, and any form of digital storage was becoming increasingly unstable, so Mark was couriering the recording to me on an old audio cassette. Hopefully I could find the equipment to play it. The rain started just as I was turning into campus. Across from the main building, I could see a cleanup crew scrubbing off some fresh graffiti. All that remained of the tag were that last few letters: "ct bees".
***
Of course, this is just a story I heard that week when the Internet was down. We all heard stories like this. But we didn't listen, did we?
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages