What it is to be a Queen

I am Banrigh, the most sucessful hive queen in our history on the planet. My gratitude that our memories and awareness are passed on when we pass is beyond the comprehension of those of other species. Members of other species die and their descendants are left with what they remember of what they have seen and have been told. At the best for them they have written records, but that is not the same as having memories. We remember all as if we were the one experiencing what our entire line of direct ancestors remembered of their lives and experiences. For those of us with ancestors of influence, or ancestors who subsequently became to be recognised as major contributors to our current thinking, that puts us in a powerful position in society today.

I as a virgin female was aware that I would be seeking drones of exceptional physical ability, but so would all the other virgin females when they rose to mate to acquire their store of sperm that would provide them with their source of daughters that would build the population of their hive when they left their birth hive. Unlike my sisters I was seeking drones of not just extreme physical prowess with large quantities of sperm to offer that would last me for years, but drones of intellect to match my own. I rose eight times during the hot days of my year of mating and scorned all the drones that managed to even fly anywhere near myself. Then Tal approached me. Tal was a not particularly masculine name, but he was big, huge even one could say, with large and powerful wings and he had enormous eyes that he told me had seen me from twenty-seven miles away as I had risen. His conversation concerning our interaction with the flowers that we females pollinated fascinated me. Unlike most other drones he was aware that mating with me would ensure his death, but for some reason he regarded that as a privilege and said that his hope was that some of my unfertilised eggs would become drones like himself.

After a lot of fascinating conversation at extremely high altitude we mated, and Tal died a more than happy drone. I for some reason, I was not prepared to tell any other, was not so happy about that. I reigned as queen of my hive for an unprecedented seven years, and I was not unhappy when my workers decided I should be replaced, for the princesses that could take my place were all of exceptional quality being Tal’s daughters even though they carried his genes, too I had raised them and I had been deeply affected by his thinkings.

I am aware that other species of the galactic empire regard us as bizarre and that our customs and way of life is completely inexplicable to them, but deep down as I die I ask myself have they ever loved and been loved by any such as Tal.