Log:Wasp Venom, Scene 26

Wasp Venom 2013/10/25 	 Bee Dorian Sato Katsumi

26

Champions Mush - Friday, October 25, 2013, 1:35 PM

HIVE INC.

''Decorated in black and tasteful muted gold, Hive Inc occupies most of the second floor of Quinn towers. ''

''The elevator opens on four rows of chairs and a wide semicircular desk with a smiling receptionist of Indian decent. Her eyes are the signature yellow color of Hive's best employees. The Hive Inc Logo is on a wall directly behind the receptionist's desk. On either side of that wall, openings on both sides lead to large rooms with multiple desks and computer stations. Completing the circle is the office of Queen Bee, superhero and district manager of Hive Inc. ''

Bee is working in her office. Things have finally returned back to a semblance of normal: as normal as a company can be with a costumed superhero at the helm.

Dorian walks up to the receptionist, and shows his credentials. "Hi, I'm Dorian Perrault, from Starguard Gamma. I was hoping to speak to the manager."

The receptionist smiles at Dorian. She is of Indian decent like many of the people Bee brought with her when the branch opened and, like most Hive employees, has yellow sclera to her eyes. "Of course, Commander," she says sweetly. "She told me to expect you to drop by. I'll take you back right now."

Dorian nods. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

The receptionist leads Dorian back to Bee's office. Windows line one wall with low greenery along most of that space. Bee glances up when the pair enter and her expression flashes through several emotions before settling on a welcoming smile."

Bee says, "Hello Commander. I'm pleased to see you."

Bee

''There is something striking about this woman, something different than just tan skin and an hourglass figure. ''

''Her mask is a Quinntex cowl that covers her face to just below her nose and all of her hair and her neck, but leaves her dark persimmon lipstick and determined jaw in view. Depending on how the light hits it, the cowl is either honey yellow or black. Her sleeveless top is made from the same material and has a low neckline, exposing a black bee tattoo on her sternum. On her upper back rests a hard carapace with translucent wings extending from the carapace to just below her butt. Her pants are loose and baggy, have a yellow and black camouflage pattern, and tuck into black knee-high boots with metallic spikes for heels. Her belt is festooned with pouches. Her arms are bare except for durable opera-length gauntlets that match the material of her boots. Her voice is a melodic alto with a distict metallic buzz. ''

''Only then do most people notice what is unusual about her build: hourglass shaped despite being thin. She isn't artificially busty: her waist is round instead of oval. It is the same width front-to-back as it is side-to-side. However, she doesn't move like she is wearing a corset.''

Dorian smiles and nods, "Sorry to interrupt your work day. I just wanted to ask a couple of questions." He glances out the window as he walks closer.

Dorian waits for the receptionist to leave before saying, "So...I was questioning Ms. Adamani, and she said a couple of things that I wanted to follow up on. First off..." He raises his hand, and wisps of light from his fingertips form into the word 'Rashmika', "...this name was mentioned as her competitor here. My assumption is that...that's you."

Dorian lets the image of the name dissipate like white mist, clearly not wanting to have it visible for too long.

Bee nods slightly, but says, "Rashmika is my personal assistant. She might as well be me, as closely as we work together, but no, we are even quite competitive."

Dorian 

''This man stands about five and a half feet tall, and is moderately good looking. He has blue eyes...brown hair cut into a crew cut, and a goatee. ''

''He's currently wearing a retro Eisenhower style jacket in an olive green, along with a black t-shirt, a pair of jeans...probably Levi's if one notices such things, and a pair of navy blue Doc Marten's, heavily worn from walking, apparently. ''

Dorian nods. "She seemed to indicate that Rashmika was in direct competition with her."

Bee shakes her head, "Here at Hive Inc, our goal has always been about hiring people that are passionate about what they do. We have accountants, but they tend to be people that love accounting. Both Rasmika and I are here, not just in Hive, but in Colonial Bay, because we want to be. *This* - what I do everyday - not just for Hive but for Starguard - is what I want to be doing. I don't want to be anywhere else.

Dorian smiles slightly, "That doesn't really answer the implication, though. Rashmika...and Rashmika only...was mentioned as a competitor. No one else. Mind you, I'm not saying what you're saying isn't true." He pauses, "But that brings me to the second reason I came here. She mentioned something about production facilities that got me curious. I was wondering if I could get a tour of your facilities, if that would be alright."

Bee gestures, "You've seen most of it already."

Dorian says, "What I've seen appear to be offices, not production. I'd like to see where the honey is produced."

Bee points to the wall behind Dorian. "Right there. You can't see the production cube because of the teleport unit on that wall, but see those pipes to the left? They aren't part of the teleport unit, but part of the production cube. I had the ingredient tubes and output pipes extended when the teleporter was installed."

Dorian looks back toward the wall, and his eyes glow for a moment as he looks at it.

Bee says, "Production here is still below the expected four hundred milloliteres per day, but a standard daily dose is only two miloliteres, so we haven't had any shortages. It is a powerful multivitamin (true), but taking it is voluntary and we are below 100% (also true)."

Dorian turns back to Bee, "I'll be blunt. She implied that you might have an individual as the source, like the situation in Zu. My intent was to investigate that, and hopefully...prove it to be false. Is there any way to see inside this 'cube'?"

Bee shakes her head, "It was built to be sterile, self cleaning, and maintenance free. It has an exit door, but the door is locked and only can be opened from the inside. That is why the Diamant boys in Zu didn't know a person was there. The shielding blocked their penetrating vision and the lady inside was restrained."

Dorian sighs quietly, "Let me word it this way: If we can't come up with a way to deal with this, I may likely have to get a warrant. I'll need to talk to the DA to see if there's enough to go on. But I don't want to disrupt your operations here if I don't have to."

Just then, there is a loud 'clunk' and Bee jumps up in surprise. Running to the wall, she pulls back the teleporter (which is on wheels), revealing a heavy vault door, which is slowly opening. "Um," she says slowly, "I think we are both in for a surprise, although your surprise is likely different from mine."

Dorian's hands glow briefly as he turns to face where the sound came from. As Bee moves to deal with...whatever she's doing, he raises a brow and just watches...letting the energy he gathered dissipate again.

Sato Katsumi, the same oddly proportioned woman that was originally kidnapped in Zu, waddles out of the vault. She is barefoot and dressed in a kimono, but on her it looks comfortable instead of formal: like an American dressed in a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers. She brushes a hand over her bald head and turns yellow eyes without irises on Dorian. "I have a question for you, Commander," she says, a bit bashfully, "and I want a truthful answer. If I convince you it is important, can you keep a secret?"

Dorian tilts his head. "Of course. I've had to keep more than my share of secrets over my life. Otherwise, I wouldn't be where I am now."

Katsumi says, "I was not entirely truthful to my rescuers about who and what I am. In many ways, I am the founder of Hive Inc. For you to understand, I need to tell you about an alien race called the Shrxxn, but to understand them, I need you to understand a few things about humanity with a history lesson. The two stories are related, I promise. Okay?"

Bee plops back down in her chair, stunned and silent.

Dorian nods. "Alright." He listens quietly, realizing that Katsumi must have had a way to monitor the conversation, based on the timing of her arrival.

Katsumi starts what must be a prepared speech. She starts slowly - bashfully - as if she has never actually given the speech to a stranger before, but builds confidence as the words flow. "In the mid-1930's Japan and China started fighting and officially went to war in 1937. The United States was uninvolved in this war until 1940. That year, Japan attacked French Indochina in an effort to disrupt supply lines to China. Instead of withdrawing from the conflict to protect US interests, the United States unofficially declared that they were on the Chinese side when they halted shipments of airplanes, parts, machine tools, and aviation gasoline to Japan while continuing to trade with China. The following year, in 1941, they moved the Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Hawaii.

Attempts to resolve the issue diplomatically failed because the United States, and several other countries supplying military aide to China, 'officially' declared that they were still neutral while acting otherwise. Japan's final diplomatic proposal, on 20 November 1941, offered to withdraw their forces from southern Indochina and not to launch any attacks in southeast Asia provided that the U.S., Britain, and the Netherlands ceased aiding China and lifted their sanctions against Japan. On November 26th, the Unites States refused, ignored the fact that Japanese officials had declared that November 20th would be their final diplomatic proposal and demanded Japan's unconditional surrender as a counter-proposal. In a final effort to remove the United States and Great Britain from the war, Japan initiated a preventative strike against six military bases on December 7th, 1941. I believe your history books neglect to mention the simultaneous attacks against US-held Philippines and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, but it does remember the attack on Pearl Harbor and calls it both cowardly and a surprise - I believe the exact quote was 'a day that will live in infamy'. Does this interpretation of history sound familiar??

Dorian raises a brow, "I'm pretty sure I remember reading at least about the attack on the Philippines as well."

Dorian says, "General MacArthur and all that."

Katsumi says, "The important thing to remember about the one year difference between when Japan says the United States entered the war and the US version is that both sides has hundred's of years to learn each other's culture, attitudes and language and, more importantly, *both sides were human*. Extrapolate that out a bit and imagine that the two sides discussing a conflicting viewpoint are *not* the same species. Imagine being asked to discuss water resources and ocean conservation with a dolphin, or worse a cuttlefish. Can you imagine trying to discuss oil mining with a species that doesn't use tools?"

Dorian nods, "Alright. I see where you're going with this. Except..it's my job to try to interact with alien races. So, I'm not the sort to just throw up my hands and give up trying to understand things that I don't quite 'get'."

Katsumi says, "This brings us to the Skrxxn. The Skrxxn as a species have two factions. One faction stays at home and ignores the rest of the universe. The other faction are liaisons. Their job, essentially, is to prevent the kind of misunderstanding that caused to the United States to take two wars on two different continents and turn them into a World War. They do this by answering one very important question, over and over again: what does it mean to be not-Skrxxn?"

She starts to wait for a response, but gets suddenly shy and hurries on to say, "They do this by creating a bridge between two random specimens of each species: for example, cuttlefish. One cuttlefish becomes part Skrxxn and one Skrxxn becomes part cuttlefish mentally and physically. If the gap is too great, each side of the bridge has the ability to create 'step-downs': others like itself where the ratio isn't fifty-fifty. As I understand it, the process is very confusing and, because of their non-species-specific behavior, the bridges are generally considered insane. Bridge cuttlefish don't act like regular cuttlefish. ... and before you think I am kidding, they really did create a cuttlefish bridge.""

Dorian nods quietly, listening for the moment.

Katsumi says, "In late 1956, the Skrxxn made their human bridge, a poor woman whose only outstanding ability was that she was measurably average. She is lost, confused, no longer looks human and cries out in anguish, confusion and pain. ... and she does it in range of a human telepath that hears her cries. Me."

Katsumi shrugs and stops talking, suddenly shy.

Dorian nods, "Okay, I follow you so far. So, what happened then?"

Katsumi says, "I believe in the Skrxxn's purpose, believed in it, before I even became, literally, a part of it. Knowing how Ru- this woman looked, I knew that she would get lynched as soon as people saw her, so it was I that created the vaults and the 'secret identity' of Hive Inc. I mean, look at me: I'm hideous. The first normal human to look at me would scream 'alien' and put me out of their misery."

Bee shakes her head, once, but doesn't argue with Miss Sato out loud.

Dorian shakes his head, "That might have been true a hundred years ago, but not so now."

Katsumi says, "I'm not talking about the general population, but the lone fanatic. I believe the Fae embassy here in town was attacked just last Easter and the outer walls graffitied ... by a man from within Starguard?"

Dorian nods. "That's true. However...what I'm saying is that a hundred years ago, the average person might be inclined to shoot a perceived alien. That's not true now.

Dorian says, "And yes, there are terrorist organizations that hate aliens. However, that's not the 'standard' I consider the human race to be measured against."

Katsumi nods, "Regardless, you understand my caution. With a single person acting as the lynchpin between humanity and the entire alien community, one bullet would be enough."

Dorian nods. "I understand. So...that explains what happens here. What about what happened in Zu? There are a lot of questions there."

Katsumi says, "The 'multivitamin' milk that is offered to Hive employees has a side effect in addition to the yellow eyes, it tends to make people more productive. I hid the effect by targeting people that tended to be workaholics anyway. Nothing about their behavior changed. Kagiso Adamini, on the other hand, felt it would be more profitable if the milk was given to people who were not naturally productive - selling the milk directly instead of giving it away as a free benefit of employment. Her goal was money."

Dorian nods, "Alright."

Katsumi says, "In general, the company follows the Skrxxn stepdowns. The founder is at the top, I, and other producers like me, am second and 'Bee' is the face of the company but actually third. Kagiso objected to that as well. She tore loose from her supervisor's oversight and started doing her own ... thing. She wanted those of us in the vaults as nothing more than cows: pumped up with steriods to increase our milk production. If she had access to the facilities, I'm certain she also would have lobotomized me."

Bee says, "You don't know that. You never had an opportunity to read her mind."

Dorian nods, "Ah, I see. So...isn't there a good chance this will all come out in a trial in Zu?"

Bee says, "Adamini accepted a plea bargain."

Dorian raises a brow, "In exchange for what?"

Dorian says, "Admittedly, the only African country I've been to is Nigeria, so I don't really know much about Zu. But I'd have been surprised if the government didn't get some kind of access to technology."

Katsumi says, "Early retirement. She takes the position I was supposed to fill when I originally moved from Tokyo to Johannesburg in exchange for prison time."

Bee adds "With a slightly different lock on the door."

Dorian says, "So...the Zu government does know some details of the operations there?"

Katsumi nods "What is the expression about animals and open barn doors?"

Dorian chuckles. "I have no idea."

Bee supplies, "Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted."

Dorian smiles, "Ah...similar to the one about trying to stifle a rumor. It's like trying to unring a bell."

Katsumi nods, "The Zu government is treating this like a military secret and in return we honor Miss Adamani's contract at the military academy."

Dorian nods again. "Alright. Well, I think my curiosity has been satisfied."

Katsumi says, "So, about our company secrets..."

Bee reaches for a piece of paper in her desk.

Dorian says, "Yes?"

Bee slides a document and a pen over to Dorian.

Katsumi says, "I knew from Bee's mind that you wouldn't sign this before I told you my story and non-discolsure agreements are like locks anyway: they only keep honest men honest. However, I also knew from her knowledge of your abilities that you could have walked in on my new home at any time. I want to thank you for your ... courtesy."

Dorian shakes his head, "My codename is sort of misleading. I can't walk through walls. If I wanted in, I could have blasted by way in."

Dorian takes a look at the document, reading it over.

Katsumi says, "Ah." and shoots Bee a dark look. "I will remind myself to take a closer look at her education."

Dorian smiles slightly, "Though...it's something I can likely do eventually, so...not outside the realm of possibility."

Katsumi nods, "You do your agent credit, standing up for her."

Dorian smiles, "Well, thank you. But...I'm also just being honest. I can manipulate energy and matter, converting from one to the other. This body that you see...is not my natural state now. But I'm human down to the cellular level, because I converted by energy to a human form. If I desire, I can look like anyone I want to." He shifts form a couple of times, looking first like Star Girl, and then like Harlequin, and finally like Bee...before returning to his relatively unassuming 'Dorian' form.

There's a brief flash of light with each transformation.

Dorian says, "So...in theory, I should be able to make my energy diffuse enough to pass through objects. I haven't really tried much, to be honest."

Dorian goes ahead and signs the form. "Seems reasonable."

Dorian looks to Bee, "I shouldn't have to remind you about Starguard secrets, I assume?" He smiles slightly, but leaves it at that.

Bee nods

Katsumi says, "Before you go, could I ask one favor?"

Dorian nods. "What's that?"

Katsumi says, "There is a man at Starguard. His name is Malcolm. Would you not tell him where I am but let him ... tell him I'm okay. He took me into his home after he rescued me."

Dorian says, "I can certainly do that. Or if you prefer, you coudl write a note, and I could hand it to him."

Katsumi rises and says, "A note may get him guessing I am still nearby. I have faith in you to say the right thing Commander." Then she turns without another word and walks back into the vault.

Bee looks at the closing door after Katsumi heads back into the vault, her mouth open. "Once she walked in there, I never thought I would see her again."

Dorian says, "Clearly she felt it was important."

Bee nods. "I guess." Turning her attention fully to Dorian, she says, "Do you need anything else today, Commander? If you will excuse me I'm feeling a bit ... naked at the moment."

Dorian smiles slightly, "No. I'll head out. Thank you for your time."

Bee takes her time putting away the non-disclosure contract, giving the little piece of paper more time than it needs.

Dorian makes his way out.