THE HIVE
Chapter Five Jack glanced nervously in the rearview mirror as he drove the SUV on the M4 towards Cardiff. They were about halfway there and he kept expecting Jeremy to wake up at any minute. They had managed to get him sedated enough so that he was immobile amd wasn't a threat to them. Even so, the metamorphisis was still taking place. Jack could see that smaller legs were starting to sprout from his sides now. He felt sick to his stomach staring at him. the man was young, only about twenty from his estimation, and it saddened him to think that he was being changed into this creature when he obviously had his whole life ahead of him. Seeing him made him determined to track down the wasp that did it to him. If one sting made this poor man change, then he shuddered to think how many others might be mutated before they could stop it. He pulled his mobile out of his pocket and called the Hub. "Ianto, hey, we're on our way back. We have a passenger with us. We need you to prepare a cell for him." He paused and glanced back at Jeremy. "Um…well, it's a young man and he's turning into a giant wasp." He said. He paused. "Yeah, Owen is gonna examine him, but we will definitely need to keep him isolated from everyone. Another giant wasp stung him and he's changing because of it. If he grows a stinger and stings us, we'll end up the same way. We're about an hour away, so just make sure the cell is ready for us." He paused. "Okay, see you when we get there. Bye." He closed his mobile and put it away. He glanced back at Owen and Tosh who were sitting on either side of Jeremy. "How's he doing?" he asked them. "He's still out," Tosh said looking at him. "Not sure for how long though." "Well, if he does show signs of waking up, we have some sedative in the glove compartment we can give him." Jack replied, glancing in the rearview mirror at her. "Ianto said he's going to get a cell ready for us." "Good, because I'm extremely nervous sitting next to a bloody great wasp." Owen said to him. "Well, as soon as we get him examined, we'll have to come back and search for the wasp that did it. Otherwise, we could have a whole bunch of these things rampaging through London in a very short time." Jack replied. "Do you think that there is more than one?" Gwen asked. Jack looked over at her. "I'm not sure. I hope not. If they are human sized they'll be a handful." He said to her. Everyone fell silent and Jack concentrated on the road. Owen took the opportunity to do a small examination to combat the boredom he was feeling. Jeremy was still in his hospital gown which made it easier to look at his body. Tosh saw what he was doing and did the same on her side. She took hold of one of the tiny legs growing from his side and examined it. "This leg has grown since we looked at it last." She said to Owen. "Yeah, so have the legs on this side. I think the change is speeding up." He replied. Gwen looked around the seat and watched them. She reached out and touched one of the legs. It was hard and smooth to the touch. She looked at his regular arms and noticed they were turning black as well. She shook her head. "When he's done, I guess he'll completely change into a wasp. No more humanity left in him?" Owen gave her a grim look. "That's where it's heading." He said to her. "Poor bugger will just be one huge insect." Jack looked in the rearview mirror at Jeremy. He thought for a moment, then pulled out the mobile and dialed the Hub. "Ianto, me again." He said. "Listen, have you been watching the news?" He paused. "Okay, have they said anything about any other wasp attacks?" He paused. His brow furrowed. "When was this?" he said. His mouth dropped open. "Since yesterday?" Gwen looked at him and mouthed "What?" Jack glanced at her and held up his finger. "No, they never said anything about any downed spaceship to us." Now everyone was looking at him. "Well, we've been busy. We went right from investigating that alien sighting to St. George without any break in between. We didn't have time to stop and catch the news and no one at the hospital mentioned it. Which seems pretty weird considering it's not every day a human sized wasp is seen in the middle of London. If there was a crashed spaceship right outside the city, then the wasp makes a lot more sense now." He sighed. "Listen, can you get a hold of the authorities and get us authorization to visit the crash site then? If these two things are connected, then it's important we check out that ship as quickly as possible!" He nodded. "Good, just explain to them that it's important we see it before anything else happens and we have to go out and kill a hive filled with these things." He smiled. "Thanks Ianto. We're nearly there so let us know what they say when we get to the Hub. See you then, bye." He hung up and put the mobile back in his pocket. "Yesterday, a spaceship crashed right outside of London," he told the others. "It's been all over the news and the police have already been over to investigate. I guess it never occurred to the people at the hospital that the wasp might come from there. Anyway, Ianto is going to get us in to take a look at it." "If they'll let us in." Owen said. "Oh, I'm sure they will. Ianto will just turn on his usual charm and sweet talk them into letting us inside the spaceship." Jack replied. "They really don't have a choice anyway. They chose to involve us in this when they called, so they might as well let us have full access to everything. Besides, I think they'd rather let us handle it anyway. You know how the police are when it comes to things like this." The team grumbled in agreement. Jack laughed. "Hey, don't knock it, it keeps us in business." He said to them. "Better us than the guys over at Canary Wharf." "I think the guys over at Canary Wharf are too busy playing mad scientist to come out into the field anyway." Owen said. "I have to say I don't trust that lot. They're too secretive and they creep me out." "Same here, which is why we don't associate with them anymore, apart from Ianto keeping in contact with Lisa." Jack said. "My feeling is, as long as they keep their nose out of our business, we'll stay out of theirs." "I don't know, somehow I have a feeling the whole staying out of their business will come back to bite us on the ass one day." Owen muttered. "Ianto, is the cell ready?" Jack said as he and the others came in the Hub carrying Jeremy. "Yes, everything's ready." He replied. "Great! Thanks!" Jack said as they went past. Ianto followed them and stared at Jeremy. "My God," he said, looking at him. "Yeah, he's actually gotten worse during the two hour drive." Jack said glancing at him. "We lifted him out and he's starting to grow a stinger out of his tailbone. It grew enough that it actually punctured the seat." "And trust me; he didn't have it when we sat him in the car." Owen said. Ianto shook his head. He ran ahead of them so he could open the cell door. He hurried to the cellblock. Ignoring the Weevil who was snarling at him from his prison, he went to the cell at the end of the corridor and opened the door. Then his head jerked around when he heard Jack screaming. "Shit, he's waking up! Run, guys!" Ianto heard them running through the Hub yelling at each other. He flattened himself up against the back wall as the team sprinted towards the cell carrying the drowsy wasp man in their arms. They ran into the cell, dropped him to the floor and ran back out. When the last person was out, Ianto slammed the door shut and locked it. Jack and the others leaned back against the cell on the other side, gasping, as Jeremy shook his head and looked around the cell in confusion. Ianto walked over and stood beside them watching while Jeremy got to his feet and walked to the plastic wall separating him from them. He stared at them with huge, black eyes and his antennae moved on his forehead feeling the plastic in front of him. He paused and focused his gaze on Jack. "Let me go." He demanded. "Nope, sorry." Jack replied. "Szzzet me free. I muszzzt return to the hive!" Jack felt his blood run cold as his worst fears were confirmed. "Where is this hive? How many wasps are there?" he asked stepping forward. "There are many of uzzz. We are one! We are Szzzwarm! Szzzet me free!" "Let me talk to Jeremy. Jeremy, can you still hear me?" Jack said. "Jeremy Szzzpenzzzer izzz no more. We are Szzzwarm!" "We?" Gwen said, looking at Jack. He thought for a moment. "He must be part of a collective consciousness. A hive mind. No individual thought. Jeremy no longer can think for himself. Something is controlling him and the other wasps now, telling them what to do." He looked at Jeremy. "Isn't that right, Swarm? That is what you call each other then?" "We are all Szzzarm." He said nodding. "We think the szzzame." "Who tells you how to think? Who is in charge?" "Our queen." "Oh lovely," Jack said sighing. "They have a queen. This just keeps getting better by the minute." He looked at the others. "I guess we have just enough time to use the bathroom and freshen up and then we head back to London. I just hope we aren't too late."
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