7 How to build a Hive (4/4)

With Bea giving Jakob the great Idea of letting Moon help him with the work Jakob started looking for him. The entire area wasn´t that big to begin with so it took him only a few minutes to find him. He was currently arguing with a Rhinobeetle.

"... no I am telling you, the wood should go to the other place", Moon said while gesticulating to a nearby spot. "We won´t be using a lot of wood for the buildings so it will mostly be used to make either furniture, beds or planks out of it. And you can´t process it here. On the other hand there is a nice spot right next to the mountains with a big level surface. You safe time walking and it is right next to the place where we will process it anyway. What is so hard about this?"

Moon couldn´t believe this Rhino. He clearly explained to him why he was stupid doing what he was doing but he won´t listen to him.

"I don´t care what you think little man. I do what I do, better be grateful that I even do this much work around here, hmpf."

With that said the big Rhino just dropped down the wood and walked off, just as Jakob got close to them.

"Moon, what was that all about? Didn´t I ask of you to help the other Insects, not agitate them?"

"Dad, listen. I just tried to explain to him that he should drop off the wood closer to where he gets it, because right here it is not needed but he wouldn´t listen to me."

Moon showed his father where the now heaps of wood were and where Moon thought it was stored best for now, and he was correct. That place next to the mountains was actually perfect to handle the wood later on. It was also a lot closer to the Mantis new Hive, and those are also the ones who will most likely turn the wood into planks.

"Very good son. You clearly used your head there. I will try and talk to the Rhino later on. For now follow me, I got the perfect job for you. After that I will go and look around the Hive to see if we are lacking something crucial, or if there were some more issues.

Usually, while all of us were close by, no different Insect group had a lot of interaction with each other, other than some of the jobs. It will take a while for all of us to understand each other."

While Jakob was explaining to Moon all of the different likes and dislikes of the Insects they walked next to the now freshly constructed 3 houses.

"Okay Moon, watch closely. I will show you how to make a nice mixture of dirt and clay so you can use it as a building material."

Jakob proceeded to show Moon step by step how he was making a house. He wouldn´t let Moon touch anything until he was finished. From the foundation to the walls and the roof, Jakob took some extra time to explain everything that he did in detail.

"Okay Moon, I will start laying the foundations, afterwards you can finish by constructing the walls. After the next foundation I will take a closer look around the camp to see if everything is still fine. Can you do that?"

"Of course dad, you can count on me!" Moon said eagerly and nodded energetic. He never got to visit his father at work because both of them were usually busy, and Moon still had to go with his mother to different social events. She was a princess after all.

With the next foundation laid down, Jakob made his way towards the Mantis Hive first. It was closeby and he needed to know how the stone production went. When he got close to the mountain he could see a big sign on top of a small doorway. It said "Mantis make money mending massive monoliths".

"What a weird name for a business but I take what I can get." Jakob chuckled and walked inside the doorway. It was obviously completely dark but that didn´t bother him. Antoids don´t have to rely on their eyesight to navigate terrain, they could approximate their distance to objects with their feelers.

"Hello? Mantis? Anyone at home?" Jakob shouted into the cave. It´s only been 8 hours but these Manti know their handiwork. They already cut out meter-long tunnels and Jakob could make out at least 4 separate doorways.

A Mantis stuck her head out of a doorway to look for the foreign voice coming from the entrance and he recognised the Antoid.

"Ah hello Antoid. What brings you here? Are you coming to look for the progress? I must say, we have some really talented cutters in the surviving groups. My name is Max by the way." The Mantis said with a peculiar tone in his voice.

He was a bit shorter than a regular grown-up Mantis, so he must be pretty young.

Jakob got closer to him and extended his elbow to the Mantis. It was the proper greeting for their Species, since their hands were razor-sharp, basically everywhere. So the costume was to greet them with extended elbows.

The Mantis eyes shone brightly even in the darkness as he extended his own elbow to elbow bump the newcomer.

"Yes, I came to check on the progress. My name is Jakob by the way. How is everything going? Did you get someone to deliver you food and water? And how much stone did you get so far? You know we will need everything that we can get right now. Also the sooner you are finished the better since you are also the only ones that can cut the stones efficiently."

"Someone was here to bring us some food, but it wasn´t nearly enough. We decided to share it evenly but we need about 4 more meals. We currently have 5 rooms, almost completely carved out. We just have a little bit of trouble carrying the blocks out efficiently. Other than that it is going fine."

"Okay, no worries. I will definitely find you some food. Keep up the good work Max." Jakob said and wanted to leave again but he was held up by a sharp claw.

"One more thing, Jakob. I think it would be a good idea to get a representative from every Insect species, so we can work out problems and ideas in smaller groups. What do you think about that?"

"That´s a fantastic idea. I will relay that information to everyone. I hope everyone else agrees. That would mean every Chief of a group can meet up and we can discuss stuff further. Great idea again Max."

With that said Jakob left again and looked for Bea. She seemed like a capable person and also was the one that brought him food. She should be definitely able to ration the Mantis members.

But before he could find her he ran into the Rhinobeetles, who were dropping off wood next to the cut stone. Which is exactly the place where Moon wanted them to drop off the wood earlier.

The Rhinobeeltes waved friendly when they saw Jakob approaching and excitedly walked over to him.

"Antoid! Your son is a genius. We should have dropped off the wood here from the beginning, it saves us a lot of time." The other Rhino nodded furiously.

"That´s good to hear guys. My name is Jakob by the way. How does the wood collection go?" Jakob asked, but he already saw the huge mound of wood next to the stones. If they kept this up it would be enough wood to make basic furniture for every member of the Hive in only a couple of days.

"I am Ralph and this is my brother Rex. And the wood collection goes great."

"I am glad to hear that Ralph. Well, I´ll be on my way then. Oh, by the way. Starting this evening we will have a meeting with every Chief of each species. The Chief you will anoint yourselves. So one of you two meets me on the small hill at sundown."

The Rhinos Rex and Ralph nodded again and continued their work.