"The thing you do, the mind-reading. Teach me how."

Adaobi was in her work clothes: coveralls, heavy gloves, goggles. She was preparing a suspended scaffold system to get a look at the side of her Winnie; a thing I'd thought of as window-washing platform. Learning lots today.

She handed me a motorized belt sander, pointed at the scaffold. I put on a pair of safety goggles and we set the sander going.

"I've been doing that with Lux too," she shouted over the noisy machine. "She had a soul before, but an AI doesn't prioritize things out here like we do. And you just got your soul, you only use it to beat people up, right?"

I nodded. The air was filling with fine sawdust. I was smoothing a canker, which was a kind of boo-boo a Winnie got in its hide. "I won't hurt Audrey 3, will I?"

"Nah, she's my tough old lady. She barely notices when we do this kind of thing, no Winnie does. I saw you reading Schmendrick's book, right? Did you get through it?"

"Yeah, she loves me. Says so in every chapter."

"The thing is, she really does. Schmendrick's a sweetheart. Most Cazadores are; it's why I suspected Lir was a phony. Wanted to keep an eye on him. He'd say snarky stuff now and then."

"Are you mad at him? At me?" There was more anxiety in my voice than I intended. "At me, mostly?"

She shook her head and continued our shouted conversation. "The thing is, if you have a Covenant of Man person on your Winnie, the others start to feel safe showing up, and then you suddenly have a racism Winnie. Best to make sure the statement's made early on. You did fine."

I was surprised at my relief. Adaobi was legit.

She felt it, approval and admiration and respect, flooding from me. Adaobi grinned, slapped my shoulder. "Good boy. And she has a damn fine attack dog."

"Why thank you." Ouch. What was that…

"Parasite," Adaobi said. "All Winnies get them. Down further."

So we lowered the suspended scaffold, scooted it to the left with the crane, way up there. I wished we hadn't.

Many wasps. Each as long as my hand, buzzing around a hole in the side of Audrey 3 like little fighter planes. Red and black racing stripes. Fearsome.

Adaobi tossed me a set of heavy gloves. Oh no.

Go away shithead Humans I kill and kill I'll kill you in your SLEEP you'll DIE I'll kill you so MUCH

A wave of fear and rage drilling into my forehead.

"Bark Wasps. They're intelligent," Adaobi said, amused at my reaction. "They have souls, okay? More like the hive has one soul, focused on the Queen, like the Big Smart Bees you get with the Feast. The rest are her eyes and hands."

Leave me alone leave my babies oh why why does this happen I hate you haaaaate

"I…don't want to hurt her," I said lamely.

She smiled. "So don't. I get it; she's just trying to survive, you're not mean. But if we leave her here she'll do real damage to Audrey." She casually brushed a huge wasp away from the back of her glove. "Shoo, baby. Okay, so you wanted to know about taking inventory. This is a good place to start. She's broadcasting."

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I followed the signal. The wasp queen was frightened and furious. Oh why why leave us alone we just want to LIVE

"I won't hurt you," I said. And tried to send, the same way I was receiving. "Let's work something out."

Kill you kill! KILL HIM KILL THAT HUMAN THE STINKY ONE

And the wasps, the ten or so that were out here, converged on me. Landed on me. Adaobi stepped back. Not her fight.

Or mine. "We want to find a new place for you. If you remain here you'll die. I don't want that."

OUCH CRAP! A wasp had sunk its stinger into my forearm. It was still there, and its v-shaped red-and-black head was glaring at me, gemlike eyes empty and reflective like mirrorshades. It was pumping me full of venom.

"Hurts," I observed. And I won't lie to you: it hurt a lot. But I didn't move. I didn't kill the wasp. I didn't wave my arms or yell or fling myself into the water far below.

In retrospect I found myself wondering: how much had Adaobi dug around in my head? She'd known I'd behave this way, I think. You don't get on a narrow platform with someone you think will flip out and panic. Taking Inventory, she'd called it.

"We'll work it out, mama." I said it slowly, sending reassurance. "Nobody's getting hurt. Well, just me."

THAT'S RIGHT! I can hurt you! But the wasps didn't sting again. They orbited me, landed on me. My children can hurt you!

"I know." And that sting, where I'd been hit just at the edge of my heavy glove, was throbbing. Swelling. I might need hospitalization, but not just yet. "We can't have you here. Will you let me move you?"

The wasps ransacked my brain the way Adaobi had. It was instructive. They weren't reading what I was thinking at the moment; that wasn't useful. They were seeing what I'd do given various options. Checking my internal flow-chart. Taking inventory, Adaobi had said. Could I be trusted?

You know what? Take a look, wasp mom. All you want.

And I could take inventory as well. I sent careful feelers into the mind that was probing mine.

This was a sharp, merciless being who was terrified, fierce, loyal, protective. Paranoid. But honorable. She'd keep a bargain if I offered it in good faith.

Finally: Okay do it.

"Or you'll kill me? Right in the face?"

Exactly in your evil Human face!

Adaobi, smiling under her goggles, handed me a worn trowel. I carefully dug out the delicate, huge papery nest. Held its white honeycombed mass in front of me like a piñata about to burst, to fill the world with horror and stings and telepathic threats from a frightened mother.

We lowered the scaffold, and I waded out to a nearby island. Mangroves; perfect. "In the mangrove swamps where the python romps," I said dizzily. I leaned against Adaobi.

"We'll get you fixed up," she whispered. "Keep going."

"How about this," I said to the hive. "This tree, right here?"

No! The tree is dying and ugly! That one! No! There! Yes.

It had a handy hollow in its trunk, and I gently rolled the nest in there. A perfect fit. A burst of approval and pride from Adaobi. She clapped me on the shoulder.

Acceptable. Now: Flee! Flee for your lives! Flee, Humans or DIE!

Thus dismissed, we went back to the scaffold, and it took us up, up, away from the hive's new home.

Adaobi busted out a first-aid kit, started working on my horrific sting. It was deep red and shaped like a damn apple, and the hurt was really something. She gave me some painkillers and something called "KFC Root Beer. Brewed at the bottom of the sea!"

I'd never tried root beer made by crustaceans. We clinked the bottles together. It was good and cold.

"Gosh that was nice of me," I said, causing Adaobi to spit-take her drink. Then I fainted.

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