Edward Pendrick, a highly intelligent sweat bee, was left stranded in miles upon miles of grass jungle after his Phyllophaga, or June Bug, the Lady Vain was squashed by an unknown force, leaving all but him massacred. All hope seemed loss as Pendrick realized that he had no strength to save himself by flying back to civilization, but suddenly, another Phyllophaga swooped down and snatched Pendrick from the weeds, simultaneously saving his life and putting it back in danger. It was on that unnamed, cargo laden, June Bug where Pendrick met his saviors: a large cellophane bee named Montgomery and an orchid bee that went by the name of Dr. Moreau. The crew seemed to also be some form of cellophane bees, but Pendrick noticed that each one of them were deformed in some way, as if they had all been mutilated by war or accidents. Another strange observance that worried Pendrick was that these bees seemed strangely primitive, as if they only barely knew how to be a bee, it unnerved him.
It was several hours before it was announced that they were landing and Pendrick was able to see Dr. Moreau’s hive. It was a large hive burrowed into a dying tree that was strangely void of any other vegetation, not even a weed filled the ground beneath its trunk for more than six miles by Pendrick’s senses. Nothing but dirt could be seen in all directions. Pendrick wondered, how it was that they survived without a single flower to take pollen and nectar from, it made him shiver to not be able to feel any life around him.
It wasn’t long before Pendrick became very uncomfortable in his new surroundings. This hive was unlike any he had seen before. Every larvae cell and nest tunnel in the hive was unnervingly empty; the entire hive was devoid of cellophane membranes, pollen, nectar, or even females. Pendrick didn’t know how these bees survived, but he had no wish to stay and find out. Before he could even try to leave though, he heard terrible screaming coming from one of the nest tunnels. Concerned, he rushed to the tunnel to find Dr. Moreau performing some kind of grotesque experiment on a fellow bee. Blood was everywhere as Pendrick accompanied the bee’s screams with one of his own, announcing his presence and forcing Moreau to stop his work.
Pendrick flew as fast as he could from that nest of pain, not knowing and not caring where he was going, when he stumbled on the bees of the hive in the middle some kind of ritual. He had no idea what they were doing, it was the strangest form of communication he had ever seen, it was like they were attempting a dance but its meaning was too jumbled to understand. To entranced by the others dancing, Pendrick didn’t notice that Dr. Moreau had caught up with him. Before Pendrick could react to Moreau, the Dr. started to explain himself. He went through a long, drawn out rant about the 20,000 species of bees and how every single one of them was impure. He assured Pendrick that his experiments were solely for the advancement of all bees in that his breakthroughs would bring about a new and more improved race of bees and that all bees will then be of one race and of one mind. Pendrick, in both fear and awe, asked how this would happen and Moreau answered with a gesture to bees, still performing their dance, “I will combine every species of bee together into one super bee, one species more intelligent and powerful than any other insect, a species that isn’t dependant on the females of the race, one that doesn’t need to constantly pollinate and harvest just to survive! These were just tests that went terribly wrong, this next subject shows the most promise I have seen since Montgomery, who started as an ant. That bee you saw in that nest was not a bee… yet; it was a wasp, the key ingredient that I’ve been missing all these years.”
Pendrick is then forced to help Moreau in his endeavor, but after the experiment, the “Super Bee” attacked in a fit of blind rage and slaughtered Moreau. The “bee” then died soon after by the hands of an enraged Montgomery, but the damage was done and all the “bees” of the hive new that their creator was dead and were buzzing with fear and anger. Then, thanks to Pendrick’s quick thinking, he told the “bees” that Moreau was not dead, but had ascended from his body because he no longer needed it. He told them that Moreau was now looking down upon them from the sky, as if flying just beyond their reach. This calmed the multitude, but it didn’t calm Montgomery who became crazed with pain and began to burn the hive and the tree into ashes.