Incoming!
A giant, black, furry mass appeared above our little village suddenly. A cave opened from the black mass and as we hid within our green forest, above our homes, the elders tried to determine if they should enter the cave. Hours went by with still no action. The elders were terrified of this black mass. They had heard about caves appearing and disappearing out of no where for hours at a time in the surrounding villages, but never had they seen one at least not above their own town. I began asking around to see if others had encountered these caves before. Some new residents had spoken of similar caves appearing around their old villages and reporting restaurants that could come and go from the caves. They talked about how often caves would boost the economy, but then suddenly they could vanish without a trace and within months the restaurants would too. Sometimes they would stay, but they didn't often benefit the village for long. It was more of a nuisance than anything else.
I had grown up in our little town in the province of Vernedale all of my life, but I was ready to be sent out, to be commissioned to go and scout other areas, to explore the world. I knew I was not old enough to join the agents, but I felt like I was ready. I wanted to be able to fly with the others. I had begun to earn my wings, but couldn't fly with the agents. Until I could fully earn my wings though I worked among the elders and our Queen, but was not one myself. I helped where I could, but was never allowed to leave the village. This is what led me to have to ask others about these giant masses. I reported my findings to the elders which only caused them to discuss more. This form of government was so inefficient. We took hours on end just to come to one decision and our Queen was more of a moderator than a decision maker.
As they discussed the proper course of action a large brownish blob with hints of green throughout it fell from the cave, landed next to our leaders house and then the black mass was gone. I hesitantly led my group of other young ones still without their wings to check out this new object as the elders conversed on what to do with it and whether or not it would be moved. As we walked close to it we smelled an overwhelmingly intoxicating smell. It smelled like the most delicious food we had ever smelled. The newcomers must have been right about the restaurant theory. As we were about to enter the restaurant to feast we heard a buzzzz and looked up just in time to see the FlyBoys landing upon this new restaurant. FlyBoys were the other agents who could fly. They weren't necessarily our enemies, but they weren't a part of our colony either.
We stepped back just in time to see the head FlyBoy step on the restaurant to taste the food there. It appears to be the restaurant that he was looking for because he beckons the others to join him and glares at me as if to say this is our diner...buzz off young one! One by one the FlyBoys took over this new diner leaving the rest of us to either watch or try to get back to regular life. The elders were then invited to come and taste the food at the diner they were now calling Banjo's Diner--a name they claim just popped into their head after it arrived-- and soon it was completely occupied by all of the members of our village. Because the FlyBoys were the first to land on Banjo's Diner they owned it and "established" it. They had one leader and did not need to wait to discuss how they should do things and so beat our colony to the diner. They claimed they were being generous by allowing us to eat at the diner today, but in the future would charge us. They wanted us to think they were our saviors when in reality they just got to the diner first. It landed in our colony so it should have been ours to claim.
After a few hours of enjoying our feast a dark shadow appeared over our village. At first we assumed it was a flood. Floods were pretty common around here although it had been a few years since we had one in our village. Then we noticed the shadow grew and a ginormous object began descending towards Banjo's diner. Take cover! The Elders yelled as all the agents, young ones, and village people darted away from the diner. Then just as mysteriously as it landed our diner was picked up into this object, it ascending into the clouds, and just like that it was gone with the shadow. The newcomers were right again. Just as it had appeared, it left.
The FlyBoys glared at us, as if our colony caused this disruption and then flew off to gather news from other villages and look for new diners to "establish". The elders retreated to their homes in the forests. I led my group of young ones back to our houses to await another day hoping and wishing for a new encounter. Maybe another diner, maybe the chance to join the agents who fly, either way I knew I was ready for more.
Such is the life of bugs.
