One of us does not speak, together, we speak as one. They do not recognize us as intelligent, until we work together. We are tiny, but we are strong. Worry not large one, we will save you. Worry not other large ones, the smaller ones were already healed. -- Anon Guest
We did not understand the invaders, when they came. They did not understand us, either. They thought we were animals and, to be honest, we thought the same of them. They were ugly things. Huge compared to each in the swarm. Large blobby shapes with five projections
We did not notice when they captured one of us. It was merely one.
We did notice when they altered the environment. That was the first clue that these strange creatures may be intelligent. We observed them, attempted theories. Of the five appendages, three appeared useless. They used two to grip to hard surfaces. The third... had to be their eye.
Their other two projections had sub-tentacles they used to manipulate everything else.
They were not like us. That much was evident. Some consensus among us agreed that they might not be a swarm. They could act like a swarm... but they did not otherwise exhibit swarm behaviour.
Until disaster hit. The shell ripped, and pulled some of us out into the deadly void. The ones pulled outside acted as quickly as the ones left inside. The big non-hive did what it could to patch the gap. We acted with the non-hive. Passed them their odd devices. Helped hold patches steady. Stayed clear of the burning things.
They had gestures.
One of the invaders returned from the deadly void. It brought with it parts of the swarm. The other non-swarm clustered, swapping devices with each other.
It was then that we realised that they communicated through electromagnetic radiation. We listened to their chatter. Attempted to derive meaning... as they returned some of the swarm to us from death.
The universe is bigger than we can comprehend. It is full of so many unlikely things. Including such a thing as society made of individuals.
We have become... ambassador. The society... this swarm of large individuals... protects us and is willing to try to understand us. We, in turn, are trying to understand them. For that, we needed a name.
We are Golden Turning Sparkles, ambassador for the being the rest of the Alliance knows as The Jelly Dancers.
[Photo by Irina Iriser on Unsplash]
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