Finally she stared nervously at me and wagged her head."I used to be the queen bee and my every wish was attended to, but since all those others becam... pregnant I've become more like a queen ant." I don't follow you." You know, soldier ants controlling the colony and all that. I'm simply the egg machine now and even that's lost its value to them."My recollections of the differences between bees and ants finally made sense of her words. In a beehive, the queen was the egg machine and guiding. The one with the hose suddenly flicked the hose at Julie. She didn't notice at first, so he did it again, this time a big splash landing on her exposed thighs. Startled, she looked up and at him. 'Sorry luv! Just putting some water in the mixer' Julie scrawled at him, and them looked away. He flicked the hose again, this time getting her across her chest! Julie leapt up from her sun bed, the material of her dress clinging to her torso, and stormed inside, past me, and up stairs. The builders. If they tried anything, then they'd be dead. Instead I focused on the servants and slaves."Listen to me," I shouted at them from the top of the dais, "for I will only say this once. Soon the alarm will be sounded in the city and men of the city watch will march down here to find out what has happened here. They will not be happy when they see what I and my friends have done and I assure you, the weak and helpless will pay for it and not us. Those amongst you who wish their freedom may claim it. When the truck stopped, Sloan came across the yard.“Did you two have any trouble in town?” he asked.“No, nothing really, Annie had an escort through the grocery and then they followed us home, but nothing happened. Anything here?” Spencer asked handing Sloan a couple bags of groceries.“Well I didn’t have any company, but the phone just kept ringing off the hook and every time I answered it, someone would hang up, too many to be a wrong number.”“What does that mean?” Annie asked.“My guess would.