Buzz had explored the whole world. She knew every nook and cranny. The world was hexagonal and waxy, and full of others like her. There were tasks to do which took her from one end of the world to the other - young to look after, cells to build, cells to repair...
One day Buzz was recruited for a task she'd never done before - she was to help one of the older bees, called Zip. Zip would fetch the nectar and Buzz would transport it into the inner chambers of the world.
"Where do you get the nectar from?" Buzz asked as she followed Zip up to the top of the world.
"From outside," Zip replied.
"Outside?" Buzz was confused. Outside where?
Then she saw the
other world. Her own world became tiny, almost insignificant, even though it had been all she had ever known or needed. She was almost overwhelmed at the size, the strange shapes, the colours! Zip seemed not to notice, and zipped off to collect some pollen.
Over the following days Buzz helped Zip, collecting the pollen and nectar as the older bee landed, and transporting it down into her world. She felt safe back down in the familiar sanctuary, but she also felt the urge to follow Zip growing. It took her by surprise when it happened. One moment she was sitting at the edge of the world, the next she had leapt into the air and was skimming away into the beyond. As soon as she realised what she was doing, she turned back. But now that the first step had been taken, she found herself doing it over and over, flying further and further from the others.
Zip showed her were to find the pollen and nectar. Buzz could have never imagined such beauty!
These storehouses of food were bright and patterned and soft beneath her feet. With each flight her world grew, but so did the sense of importance of the world which she had left behind. Each time she returned and passed the pollen she had collected to a younger bee, she knew without a doubt that small though her world had been, it had to be protected at all costs.
The days wore on and she became comfortable, and found the edges of her new world. Great blue swaths of water surrounded it, extending on to forever.
She felt wise now that she knew how big the world really was, and whenever she returned to her home she would smile knowingly at the younger bees as they peered out in awe from their little nest.
Age crept up on her, but she was content, knowing she had seen all there was to see and done all there was to do. She had explored the whole world.
Finally a day came when she knew that soon the flowers would go and the bees would have to hide in their nest from the cold. She climbed to the top of a tree and looked out across the world, admiring the view before she would have to retreat away from it once more - when she noticed a curious sight, one she had never seen before.
She thought she had seen movement in the water past the edge of the world - a flash of silver.
Yes - there it was again!
"Could it be?" she wondered aloud to herself in her excitement and fear, "Could it be, that there is another world beyond this one?"
She looked back. The sun was setting, she should return to the nest. But she had to know, the urge was too strong. She took to the sky and flew, flew over meadow and flower and tree, flew over stream and cliff and sand... and beyond the edge of the world.
