"You won't find any dead ones under the hives," says Zalasbra, when asked. "There aren't many scavengers that will be able to safely go close to a blood bee hive, but there are a few. Earth worms, timber wolves, snow leopards - of course, this is entirely the wrong climate for snow leopards, you certainly won't find them around here. But if you have some parchment, maybe a stick of charcoal, I could make a small sketch that shows their size quite easily, and, I think, fairly accurately."

Arkady brings up a drawing program on his own tablet, sets up a blank screen, and demonstrates it to Zalasbra. "Use the point to draw on the glass part like this. Press lightly. To erase something, rub it with the back of the stylus like this." He then hands the pad to Zalasbra and says "This is the sort of thing we'll be showing you more of when you get better at English."

"Hmmm. Very... rigid. I think you'll find parchment easier to fold and carry." A brief experimentation shows that the stylus does not draw on Zalasbra's hand, but - "Ah, a very fine line indeed. Hmmmm... erases well..."

After a few minutes, he's produced small sketches of both a blood bee and a blood bee queen - squeezing them into one side of the screen with the long habit of one who needs to make very limited supplies of parchment last as long as possible.

Arkady saves the drawings and says "Thank you. These are life sized?" Assuming they are he'll start work on a carrying case and a habitat.

While Arkady is talking with Zalasbra, Felix is starting work on a general box shape they can build around once the exact design specifications are deduced.

A thought occurs to Arkady before he gets away, and he glances back. "You said timber wolves and snow leopards can approach the hives? How are they avoiding the bees?"

edit: wrong language.

Zalasbra shakes his head. "They don't have blood," he says. "The bees can't bite through timber, and snow leopards tend to be loose-packed enough that the bee's bites are pretty much useless. If they're persistently annoying, they could even end up frozen. So there's nothing for the bees to eat."

Arkady blinks, then grins. "That would work, yes. Thank you." With that he goes about his business.

Building a suitable hive for a group of domesticated Blood Bees is not hard. Given the information Zalasbra was able to provide on the size of the bees, Arkady and Felix have a suitable hive designed and built by the next morning. Once they have a quiet chat with each other, and come to an agreement that keeping one hive with adequate care and security should be safe, Captain Argent agrees to the project, and tells David to make sure that the next Terran to be woken has some experience as a beekeeper. David grumbles, but acquiesces and goes to the database to seek out a suitable person.

Captain Argent promptly sends out the group, with instructions to capture one hive of blood bees (for which purposes Felix is carrying a sealable container) and destroy the rest.

--------------

The morning sun glints on the dew as the group approaches the abandoned orchard. The buzzing, droning sounds of the Blood Bee hives are audible from some distance away... a clear signal to any wild animals that they should stay away from the area, lest they find themselves under attack by the swarm.

Felix stands ready, space suit equipped and sealed tight. Hopefully with a supply of newly prepped oxygen so he doesn't have to do this quick. Smoke grenades are on his utility belt to drive the insects off in an emergency and flares rigged to poles are prepped for burning them down at a distance. Fire extinguishers on hand in case the fire spreads from the hives to the trees.

And the hive containment unit is ready to capture a hive to transport to their new home.

Felix is good to go.

Arkady, similarly armored, is carrying along a beekeeping smoker loaded with local wood shavings and leaves, some charcoal, and a sheet metal firepot to scorch the local insecticide herbs in. He's also carrying along his old friend Sgt Kalashnikov in case there are timber wolves or some such about.

"I tended some Italian bees when I was a boy, maybe three times. Is anyone else having more experience?"

Nate, similarly dressed to complete the "Right Stuff" look, and carrying a flamethrower, shrugs.

"I've had to work with wild hives out in the field a few times."

The suits are well sealed, but hot and cumbersome. Marching through thick undergrowth in them is near impossible, and they take substantial time to don and remove. They were intended to maintain atmospheric integrity in space and have not a hole in them - but they were never intended for delicate work, like pulling the pin from a smoke grenade. The only way to make this remotely practical is to hike most of the way to the orchard, then put the spacesuits on, then deal with the blood bees.

It's also worth noting that no-one ever bothered to make the outer layer of these suits fireproof. There is no fire in space, after all. Nate should be more careful than usual about where he points that flame thrower.

But, on the bright side, there is absolutely no way the bees can threaten anyone in a space suit.

You've each got around eight hours worth of oxygen. Should be more than enough.

Sir Bevier accompanies the group (without a space suit - there are some in his size, but he says if he sees a swarm coming his way he'd rather just run; apparently they're very good at finding chinks in armour and he doesn't quite believe that there's no chinks in yours) and watches from what he believes to be a safe distance away. He has his sword and will presumably help out should any threat larger and less swarmlike than a blood bee (like a pack of timber wolves) turn up.

While the others are dealing with the bees Roger seeks out David. Being well aware of how busy he is, simply tells him that when has a free moment he like to speak with him.