“Right.”

“But as far as bugs are concerned, at least, I figure anything goes.”

“It’s still creepy.”

Maybe anything goes as far as how you treat the bugs, but that doesn’t cover how you treat people using those bugs, right, Taylor? Like putting them in extremely uncomfortable places for no reason, Taylor? Like perhaps under the eyelids, Taylor?

Seriously, though, she convinced herself that was what she had to do to further her information-gathering mission, and sure, incapacitating Clockblocker was important to that. But there was no real reason to stick the bugs in the most uncomfortable places Taylor could find.

“Give it time.  You’ll get used to it.”  I picked up the tightly folded piece of paper that was the end result of my little experiment.

After so many Interludes, it’s an odd feeling to be back to first-person narration.

Also, “experiment” seems to suggest this isn’t just a hobby activity. I guess that was too much to hope for.

I pushed at two corners of the tight paper square, and it settled into a cube about three-quarters of an inch on each side, with holes on two opposing faces.

Huh. Some sort of decoration to be put on a string?

I directed a housefly into one hole and settled it inside, then fed a braided length of twine through the holes.  I handed the result to Charlotte and ordered the bugs to start making another.

Nice.

“What way?”

I had to stop to compose my thoughts.  I glanced at Charlotte, and Sierra, who was standing by the fridge, silently eating her breakfast.  “I don’t believe in shouldn’t, like there’s some universal rules about the way things should be, the way people should act.”

Oh! She’s extending this beyond just how the bugs should act – she’s going much deeper into the chaotic mindset than ever before. She’s denying the existence of natural law, the idea that there’s something beyond human social structures and ideas that dictates how things should be.

And honestly, I’m inclined to agree. There are ways the world naturally is as a result of how it has developed (and I mean all the way since the Big Bang), but that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s something that says it should be that way.

One thing I’m interested to see is what sort of influence this development of Taylor’s worldview has on her view of social law. Does the idea that there’s no shouldn’t extend to society and the rules humans set for themselves and each other?

Whatever the case, we’ve come a long way from Arc 1 Taylor’s attitude of “heroes are always good and villains are always bad and doing illegal things”.

I looked up from the laptop I was using to view a webpage on origami.

Oh, nice! Using the bugs for more artistic purposes. I like it!

So what got Taylor into this? Is she doing it to pass time and as an outlet for creativity? That would be a healthy change of pace for Taylor.

Alternatively, it might just be a way to train her fine control over the bugs.

“Is it?  I’m pretty used to them, so I don’t give it a lot of thought.”

“They’re so organized and human.  Bugs shouldn’t act that way.”

They’re basically a swarm of tiny bodies with a human brain when she’s controlling them, so it’s no wonder they act human.

I do like that it’s not the bugs themselves that creep Charlotte out, but the way they act nothing like bugs. They fall into the uncanny valley, bug edition, where they look completely normal for bugs, but feel sort of wrong.

“I don’t really believe in thinking that way anymore,” I said, absently.

I guess that’s fair.

The first beetle gripped the corner of the paper in his mandibles and slowly pulled it back.

Hello, there, li’l friend.

So is that a paper as in a newspaper, book or something like that? Is this Taylor using her bugs for utility purposes while reading?

Two more moved to the edges of the folds and held them firm.  The fourth and largest of the four beetles ran its head left and right along the paper until it was firmly creased.  Each of the four changed positions and repeated the steps at a different point.

Hmm. Sound more like folding the paper than turning a page.

“That’s really creepy to watch,” Charlotte said, from where she sat at the kitchen table.

Hehe, yeah, I can imagine.

In an odd way, this line is making me think more about Charlotte’s role in the story. She’s one who now works with Taylor, and knows her secret, but doesn’t have powers or as much of a personal stake in things as the other Undersiders, and she’s clearly willing to speak frankly to Taylor at this point.

That might make her someone who can act as a person on the sidelines who Taylor will be able to trust. Someone whom Taylor may eventually be willing to confide in at times when she can’t do so to Lisa or the other Undersiders. Someone who can and will call Taylor out on some of her more bullshitty moments without being – except through reluctant employment – a villain. Lisa has fulfilled those roles up until now, but Lisa a) has a mildly villainous perspective, and b) now has her own things to do when the Undersiders aren’t out fighting. Charlotte, on another hand, will be staying close to Taylor while Taylor is at the Hive and ruling her territory.

Sierra, meanwhile… I’m not sure yet. And hey, I might be completely off the mark re: Charlotte, too.