Boing
Drononimus was very worried. Honey production had fallen badly. Workers were returning with very little nectar and it was not clear at all why this was the case. After all, only last month, they were returning fully laden.
Suddenly, a lack of honey became personal. It was common knowledge that when honey production was low, workers turned nasty and could do rather vile things to Drones.
As if that was not bad enough, Drononimus had to focus on organising the Swarm. It was that time of year.
Drononimus wanted to talk with other hives about how things were going for them but he knew that at the time of the great smoke cloud, he was in competition for the syrup that would see them through to the new season. Drononimus could not trust the other bees to be honest. ‘No,’ he thought to himself, ‘I need an objective view.’ Despite a vague feeling of unease, he decided that, once again, he would call in the Consultantz.
The next day there was a ratatat on the door of the hive.
Drononimus briefed the Consultantz. Tonee summed up at the end, ‘Wee are deelighted to help. Wwwith a thorough review of all the activities weee would soon have a very clear action plan.’ Tonee continued and Drononimus’ thoughts wandered for a moment. At the end of this he was sure that Tonee had said something about reengineering from the bottom up but had to admit that he didn’t understand that at all. He made a mental note to follow more carefully in future what the Consultantz said.
The young and enthusiastic Consultantz flooded in carrying their clipboards and stopwatches.
Two days later the Consultants returned to make a presentation.
Tonee began in his high-pitched manner, ‘Gentlemen, eeet is clear that there eees a problem.’ Drononimus guessed that there might be. Tonee continued, ‘Poor productivity is due to over engineeering. Your production process and hive design have not changed for years and need to be brought up to date. It all neeeds a radical overhaul.’
‘Radical overhaul.’ Drononimus repeated dumbfoundedly what he had just heard.
‘Yes,’ Tonee added almost triumphantly, ‘square honeycomb is the answer.’
‘SQUARE HONEYCOMB!’ the Drones shouted in unison.
‘Yes,’ said Tonee, ‘traditional honeycomb is over complicated and therefore takes longer than neeeded to produce. Really what could beeee easier to produce than a square?’
The Drones did not look convinced but nothing more was uttered for none had ventured outside. ‘Maybe this is what everyone was doing these days. Let’s not show our ignorance,’ they all thought to themselves.
Later that day as the news of the radical ideas spread through the colony Milly and Flor were chatting in their customary way on the landing strip. Milly said, ‘Don’t they know that honeycomb has six sides because the hexagonal shape gives the maximum amount of storage space per unit when other units are added around it. There is no wasted wax in between cells when we all use common cell walls. Hey, but what do I know?’
Flor admitted that square honeycomb sounded bizarre and then said, ‘Hey Milly, something more interesting, did you know that those funny humans have created an aeroplane made entirely of rubber?
‘No.’ Milly replied.
‘Yes, so that if it crashes - it bounces. It’s called a Boing 747.’
