Most of the Insects dispersed immediately, going about their different Jobs. Jakob stood near a small tree, watching everyone that moved or argued with another. He knew it wasn´t an ideal situation but they would have to make do.
Moon walked over to his dad, unsure what he should be doing. Even he knew that he can´t just sit around doing nothing anymore. His cozy days with school, his friends and other leisure activities were over for now.
"Dad, what should I do to help? I am strong, you know, I could also do some stuff."
Jakob could clearly see that Moon wasn´t feeling good. No wonder after what happened these past few days. He came closer and embraced his son, trying to give him some comfort.
"Some distraction might be indeed good for you. You can either help the Mantis to carry over the rocks or collect some wood. We don´t have anyone that has time or can chop them into really usable planks currently, but we can use them as pillars to hold up our structures."
Moon squeezed out a light smile and got off to work. Surprisingly enough no one else came to talk to him in the next half hour. So after the time was up Jakob went over to the main area of the Hive. It wasn´t a pressing issue to get the main structure going right now, so as soon as new materials arrived he started to work.
Tzkrrt already made some clay bricks which just needed some time to dry or get heated up to be usable, and some of the other Insects already made some usable mud for outer layers. A few logs were also already ready.
After some quick math Jakob realized that he had to build around 30 houses. The other Insects would make their own home, some of them while gathering materials.
"Now, this shouldn´t be too bad. I think we can make this happen in a few days, provided I get enough materials." Jakob cracked his fingers and neck and got right to work. The first "layer" of houses will be built next to the middle where the main structure of the Hive will be eventually.
Leaving some space in between for a central plaza Jakob started his work while leaving roughly 50 meters in diameter space in the middle. That should suffice for the time being. The first iteration of the structures won´t be a first-class luxurious Villa, but basically a round mud house with a door.
Jakob got to work. First he laid down the shape of the house with wet bud, that will harden later to provide somewhat of an even surface. Once they had a more established colony they could start laying down wooden or stone floors but that's a problem for the future.
After the ground was essentially smeared up Jakob started to lay down bricks in a circular fashion around the house. This time he used clay bricks since the deepest layer had to be strong enough to hold the entire structure. After a bottom layer was laid he stuck some more bricks in an arc across the foundation. He used some sticky wet mud-clay mix to connect the bricks to each other to make a rough semi-spherical shape across the foundation. He also made a separate arc for the entrance that will eventually have a door inside. Each house will be about 4 meters long.
When he finished the arcing bricks all he had to do was use the wet mud-clay to fill in the gaps. Once the outer layer was finished with the most basic structure and closed off all he had to do was carve out a hole at the center of the roof to let air flow through.
They will have to make a small chimney over that but that´s a project he will start once all of them have a roof over their heads.
The entire process took him roughly 2 hours, which means he could make about 4 more houses today, 5 if he pushed it. Without wasting any time he kept working on the houses,
Meanwhile, Bee was admiring Jakob from not too far away. She was amazed by his courage to speak up to everyone and by his enthusiasm. She was currently carrying a bunch of fruits that she wanted to give to Jakob but she was unsure of how to approach him. It was currently noon and he must be quite hungry, not having eaten a lot yesterday either.
She also didn´t want to disturb him, looking at him working like that one just knew that he loved his job, also he was in a serious workflow right now.
When Jakob saw Bea though he stopped working on the 3rd house and waved at her. He was currently covered in mud from head to toe and walking toward her.
"Bea, good that you are here. Can you tell me if everyone is working fine and if any problems arose? I was so entranced with work that I forgot to check if everything was fine." Jakob looked at her and the fruit she was carrying. "Are these for me?" Not even waiting for an answer he took some of them and began eating while apparently not even caring for the dirt on his body.
Bea started blushing but still managed to answer properly. "So far everyone seems to be alright with the work arrangements. The ones that want to build a house in the trees did as you told them and started working right away. The Manti also cut out a few rooms already. It always amazes me that they manage to cut through solid rock with their sharp claws. Everyone else is either gathering materials or food. I also saw Moon trying his luck with a few trees, but he just ended up being in the way of some Rhino Beetles. After that, he looked quite sad but carried the wood to the stockpile nonetheless.
How about you? Everything going alright with the building? Do you need some help?"
A flood of words started coming out of Bea´s mouth, probably attributed to her being a Bee. They always had a military feeling to them whenever one interacts with them. Probably coming from the structured behavior that bees tend to have.
Jakob took another bite from the fruit before answering.
"It´s going alright. The materials produced by Tzkrrt are the best as always, but smearing the mud on the outer rings could be done basically by anyone. That would also free some of my time for more bricklaying, which is the hardest one to get down correctly. We don´t want anyone´s roof to collapse in the middle of the night, which is exactly why I am doing that myself.
I guess I should have asked Moon if he wanted to help me build the houses. He was never really gifted in the arts of crafting, which is why I didn´t even ask him."
"I am sure that he would like that a lot" Bee said with a bright smile on her face.