This is a desert. It's very hot and sandy. There might be an orchard over there. There's some weird-looking trees in neat rows, at least, but no animals or people are currently visible from here.

Well, time to take off the hoodie and tie it around her waist, then, it's too warm for layers. She goes to the trees for shade.

Well, can she haul it open with all her ten-year-old strength?

It sticks on little piles of sand at first, but opens easily enough once these are moved out of the way.

She can scoot sand out of the way and go look around in the tunnel, then.

Well, then she'll squint and step carefully. It's better than burning up in the sun outside.

She is surprised too! She stops walking. "I'm - I'm a human. What are you?"

"I am a Hiver Worker." It now smells strange. A bit like pine. (This means it's excited and curious.) "Did I just accidentally discover intelligent alien life as I was going to harvest oilnuts?"

"...I guess you did, if you've never seen anything like me before."

"Meeting a princess sounds like fun."

"Okay."

"...I have been relieved of farming duties today, to escort you. What are humans like? What do humans eat? I will answer your questions about Hivers as well."

"Humans look like me, most of them are taller though. We eat things like peanut butter and rice and chicken and bread and apples. You might not have those things here though. You look kind of like a giant bug, are you a bug?"

"That word is not quite translating in... Whatever you are using to translate. I do not know what a 'bug' is. Hivers have exoskeletons and come in many different shapes, and the Princess is the mother of hundreds of thousands of us. Hivers mostly eat sweet things, fruit and juice and sugar."

"I don't actually know what I'm using to translate," she says reflectively. "Anyway it sounds like you are probably a kind of bug."

"If you know of 'bugs' with similar properties, then perhaps. I imagine our scientists would like to discuss it with you. How can you not know what tools you are using? It's very strange. I know you aren't speaking in my language. You can't even make the right sounds."

"...I just don't know."

It makes an annoyed smell. "It seems irresponsible, to not know your tools. But very well... The vehicle is arriving soon. We should wait at the edge of the orchard."

"Okay." Back out of the tunnel.

Okay, that's soon enough that she won't be sunburnt. "How long will the trip to the princess take?"

"I've never ridden one of these, but they're fast. Probably less than a tenth of a day."

Its units of time don't match up to hers, but they mean "19 hours, 7 minutes."

"Okay."

"Oh, I'm not very big, I'm easy to overlook," she says. "Gosh, that's a big thing. How does it float?"

"Yes," she says, looking up at it but not backing away to make that any easier.

"Thank you," says the visitor, and up she clambers.

That's okay. She watches desert go by.

"Humans do have princesses, but I haven't met one before."

"Everyone in our hive meets the Princess when they are born and when they are dedicated, even if they never do again."

"What's dedicating?"

"When we are old enough to understand things, we are ceremonially given the tools for the job we were assigned at birth. Not all stay in the same job forever, but all at least start in a predetermined place."

"Humans don't do that. They pick jobs later on," she says authoritatively. "Without a princess nearby to help."

"Are all humans good at the same jobs? I could never be a Warrior, no matter how much I desired it. I am simply too small. Warriors are made on purpose."

"Humans can be bigger or smaller but you can't guess from looking at a newborn one, or get them that way on purpose."

"Hivers are made. I was made small and with good endurance, to be a worker. Warriors are made tall and tough and strong. Scientists are made smart. The idea of a hive without specialized roles is strange to me."

"Well, humans don't live in hives, either."

"How do they live, then?"

"In countries and cities."

"...This translation is strange. I understand what you mean just by the word."

"That's useful. It would be sort of hard to explain them."

"You do not seem to be using scent at all, and I understand you still. Do you understand what my pheromones mean when you smell them?"

"Yeah. Humans don't do that."

"It makes sense that a different species would be very strange."

"Yes."

Back to silently riding the hovercraft, then.

Yup.