History Recap / LoveDeathAndRobotsSwarm

In the far future, Dr. Afriel (Creator/JasonWinstonGeorge) arrives at the self-sustaining nest of the Swarm, a millennia-old insectoid race. He convinces Dr. Galina Mirny (Creator/RosarioDawson), a fellow scientist who has been living with and studying the Swarm, to help him obtain an egg that humanity can exploit.

* TimePassesBeard: Simon's beard growing longer indicates that he's spent more time in the Nest.

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: How the Swarm deals with threats from sapient species trying to exploit it. After capturing specimens, it breeds hyper intelligent versions that vastly outthink and conquer their parent race.

* CompressedAdaptation: Many world building details from the original short story are omitted to the bare minimum necessary to understand the story. Omitting the politics of the situation entirely, the story becomes one about mankind in general, rather than a story of two warring human factions, [[{{Transhuman}} the Shapers]] and [[{{Cyborg}}the Mechanists]], vying to exploit the Swarm to become the de facto human representation in the universe.
* DeadGuyPuppet: Galina is killed and reduced into a speaker for the HiveMind after capture, with tendrils digging into her skull and body as evidence of control.

* HollywoodDarkness: The nest is evenly well lit with bio-luminescence throughout, a departure from the original short story where Simon has to wear infrared goggles the entire time to see most effectively.

* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: Essentially the Swarm's low view on sapience. Intelligent races make expansionist empires across the galaxy that, if they don't self destruct some other way first, commit the grave mistake of attempting to exploit the Swarm. It retaliates by outcompeting them in intelligence to subjugate and then assimilate them as mindless, parasitic castes. The Swarm's representative makes a point of this with a scavenger that came around to eat Simon's vomit, saying this was its races' exact fate and the fate of humanity should they keep going down the same path.
* MeaningfulName: The Investors, the alien race escorting Simon in the opening, are an advanced alien race obsessed with wealth and willing to share the secrets of faster than light travel to races they think could best profit off it; which is to say, only if it seems like a good investment that will pay off for them.

* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Apparently everyone in the universe is made of the same genetic molecular material, hence the swarm is able to clone them. This is flat out lampshaded by Galina, who notes that the fungus that serves as food for the various castes [[NoBiochemicalBarriers/AlienFoodIsEdible is biochemically compatible with human physiology]]. There's also the Swarm's capacity to assimilate foreign lifeforms into new castes of their own.

* TimePassesMontage: Simon's beard growing longer indicates that he's spent more time in the Nest.

%%* {{Transhuman}}: The human race as a whole is implied to be at this stage, and most definitely the two researchers are augmented. %%what state?

* CoitusEnsues: The sudden consummated sexual attraction between Simon and Galina comes from nowhere. Must be the pheromones...

* AlienLunch: The "nutrient" accessible within the nest takes either a form of kelp-like fungus or the half-digested gel out of it. Simon finds ''both'' disgusting.

* CoitusEnsues: The sudden consummated sexual attraction between Simon and Galina comes from nowhere. Must the the pheromones...

* CoitusEnsues: The sudden consummated sexual attraction between Simon and Galina comes from nowhere.

* {{Hypocrite}}: The Swarm claims that intelligence is not an asset to survival, but it clearly relies on intelligence to defend itself, in the form of its GeneticMemory, massive brains that can be created on short notice, and even states that the clones it creates to subjugate enemies have deliberately enhanced problem-solving skills and creativity. [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech If it truly didn't respect intelligence, it wouldn't have made that speech to Simon about why humans are bad.]]

* EvilIsVisceral: Not entirely evil, because Simon attempted to exploit it first, but the representative the Swarm presents to him is essentially a giant brain built into the cavern walls with tentacles gruesomely inserted into Galina's brain to use her as a mouthpiece.

* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves:
** Several silvertails were bribed into helping Simon and Galina carry out their plot to steel eggs, and are summarily executed by the warriors sent to apprehend Simon.
** Galina's presence was accepted by the Swarm as long as she didn't try to cause it harm, but once she joins Simon in plotting to steal eggs she is killed and her corpse used as a mouthpiece by the HiveMind's brain.

* DeadGuyPuppet: Galina is killed and reduced into a speaker for the queen after capture, with tendrils digging into her skull and body as evidence of control.

* HiveQueen: The one commanding the titular swarm, though in a twist the entity that speaks to them is not the queen, but an expression of the hive bred in response to their tampering.

* WalkingShirtlessScene: Simon and Galina spend all their time in the nest in their underwear. JustifiedTrope: since the entire nest seems to be awash in breathable, low-density fluid, more clothes would be a hindrance for how they "swim" through it. In the short story it's even mentioned that Galina prefers to live in the nest in the nude and is only wearing clothes for Simon's benefit.

* GeneticMemory: The swarm intelligence is only a few weeks old, but contains the genetic memory of the Swarm's history and that of the species it has assimilated.

* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Apparently everyone in the universe is made of the same genetic molecular material, hence the swarm is able to clone them. This is flat out lampshaded by Galina, who notes that the fungus that serves as food for the various castes [[NoBiochemicalBarriers/AlienFoodIsEdible is biochemically compatible with human physiology]].

* CompressedAdaptation: Many world building details from the original short story are omitted to the bare minimum necessary to understand the story, Omitting the politics of the situation entirely, the story becomes one about mankind in general, rather than a story of two warring human factions, [[{{Transhuman}} the Shapers]] and [[{{Cyborg}}the Mechanists]], vying to exploit the Swarm to become the de facto human representation in the universe.

* SpitefulSuicide: Simon threatens this when the Swarm explains that it intends to his him and Galina as a breeding pair to fight against humanity. The Swarm bluntly replies that it would just clone him and proceed with its plan.