Antelligent Design

14. First Words of the New Era

With my delivery done, I head back to the nest and await the looming emergence of my finest creations.

These ants could change many things. For one, it would be nice to have more options in conversation. Vibrant talks, probably too much for my comfort, and Mother has lots of responsibilities, not to mention many children. I can’t exactly monopolise her time in good conscience.

Tiny and Crinis aren’t the best conversationalists either. Tiny barely has the brain capacity to speak, and Crinis has a few hang-ups that make talking to her… somewhat difficult. Perhaps if I ever work out a way to free them from their pet status, they might be a little more engaged and not quite so respectful.

Obviously, having a decent chat isn’t the reason for embarking on this project. I wanted to fill the colony with smarter, deadlier workers. Ants with the capacity to reason, to communicate, to think cooperatively, and most of all, to fight strategically and tactically. No more suicidal charges and throwing their lives away. Instead, teamwork, some self-preservation instinct, and planning.

An ant colony capable of all the tactical thinking of a nation. That’s what I wanted. And now, here I stand, on the dawn of a glorious new ant era!

My new siblings will soon be born, and I’m willing to bet this world has never seen anything quite like them. Smart monsters exist, sure, but not like this. Ants are different. Ants are special. They cover the earth! The combined mass of ants is estimated to be the same as humans, assuming one million ants weighs the same as one person. That’s seven quadrillion ants. On Earth, ants were tiny little insects, unable to increase too much in size, as their bodies are unable to support that kind of mass.

Here on Pangera? This world has magic and all sorts of crazy stuff. Ants the size of large dogs? Sure, why not. What if we get seven quadrillion ants the size of large dogs? What if we get that many and all of them are as intelligent as a human?

We’d be unstoppable!

I have to admit, though, as I crawl into the nesting chamber where the twenty pupae rest against the wall, tended to by a small team of workers, that I also have some worries. Fundamentally, what makes an ant colony so successful is the cooperation between each individual member. To the point where the colony can be considered one creature, each ant a single cell of something greater than itself.

Where humanity on Earth is riven by strife within nations, cities and families, an ant colony is unified, singular in mind and purpose.

By elevating their intelligence to that of a human, have I introduced those chaotic impulses? Will the new workers exercise free will? Tearing the colony apart from within?

Once I give space to doubts, they begin to scale out of control. Will there be civil war? Will ant fight against ant, pitting sibling against sibling? Will a tearful queen be forced to put down an uprising of her own children?

That would be horrific!

It isn’t as if I HAD to cooperate with the colony. I, a human reborn as a monster, could have chosen to do whatever I wanted. I decided to embrace the colony, to support and help it, to depend on it and thrive alongside it. Someone else might have chosen differently. Perhaps they would instead feast on the colony, killing workers who wouldn’t fight back, harvesting them for experience and Biomass, growing fat on their supposed family. Moving on in the Dungeon as an independent monster, leaving behind a destroyed colony in their wake.

Are selfish ants the kind of thing we’ll have to deal with now? Who ever heard of selfish ants! Such a thing doesn’t even make sense. It’s not a concept that should exist in this world or any other. It goes against the very nature of ant-kind! Ants are selfless. I mean, they’re also mostly brainless, but that’s beside the point.

My mind is filled with the tragic image of my siblings ripping each other apart in the tunnels over a stupid and petty justification. Will the unity of the colony be destroyed by the new generation?

Have I undone the very fabric of ant society with my evil experimentation?

WHAT HAVE I DONE!

Wait.

I heard something…

Silence.

No, I’m sure it was the pupae!

Rushing closer to the cocoons, pushing my way amongst the suddenly buzzing workers—Yes! There is sound coming from within.

The newly formed ants within are starting to break out of their cocoons. The workers on the outside move to assist, peeling away the layers with their mandibles and helping to free the emerging workers.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

I’m excited. And nervous! Making intelligent ants… was it a mistake? Will this be a moment of triumph or failure?

It’s too late for regret now. The fruits of my labour are being released into the world before my very eyes!

I almost feel like a mad scientist watching his creation come to life. I played with these ants when they were grubs, but it’s often hard to put them together in my mind as the same creatures. Looking at the vague shapes pushing against the inside of their cocoons, it’s as if I’m seeing them for the first time.

My heart is pounding. I’m lightheaded. I need to breathe. In, out, in, out. Relax, Anthony, it’s fine. You’ve either elevated your colony to the peak of the world or doomed them to collapse in savage internal strife that pits sibling against sibling.

No stress.

Mah GAWD, I can’t TAKE IT!

The workers swarm over the pupae now, cutting into the fibres of the cocoons and tearing them open. Gradually, the still soft and pale workers within are revealed. They’re noticeably smaller than normal hatchlings. I had to sacrifice a lot to get their Cunning and Will stats up, and their bodies are even weaker than mine was when I was born on this world.

That’ll change once they start to evolve, though. The early part of their lives will be tougher, sure, but the payoff will be there after a few evolutions when they start to specialise.

The other thing I gave them is a fully developed Pheromone Language Gland. These little workers are able to talk the moment they’re born. I wonder what they’ll say? A declaration of war against the queen!

Surely too soon for that.

Perhaps they’ll declare their independence? Will they complain or protest? Their anguished cries burgeoning from their very souls resounding throughout the chamber.

Just how much of their nature is inherently ant? How much of it depends on the mind they’re born with? It’s a whole lot of questions I should have answered before I embarked on this project…

That deep-seated fear these ants are going to do something one day I’m going to regret is bubbling over.

Oh! That one is almost free.

So is that one!

The workers make faster progress as the outer layers peel away and the ants inside start to move more, their new bodies stiff and unresponsive. Soon, the cocoons are torn open and the twenty members of the new generation are lying on the chamber floor, slowly becoming accustomed to their forms.

I’m apprehensive. I’ve worked myself up too much and I don’t know what to expect.

Then one of them speaks.

“D… Death.”

…What?

“M… mah… my death…”

You want to die already? Are you like Frankenstein’s monster, yearning to be free of your tormented existence?

The worker in question wiggles its limbs more vigorously, growing in strength with each passing moment.

“My death… for… the colony!”

Then another speaks.

“My life… for… the colony!”

And another.

“My… existence… for the colony!”

As the workers gradually put their feet under themselves and stand, they all begin to cry out, their voices weak at first but growing stronger each second.

“I will give my life in the service of the colony!”

“For the queen, I shall die!”

“I will be the first to sacrifice myself in the glory of the colony!”

“I will be the one to throw myself upon our enemies, letting myself be torn apart for the colony!”

“For the colony!”

“For the colony!”

“FOR THE COLONY!”

The small ants roar as one, the fervour in their voices matching the burning fire in their eyes. I’ve seen it before. This passionate heat that seems to radiate out of them, filling the air of the chamber. I’ve seen it in the eyes of my sibling workers as they throw themselves into battle.

Now I can hear what it was they were thinking.

The new generation might have the intelligence of people, but they’re ants through and through.