Antelligent Design

81. The Forward HQ

It takes a good bit of travel before we’re able to reach the first staging area on the path between the nest and the anticipated direction of the horde. A steady stream of workers run back and forth in long lines, bringing information back to the nest or returning for designated rest periods.

I find it curious that even with their enhanced senses and intelligence, which removes the necessity for the ants to move directly on top of a trail like regular ants on Earth would, they still choose to do so. The result being that I’m treated to the sight of hundreds of ants the size of large dogs hustling about in long trails, one after the other.

The main difference between this and looking at an ant trail back on Earth, other than the size of course, is that I can hear the chatter between the workers.

“Keep it up! Run hard!”

“We’ve got this! Push, push, push!”

“So much work to do, no time to slow down now!”

“Lift those claws! Don’t forget you have six legs, not two like a human. That means three times the work!”

“Work hard for the colony!”

“FOR THE COLONY!”

Endlessly.

One advantage of not having to breathe in order to talk I suppose. No matter how fast they run or how tired they are, they can continuously talk. It’s interesting to hear them pump each other up and encourage one another. To the point I’m not sure if I’m listening to monstrous ants or a spin class at a gym.

I’ve no doubt that if Vibrant were here, she’d be enthusiastically shouting and cheering the workers on to glorious deeds and greater efforts. I’m looking forward to catching up with Vibrant when she makes her way to the front lines. From what I understand, she decided to remain behind with her dedicated followers in order to make a push toward meeting the colony’s food requirements before she left the nest to join us up here.

I have a suspicion that the food quota is going to get hit a lot faster than anyone anticipated. With Vibrant fired up for the job, it’s going to get done at light speed, which can only be a good thing. The faster it’s done, the sooner those soldiers can get to the front and help with our campaign. If things go like I think they will, the production of eggs may not slow down much at all during this crisis. Which will put us in a better spot if we actually manage to pull through.

My pets and I reach the staging area where the leadership of the raiding force has been gathering. More concrete plans are being drawn up, scouts are being sent out, and preliminary ambush preparations are being made. It isn’t much to look at, though. When I arrived, I would have missed it had I not been following a scent trail.

The workers had dug a mini nest, but in the interest of concealing it as much as possible, they’d spread the loose dirt around and carried the excess away from the site itself. A large hole in the ground is the only sign anything is here at all. Only one metre across, it’s too small for Tiny and a little squeezy for me.

I leave Tiny and Crinis topside and plunge vertically into the tunnel. The relative calm of the surface gives way to a flurry of activity as workers climb all over each other in their rush to complete their tasks. Expanding the size of the nest, excavating side tunnels and digging out secret entrances so they might enter and leave without being spotted.

The crush is a little claustrophobic for me. I don’t have a proper ant mentality about things like personal space, so having ant and dirt constantly shoved in my face makes moving around a little disorienting. Even so, I try to follow the scent trails to the ‘planning room.’

By the time I make it through, I’m quite rattled and extremely grateful to enter a chamber that contains a little free air and only a couple of ants.

“Welcome, eldest,” Victor the general greets me. “It’s good to see you made it to the front in time for the first ambush.”

That gets my attention. “We’re ready for an ambush already? Do we even have eyes on the horde?”

Victor shakes her head. “Our fastest scouts have been sent to locate the horde, but they’re yet to return. We expect them to make contact tomorrow and then make their way back. Of course, that’s conditional on the horde travelling on the stone trail you described to us.”

“Road, Victor. It’s called a road.”

She waves her antennae dismissively. “A strange human convention, it matters not. We have dispatched workers to scout and prepare the ground ahead. Come and look.”

Victor pulls me over to a corner where I can dimly see a flat raised area has been prepared, the surface of which is carved into a semblance of terrain. There are roads, surprisingly detailed buildings to represent what I think are towns. Midum is there, as well as the human village, and I believe a rounded hill to represent the main nest of the colony. That would make this hole pushed into the soil over here the forward base we currently occupy.

“This is weirdly well done, Victor. Did you get some sort of Skill for this?” I ask, puzzled.

The general nods. “Sloan and I both thought it would be important for us to have a way to visualise positional information and terrain. After clacking our mandibles together, we came up with this!” She gestures toward her elaborate map proudly. “We had to buy a few Skills to make it work, Mental Visualisation and Earth Shaping.”

Huh. Interesting. Essentially a carving type Skill to be able to shape the dirt into the forms they wanted, which helps explain the high level of detail in the dirt shapes. Mental Visualisation I suppose assists them in forming a picture in their minds of what they know, enabling them to craft these little war maps. Clever stuff.

“Very handy! These kinds of maps are going to be super useful in planning our strategy. Good work, Victor.”

She wiggles her antennae, pleased her efforts have been valued. I’m guessing that some of the other ants had possibly doubted the value of this avenue of development. As a former human, I know it’s going to pay off.

I’m glad I made the generals a direct evolution from the soldier caste. We aren’t going to need a whole lot of them, certainly not in the planning area, but Sloan and Victor have proven that having some soldiers with a decent head on their shoulders to lead the way is a wise decision. I did worry at times that the soldiers, having the lowest Cunning stat of any caste, would struggle to properly perform their duties, but with the generals sprinkled into the mix, helping to keep them on the right track, they’ve been performing well.

Which is just as well, since they’re going to get a serious test soon.

“I’ve got a few things that we can add to your map, Victor. Then I’d better get myself to the front lines. I’ll be a heap more useful up there helping to dig rather than sitting here twiddling my claws.”