Antelligent Design

86. Stepping Forward

Deep in the nest, the queen contemplated. She thought back to the difficult days just after she had spawned in the Dungeon. When she awoke by herself in the dark tunnels that bordered the shadow levels, surrounded by the roar of monsters and consumed with a burning desire. She’d battled hard in that time. Born with a powerful body, she had nonetheless come close to death many times while frantically trying to satisfy an instinct that burned within her mind.

She had been hungry in those days. Aggressive and dominant. She fought brutally, crushed her prey between her mandibles and squeezed the life out of them. In turn, her carapace cracked, life’s blood dripping from wounds that covered her body. She had to push, had to be faster, stronger, more vicious, more deadly, more voracious. There had barely been time to eat before she’d been forced to fight again in those days. An endless battle where she pushed herself forward with an indomitable will.

When she’d evolved far enough and had enough Biomass, she’d tunnelled into a wall, carved out a small chamber for herself and begun to rear her first larvae, laying the eggs, then hunting so she had food to provide for her young when they hatched. When those grubs finally emerged, she had felt something she’d never felt before.

Satisfaction. Peace. Fulfilment. Creating the colony was her reason for existing. She realised it in that moment. The queen was expressly created for this purpose, and in starting her family, she began to scratch the itch that burned inside her since the moment she’d awoken beneath the ground.

Since then, her life had changed dramatically. No longer was she hunting, battling every moment to fulfil her purpose. She was now a defender and protector to her family. The constant flow of workers throughout the nest was a warm pattering of rain that quenched her spirit.

There were many missing from the nest now, and it wounded her to know they were fighting and dying so far from where she could help. When she’d offered to advance to the front lines and fight with her children, they protested vigorously until she agreed to remain.

She was still miffed by that. She’d been fighting for this family before they’d ever been born. Why couldn’t she fight with her colony? There were two queens in waiting that could take her place, a thought that filled the queen with gladness. Not because the pressure of being the sole individual capable of creating young had been raised from her shoulders, but rather because the burden had been taken from the colony as a whole. No longer did the fate of the colony rest on a single individual, the threat of extinction had been pushed further away, and the queen felt only joy.

“Still not evolving, Mother?”

The queen turned her large frame so that she could look directly down on the individual who had spoken. Bella, the Core Shaper, had crawled into her chamber and clung to the roof.

“Are you also disappointed to see that I haven’t rushed my decision, child?” the queen said, thinking of the troublesome one who had so obviously pushed her to evolve as soon as possible.

The smaller Core Shaper shook her antennae in denial.

“Not at all, Mother. I think you have made the correct decision to weigh your options. I am simply surprised that the pressure of our current situation hasn’t pushed you to move sooner.”

The queen thought for a moment. It was true that the colony faced a dire set of circumstances. Peril such as this had not gripped them since the onset of the wave. She felt pressure, of course. Her family must survive, she would not permit otherwise, all threats would be removed with any force necessary.

“I am somewhat troubled over the decision,” the queen admitted, causing every ant in the chamber to freeze before continuing about their business as if nothing had happened.

Really now. Was it that big of an issue for the queen to admit to being troubled?

For her part, Bella simply nodded.

“I imagine there would be many options for you to choose from, Mother. After taking the rare core, and being such a powerful creature already, I can’t imagine what sort of choices you are being presented with.”

The queen didn’t think Bella was aware of it, but when she spoke of the rare core and evolution, her antennae twitched excitedly. Clearly the child was taking her role very seriously if she was already this enamoured with the power contained in monster cores.

“In truth, I’ve not yet looked at the menu,” the queen said mildly.

Bella nearly fell off the roof in shock.

“You haven’t even looked at it?” she sputtered. “Then what are you thinking about?”

What indeed, the queen mused. Perhaps the younger members of the colony did not grasp this. They were new to their roles. Maybe they thought they were unchangeable and permanent, that the demands of the colony now and the colony in the future would be the same.

The queen knew differently. She remembered when she had been alone. Now she was surrounded by hundreds of her children in a massive nest. They weren’t even the same species as when she had started. The amount of turbulence and change that battered this colony felt strange and unprecedented. As if her instincts were wary of such dramatic shifts. She had a feeling she knew who was the catalyst of all this change…

What the queen was trying to consider was the colony of tomorrow. She was trying, with the limited life experience and intelligence she had, to grasp the flow of events and understand what it was that her family would need from her tomorrow.

“What do you think the colony needs from me?” the queen asked Bella, causing the young ant to twitch at the unexpected question.

“What do you mean, Mother?” the young Core Shaper asked.

“Exactly what I said, child. What do you think the colony needs from me?”

Bella was still puzzled. What exactly was the queen asking her? What did the colony want? From the queen?

“Continue to live and be yourself, Mother. We could ask nothing more,” Bella said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

The queen absorbed those words, then she nodded.

“Thank you for your words, child. I will take some time to consider my menu now.”

“Of course!” Bella gushed, the words hanging in the air after she departed, so quickly had she moved.

The queen decided on her path. The family who put so much trust in her would not be allowed to fall.