Antvance into the Unknown

75. While you were Sleeping

The wave ground on through Tiny and Crinis’ evolution, the ants of the Colony working industriously as they always did. The never-ending spawns both a blessing and a curse, disrupting all usual business, yet flooding the nests with Biomass and cores that were in turn used to fuel the further expansion and growth of the Colony.

Queens toiled, eating and laying eggs that were taken by the Brood Tenders and nursed in their protected chambers. Once hatched, each larva’s cared for as if they were royalty—fed and groomed, played with and tickled on an hourly basis. Each grub was tended by the same ant from the moment she hatched until the happy day she graduated the Academy. This also allowed the Tenders to maximise the utility and bonuses gained from their mentoring Skills.

The nest was a well-oiled machine, one that’s constantly in the process of being reinvented. The world of Pangera proved ever changing, and it was up to the Colony to adapt to stay ahead of it, lest they fall and become extinct. And it was exactly this worry that kept the two Brood Tender Council members on their claws.

Theresant and Florence worked tirelessly to ensure the next generation of the Colony were reared in the best way they knew how, and when that knowledge changed, so too did their methods. Nothing but the most effective, most efficient methods would be acceptable for such an important task, but even these tried and true practices weren’t always up to the task. Sometimes, they were forced to think outside the box, because, as strange as it might sound, not every larva, pupa, or hatchling, was the same.

Particularly this one.

“Where has she gone this time?” an unusually flustered Florence groaned when Theresant gave her the bad news.

“If I knew that, I wouldn’t have come to you,” her fellow Council member grumbled, clearly suffering from a lack of rest.

“This is the third time she’s escaped today! If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed a grub could move that fast. What did her caretakers say?”

“They’re bordering on hysterical. The idea of a larva going missing is unheard of. The whole group is bordering on panic! They think they’ve failed in their duty to the next generation!”

The two dipped their antennae, such a feeling was beyond pain to the Tenders. This could not be borne!

“Make sure they are comforted. They have not failed the Colony, this grub is merely beyond anything we’ve seen before. What possible reason would a larva have to abandon the brood chambers? And how the heck could they even do it?”

“Calm yourself, Sister,” Theresant said. “We must take this situation in hand. No grub will be lost on our watch, no matter what.”

“You’re right, of course. Thank you, Theresant.” Florence collected herself and found her calm. “Do you have any thoughts as to where we should look first?”

“There must be tracks, it’s a grub. Let’s gather a team of Tenders and see if we can requisition some scouts. We’ll have that larva back in our care before they know it.”

Having thus firmed their resolve, the two ants moved quickly. In a matter of minutes, a search party was gathered, a passing group of scouts press-ganged into service. It made a strange sight, one rarely seen in the nest, when the Brood Tenders sallied forth from their chambers in search of a wayward larva. What they expected to be a quick search soon took a turn for the worse as the scent they followed ranged high and low through the tunnels.

Much business was thrown into disorder as the increasingly desperate party of Brood Tenders raced from place to place, bursting into the blacksmiths’ forges and turning them upside down before racing out again. Many an antenna was set to wiggling anxiously when they raided the resting chambers, disturbing the torpor of the workers and unknowingly throwing the unnamed ones into despair by throwing their counts off.

There was nothing to be done about it, there was not a single ant in the Colony who would stand before the Brood Tenders and impede their work. There was no hierarchy amongst the castes, no pecking order or chain of command, but all knew that the work of caring for the young was the most important work of all. When the Tenders burst into their workplaces, all the ants could do was get out of the way until they were gone.

So it was that Theresant and Florence grew increasingly frantic as they followed the trail of this impossible grub all through the nest until finally the scent led outside the nest itself.

“HOW!” Florence burst out. “It can’t possibly be this quick! It doesn’t have legs!”

“Do you think it might have latched onto other ants using its mandibles?” Theresant pondered. “That might explain the rapid pace and the lack of tracks.”

Florence stared at her.

“You don’t think they’d notice?” she asked.

“It’s a larva! They’re small and light. If it latched onto a leg, or underneath the carapace…”

“Dammit!” Florence swore. “That means it could drop off anywhere in the tunnels and crawl off. We need to move fast! What if a monster spawns next to it?”

“We won’t let it happen,” Theresant promised her sister, then turned to the search party behind them. “Bring your sisters, we need more antennae for the search.”

Five minutes later, the single largest gathering of Brood Tenders outside their chambers ever witnessed descended on the Biomass farms like a storm, scattering all before them in their hunt for the grub. Chaos reigned wherever they went as more and more ants were forced to join the hunt until thousands upon thousands of ants flooded the tunnels, searching high and low, tracing the faint scent of a single grub that seemed to crisscross everywhere throughout the territory until none could be sure where the trail began or where it ended.

As the Tenders grew more distressed, more ants abandoned their work to assist them, which rapidly grew out of control, and all industry in the Colony ground to a halt. Even soldiers were dragged into the mess, pulling the generals with them. Before she’d even realised what was happening, Sloan found herself organising the central command post for the search, directing no less than fifty different search parties as they tore the territory apart in search of the grub.

Advant herself led a charge to the very edge of the Colony defences, following a faint trace that led right to the outer wall before doubling back, toward the farms. Eventually the pattern began to emerge, Sloan having pieced together the movement of the grub and organised the searchers into a wide net, cast out to surround and constrict the territory in which the elusive larva could move.

With hearts pounding in chests, the ants converged, turning over every rock and leaf so as not to let their prey slip past. Creeping step by step they advanced, drawing close the strings around the target and blocking off escape routes.

Emergency walls were constructed, an army of carvers working without pause, walled off tunnels and built emergency watch stations. Every ant passing in and out was inspected head to claw, lest they unknowingly smuggle the grub through a checkpoint.

Florence and Theresant felt joy surging in their hearts as the web drew ever more taut. They would not lose the larva, and their sisters would know joy when this lost lamb had been returned to the fold. They placed themselves at the forefront of the search and none were more diligent than they. The two siblings checked every rock, every fold in the stone, and left no shadow seaweed uninspected in their advance.

Eventually, the multitude of search parties gathered around a single point, an intersection of tunnels close to the edge of the Colony’s territory. Hearts were in mouths all around as the thousands of ants gathered within sight of each other. Somewhere ahead, in this innocuous patch of rock, the grub was hiding, they’d made sure of it. All trails led to this point. Escape was impossible!

“Ahh! What a nap! I’m feeling good! Oh. Ah. Hello, everyone?”

At that moment, the Eldest stood up, right in the middle of the multitude of spectators, stretching after a period of torpor.

“Eldest? What are you doing here?” Theresant asked.

The giant ant turned to cast their eyes over the tense antennae of the gathered crowd.

“I was resting here. What the heck has been going on while I was resting? Actually. Don’t worry, I think I have it.”

The Brood Tender tilted her head, unsure as to what the Eldest meant when they moved forward, ducked down, and seemingly from nowhere plucked a grub from the ground with their mandibles, holding it up for all to see.

“This what you’re after?”

There was perfect stillness, then, the gathered throng burst into wild applause, clacking their mandibles as waves of pheromones rolled through the tunnels. The Brood Tenders were almost overcome with emotion as the long search finally came to an end. Theresant and Florence walked on shaking legs to approach the Eldest and inspect the larva for themselves.

“Finally, we’ve found her!” they cried. “We can take her back to the chambers and tend to her needs properly.”

The little grub wriggled viciously in the Eldest’s grip, but the mighty ant had no problem maintaining their grip without hurting the little one.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” the Eldest said, shocking the two of them. “This one reminds me of Vibrant. She’s the only other grub I’ve seen with this much energy. If you take her back, she’s only going to escape again. You might as well leave her with me. I’ll bring her up personally.”

A chill ran down the Tenders’ carapace.

“You? T-teach her personally? A-are you s-sure that’s… safe?” Florence stammered.

The Eldest eyed them, an aura of irritation rising.

“What are you implying?”

So quick, they almost missed it, the hovering demon guardian of the Eldest appeared, a giant mouth splitting the air beneath it and opening wide. Quick as a flash, the Eldest turned and flung the grub straight into the waiting maw, which closed and vanished from sight.

“ELDEST!” Theresant shrieked.

“Calm down,” the Eldest groused. “He’s not going to eat her. If she’s going to be a pain and send the entire colony into a tizzy, she can have a little time out. In this case, time out means being held in a demon’s interdimensional mouth.”

Then they laughed. Oh, how they laughed.

Scarred and frightened, the two Tenders retreated to the brood chambers to reassure their sisters and comfort each other from memories they would rather forget. An hour later, the Colony was back to its normal industrious self, as if nothing had ever happened.