Chrysalis

So... I mean.. It’s a little odd...

I was a human before after all. I may not have lived what people would call a ... normal life ... but hey, I went to school, a bit, I saw people, I ate human food.

Now I have a giant ant Queen staring down at me and insisting that she and my many siblings are my family now.

...

For some reason I’m surprisingly ok with that.

I had a pet ant colony as a human, I kept them contained and fed them, watched the colony grow and cleaned out their spaces for them. In some ways they were the most constant members of my household, I certainly saw them every day, which wasn’t really true of anyone else.

Perhaps that is why I don’t really mind being an ant.

If I’m going to be a member of this family then I have to do my best to save them!

I start thinking out loud.

"Ok then, Queen, I don’t think we are uh, strong enough to survive the wave. If our nest is invaded from the outside as well as the inside, we could be completely wiped out!"

The Queen looks concerned and taps me with her antennae, urging me to continue.

"I think we need to move the colony! We have to get somewhere ... else. Somewhere safer".

"Do you know where we should go child?"

Err.... No?

We live in the Dungeon, and from what I’m told the entire place is going to become a death zone for up to a week!

I don’t even know that the surface will be safe from the impending danger!

...

be safer

would be suicide, but with my Tunnel Map I can clearly see where the entrance I first encountered the humans is. If we can find a way to

...

a chance that we all get killed by those powerful human soldiers, burnt to

we stay down here, will

think we have

patiently as my thoughts run circles inside my head. My resolution firms as I see her commitment to

new tunnel to the surface!"

digests this bombshell, taking time

Then she responds.

the ’surface’?" she

...

could she

a new tunnel upwards, that bypasses the existing Dungeon passages and

is simple enough that she can

moment, her monster intelligence mulling over this suggestion. I wait nervously for her to puzzle out exactly what this means

surprise she calmly

as you suggest child.

to cooperate. I’m not exactly sure how the pecking order works

For example, if one worker finds a good place to move the nest, they’ll lay down a trail and start moving the brood. If other ants find the trail, they will go and check it out and if they agree with the first ants opinion, they will join in, eventually when enough workers have agreed on a course of action, it will happen. It isn’t always so smooth of course,

slave, and she is far from a helpless creature at the mercy of the workers. If anything, she is probably closer to what most humans think an ant Queen is

the workforce, it’s clear that they can understand my pheromone language to some extent,

of my head

for us to abandon it. Once that is done I’ll start digging the tunnel, if you can help get the rest of the ... family ... digging, then we can make faster progress. Hopefully we can dig our way clear of

is continuing to recede, just as the Sophos had predicted. The forest is going

more friendly taps on the head with her antennae before retreating back to the security of the nest, leaving the workers to do what they do best and

doing just that, continued to comb over the battlefield and collect the spoils of war. As more times goes by the number of ants showing

the workforce becomes stronger

didn’t have any brothers or sisters that