Chrysalis

Despite receiving the justice of my mother, I stoically endured her disapproving gaze for as long as I could manage in order to tickle grubs. Their joyful wiggles warmed my heart even as I quailed inside, anticipating another THWACK at any moment. In the end, I could only hold out for ten minutes before I slunk from the chamber, only to find myself in even more sacred territory, the egg laying room!

Victoriant and Antionette look up at me in surprise as I crawl down through a gap in the ceiling.

"Eldest! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know me. Just checking in on everyone and seeing how things are going."

"He's avoiding work," the Queen calls out as she enters the chamber after me.

The two younger Queens give each other a brief look.

"The Eldest? Avoiding work? Surely you jest Mother!"

"Such a thing is impossible!"

The two of them laugh together and I hasten to cut Mother off before she can destroy my reputation. What can I use to distract her?!

"Ah! Is that Aphy the aphid Queen I see? She's gotten big!"

It's true, in one corner of the egg laying chamber, a much larger than before aphid Queen is nibbling on some Biomass next to her own little pile of eggs, looking very pleased with herself.

"Yes, she evolved not that long ago," the Queen can't help but rush over to dote on her pet with pats and scritches. "I wasn't sure about bringing her down to this Strata, but in the end I felt a lot more comfortable when she's somewhere I can keep an eye on her. You do like to get up to mischief, don't you Aphy?"

"Chirrup!"

noise of delight as it leans into the Queen's antenna like some sort of

of the aphid young as well?"

just as well as the hatchlings do, and each aphid will pay the colony back far more Biomass that

the feeding is going well

still radiating affection towards her pet, "they've been spread to four separate expanses

FOUR!?

that

They were all fired up every time they found a

A thousand?! But why?!

the same," Victoriant confirms, "I think they conquered the whole thing in

really were getting carried

there, right now?" I ask. "The number can't be that high,

reflective silence as the three gathered

Mother answers me. "I haven't been keeping count… perhaps the brood tenders on

younger Queens both echo the sentiment, they've no idea. I can get a rough sense of how many are in range of the Vestibule, but I can't actually

around the

put it off any longer. I limber

child?" The Queen asks, barely concealed amusement peppering her

work never ends, as

work? What a terrible thought," she

then, time to head over to the core shapers, then I'll check in with the mages and teach them a few things. I need to catch up

find who's making all these carvings of me

I might need to try and slip some torpor in there somewhere, just in case I need a mental break. Full of determination, I follow the scent trails to the core shaper workshop and find both Bella and Ellie hard at work. It takes a few hours but I'm able to demonstrate