"Explain to me please, why you would ever think that sticking your head into a blast furnace would be a good idea?" I demanded of the hatchling, still dangling from one of Crinis' tentacles.
"I wanted to see what it looked like inside!" she protests.
"Inside? Inside is nothing but fire, superheated gas and liquid metal!"
"REALLY?!" she goggles at me. "Sounds awesome!"
"Yes," I nod sagely, "it IS awesome. It will also melt your face off and you will be dead."
"And that's…. Bad?" she asks.
My mandibles clack together slowly.
"Do you need more time out?"
"… I do not."
"Then tell me that it would be bad if you died."
"It would be bad if I died."
"Good."
[Put her down Crinis.]
the base of the huge metal construction, lined with bricks, reinforced stone and enchanted on the inside to resist the insane temperatures. When it
slag, a molten slurry of impurities that had bonded to the limestone, and out the other had poured the liquid iron which would be carted away to mould into ingots. It was then that I caught the hatchling trying
time to go meet
my way out of the huge furnace area, picking my way between the many rows
of metal vibrate through my antennae as we enter, the tunnels around us alive with the reverberations of steel on steel. Nestled throughout these tunnels are the many workshops of the Colony, producing the various goods required by the ants and our allies. There's delicate work being done, fine wires of various metals intertwined and experimented on to see how well they handle delicate enchantments, as well as more massive projects, like gates for
way and that to inspect every ant at work and see what they might be up to, asking questions and
we need to move a
and meet at some point
are you doing, you metal head?"
frame looming over her workstation and
you like that armour I made for you, eh? I heard it
with excitement but I'm getting massive waves of 'meh' energy from Tiny once I explain what she wants. Just looking at the bland expression on
it for him," I tell her, giving the ape
kept you alive. As in, you know, not dead?! Would
ponders for a moment. Then another moment. Then a
[Just how low did you take your intelligence on this evolution? You kept it where I ordered you to
a thumbs up, a wide,
stare at
how high is
He raises two fingers.
with… but still kept it above the
back to
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