Chrysalis

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Sloan asked Cobalt tentatively.

"Sure? Of course I'm sure?! Did you think I sat around here crunching numbers between my mandibles for twenty hours just for the heck of it?!"

"All right! I just wanted to check, please, keep working," the general made a tactical retreat to where several other council members were standing at a safe distance.

"Gotta be careful around the carvers right now," Wills greeted her, "they are more than a little touchy."

"Can't really say I blame them," Sloan muttered, "considering how hard they've been working, and the constant threat of being dragged off for torpor."

"That reminds me," Bella chipped in, "didn't Cobalt get dragged away yesterday?"

"She did. The moment she woke up, she was back at it," Wills confirmed.

They all fell silent as they internally paid tribute to the incredible fortitude of the carvers, the great buildings of the Colony. To face down not only an insurmountable amount of work, but the torpor police at the same time, it took more courage than most soldiers would dream of claiming.

Wills took another look at the huge steel constructs being assembled in front of them.

"Just so I get this straight in my mind," she said, "they want to drop these down and drive them into the plate that holds the city so we can run down the cables in order to assault the city?"

"That sums it up," Sloan said.

"I don't know… that doesn't seem… nuts? To any of you?"

"It's a bit extreme," Sloan agreed, "but when you think about it, there aren't really any safe ways to assault the city from up here. You either climb down the pillar, an idea that I've ruled out since our enemy is likely prepared for such an approach. Although we doubt they expect a serious assault from above at all. Or, you make your own way down. We considered creating a unit of flying soldiers or scouts to secure a landing ground for us, but the evolutionary costs are prohibitive."

as a possibility for tier six scouts," Wills said absently, still staring at the huge 'spears', "but that'll

participating in this assault. To counterbalance that, the fact that the eldest had reached tier six had inspired the ants to reach for that next threshold. Indeed, another member of the Colony had already

the Queen was now being shared

"HeythereguyshowareyouallahwhoopsIdidn'tstopfastenoughnoooooooo!!!"

raised a storm of cursing from exhausted construction workers. When the dust cleared the second ant to reach the

"I'mnotusedtomyspeedyetheeeeeeeeelp!" she laughed.

she could smell, only then did they move over and try

you're trying to say when you talk that fast! You have to slow it

soldier cheered as her legs started to flex

her evolution there'd barely been a solitary moment when she hadn't been running. If her previous speed had been absurd, then at tier six she was practically lightning. If the ants who saw her didn't have decently mutated vision, she was nothing but a blur,

working too hard? Don't let the torpor police catch you! If you want to keep away

in edgeways, she was gone, accelerating so fast she

Sloan grumbled. "I need to know what she's capable of now that

explain it to you," Wills laughed. "Best bet is you wait for the Eldest to get back. They can probably pin her down long enough to take a peek at her core

unknown factors in a battle, even if they're on

fine, you shouldn't stress about her," Wills brushed her concerns aside, "having more power on our side can only be

check your prescribed angles! We start tunnelling in

had been slotted into place and the enormous kilometers long

aren't in place!" Sloan scrambled

you need speed lessons from Vibrant?"

at her sibling until the scout was

antennae

as well? They're an integral part of the assault