Chrysalis

Dammit, Victor! You set me up for a thwacking! Why the heck wouldn't you tell me that The Queen was coming down here?! Despite being more evolved than her, those antennae still pack a serious wallop! How does it hurt this much?

“Hello there, Mother! I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

She turns to look at me directly.

“Then why are you here? Lazing about, avoiding work?”

“Whoa! No! Not at all! Why would you jump to that conclusion?”

Her antenna is poised, ready to strike, and I retreat, desperately trying to defend myself from her pointed accusation.

“I was asked to come down here and meet someone, I was just saying I didn’t expect it to be you! They didn’t tell me who was coming, so I had no way to know!”

Her antenna lowers, and I relax just a little.

“Why are you here, Mother?”

THWACK!

“Should I not be here? Are you saying I’m not strong enough?”

“No! Sheesh! I was just wondering why!”

She’s so touchy today! Did Victor know she was grumpy in advance or something? Is that why I was sent here? I’ll get her back. Mark my words, I will get her back for this. Another flash of light, and lo and behold, the aphid queen arrives. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Aphy, and she’s certainly gotten bigger than before, but, relative to me, she’s smaller, so it isn’t easy to tell.

to check on the little creature, fussing and clacking over her as she ensures the aphid has arrived safely. On one level, I’m even more surprised

glad to see Aphy made it alright. Uh. Do you have any idea where I’m supposed

to look at me,

Surely you can figure

that depends, to be

“Depends on what?”

ask this question without getting

on Amazon without the author's

offended

“Of course, child.”

you mean, ‘of course’?! Do you not

able to take you where you are

“Permanently,” she replies.

interesting. I’m guessing you made

I make a statement, and not a question. Mother’s antenna twitches once again as she sniffs something offensive in my

make decisions for

could argue otherwise? It would be ridiculous to suggest that anyone other than yourself would decide where you should

stays happy and satisfied so she doesn’t do things like this. She’s going to get herself killed

hunt now, mother? Or

space for Queens. There’s going to be brood chambers and

after using the… gate. It was difficult to get the children to get out of my way. For some reason, there was constantly some pressing emergency that needed to use

the family desperately scrambling to delay and buy time to convince her to stay somewhere safer. No wonder she’s so grumpy. She’s been patiently enduring the shenanigans

but the same goes for us, the

go and get you settled into your chambers. I’m