This story is dedicated to MeBeingDifficult. Here is your story, featuring Reia: an ant on a date. Hope you have as much fun reading it, as I did writing it!
The nest was suffocatingly full. Worker ants wove in and around each other through the dark tunnels, carrying out their daily tasks like the tiny black gears of a massive engine. They scuttled with uniformity. With purpose: all working for the good of Madre. Life bringer. The colony was one machine, hissing with efficiency
Reia scuttled anxiously after Sachi into the food chamber, where the scavenged remnants of today's meal awaited them. Workers swarmed on and around her, their black bodies bristling with suppressed rage. Reia was much bigger than the workers, and she ebbed the flow of their efficient tunnels with her bulk. She tucked her wings closer to her body, not wanting to lose them so close to being free. Most of the colony’s workers served Madre, and while Reia had a few followers of her own, she knew she could not stay for much longer. Trouble was brewing. After all, there could only be one Madre.
The food chamber was Reia's favorite place. The large, subterranean chamber was so close to the surface that she could practically smell the sunlight- something she had yet to experience. Sometimes, the room was dim enough to make out the shapes of ants around her. Today was one of those days. Sachi led her to an empty table on the top-tunnel. It wasn't the most sought after spot, but it was discrete. Reia shifted her body underfoot, feet clinging to the soil above. I'm getting so big. Big enough to be an issue- there could only be one Madre. She shuddered to think what would happen if Madre sent her pheromone driven droves after her. I have to get out of here- soon. The colony that had once been her home was morphing more into a death trap with each passing day, baited with jealousy and competition.
“Do you think today will be the day?” Reia asked.
Sachi gave her a harsh look. “Today is full of possibilities. I have hope that you will meet someone.” She moved her antennae encouragingly, using her mandibles to screw a forked twig into the ground above Reia’s feet. The stiff leaf, still attached to the twig, would keep food hammock-ed within eating reach. “You will like today’s suitor.”
“Yes, Sachi.”
What am I going to do without you when I take flight? Reia wondered idly. Sachi had raised her from a larvae. The worker ant had told her stories through her pupae-hood: of the ever-tunnel. "The top is blue.” Sachi had once told her. “It is so high that you could fly for a lifetime and never walk on its surface. And the bottom is green- you could walk for two lifetimes and never begin the ascent up the tunnel's sides. One day you will see it for yourself." Monsters also inhabited the ever-tunnel. Yellow-black winged beasts that ravaged nearby colonies; and death gas, which misted down from the high above, brought down by the wrath of giants. Sachi was smartest ant Reia had ever met. But her taste in men...
Operation: find a suitable mate for flight had been in progress for days now- but it was not going as well as Reia had envisaged: Yesterday's date had been a soldier. Dull, wingless, and uncouth: his bulbous head had swelled out from his body like a fat caterpillar’s. While Reia had struggled to make conversation with the monosyllabic soldier, his clumsy mandibles had upended their shared grasshopper platter, which had careened onto the diners below, crushing a worker's leg on impact.
Of all the brothers to choose from… a soldier? Surely Madre had created some more idealistic males for her to choose from. How else was she going to get out of this place? She hoped today’s suitor would be a better match. Sachi left to bring her suitor to her.
After what seemed like an eternity, with only hostile workers for company, Sachi approached her top-tunnel table to bring in the next potential. Reia felt her heart race in her thorax. Wings! The male had wings! That was a good start. Her stomach wriggled in anticipation. The winged male approached the table.
“They call me Alvaro.” He said, a sultry Spanish tang in his voice.
“I’m- I’m Reia.” Stuttering? Petarda! She yelled at herself. Get a grip- this might be your last chance.
“A pleasure, Princesa.” Alvaro said, brushing her antennae with his own. “Your worker did not exaggerate your beauty, or your delicate figure.”
Reia felt her pulse race through her petioles. Of course, that was a pleasant lie. In her state, she was even larger than him. A Madre-to-be always was, after all. Reia felt sweat beading where her legs met her body- all six of them. She hoped Alvaro hadn't noticed.
Sachi bought a fresh platter of grass-hopper to the table. Reia glanced across at her date. He looked delightful in her compound eyes. They shared animated conversation, forgetting their foraged grasshopper, and delighting in their same interests. Reia wriggled her antennae enthusiastically as Alvaro shared his encounter with a spider. She saw them flying together in her mind. Yes. She thought. You could definitely be the one. She watched Alvaro adjust his grip on the tunnel wall. She couldn’t tell whether it was the pheromones, or just the shape of his elegant, yet masculine legs. Reia gulped. He was the one.
“So what brings you to the dating game?” He asked quietly.
Some game. Fly or die! Featuring yours truly. “Madre doesn’t like the competition.” Reia said. “Only one breeding female per colony- that’s how it works. I’ve just got to get out of here before she sends some of her workers after me.” She wriggled her antennae anxiously. “Would you… like to fly with me? I mean, when the time comes.”
Avaro reached forward to rest his leg against hers. “It would be my honour.”
***
Sachi left the two alone. She watched their exchange by the edge of the tunnel, away from the hectic commute of the ants around her. Reia seemed to enjoy the young male's company. That was good. She needed to fly soon, before Madre tried to- Her antennae twitched. She felt a rumble from deep within the colony. She could feel the vibrations running up her legs. An army. Oh Madre. They were coming.
"Reia!” She shouted, her fearful voice echoing around the dining chamber. “They're here for you! Run to the surface! Fly!"
Reia looked up fearfully. She scuttled over to the edge of the chamber. "Come with me?" She asked, staring pleadingly at her old friend.
Sachi shook her head. "I'll only slow you down. Get to the surface!"
"I can't just leave you!" She protested. "They'll-"
"-You must go now." Sachi cut her off- before adding gently, "Goodbye, Reia. You are, and always be, my Madre. Go."
Sachi looked to the lost-looking winged male. "Go after her." She said firmly. "She will need someone like you." Alvaro nodded, and scuttled after the fleeing Madre-to-be.
Sachi called to Reia’s few followers. They assembled, forming a fierce barricade against the growing rumble beneath them. In her mind, she could see Madre’s pheromones spreading through the colony like a virus, driving her followers to violence. She glanced around her. It wouldn't be enough- a few workers against hundreds of pheromone-filled adversaries. Sachi only hoped their defence line would be able to slow them down. Just long enough for Reia to fly… Surely they could do that. Sachi turned her back to the glow of the ever-tunnel. She wanted to stare her death down. Her antennae quivered. The horde was close.
***
Reia raced along the tunnels towards the surface, her only thought being escape. Her pulse beat faster than her legs drummed against the tunnel floor. She trampled worker ants in her haste, squishing them underfoot. Escape. Run. Fly. Alvaro followed close behind. The tunnel’s exit ignited a new sense. There was... light. With every step, her vision became more defined. Objects came into focus. The glowing hole grew in size. The vibrations shaking through the colony pushed her forwards the ever-tunnel.
Suddenly, Reia heard a familiar voice cry out in agony. She glanced behind her, to see Sachi’s head being torn from her body, as if it was soft as a larvae. “No!” Reia let out a cry of anguish as the gory scene played out before her. Reia slowed to a halt, frozen with shock. Sachi… The horde dismantled her defending force, surging through her workers like menacing death gas. Her mandibles quivered as the horde advanced.
Alvaro pushed her forward. “Princesa, we must flee.” Reia’s heart raced inside her thorax. No, no, no no, I must've seen it wrong. Sachi can't be... But the evidence was surging towards her, mandibles extended with murderous intent. Reia forced her grief down, and resumed her fleeing gait. But the horde quickly closed the distance between them. There was a rough tug, and Reia felt a her back leg fly out of its socket. She let out a grunt of pain, and rushed forward on her remaining five.
The ever-tunnel was close now. I’m so close. As she approached its exit, her senses became overwhelmed. Brightness flooded her vision. It was all she could see. Reia felt her frantic escape though her antennae, with only the fear of lynching keeping her legs scuttling up the tunnel’s walls. Though she could not see, instinct took over, and her wings flexed. Still seeing a haze of white, her body sensed it had entered the ever-tunnel. She took flight, her wings beating frantically in the air. Seconds passed. It took her a moment to realize that the workers would be unable to pursue her in the air. She let out a sigh of relief. I'm safe. I survived.
Reia took in her environment. Warmth licked her beating wings, the air pushed against her, lifting her higher into the safety of the ever-tunnel. A wave of shock hit her gut. Where was Alvaro? Had he made it? She looked around blindly, the white haze still obscuring her vision. Splotches of not-back slowly appeared in front of her compound eyes. When she spotted Alvaro soaring in the sky next to her, she relaxed.
A sensory feast awaited her. There was so much.Together, Reia and her suitor flew on. She savored soaring through the ever-tunnel, so large she would never reach its sides. Sachi had been right. Colour flooded the ever-tunnel. It smelt of everything she'd ever known and more. It was bigger than she'd ever imagined. They passed a farm of aphids, workers milking sweet nectar from their green backs. Reia's stomach growled. She wanted to feast on the sweet goodness that her senses had guided her towards, but the workers would surely attack them
“This is amazing!” She said to Alvaro.
He nodded in agreement, his antennae blowing uncontrollably in the breeze. “It’s astounding, stupendous, and glorious! It is made even better by your presence, Princesa.”
Reia blushed. "Not bad for a first date, huh?" A pang of grief rippled through her. Sachi... Gone forever… Her mind replayed Sachi’s head being twisted off by another worker’s mandibles. She blinked back tears. Her oldest friend and advisor. Not bad for a first date... Workers died for me today. Sachi... Sachi died for me today.
Another thought struck her. If they were flying in the ever-tunnel of incomprehensible size; where green stretched out below, and blue dominated the tunnel-top; then what creature had the size and strength to carve out such a tunnel? And what creature was generous enough to share it with all of these other creatures without trying to drive them out? If another creature tried to enter her old colony, the soldiers would have torn it into neat edible pieces before it could even get near the entrance. Surely this ever-tunneler would not want them here. Reia wondered if anything preyed on such a mighty beast. Did the ever-tunneler have to hide from predators? What did it eat? Ants? Reia gulped. I hope it prefers the larger creatures.
When her wings began to ache, Reia and her suitor landed on an massive, alien object. It was round, like a tunnel, but there was a hole in the middle of it, as if it had been carved away. She judged it to be about fifty ant-lengths wide. The top of the object was coated in a bark coloured substance, while pink ant-sized objects were scattered across its surface. Immediately, Reia's feet felt sticky. She tasted the ground. Sweet. The taste of survival.
"We are as rich as the Madre." Alvaro declared. “This is a gift from the giants.”
They feasted on its sugary goodness, feeling energy return to their worn wings. There was still more flying to do. I will never see Sachi again. Reia thought, remembering her friend's cry as she had been dismembered. She missed her sorely. She missed the buzz of the colony. Sitting on the giant-gift, with no one but Alvaro made her yearn for the bustling company of her worker siblings. She felt strangely exposed out in the open air. But instinct had driven her out of her old home. It was up to her to create her colony now. Her own family. She turned to Alvaro. "We will start a new colony." She said solemnly. “Sachi's death will not be for nothing.”
Alvaro nodded. “Of course, my Madre.”
Together, they took flight, their wings beating in time with each other in the warmth of the summer sun.
***
Sachi looked down from her place at the top of the ever-tunnel. The ground was white and fluffy beneath her feet- a strange sensation for someone who has never walked on anything but soil. She was content, Reia had made it. They had served their purpose, that was enough. Sachi reclined back into the white fluff.
A resounding voice spoke to her: "Welcome." Said the Ever-tuneller. "To my domain."
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