Worlds Within Worlds

 

Argathog raced across the valley floor. He moved as fast as all his six legs could carry him. He moved with the desperation of fear. He knew that capture meant death. He knew that there would be no mercy.

     Argathog was not alone, the love of his life, Mantissa, was with him and trying to catch up.

     He looked at Mantissa, every single eye in his large compound eyes expressed his love, concern, and devotion for this beautiful creature that was his mate.

     As she scrambled over grains of sand the size of boulders, they both heard the soul-crushing sound of the hive hunters gaining on them. They looked at each other in dismay and doubled their efforts. Energized by desperation and fear, they practically flew over the remaining sand boulders, arriving at the entrance to an underground channel that led into the caverns created by the intricate root system of a huge tree.

     They both came to a screeching halt! Taking stock of their environment, they knew they had to be very careful. They were entering an alien world and they knew that in this environment, there were other dangers apart from the chasing hive hunters.

     Their compound eyes, composed of hundreds of individual eyes; dilated to their maximum to see into the surreal gloom of the cathedral-like structures within the tree's cavern systems. The monstrously massive structure of the tree's tap root with its enumerable adjoining roots created the foundation for this.

     The itinerant lovers knew that they had to be very careful in this environment. There were many other ant-races, some of them were very hostile, and some were even cannibalistic. Getting eaten wasn't part of the plan.

     Pragaxx, the ant leading the hive hunters, was both dedicated and unrelenting. He will never give up until they are captured and returned to the hive. Even now he was still trying to use the hypnotic powers of the hive mind to get them to give themselves up. But this was an action in futility. They had drunk from the forbidden well and are now truly free. What they now craved was their individual freedom. Their minds are already free.

     With extreme caution, they moved deeper into the surreal gloom. They resisted the urge to run even though they could hear Pragaxx and the pursuers clearly in their minds, getting closer.

     Suddenly, they saw a pure shaft of light piercing the gloom and lighting up the way towards an intricate set of massive roots leading up to the sunlight. Argathog knew instinctively that this was the trap they had been warned about by the hive seer, an individual, who had achieved hive freedom but had managed to keep it hidden from the Hive for decades.

     Before he could stop her, Mantissa ran into the shaft of light and got stuck. She struggled mightily but couldn't free herself from the bonds that held her down. Her cries of desperation and horror ripped through Argathog's heart like a dagger.

     Looking at her, he knew there was nothing he could do to rescue her. At the same time, he knew he couldn't continue living without her. With resignation, he walked into the shaft of bright light to join her. Both of them are now stuck.

     As they stood there nuzzling each other, powerful ants, armed with heavy armor and pincer-like claws came out of the gloom. They were surrounded, and lunch was about to be served.

     The two lovers looked into each other's eyes, in them, they saw a reflection of their hearts, their hopes, and the future they believed they had together. They started to sing.

It was a song of the soul, heart-wrenching, and melancholy.

     As they sang, their captors watched them making no moves, yet highly intent, with the hunters' focus.

     After a while, their captors started spitting at their feet.

     Suddenly, their bonds melted away. They were free once again.

     With elation, they hurried through the network of massive roots and emerged into the sunlight.

#

Pragaxx led the 5000-strong hunting group into the massive underground cavern system. The minds of the whole group were linked together as one, to form a super-mind, with Pragaxx's mind, as the mind control center.

     This gave  Pragaxx an incredible advantage over the fugitives. He could think faster, see further, and act quicker than them.

     They must be caught. The thought of failure was unthinkable. Mantissa was carrying in her thousands of eggs that must not be allowed to hatch. It would mean the end of Hive civilization and culture as it was known.

     He could sense the path they had taken. However, something was amiss. They had stopped and for some time they had been in deep distress, but were now elated and moving again, quite freely. What had happened? Caution was needed here until the mystery is resolved. He led the hunters through the gloom until they got to the bright shaft of light.

     They all stood and watched, making no moves. He knew that this was where the sounds of distress had come from, but what had caused it.

     He sensed that something was hiding in the gloom. What was it?

     Whatever it was, it had let the fugitives through, so, why wouldn't it let them through?

Pragaxx knew the reputation of this place. He wasn't going to be careless. He sent 50 ants into the shaft of light.

     When they got to the middle of the passageway, they got stuck.

     The cannibal ants came out immediately!!

     Pragaxx had to make a quick decision. They could all stay there and get slaughtered or, they could sacrifice a small number and then charge the opening to freedom in the pursuit of the fugitives. He chose the latter.

     He instructed about 250 ants to run onto the sticky pathway and lie flat on it, creating a passageway for the rest of them to run across their backs without getting trapped.

     The remaining ants ran across the pathway, using the backs of their colleagues as footing, while the cannibal ants had a hard time capturing them because of their speed. Eventually, over 90% of the hunters emerged into the sunlight to continue their pursuit of the fugitives.

#

Argathog and Mantissa knew the moment that Pragaxx and his hunters emerged from the underground caverns.

     They had hoped that the cannibals would stop them in their pursuit. Now they knew that the superior intellect of the hivemind had given the pursuers the ability to think their way out of danger.

     They hurried on as quickly as they could. Green sweat poured out of the pores between their exoskeletons, as they raced through a forest of sharp-bladed grass.

     Mantissa suggested that they could hide in the forest of grass, but Argathog reminded her that although they were free from the influence of the Hive mind, it could still detect them; as they could detect it. Hiding from it is an impossibility. They just had to keep on moving until they were so far away that they would never be found, ever again!

 

 

#

The couple traveled a whole day without rest until they got to a black rocky plain. It was a very strange environment as the ground constantly shook with the roar of thunder. Although they were terrified they had to continue their journey forward. The hunters were not far behind, as they could constantly sense them in their pursuit. They continued without respite, without rest. Until they got to a place where the rocky black terrain changed to a white, flat, and sterile one.

     The thunderous vibrations of the environment continued unabated. It was a constant reminder of how vulnerable they were in the universe.

     After some time, they got back on the rocky black plain and hurried on. They later exited it, climbed up a grey mountain, and rested at the top of its plateau. At this stage, they had been traveling non-stop for 3 days. The adrenaline and fear that were driving them were now exhausted. They just had to rest.

     For some time, they believed they had lost the hunters. However, suddenly, they could feel their presence in pursuit again. Argathog urged his mate that they should get moving, but Mantissa was too exhausted to care. She was carrying so many eggs that were almost due. She did not have the energy to leave where she was; she was resigned to fate.

     Argathog looked at his mate, wiped out by exhaustion. He knew that he could not get her to move from where she was. He resigned himself to fate and sat beside her, as she tried to regain some of her strength. All the time, the presence of the pursuers kept on getting stronger and looming larger in his mind. He knew that Pragaxx and the hive hunters were closing in. Yet there was absolutely nothing he could do. Mantissa couldn't move from where she was.

     The presence of Pragaxx and his hunters kept on looming large in their minds as they approached.

     Argathog looked everywhere in desperation, there was simply no way out. Despite his desperate entreaties for them to move, Mantissa couldn't get up from where she lay.

Her exhaustion was like that of the dead. As she gazed at him, rivers of purple tears started rolling down her big beautiful compound eyes in a river of love and resigned fate. She begged him to continue without her but, he refused and told her never to speak about such a thing again. With that issue resolved they waited for the inevitable.

#

From their vantage point at the top of the plateau, they watched as Pragaxx and the hunters poured across the black rocky plains. Their pace quickened with the realization that their prey was not moving anymore. The hunt was almost at an end!

     The two lovers could sense the malicious glee of their antagonists as they approached. It was obvious to them that there will be no mercy. The images conjured by the minds of the approaching group were anything short of evil. They were to be sacrificed to the demonic hive gods as a lesson to others.

     The hunters kept coming closer and closer until they became visible to the hunted. Pragaxx was in the lead as was expected. They poured across the black rocky plains. The doomed couple watched.

     Suddenly, a roar of thunder more terrible than anything they had ever had before reached their ears. A huge black mountain flashed by in less time than it took to blink an eye and swept the whole hunting party away.

     The couple's minds perceived the screams of horror that emanated from the death of thousands of ants in a flash. There was a mighty wind, and the whole column of hunters was swept away, the rest, pulverized on the black rocky plain!

     The couple put their arms around each other and slept. After sleeping like the dead for an indeterminate number of hours, they woke up and searched for nutrients, then continued on their journey.  Mantissa's eggs will soon be due, and they have to find an appropriate nest.

     They traveled for a few more days without incident until they got to a very fertile place full of nutritious microbes and other delicacies that will nourish a whole colony of ants - smart, independent, and without a hive mind.

     Argathog settled down to start the business of building their hive while Mantissa looked for the best spot within the same location to create their first nest. After everything was in place, Mantissa started preparations for laying her eggs.

     Suddenly, they felt the presence of Pragaxx jump into their minds. It was as if their mind was playing tricks on them. They had seen Pragaxx swept away by the wind of the gods, and the rest of his hunters destroyed on the black rocky plain; how could they now be feeling his presence in their minds.

     However there was no ignoring what they felt in their minds, it was as real as the world around them, and they had no choice. They had to begin to accept the fact that they are not yet free. That they are still in danger, but how?

     Reluctantly, and with huge discomfort for Mantissa, they left their new hive and nest and continued inland. They got to a nice secure place where they did not feel threatened. They felt that this was where they could establish a new hive and Mantissa could lay her eggs.

     It took a long time for Mantissa to completely lay her eggs, and the process was very stressful for her since she did not have the strength of the hive to make it effortless.

After she had finished the task, she secured the nest and followed Argathog to forage for nutrients and sustenance.

     After the lovers had had their fill, then they returned to their new hive and nest. On arrival, they received the shock of their lives. Surrounding the nest was Pragaxx and the rest of the hunters. They all looked rattled and bruised. Every ant in the hunting party had an injury of sorts. There were a lot of broken limbs, punctured eyes, limp antennas, and bruised exoskeletons; but they were all still functional.

     The hunters and the hunted looked at each other in grim silence. There was nothing to say or do! There was nowhere to run! It was over!

     Despite his terror, Argathog wanted to know how they were found without Mantissa and himself being aware of it. It simply seemed impossible that such a thing could happen.

     Pragaxx looked at them and shook his head, his broken antenna swinging back and forth before his one good compound eye. He promised to humor them before destroying them.                           The issue of capture was no longer feasible; they were too weak and wounded to return to the hive.

     Pragaxx said that the moment Mantissa laid her eggs she lost the ability to communicate with the Hive mind and since Argathog was linked to her in the mind, he lost that ability too. And without their hive mind, they were nothing. Once that connection was severed, it could never be restored. This was the danger, not only to themselves but to the ant population. It was the reason that anybody who drank from the forbidden well had to die. Sacrificed to the ant gods. Are the nutrients in the forbidden well worth the costs to whoever drank from it? Is it worth it to develop individualism through independent thought? This may be desired, but at the end of the day, it destroyed society and made it weaker. Ants are not meant to function as individuals, they were meant to function as a collective and their survival was and is in the collective. So the cancer of individualism had to be uprooted.

     Argathog listened to this stoically while Mantissa was begging for the life of the little ants that would soon hatch out of her eggs.

     Argathog understood what was happening. The nutrients from the forbidden well gave those who drank from it an individual mind, capable of emotions and independent thought. It made them sentient. They were completely free from slavery. A situation whereby the collective mind was controlled by the Hive Queen. This was what made the difference.

      In the past, there was only one intelligent being - Hive Queen, with the rest as morons. The only exception to this situation was when the queen decides to bestow intelligence on an individual to function for her controlling and directing the collective. Except for such a situation, every other ant was a moron.

     Only the Hive Queen was allowed to drink from the forbidden well. It made her a god among the insects, and it gave her the kind of power that she would not like to share with her inferiors. This was the secret of the hive. This was why they had to die, this was why they couldn't be allowed to live. It was all about power, it was all about control. Of course, it was the Hive Queen speaking to them now through the agency of Pragaxx, but they already knew that.

     As it was customary the nest had been built in the spine of a huge leaf. Argathog and Mantissa were instructed to come together with their eggs so that they will be annihilated. The couple obeyed their captures and huddled around their offspring, waiting for the inevitable.

     Suddenly, it started raining and a huge wind accompanied it. Massive columns of water fell from the sky washing away Pragaxx and his hunters. Then the wind carried the nest for four days. It finally landed on a stream where it was carried on for another two days. By this time Argathog, Mantissa, and their offspring are in another universe far from those who could hurt them, far from those who hated their freedom.