Their guide proved a veritable font of information on the way back to the nest of the Queen. "Father of the Chasm and Mother of the Web are undisputed in life, but they are old, very old."
"They are?" Inta asked, "She looked very young to me."
"She would no doubt be pleased to hear it, but she has consumed more than fifty mates, her next will almost certainly be her last, and the season for that is coming. Father of the Chasm has bested all challengers to his place for years, but his sons are rising, it is widely whispered that one will take his place soon."
"So you challenge for leadership, doesn't that create a lot of violence?" Entoma asked, "If you can always just kill the one in charge…" She stopped when she saw the way his tail waved back and forth and his claws ceased their clicking.
"No. A Chasm Father's rule is considered secure for twenty years after his ascendancy, after that he may be challenged only twice per year. Once on the anniversary of his ascension, the other on the day of his hatching. The wise ones make sure they ascend on the day their life began, in this way they can only be challenged once per year. Such is the wisdom of our Father… but that time too is closing. He has ruled for thirty years, and he weakens." The guide explained, the fact that his claws did not click and his tail seemed to shiver…
'I think I'm beginning to get their tells…' Inta considered and thought about their system, joint rule kept things even, the challenge, if there was any, didn't come for years…
"What about if the Chasm Father dies before he is old enough to be challenged?" Inta asked.
"Then his eldest ascends for the difference in years, after which he can be challenged." The guide answered matter of factly.
"So if the Father rules for ten years and dies, then his eldest takes power, and can be challenged ten years later instead of twenty?" Entoma asked, and when the clicking claws resumed, she guessed she was correct. 'That would keep succession to a minimum, it isn't worth it if you don't kill them early on, you're better off just waiting, most of the time…'
"What about the Web Mother, she can't be challenged?" Inta asked.
"They may be challenged after each clutch hatches after their tenth year of rule, but only by a female. The spiderman males are very small things, existing only to breed. They compete with each other and live only long enough to fight for the right to be consumed by a female." The guide explained, the way his feet tapped on the ground showed he seemed to almost pity the unfortunates of that species for their lowly status.
"How unfortunate." Inta remarked sympathetically. "I'm surprised they don't object."
"Their males are barely sentient. Do not bother much about them, they are weak things in body, and throw themselves into the maws of their mate after killing their rivals. Their dead serve as food for the young the female lays after she has devoured her mate. The victor is given a name which is etched in stone and cast out into the sands." Their guide said with an offhand wave, "I am glad I am not them, that is the extent of the pity I give. They have their place, and I, mine."
Entoma's appreciation for their sense of order jumped by leaps and bounds as he explained the intricacies of government and how 'victory' in combat required also that the elders of both tribes of spiderpeople and scorpionpeople to validate the other's selections, ensuring checks and balances and keeping any one ruler devoted to fairness in rule.
"Are the Father or Mother ever dethroned?" Inta asked when they reached the bottom of the underchasm again.
"Rarely. If the six out of the eight elders of either tribe do not approve of the leadership of either Father or Mother, they may call for a council and force the doubted one to step down, and install their eldest heir in their place until the challenge time." Their guide explained the system, and it was hard not to be impressed that so complex a system could be maintained for so long.
'This would never have worked in the human Kingdoms, never in… ever.' He thought it made the creatures of this place seem all the stranger. But also more remarkable and unique. His inner academic was already writing a paper to present to the Academy, and he could picture the various professors of political or social theory begging for government grant money to come and study the chasm in times of peace.
'They'll be busy for generations.' He chuckled a little at that, just as they entered the chamber where the ant Queen once sat.
"What do you look for?" The guide inquired as he removed himself from their path.
"Something that will tell me what happened." Entoma said and ran the fingers of her golden hand along the floor. Unlike her hand mimic bugs, the artificial hand, another prototype, had advantages her bugs never could.
One of them, she exploited now. "Strange." She said and pointed to the pile of eggs.
"What?" The guide asked. "They're only eggs."
"Yes, but how many does the Queen lay?" Entoma asked.
"Many? Many, many, many." He repeated himself several times, his claws were still and limp at his side while he watched her prowl the room.
Entoma touched her glove to the wall and began to run her hands over it. Nothing happened at first, her fingers spread out, her antennae twitched as she felt the tingle from the fingers of the false hands.
She found herself on the pseudo 'throne' of the Queen, an empty slab of rectangular shape slightly elevated but providing a downward slope.
"Why the slope?" She asked.
"The eggs she lays roll down into that pile, nobody disturbs her except to feed her unless she calls for someone." The scorpionman guide answered. "Why?" He pressed.
Entoma could feel the frown in his heart even if he couldn't make it with his face.
She traced her golden fingertips around the knee hight slab and then down the center slope which became an egg shaped channel.
"So the ants never see her until they harvest eggs…" Entoma guessed.
"That is a constant. But they do not see well, they know her pheromones and that is all." He added.
"So… her presence is very strong here." Entoma critiqued and made to look around the room.
"She lived here." The guide retorted.
"Yes, but it should have faded some by now… what would happen if the ants ran out of eggs?" Entoma asked.
"A death spiral, with no directions, they wouldn't know what to do, perhaps they would destroy the harvest by rampaging, or by moving eggs already put into place… perhaps they would turn violent. I do not know, it has not happened." The escort's claws clamped tight shut at the very idea.
"Those eggs should have run out by now…" Entoma said and let her hand rest on the stone, an ant entered the chamber at that moment, went to the pile, brought its jaws around the egg, and carried it away.
"Hmpf… well will you look at that…" Inta muttered as he stared down at the spot where the egg the ant had just retrieved his desired end. He let out a low whistle.
"What?" Their guide pressed.
"It's still there. The egg that that last ant just took." Inta answered.
"It's still there…" Entoma said and put her hand over the pile. Her enchanted hand told her the rest.
"These eggs aren't real, these are an illusion to keep the workers busy." Entoma answered, and the guide's tail began to wave back and forth in abject horror.