A Bug's Life 2: Out from Ant Island
Chapter 6
●•●
Sinny spent the rest of the evening being rehydrated (mostly voluntarily) and proceeded to sleep off copious amounts of medication. Lily was still watching over her when she woke; Sinny found her voice had returned, but she'd developed a hoarse cough, like someone beating a dried-leaf rug. She wasn't tied down anymore, at least, and was given time to recover without being hounded by guards.
"- I didn't expect you to actually create something that would work, I just thought… Sinny?"
Sinny jerked awake. She'd asked Lily what was troubling her, and promptly fallen asleep. "Yeah?"
"Maybe we shouldn't be bothering her," said Leaf, who'd appeared at Sinny's bedside at some point.
"No, go on," said Sinny. She sat up a little more in bed.
"I just… the queen's looking to mobilize her army, she's put a lot of resources into it. And I think you've finally found a means to her end."
Sinny thought about this, rubbing gunk out of her eyes. "So that's what the airship's for."
"I didn't think you'd actually create something that would work out of that stupid glider idea!" Lily stood up to pace, her agitation increasing visibly. "Never in a million seasons! And then you-" She glared at the lantern model Leaf was holding, as though trying to crush it with her mind. "This thing. And it works! They're out in the yard right now making one, and the damn thing works!"
"It does?" said Sinny, brightening.
"Don't look so pleased. Why couldn't you just have failed – do you really have to be so damn smart all the time?"
Sinny shrugged. "Can't help it, I guess."
She flinched when Lily looked like she was about to smack her. Leaf discreetly contemplated the nearest exits.
"You really don't get it, do you?" said Lily.
"She's been medicated since she got here," said Leaf. "Cut her some slack."
"What he said," Sinny agreed.
"The queen's looking for new territory for her colony," Lily said, trying to restrain herself. "And where would she find new territory?
"Um… somewhere else?" said Sinny.
"How about another ant colony's territory," Lily hissed. "Maybe one on an island."
"Oh," said Sinny, considering this. "…Oh! Oh." She turned to Leaf. "Hey, the elders were right, you were scouting for territory to take over."
"Sinny!" Lily said. "At least pretend to be concerned, for Ancestors' sake. Our family's lives are in danger here, and it's going to be on your head if that airship works."
Sinny opened her mouth to say something, and then thought better of it, opting to bite her lower lip instead. She looked at the lantern Leaf was still holding – she'd only had good intentions in creating it, as a way to save the lives of the workers assisting her. How did it go so wrong?
"But, what're we supposed to do about it now?" Sinny said, looking down at her hands.
"I don't know – you're the smart one, remember?" said Lily. There was an awkward silence, besides the mild din of the med cell. "Sinny?"
"I'll need some time to think about this." Sinny had done so much serious thinking in the last few days, it was starting to make her brain ache. She rubbed her head in agitation.
"Don't get her started," Leaf said to Lily. "She'll pull another all-nighter and make herself worse, again."
"It's not like we have time for her to sit around," said Lily. Leaf ignored her, coaxing Sinny into relaxing until she was lying back on the bed. He pulled the covers up to her chin.
"Don't listen to her – you need to rest." Leaf looked at the lantern he was still holding. "You want me to leave this here?"
"Yeah," Sinny said, indicating a corner of the room where he could set it down. She'd already been staring at it, and wondering about it. She pictured it burning.
●•●
The sun was out, and there was already an oppressive heat – Sinny was relieved to find it was still fall, at least. She'd been cooped up so long, she felt like seasons had passed.
Unlike the anthill back home, this one was surrounded by barren land, the sparse forests beyond without edible seeds, and earth nearly too hard to dig through. This seemed strange to Sinny, considering she'd traveled through fertile land to get here, but apparently one did not simply pick up and move an ant colony, especially when any earth in traveling distance was too difficult to excavate in a reasonable time period. At least that's what the queen told her, summoning Sinny to follow her through a tour of the grounds. Sinny kept pace with the queen reluctantly.
"The workers do their job as well as can be expected," the queen said, as they observed the line of ants exiting and entering the compound. Few returned with anything edible. "There just isn't much to scavenge these days."
"You're also… harvester ants?" Sinny asked tentatively.
"Like yourself." She gave Sinny the appraising look again. "In fact, we still have a tale here of when the colony split in two, long ago. Our two sister queens, way back when, had a spat - one wished to stay, the other wanted to search for more promising land. Perhaps you can guess where the second queen took part of the colony when she went in search of this promise land?"
Sinny nodded, beginning to tire of rhetorical questions. She half expected the queen to hiss, 'To an island,' like Lily would have. The queen continued the tour, stepping through the food line and causing several workers to pause suddenly, running into each other. Sinny hurried through the gap apologetically.
They crossed to where the soldiers were having training exercises, an activity Sinny was familiar with from back home, but not quite in this scale. There were significantly more soldiers than workers, and they all snapped to attention when the queen approached. A tall blue ant ordered a formation; before Sinny understood what was happening, the soldiers were in rows, ready for inspection.
"Your Highness," the ant in charge said with a nod. The queen ignored her, walking the length of the formation and back again, eyes half-lidded, satisfied but not quite impressed. Sinny stood back with the commanding officer, watching in awe. The queen dismissed the soldiers, who went back to their activities in an orderly fashion.
"And what did you think?" the queen asked. Sinny realized she had been staring at the soldiers.
"It's… it was amazing," Sinny said. "And there's so many. But, what do they all do when they're not patrolling?"
"I assume you mean the perimeter," said the queen. "No, my soldiers don't just protect the territory, they protect the workers. They oust unruly behavior and keep the colony running efficiently. How else would we survive in such a harsh environment?"
"But, what about innovation, or letting the workers come up with new ways to deal with the environment?"
The queen shook her head, looking disappointed. "That may be the norm where you come from, but we don't have such luxuries here."
"And yet you're relying on my creation?" said Sinny, pointing in the direction of the yard, where the airship was just in sight. "Isn't that hypocritical?"
The queen seemed amused at the accusation.
"Your colony created you – a colony that could allow a member of the royal family to do as she pleases, and say as she pleases, apparently. You would find no such freedom here. There's none to spare." The queen looked out towards the workers. "However, I am using your talents. I admit that."
"Are you using my sister's?" Sinny asked.
The queen frowned briefly, before tensing her features back to neutrality.
"I'm not sure what she's told you, but your sister's agreed to be my heir. If it isn't obvious, I have no others."
Sinny gasped, and didn't know how to respond.
"You're brilliant, Sinnia, but you're also painfully naïve." The queen shook her head. "I don't think there'd be a place for you here, after the airship is created."
Abruptly, the queen's focus on Sinny slipped away and she took to the sky, leaving Sinny behind. Sinny was about to call after her, but thought better of it; several workers had been watching the exchange nearby, and were still staring at Sinny in horror, no doubt wondering why a short, insignificant worker was addressing their queen in such a way. Sinny shot a look at the workers, and they scattered.
●•●
The conversation had been a kind of evaluation, Sinny guessed – the next day she was ordered to the yard to resume her role as overseer, accompanied by several guards who kept an eye on her at a distance.
Sinny's chest warmed a little, knowing the queen still considered her a threat. Her winged sister had no such restrictions, nothing compelling her to behave; when they spoke in the yard or met up after-hours, it felt like Sinny was still in the prison cell with bars between them, and Lily was on the outside looking in. The guards even got testy if Sinny got too close to her sister, which almost caused a scuffle – it was Lily's intervention that kept Sinny from going back to an actual prison cell.
Her work in the yard proved useful; Sinny got to know the airship's structure intimately, and she spent several nights pouring over diagrams. She'd made up her mind to weaken the airship's integrity before its maiden voyage – as the ship's structure was reinforced, this became trickier, and Sinny had to keep track of every modification. Obtaining the right tools for the job was easy – it was timing that would prove trickier.
She was exhausted when she next returned to the yard, and couldn't quite believe what she saw – a second frame being constructed.
"Wait, what's going on?" Sinny asked the nearest worker. "Since when are we making two?"
"Since queen's orders last night," said the worker. He gave her a second look. "Another sleepless night, Sinnia?"
"What? Yeah, I - never mind. Why wasn't I informed?"
"How should I know?" said the worker.
"I'm the overseer – how come I don't get told anything?" Sinny said. The worker shrugged. "Well, I guess that means we're making multiple airships now?"
"That's correct, ma'm," the worker said. He was rapidly losing interest. Sinny wandered towards the construction, getting a look at it from all angles. Not only was a second frame going up, there was a space being prepped for a third. This would definitely take some rethinking. She considered approaching some of the workers from her original think tank, the ones who still said hi but didn't make an effort to actually associate with her, but decided against it; they might be reporting her every conversation to the queen.
Come to think of it, there wasn't anyone she thought she could trust anymore, especially now that her lack of sleep was making her increasingly more paranoid. This also meant she nearly jumped out of her exoskeleton when a rock landed near her and skidded to a stop.
She looked around, trying to decide who was throwing things at her, but the other workers seemed oblivious. A moment later, another rock bounced off the back of her leg, and she spun around in time to see something move by the edge of the compound, where it backed up to the forest. Sinny got the idea someone was trying to get her attention, and it was a testament to her newly fatalistic attitude that she approached the barricade – if a predator was trying to eat her, at least her end would be swift, hopefully.
However, she didn't think predators made a, "Psst!" sound at their prey. Sinny made sure she was out of view of the guards.
"Who's there?" she asked, and a large, dark area she thought was part of the forest moved closer.
"Chica?" it asked.
"Chili?" She couldn't get a good look at him through the fence. "What're you doing here – you shouldn't be here."
"I had to make sure you were alright, man. Did they enslave you or something?"
"Pretty much. On the bright side, I found my sister."
"Oh, well that's something, I guess. Well, what're you thinkin' – are you bustin' out? You need my help?"
"I don't think so, Chili." Sinny shook her head. "I have, uh, business I need to take care of here. I don't think I'm leaving anytime soon."
"Oh." The tarantula sounded truly disappointed. "Look, uh, I didn't mean to leave you, man. I was just doing some hunting, so I left you where you'd fallen asleep, and when I got back you were gone."
"It's okay, it's not your fault. You need to get out of here, Chili, before they find you."
"Not without you, chica."
"Chili," Sinny hissed. "I appreciate the thought, but please. Who knows what they'll do if they catch you? Go anywhere, go back to the circus if you can."
"Okay, but I'll come back for you."
"Don't, just go."
She heard the tarantula huff to himself, but then he turned and tromped his way back into the forest. Sinny watched after him, until she was suddenly grabbed from behind and turned around.
"Where you think you're going, missy?" said the guard.
"No where." Sinny tried to jerk her arm free from his grasp. "I was just taking a break."
"There are no unauthorized breaks." He began to drag her back to the yard. "You're getting a report for this."
"See if I care," said Sinny, stomping on the guard's foot and kicking the back of his knee. He went down just as the other guards ran over to assist, and Sinny was knocked to the ground next to the fallen guard. They kicked her several times, mostly in the face, and then they suddenly backed off. Sinny stayed curled up on the ground for a while, waiting for more.
"She attacked first," one of the guards said at a distance. "She's a safety concern."
"I don't care," said Lily. "You're not taking her anywhere – I'll deal with her." A moment later Lily was at Sinny's side, leaning over to get a better look at her. "Sinny, what were you thinking?"
"I was thinking they should keep their grubby hands off me." Sinny coughed into the dirt. Lily helped pull her upright, and groaned when she saw the state of her sister's face.
"You really need to tone it down," Lily said, wiping away the blood that was dripping down the side of Sinny's head. "I can't get you out of every situation, especially if you lose your position as overseer, you know that."
"Yeah," Sinny said, sighing.
"Then behave." Lily turned to the nearest worker. "Can I get a medic over here? Sinny needs some bandaging."
"I'm fine," Sinny said as she began to tip over.
"Oh, no you don't." Lily held her firmly, and helped the medic clean and wrap her head. "Now, you sit here and get some rest. I need to sweet talk the guards into giving you down time and not imprisoning you. Again."
Lily threw her arms up in disgust and went back to the outraged guards. Sinny watched the forest for a while, but saw no movement – at least the guards had been distracted long enough to not notice a tarantula exiting the territory.