450, Insectia

Lucie had asked several times about the results. Finally, Klype let her get it. She sat down at his place. But first he wanted to do some explanations about it. This is a hard one, he said. As you know, the information is very limited. It is like its all has been blown away. However, he added, some info-crystals have been collected. Despite their poor conditions, I have succeeded in gathering enough to put together a little history. He continued before Lucie could ask any critical question. It shows the life and development of an insect tribe that developed to be rather fit. They probably managed to dominate a considerable area. However, have in mind, if I may say so, this is a synthetic scenario of previous life on the little red desert planet.

The third planet was also hit by ice and rocks, but not as hard as the second planet. Once again, gigantic rocks caused considerable damage at the surface. There was a period of a million years, where the conditions for life were harsh. Many species became distinct. Especially the less hardened kind suffered, like mammals and lizards. Fishes and plants in the water, were much better off because of the protection from the insects.

The insects had some common properties. They all had six legs which made them very mobile. They had a hard exoskeleton which protected the inner organs. Their bodies were three-segmented with a head, thorax and abdomen. The vast majority of the insects had wing and antennas on their head. They were able to survive frost and radiation. They could easily move by wings or legs to more prosper areas. And their actions were ultimately driven by instincts. Nothing had to be learned, all their necessary information was pre-programmed from birth on. The low gravity made flying easy. Flying insects got good conditions for further development. Flying was an advantage in attack, escape and quick movement to warm and richer areas.

The growth hormones came to the third terrestrial planet too. However, only after the climate crises, there was enough food for unhindered growth. Both predatorily and vegetarian insects multiplied explosively. It became nearly unbearable for mammals and lizards. When most of them were distinct at land, the insects continued their hunt under water. Fishes, lizards and mammals very existence were threatened. However, when the predator insects were constantly hungry, they turned against the vegetarian ones. Finally, the species gained balance in the nature again.

There was an area at the third planet, where ants had ideal environments. They prospered well and the tribes became more every year. There were plenty of food and material. They did not even seem to be any natural enemies around, except for the hostile environment. The ants could find food in plants, vegetarian insects and even mammals. There was no mercy when a group of ants had chosen their prey. They were quick and determined. Once an ant had set its jaws to the prey, it became numb. Soon the rest of the hunting team caught up and hung on to it. The prey was poisoned and fell to the ground. Without any empathy, the ants started to bite their way into the prey’s inner organs. Eventually it was dead and ready to be taken home to the nest.

The ants were too effective for the balance of nature. As they ate their way further away from the nest, the transportation time became longer. Soon most of their time was spent on moving instead of working. This became a crisis in the nest. Food and material became in less frequent and the reserves were emptied. The queen starved. However, she had to eat a lot, and started with her drones. Strangely enough, the drones did not resist when the soldiers attacked them one by one to feed the queen. Their collective mind was programmed to accept themselves as an expendable cost. The soldiers, though, were programmed to survive and fight. There were no way they were able to fight each other or be voluntary food for anyone.

Soon there were nothing left to eat than the queens own puppies. They were small but many and lasted for several days. Even though the queen gave birth to several more, the consumption was much larger. She had almost eaten them all, when she became ill and weak. She could not eat more of her own, even though the soldiers had prepared them right in front of her. She lay still in several days until she finally died. Soon the soldiers started to part the queen, as they were programmed to, so the remaining orphans had something to eat. It was plenty of food for the three orphans. But the resources came to an end. The three of them came to share a whole lot more than just food, though. They got a common mindset.

The orphans grew mature by the food. However, when the food ended, the soldiers took each of them away from the nest and headed for new areas to live. There were a lot of dead workers and soldiers outside. But the remaining followed each of the puppy queens to their new domains. The journeys were far out of the barren areas of their previous home. However, once they reached to new fertile land, the workers started to build tree new nests. The tree nests were placed in a triangle. The tribes grew for several years and each of them reached the high of their existence again. However, with that expansion rate, they met shortage in a few years.

This time, there were three tribes competing for the same resources in the centre of the triangle. Although the working and warrior ants had the same grandmother, there were some distinctive differences to them. They had become alien to each other. War broke loose in the centre of the triangle. The warriors killed each other while the workers collected their dead enemies as food resources to the own hives. The top of the tribe was thereby fed with highly nutritious food and got used to it. The war in the centre of the hives became a constant condition. The surviving warriors became highly skilled and developed war tactics.

On the outside of the triangle, the domains of the hives expanded. Once again the ants experienced difficulties with long distances as the domains expanded. Once, a team of workers got lost and confused. They could not find their way back started to build a small hive at the border. It became an outpost. Later, another team of workers found the new outpost and lead the first once back home. However, the outpost was functional, when the journey lasted more than a day. The ants spent the nigh in the outpost while returning to the hive the next day. In this way the tribe got extended access to distant recourses. In a new region, the ants came over a new and unknown kind of food. It was a kind of mushroom that was quite attractive and tasty to them. It grew directly at a gene pool from the first iceberg. The mushrooms were transported to the hives and consumed by the queens. From that day on the tribes developed not merely collective, but social intelligence. The tree tribes were never at war again but rather expanded outwards. However, the hives grew larger by the days and into each other. The three hives became a cluster with three ruling queens in cooperation.

All the three hives built an extensive network of roads and outposts. As the domain expanded they reached new kinds of livings and consumed them. There was no other kind of insect or mammals left in their area. However, that was only until one of the ant tribes reached the borders of a termite tribe. The termites were five times larger as the ants. They had jaws that could cut of an ants body parts with one bite. They got one disadvantage though, they were blind. Once the termites and ants encountered at an outpost, the ants were exterminated with no loss for the termites. Normally, the ant tribes would not have bordered with such a minor loss at the far borders of the domain. But the termites kept returning in larger numbers, used the roads and destroyed the outposts on their way into the cluster of hives. The termites had never experienced such masses of ants and started killing just for the killings sake. They did not care to collect the remains any more; they simply killed every ant they met. And the ants kept on attacking the intruders, while they all were exterminated and the termites’ losses few. The termites followed the smell of ants and were drawn directly towards the hive cluster in the centre. Once the queens were alarmed, they started for a preparation for the intruders.

The termites reached the triple hive. It was all strangely quiet. However the termites could smell the strong odor of the queens, which they though to be one. Suddenly, the team for termites ran to the hive and fought their way to the centre. They managed follow a tunnel to the very centre of the cluster, but they were confused. The strong odor came from three directions, from the three hives. The termites split into three. They were divided into less forceful teams. Each of the teams followed the tunnel only to, much too late, discover that there was a deep whole in the ground. The first ones stopped, but the other pushed on so most of them fell down helplessly. Right behind there was a large flock of warrior ants that pushed on to the rest so they also fell. Several ants followed the termites in the fall and were taken care of at the bottom. However, the termites could not escape. They stayed in the hole till they all died. The same happened at all hives.

A mini hive was built at the border of the termite tribe. A newborn queen was placed in the centre of it. A system of tunnels like in the original hives, were build. Every time a team of termites went on hunting the ant queen, they got lost in the tunnels and fell down the hole to die. In this way the ants had made an effective trap for the termite plague and could prosper in peace.

This is a good story, Lucie said to Klype’s satisfaction. She added, but it is very fictional. There is no evidence for these details, is it. Klype knew he had put much of his personal interpretation to this one. He started out slow, and said, there is documented superior insects life at the red planet. The insects dominated plants, mammals and even fishes, he said. The crystal is rather damaged of, who knows what. But there is not enough facts to make the scenario you demand. So either, you get the existing boring information. Or else I can put together a scenario that is probable, but not too likely. Klype was high on his position and knew that Lucie was dependent on him now.

Lucie was thinking a lot about their situation. She knew that her superior would was not very tolerant and expected very plausible scenarios. But they was not very interested in bug and plants, so this one would pass unnoticed. However, she had some mysteries to solve. She ordered Klype; next you figure out what happened to the Oort planet and its environments. I need a scenario that puts us closer to the present situation. She had a pause, as finished. But then she suddenly added, I will take this box and leave you a couple of cookies. That will be sufficient. This is not like your home world parties, she added disgusted.