The negative response to your email from your parents was ultimately something that you came to expect in the aftermath of learning what Doctor Benjamin had done after you, Hank, and the colony had left the company camp. It was a betrayal and something you didn't like, as you had been growing to accept what you had become and was even intrigued by things that you'd learned from Hank. It was something that made you more interested in seeing where his studies and went and how they developed with regard to the study of the Divine Fire Ant. Hank could explain the reasons for Doctor Benjamin's actions, and to a degree, they'd probably make sense, but that didn't change the feelings of betrayal that you felt or the consequences that came from it.
The company that Hank worked for could be expected to have visited your parents after they learned of your stumbling into their facility and then your transformation into a giant Divine Fire Ant queen. You looked to your prime drone, the one you'd been coming to love, and who you hoped was the father of the first egg you'd laid. He stood by you and periodically nuzzled one of his antennae to one of your legs or the side of your head. You could feel them when they brushed over a sensory hair that was about the only way you could still touch things as a giant insect. Through the telepathic link that you'd communicated with the colony through on the journey to where you were now and with Hank after he became a Divine Fire Ant Drone, you seemed to also get the sense that he'd been falling for you too. For he was sweat and attentive.
That then made you worry about what the company would do regarding Hank, particularly when and if they find out that his eccentricities with regard to studying the Divine Fire Ant had included his own transformation. Divine Fire Ant males, unlike other ants, might survive the nuptial flight and remain with the queen of the colony, but the company wasn't likely going to buy into it as justification for what would be understandable violations of policy. You remembered that a lot of the jobs you'd had in the past came with their own sets of rules and responsibilities, and the higher up the chain you went the more responsibilities that were there. Thus, while the company could possibly accept that Hank wouldn't have expected you to stumble into his lab and get transformed, they might want to discipline him for either not having enough security on site to deter someone or locking the exterior doors to prevent accidental entry. All of that added to worries and concerns that you had on what the company would do, which related to what had been done.
And that had included sending people to your parents, which was likely to make sure that they didn't take legal action against the company, and if they did, then aimed it at Hank. It was something that made you worry and added to the feeling of betrayal at Doctor Benjamin's actions. Even if he had a good reason, that didn't change the feelings you had. You hoped that your email reply to your parents' reply would help smooth things over with them that you held no grudges and that it was more than just running off to hide. You weren't much of a scientist, but in talking with Hank and feeling his enthusiasm from those past conversations, you had grown quite happy to help in his research and that was where a lot of your present concerns were. The rest was then beyond even your control. Doctor Benjamin would hold his beliefs until he had evidence that a colony of giant ants wouldn't eat the animal life in the Amazon, but Hank and the colony figured that because Divine Fire Ant venom had a different effect on invertebrates than on vertebrates, which then killed insects and arachnids that couldn't breathe at giant sizes, would provide that proof. That would then take time for Doctor Benjamin to be led to the dead beetle above ground.
"Everything will be fine, Christine," Hank said to you and softly nuzzled an antenna against the side of your head.
"Yes, I know," you answered back, "it's just... well... there is so much to worry about and so little that we can actually do about it."
"Even if there was nothing to worry about, my Queen," Nathan commented from the other side of you, "there wouldn't be much any of us can do. You have had your nuptial flight with Hank, and then mated with us..."
You paused to see Nathan move his antennae to indicate the drones that had been part of the colony you had inherited. They were strikingly loyal to their colony and thought that freeing them from the containers back in America as something worthy of a reward, and one that you found yourself accepting as time went on. Some of that had more to do with the bond to Hank and that the other drones were just... there... but you did respect their loyalty, particularly when it meant that they were committing themselves to a new queen that had been born human.
"And you've laid your first egg," Nathan then finished, "once the queen's chamber is constructed... we will move there to where you can safely eat, lay your eggs, and be tended to by the colony and eventually your daughters. There won't be much we can do besides talk and comfort each other."
"And I do enjoy the comfort," you managed to put of cheer into your telepathic voice, "but... I guess being a former human... there are just some things that my mind will worry on. Like the success or failure in dealing with a coworker of Hank's that doesn't seem to trust Hank's word... all while starting things out and over in a new place, while facing rejection from my parents."
"I wouldn't think your parents rejected you," Hank spoke, "more that they only got part of what my company had to say and reacted in that way. Things can be settled out in a..."
Hank's telepathic message was then cut off when the sounds of a startled voice drifting down from the tunnel. It was strange and startling, but it did NOT sound like it was English, so it couldn't be Doctor Benjamin.
"What is that?!" you found yourself asking loudly as the voice seemed to sound in awe of something but was in a language that wasn't English.
"It sounds like one of the natives," said Hank as a few of the workers looked between you and the drones and then to the spider that had been brought in to feed the colony. Hank then continued, "and possibly from the same tribe that the company talked with when we first collected your colony for scientific study."
"But I only inherited the colony," you reminded him, "I wouldn't know anything about the work you did to harvest the colony."
"True..." Hank nodded and looked up to the entrance to the nest, "but it would be like what I said on the ship ride here. One of the tribes in the area noted what you became a species of ant that they respected... that they called "God Ants," thus the name we gave the species, the Divine Fire Ant. In this, the specific tribe could be fairly similar to the Sateré-Mawé and their relationship with the Bullet Ant."
There was a bit of a growl from the workers and even the other drones as they overheard the name "Bullet Ant," which only further left you puzzled. You looked to Hank while waiting for his answer.
"The Bullet Ant, Paraponera Clavata, is another ant species that lives in the same general regions of the Amazon and even into Central America," Hank explained, "the species is known for an extremely painful sting that plays a role in Satere-Mawe initiation rituals. That one must be able to endure the stings to attain manhood... which shows a great deal of respect for the Bullet Ant by the Satere-Mawe people. And the fact that this other tribe that helped us acquire the colony here for the Divine Fire Ant might have a similar respect for the species. It's just that we were never able to get them to explain why they called the colony "God Ants." My team never got their reasoning."
"Our colonies protect their villages from spiders, scorpions, and even some snakes," Howard answered, "they would have many fatalities a year to these animals if we were not there to protect them."
"You've seen yourselves as protectors of their villages?" Hank asked.
The other drones all nodded, and it reminded you of some of the things the colony had said to you shortly after your transformation into the queen ant that you had now become.
"And you all knew this?" you asked to Oscar and the other drones, "you knew you were protecting them?"
"In a way," Oscar nodded.
"Do these people understand English?" you asked to Hank.
"Not really," Hank admitted, "they might understand Portuguese with regard to languages that you and I might be aware of... and I did have to pick up some of it when I was first here as part of collecting the colony... though not enough to know everything."
"Can they read?" you asked him as your eyes glanced over to the cellphone/tablet that Hank had.
"Many can to a degree," Hank answered, "though the level will vary depending on the individual. The village leaders could be quite literate but those lower down the line... not as much."
That didn't make things easier, though your thoughts and worries about this development were soon brought to a close as an audible scream was soon heard drawing all attention to the entry hole of the nest. It wasn't long before a man in a pair of tattered pants a very thin polo shirt fell down into the nest. You watched as he landed and bounced off the ground before rolling toward you. For a moment, he seemed to rub his back with one hand without noticing the gathering workers that were approaching him, and with their mandibles clicking. Some of that was likely in defense of you and with some degree of suspicion, as while you and the drones had been discussing the possibility of this being a member of the tribe that the colony considered itself the protectors of, there was also the very real potential that this man was from a different tribe or was from some other part of Brazil's population and wouldn't know about the Divine Fire Ant regardless.
"Easy," you sent instructions to the workers, "he has no weapon, and might be hurt from the fall."
The workers seemed to accept the command as you watched the man rub his back on the floor of the colony before you. He rubbed his back slowly and deliberately, but it was more like someone who'd fallen off a chair more than the height he'd likely gone down, given the size of the mound as the nest was constructed by the workers. That was ultimately something you found quite impressive. You'd found you were able to go down the tunnel, but you'd been a Divine Fire Ant for a few days at that point. You were fully used to being able to grip the earth with your clawed feet that could then hold your weight in a way that humans could not. You figured that if you had still been human, you would have broken your back or hips from such a fall. That this man was only cringing as though he'd gotten a bad bruise was impressive.
After a few moments, the man did recover enough to look to you and the workers around you. He then said something that you couldn't understand and didn't initially think was Portuguese. When you didn't respond to him, he held out one hand toward you with the palm open and then said, "Formigas de Deus e protetores do povo."
"That last bit was Portuguese," Hank spoke to you, "and I believe formigas is ants and deus would be god."
Hesitantly you offered one forelimb to him, not sure on what else to do at the moment. He took it and actually kissed the tips of the claws in a way that one might take for a show of reverence.