"So once we get to Macapa we'll leave and move to where we'll start our colony?" you ask and wait for your workers to spell it out. You're still eating the food that the other set of workers were bringing you.
"No," Hank shook his head, "Macapa is our port of entry into Brazil. Once there, your crate will be transferred to a smaller river boat that will go up the river to a local base that the research company I work for owns. It's fairly remote, and generally only has employees there when we need to collect new specimens. At present my company doesn't need that and so we shouldn't have a problem."
"What about when they realize that we are gone?" you ask.
"My employers will likely call me or my offices," Hank shrug, "but I've already given them the explanation that I've come across something in my research with your species that would make further research something better done in your species natural habitat, which is the Amazon rain forest. My phone does have touch pad features, and so, even after I become your drone, I figure I could use my antennae to operate those features and keep up to date on the work needed. My banking is also all done online, so financially I'll be fairly secure."
"And your family?" you ask.
"Mostly gone or too distant to really mention," Hank sighed, "I do have a sister, Janet, but I haven't seen her since college and she spends most of her time traveling the world playing the violin in concert."
"So, you can essentially disappear," you comment.
"Yes," Hank nodded, "which makes this easier. And believe me. I wouldn't miss this for the world."
You hugged him with your antennae again. His willingness to do this made you have strong feelings of love for him, even though the two of you were essentially strangers. It also felt very much like your growing love for the colony. As you pulled back, you then thought over some of the things that Hank had said. That drones of "your species" don't die after mating. That it's home was the Amazon rain forest. It made you curious about what he knew.
"You know a lot about the species I've become," you commented to him, "would you mind... I'm afraid I'm a rather ignorant queen with regard to what I am now..."
"No! You're very smart! A smart Queen!" the workers protested.
"I appreciate your loyalty and love, but please, just translate what I've said for Hank," you spoke to the workers.
"Yes, my Queen," the workers answered.
"Given that you were human, it wouldn't be that much of a surprise," Hank commented, "your present species of ant was only just recently discovered. I had joined an expedition into the Amazon in search of some other ant species that we knew had medical potential in their venom when we came across a nest of your species and with a mass of workers subduing a fairly large spider. What was the most unique and fascinating about it is that the ants weren't stinging the arachnid. Ants, in numbers, aren't above attacking animals that could easily kill their individuals, but they typically use their stings to make the kill. The ants we found were using only their jaws. But their mandibles weren't over sized the way you see in some Army Ant species and some Bull Ant species. We collected a small number of workers in a jar and took them back to our camp site for further study."
"Would this be the colony you dug up?" you asked, "the colony that would become mine?"
"I can't really remember," Hank admitted, "and the testing on these workers jaws was complex, and required bringing in some technology to do it, but we found that your ant species at, apparently its normal size, has a jaw strength of at least three times that of the strongest ant species with regard to its bite. I initially expected that this was the reason your species didn't sting its prey, because its jaws were sufficiently strong enough to subdue any other prey... however, your transformation proves otherwise and is a revolution in ant study. Your species possesses a mutagen venom and is sentient enough to know that it does. Truly revolutionary and amazing. And being able to observe the behaviors of a new species from an angle I'm sure has never been envisioned will be something I can't pass up either."
"We don't want to sting large numbers of people," you tell him, "if too many people know what our venom does, they will fumigate the jungle and make sure we're dead."
Hank nodded after the ants spelled out your instruction.
"Of course," Hank nodded, "anyway, while we were studying the group of workers, a small group of local tribesmen came into our camp and noticed what we were studying. They referred to your species as "God Ants" and then explained how your venom was special, but didn't go into any details. We figured that the venom contained some sort of blood thinner which would make it valuable, though as already stated, that's wrong now. But it did inspire us to collect a colony of these ants and take them to America for closer study. I can't remember if the first colony I found was the one that we dug up and you are now queen of..."
"It's okay," you managed to "shrug" which resulted in your wings buzzing a little bit.
"Anyway, once we got the colony back to the lab we began to analyze them more closely," Hank continued, "it's there that we learned that many of the characteristics of your species are unique. We did have the queen, and the drones that are with you now. Through glass, I was able to observe that the queen was already laying eggs, which would then make it odd to still have mature drones around and even more so when the drones mated with your predecessor as queen at least once. It seemed to come after the queen had actually stopped laying eggs for a few days. It lead me to believe that within your species, the queen's ovulation cycle is different from other ants, wasps, and bees, hence why the males survive mating. Otherwise, the colony would remain rather small. But that's only a guess on my part."
"If it's right, it'll be a good guess," you told him, "and I'll happily lay all the eggs you can sire within me."
Hank blushed a little in response to that. And then continued with his explanation.
"Anyway, our analysis found that your present species is of the genus Solenopsis, commonly known as the Fire Ant, though there are multiple species within that genus," Hank finished, "your present species is merely the newest. And based off of what the natives referred to it as, we've named it the Divine Fire Ant."
"Do you find me divine?" you ask.
Hank read what the other ants spelled and then smiled. He lifted up your mandibles, as if he were trying to look into two human eyes. Except all you had where the large black compound eyes of an ant. You had nearly 360 degrees of vision.
"Yes," Hank answered, "I'm sure there's a lot that you've gone through that you didn't like or want... but you are divine in your own way. You've trusted me... and you represent scientific discovery that can revolutionize everything."
"You will not expose us to humanity," you told him, "even after you are my drone, you will not expose us. I do not want to be killed."
"And you won't be," Hank answered, "anything I transmit through my phone will be abstract enough that no one will ever know about you or what has truly become of me. Besides, much of my study of your colony and us once I am transformed is mostly my own curiosity."
"So, I'll essentially be marrying a nerd," you commented.
"Yes," Hank gave a chuckled.
++++++++++++++++++++++
Possible future chapters:
Hank asks about you
There are some troubles when switching to the boat that will take you up the Amazon
Someone is at the company camp when you arrive there
The rest of the sea journey