You settled into your present place in what would be your colony's home. Where you would lay your eggs, which you could feel developing within you. In fact you were certain that it wouldn't be long before you began laying the eggs that Hank had sired within you. For the moment you felt fairly content and even safe in the first chamber of your colony's nest. It was strange how quickly you were adapting, almost as if the instincts of the Divine Fire Ant were merging with what had been your human mind. It wasn't as if your mind was being completely rewritten but that new urges and instincts were emerging and merging with your human mind. You'd remembered how you had fought the idea of eating spiders and bugs, though at the time, you'd said because they would be too small, and you silently chuckled to yourself now that not only were you comfortable with eating bugs but that you had given expressed orders to your colony to bring insects here to be grown large enough to feed the colony.
"This will be a grand colony, my Queen," one of the drones said from beside you, he sounded a little tired from pumping his own reproductive material into you a few moments before, but still sounded strong enough to go on.
"Yes, soon I'll be laying eggs and we'll be safe," you agreed, "we can enlarge other bugs to feed us, so we won't be devastating the Amazon... and we're hidden from humanity where I won't be poked and prodded by people in lab coats."
"So long as this Doctor Benjamin doesn't call the army," the drone answered.
"Even if Doctor Benjamin does do more against us, he isn't likely going to call in the army... at least not in a way that would mean trying to kill us quickly," came Hank's voice from the shaft that lead into the colony's lone chamber.
Workers were moving steadily in and out through the space that Hank didn't take up with mandibles full of earth as they continued to work at enlarging the nest. His bag hung from his mandibles as he then made his way along the roof of the chamber to move beside you and with the other drones.
"He's a scientist and a naturalist," Hank spoke, "killing us quickly would require fire bombing us or using a massive amount of poison, which would devastate the Amazon more than anything he fears you might do as a giant ant... it'd kill not only us, but trees, mundane insects and animals, it'd poison the ground, and would devastate the native tribes that live in this area and were instrumental in discovering and naming the Divine Fire Ant."
"That doesn't mean he may still oppose us," a different drone said to him, "and remember our children depend on the plan to prevent that and let our Queen lay as many eggs as she can..."
"And provided we can show him we won't devastate the Amazon, he'd be likely to allow that, if only out of scientific curiosity and will thus allow me to work on my research," Hank argued back, "and the fact that Divine Fire Ant venom enlarges other insects to the point where they can feed us is key."
You looked over to Hank and rubbed your antennae to his. Of all your drones, he was the one you loved the most. Even while you were seeing yourself as monstrous, he'd seen you as beautiful. Something you didn't think anyone would do. You loved the others, but it wasn't quite as personal. The other drones loved you because you were their new Queen and you'd be laying their eggs. It was a basis of survival for them, and to a degree, you loved them for the same reason that they were the fathers of your latest eggs. That, is what upset your human mind at present. The fact that you had six drones, counting Hank, that loved you, but Hank was the only one of them who loved you as a person. He was the only drone who had a name.
"And he will accept this?" the first drone asked.
"I believe he will," Hank answered, "he may need some proof... but he will likely accept this."
"Has he responded yet, Hank?" you asked to him.
"No, I'm afraid not," Hank answered, "which probably means he hasn't read it yet."
"We'll need to guard the dead beetle then until we know for sure," you commented, "Don't want mundane ants or anything else stealing our food."
"It might be best to gather more food and bring them down here and let Dr. Benjamin find the other one," a third drone advised, "the workers will need food as well."
You nodded and the mental image of a handful of your colony going out and bringing back another beetle and pushing it a puddle of venom from one of the workers on the floor of the present chamber. That image was spread through the colony and shortly after, you watched as a small number of workers left the colony with the image of themselves doing the hunting being projected back through the colony. You knew that soon that would become routine once the nest was fully constructed with chambers solely for you and your loving drones, chambers for all your eggs and larvae, chambers to store food, chambers for the workers to sleep in, tunnels that would allow for the collection of drinking water. You also figured that perhaps you could consider trying to ensure that native fruit trees grew in great numbers so that the colony could collect some fruit to augment the diet of bugs you and your colony would be feeding on. But that would all take time.
"And now all we have to do is wait," you commented as you continued to practically feel the development of thousands of eggs within you, with Hank's being the ones that you'd lay first, and the other drones would come after his had been laid. It aided in your feeling of contentment, but you still felt that you couldn't keep the relationship between you and Hank personal and the relationship with the other drones limited to only siring new eggs. You might have to many loyal workers and too many children to have a personal relationship with them beyond acknowledging their love and loyalty, but you only had six drones, counting Hank. You could have a personal relationship with them all.
"Yes, my Queen," the first drone answered.
"Martin," you spoke, naming the drone then and there, "call me Christine. You've more than earned it."
"Martin, my Queen?" the newly named Martin asked, sounding confused.
"Your name," you answered, "my NAME is Christine. I am a Divine Fire Ant Queen, but my name is Christine. Hank's name is Hank. Your name is Martin. It marks you as an important individual within the colony."
"But the colony as a whole is more important," Martin replied.
"Ant colonies can be considered super organisms by how workers, soldiers, drones, and queens "work" to protect and enlarge the colony, but from what I've observed while I was human and especially what I've observed as a drone, myself, you aren't mindless, and you do seem to think for yourselves in many ways," Hank added, "the "hive mind" for you... for us... might be more that we willingly work with it."
"And you will all be with me and Hank and we will need some way to address you besides saying "drone" or "hey you..." it's impersonal," you added, "So your name will be Martin."
Martin lowered his antennae for a moment, indicating that he'd never thought of anything like that before.
"Very well, my Queen," Martin answered.
"Christine," you corrected.
"Christine," Martin said slowly.
"What shall be our names?" the second drone asked, "if we are all to have names?"
You looked to that second drone, "You... you shall be Nathan." You then looked to the third and then to Hank.
"I think he looks more like a Howard, Christine," Hank said to you.
"Looks?" the third drone wondered.
"It's an expression, Howard," you told him, "don't worry."
"Thank you, my Queen," Howard answered.
You then turned to the fourth drone, "You shall be Oscar."
"Thank you," the fourth drone, Oscar, answered.
"What about Harold or Harry for short for the next drone," Hank commented gesturing to the fifth drone with one antenna.
You nodded, "Harry sounds great."
"Thank you, my Queen, Prime Drone, thank you both," the newly named Harry spoke.
"Hank and Christine," you answered, "my Queen and Prime Drone may do for formal meetings... but in private... we are Hank and Christine."
"Of course," Harry answered with a nod.
If you still had lips you would have smiled. Relations between you and all your drones would be personal. The drones had names and with you and Hank to help they would accept notions that they weren't mindless automaton but individuals who had chosen to do much for a larger group. You could now address them and talk as you waited for the colony to grow with the eggs you were sure to lay, wait for Dr. Benjamin to respond to Hank's message, wait for additional food to be brought to the colony and grown in front of you to feed it, and wait for your nest to be fully completed.