Laying your egg, while a source of pride for you, rapidly faded into the back of your mind. You noticed the three workers carefully move the egg to a safer place near the edge of the wall near you and the drones. You looked forward to seeing your daughter hatch, as you wondered what a baby ant would look like. Mentally, you'd figured it simply look like a tiny version of an adult and would grow to match the adult's size. That is, after how most animals grew up. But your thoughts on your children... YOUR colony... had to wait. Dealing with Doctor Benjamin was for the moment the far more important task. He didn't trust you or Hank in that you'd do no harm and he had betrayed you to the company he worked for. Hank had said that Dr. Benjamin was only concerned about the protection of the rainforest and its ecology and had the fear that giant ant, or worse, a colony of giant ants would destroy it. Once he could be assured that you and your colony weren't going to eat everything, he'd likely become fairly supportive.
However, the fact that he had betrayed your secret still would have consequences, regardless of why Doctor Benjamin had done what he had done. The company was bound to want to cover its tracks regarding what had happened to you being stung by Divine Fire Ants and becoming a new Queen and likely wasn't made up of scientists like Hank who were interested in ants to the point that he'd willingly become a drone and father to three thousand of your children or even Doctor Benjamin who might be convinced to accept your existence as a giant ant and that you didn't want to go back. Their response could mean two things might happen. Either they'd get the army to comb through the rain-forest to find you and kill you, and write off your death as a "lab accident resulting from trespassing," which technically wouldn't be too far from the truth. You didn't work in the lab that you'd been stung and transformed in. The other would be to try and capture you to find a way to turn you back. The former would mean your death, which you didn't want, and the later could mean the loss of your colony and your children, which you didn't want either. You felt confident that your workers would defend you, but that could escalate the conflict and would mean that you're ultimately killed anyway, which you didn't want.
Many of the other consequences were personal, and they did worry you. You had had Hank use his phone to send an email to your parents, from your account, that you'd found a job as his "assistant" and would be working on a big research project, which wasn't too far from the truth. You did intend to help Hank with his research into your current species so long as it didn't jeopardize your colony's future, but with your existence as a giant Divine Fire Ant Queen, the company might inform your parents of your transformation or some other thing as part of their cover up. It had the potential to create problems and stresses for your family that you had wanted to avoid, and they might not love you now that you were a giant insect. All of these thoughts resurfaced at the front of your mind as Hank's phone buzzed with whatever Doctor Benjamin's response was.
"It might be best to go back and grab the man," Harry commented, "Make him an additional drone, he can then aid the colony..."
"No," Hank answered, "the fact that he's sent word has probably complicated matters already. Having him suddenly vanish will only make it worse. We aren't going to war with humanity. We want to work and live alongside them, which in this case means we will have to work hard at being diplomatic."
"Or appeasing," you gave a sigh and focused your attention, "what does he say?"
Hank turned to his phone and carefully set about placing it in front of him so that he could then use his antennae to tap and manipulate the phone's "touch screen" and figure out what the other scientist had sent in his text or email. You and the others were quiet as Hank went through the message. After a few moment, he gave a mental sigh that you picked up on. The fact that Hank gave that sigh, made you ask the question again.
"What does he say?" you asked.
"Essentially that he wants proof that Divine Fire Ant venom enlarges insects," Hank answered, "and he won't accept a picture of the beetle that the workers had stung."
"He won't accept pictures? But don't humans use pictures for everything?" Oscar asked.
"Humans do use pictures, but pictures could also be altered and those that are suspicious may think pictures are altered and will want other proof," Hank answered, "and that is what Doctor Benjamin says he wants."
"So... we'll need to have him come and see the beetle in person," you said slowly, which made Hank nod in agreement. "How will we do that without revealing that you are no longer human and the colony has been grown to giant size and I am now laying eggs..."
"I don't think we can avoid that," Hank answered slowly, "He won't trust a photo and we'll have to show him the beetle. If he misses the nest, we might be able to say we moved on after you ate a bit and he'll calm down..."
"And if he does notice the nest?" you ask.
"Then he'll learn of the changes since we last saw him," Hank answered, "which will lead to trouble... but it is trouble that may be unavoidable, unless you want to go along with no proof and he uses that to send armed men to hunt you down."
You gave a heavy sigh. While the other drones were far more willing to treat Doctor Benjamin the way they would have treated enemy ant colonies in the past, but humanity was not something that could be engaged in that way. Their technology made them far more dangerous than anything even a giant ant could accomplish physically. Their guns could kill your workers easily and kill at range. They could also use poisons or fire if they really felt threatened by your colony's existence, and there was nothing you or the colony could use in response. You had to be submissive with regard to Doctor Benjamin's suspicions in order to assure your survival, as well as the survival of your drones, your colony, and above all, your children, who would be your future, and if you could show you could work with humanity and teach that to your children, survivability might come and in a way that humanity would have non-human friends and partners. That, however, would take time and would depend on you not taking action that would lead Doctor Benjamin to be mistrusting of you.
"I suppose we'll have to give him directions to the beetle and go from there," you said with a sigh, "Do you remember how far we flew while mated Hank... and where we made our turns?"
"Not really," Hank said slowly, his mental voice sounding rather sheepish to your antennae, "I was rather focused on your beauty at the time and keeping myself in the air..."
If you had a mouth that could smile, you would have done so at the complement. As it was you soon realized that there would now be some work to be done just to get Doctor Benjamin to the proof that you and your colony wouldn't eat the rainforest.
"Tell him we're a bit turned around at the moment and it will take a bit to give him adequate directions," you instructed Hank, "he is comfortable with walking into the jungle, yes?"
"He is... he can be a bit jumpy at times, but he's not afraid to do so," Hank answered, "Though it will mean he will be armed when he arrives here, assuming we can get good directions for him."
That made you stop and think. Him being armed wouldn't be helpful and could lead to trouble if he found the nest.
"Maybe I should go above ground and move the beetle back to the company site myself," you commented, "a few workers can follow behind and stay hidden should I lay an egg on the journey and use the phone to communicate with him..."
"He'd only ask where I am," Hank answered, "our best option in this is to bring him here. Besides, having you outside the nest would be dangerous to you now that you are laying eggs... however slowly..."
You nodded and sighed. Things weren't easy and that did frustrate you a bit. The other Drones also caught on to this and quickly, and you heard Harry call called a worker over to you.
"You have a mission, my Queen?" the worker ant asked to you as you turned your head after the other drones had made their summons.
"Yes," you answered, "in order to assure our safety, we will need to show Doctor Benjamin the beetle that the first hunting party brought back to feed the colony and my daughters... he won't accept a photograph, which means he must come here. Neither Hank nor I can fully remember the turns we made while flying nor the exact distance. I need you to find the company camp and mark a path between the beetle and it..."
"And make sure it's a trail humans can follow," Hank spoke up, "they cannot detect a pheromone trail the way ants can."
"I am to reveal the nest to him?" the worker asked.
"No," you answered, "if he spots the nest, we'll deal with that then. But make sure the path is such that he will come on the beetle before he has a chance to find the nest. It may be best to mark the path after you've found the company site again."
The worker nodded her antennae and then said, "I don't know how long this will take..."
"Take all the time you need," you told her, "this must be done right."
The worker nodded and then moved to leave. You watched that worker go, knowing that your colony's path was not going to get any easier in the immediate future.