With some of the colony off to essentially create a path that would lead Doctor Benjamin to the beetle that the colony had killed earlier, some of them out searching for food that could be brought back into the nest and grown to feed the colony, you watched as the remaining colony members were beginning to work on enlarging the nest. Everyone would need leaving space and you felt you'd need some private space where you could lay your eggs and be with the drones in peace. You glanced over at Hank, your prime drone, and he was watching intently on what the others were doing. He was probably worried about Doctor Benjamin's responses too, as he hadn't expected his company to actually send another scientist, but he wasn't really showing it. A part of you figured that he was mentally taking notes on the behavior and actions of the colony that he was a part of and that you were considered the "leader" of. And that did make sense, she was a queen ant now, after all.
"Heh... heh..." you chuckled to yourself, "I've essentially married the ultimate nerd... though i suppose a lot of what he does makes sense... he did say Divine Fire Ants are a newly discovered species... and through an accident the colony's loss of their old queen, I've found that there was more too them than man knew."
You glanced past Hank to where the first egg lay. The workers that had been assigned to care for the egg were still checking on it, keeping it clean, and making sure that it stayed dry. They also periodically moved from where the egg was to check the end of your abdomen, as if in anticipation of you laying your next egg, or at least to be ready for when you layed your next egg. But something in your mind knew that it would be awhile before you'd feel contractions to signal the laying of your next egg. You didn't want to tell them that though, as you knew that with only one egg there wasn't that much work for workers on "nursery duty" and at the same time, the entire colony had been so loving to you that you found it hard to really urge them be anything but what they were.
The sight of your egg also brought other thoughts to your mind. The egg was your child. Your daughter and the future of your colony. She would truly be a part of your family and that reminded you of the family that you had left behind and how they might respond to you now. That worry came as a result of the knowledge that Doctor Benjamin had already betrayed the colony, YOUR colony and that you and Hank and your drones in that he had contacted the company after he promised that he wouldn't do so. And that only created worries, as there was nothing you could do about what Doctor Benjamin had done, and you knew that his actions would have different consequences. The company informing your parents that you were now a giant ant queen could be one of them.
"Are you okay, my queen?" Nathan asked to you.
"Christine," you said back to the drone, "My name is Christine, just as your name is Nathan."
"I apologize," he answered, "are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," you replied to him and reached to him with one of your antennae. "I'm just thinking over some things right now."
"About Doctor Benjamin?" Howard asked and you detected Hank tanking interest in the conversation.
"No," you answered, "I think we've done all that we can to deal with him for now. All we can do now is wait with regard to him."
"What is worrying you?" Hank asked, and you turned to feel his antennae caress your antennae. Even with all his scientific curiosity over Divine Fire Ants, he did seem to care about you in a way that was rather personal.
"Worries with regard to my parents," you answered weakly, "I mean... they probably do deserve to know what's become of me... but what if they hate me? What if they stop loving me?"
"You have us," Martin spoke, "You have your colony. WE will always love you."
"And that feels nice," you admitted, as you had really come to accept what you had become and you didn't want to go back, "but I remember my human family and I do love them as well... and they are important to me."
And their support was important to you in a way. You remembered the nightmare you'd had while you and Hank were sailing to Brazil and to the Amazon where you now had your colony set up. You very much feared your parents not loving you because of what you'd become. Doctor Benjamin and the company he worked for could be telling your parents that you were a giant ant at this very moment, if they had not already done so. That only furthered your worries on what to do.
"Do you want to tell them?" Hank asked, "let them know in a way that they can understand?"
"In a way... but I want to know that they won't hate me," you answered weakly.
"You may have to take the risk that it could happen," Hank warned, "but if they do truly love you, they will understand that while you've changed that you are in many ways the daughter they raised."
"Will they accept ALL their grandchildren?" you asked nervously, thinking of the egg you had layed and the many that were still developing in your abdomen.
"Hopefully," Hank answered, "and you can contact them via an email with my phone and tell them tactfully about what you've become and assure them that you... that we... have no desire to threaten humanity, right?"
"Right," you nodded.
"And if they don't accept you..." Hank answered, "than Martin is right. WE will always love you."
"Thank you," you answered. If you could smile with your mandibles, you would.
Hank carefully picked up his phone and placed in on the ground in front of you. He then reached down with his antennae to turn it on.
"Typing will be different than you remember... since you only have two antennae rather than ten fingers... but the screen is big enough and the screen is sensitive enough that you can work it," Hank told her, "And try to be tactful... and maybe as a sort of new job opportunity..."
"Yeah..." you gave a mental snort, "Hey mom... I got a job as an ant queen. My job is to simply lay eggs all day! She'll respond well to that."
"I was referring more to the scientific study of the Divine Fire Ant," Hank clarified, "they may understand it better that way... that you're doing work to reveal more things about what makes this world interesting..."
"Oh..." you said slowly, "that might work..."
And soon you were moving your antennae over the screen on the phone to actually get to your email and letting your parents know what had happened. You were still worried about how your parents would react, but you figured it would at least give them greater understanding than anything the company might say to them.