Them-2 Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty Six – War!

Paris - She was starving. As an elder member of the nest she was assigned the duties of foraging. This was common practice. Her life would be over in a matter of a few months so her usefulness to the nest was coming to an end. It was better that the elders risked the dangers in hunting for food than the young who were needed to take care of the queen and her eggs and the newly hatched. It was the best way of things.
The queen had assigned the foragers a new mission… find food at any costs. The food sources were rapidly dwindling and they were starting a bitter struggle with other nests for what little remained. The delicious creatures were once so abundant they could pick and choose and even afford to leave parts for future use, not any more. Even the smaller creatures, those with little nourishment to offer, were rapidly disappearing.
They had recently reverted to eating grain in the fields, plant matter, even young trees, plant bulbs, fruit and grass. Food was scarce. Both of her stomachs were empty.
She slowly crawled through the towering tunnels inhabited by the great food source. Instinct told her she could sometimes find the tasty creatures deep in the bowels of the tall structures. As she entered the twisting tunnel sections of one of the structures, she caught the smell of a smaller creature. It was hiding behind a wall. Locating the exact section of the wall behind which the creature hid, she quickly tore into the flimsy material and was rewarded by a loud scream of pain and the smell of delicious juices.
She quickly ripped the small creature to pieces and stuck pieces into her mouth. Her digestive juices mingled with the torn flesh and dissolved it quickly. The juices went into her filter where any solids left were filtered. She compressed the small particles into a pellet and spit them back out. The remaining fluids were sent to the crop in her gaster for storage. Although she was starving, she would save what little food she stored to be given to the young once she returned to the nest. The food was wonderful, but the creature had been very small. She received very little food from it.
After searching the structure for more tidbits of food, she left to search another and another. She was at the end of her foraging area when something alerted her. Another ant was in her territory. Normally, this would not have mattered as they shared a common pheromone, however, without her knowledge her queen had assigned a new pheromone to every member of her nest. The other ant did not have this pheromone therefore it was an enemy. She went quickly into attack mode and charged.
London – She looked at the dirty gray water below. She had been following a scent trail for a long time and it continued to grow stronger. As she delicately climbed over the structure above the water, she caught site of the prey. Beneath her, floating on the placid waters, three of the delicious food sources were attempting to elude her. She was starving as was her sisters in the nest. Food, once so plentiful, had become scarce and difficult to find.
Water. She hated water. It was an instinct built into her primitive makeup. Water could drown. Kill. But, the food was there. Right beneath her. And, she was starving. She was so hungry her legs shook from weakness.
She heard a noise behind her and quickly turned her head. Another ant was coming her way, another elder forager. As the ant grew closer, her primary alert system flared bright. This was an enemy, not a member of her nest. Her reaction was natural. Kill! Eat! She rapidly attacked.
New York – She was deep into the dark tunnels beneath the mountainous structures. Instinct told her that food could be found down in these dark moist caverns. Her nest was starving. Abundant food sources had disappeared and half her foraging trips had turned out fruitless. She had to find food or the nest would die.
As she crawled deeper into the dank tunnels, her sensors suddenly caught the scent of prey. Her body tingled with anticipation. She came to an obstacle preventing her from reaching the prey. She could sense the delicious food on the other side of the blocked passage. She attacked the obstruction with her mandibles. It was tough but she was determined. After a lengthy assault on the obstacle, she was finally able to pull her body through the small splintered opening.
Crouching in the corner she found two delectable prey, one large and one small. The larger one was holding up its pitiful mandibles to ward her off. She quickly rushed in and grabbed the small creature and retreated. She bit into the delicious flesh, shivering as the warm juices flooded into her mouth. The larger prey was making a screeching noise and hitting her head with some object held in its mandibles. She paid no attention to the feeble blows and continued to tear and chew, the taste was wonderful. Her body shuddered with pleasure.
Finally finishing the smaller prey, she turned towards the larger one, which had backed into the corner and making odd sobbing sounds. Suddenly, her sense of danger alerted her. She swiveled her massive head and sensed another ant coming at her from behind. The ant did not have the correct smell. It was an enemy. She turned to face this new challenge.
Tokyo – The battle was on. She watched in anticipation as hundreds of ants attacked her small colony. She was a warrior and her single mission in life was to protect the nest. All around her, her warrior sisters awaited the assault with determination.
Suddenly, the powerful mandibles of an enemy gripped her. She responded, grabbing hold of the attacking ant and fighting back. She made several attempts to shove her deadly stinger into the other creature’s abdomen, but slid off the hard armor. The battle of attrition was on, she knew this fight would last for hours until her opponent gave in, or she herself lost the battle.
Hours later the nest was overran. Hundreds of ants covered the ground around the nest but the defenders had not prevailed. She was sill locked in deadly combat with her opponent, but she could tell that weakness was creeping in. The attackers penetrated deep into the nest to kill the queen. Heir remains would now be torn to pieces and would serve as food for the attacking colony. Food was scarce and this was a blessing. The victorious ants quickly killed the larva and pupae and started carrying the eggs from the nest. It did not matter that thousands had died in the attack on the nest, thousands more would be born from the nourishment provided by the bodies of the enemy dead. A steady line of workers policed up the remains of the defeated ants and headed back to bathe in their victory and feast.
New Mexico – There were piles and piles of dead bodies littering the desert sands. The fight was in its third day and victory had not come to either side. The tall nest resembled a small volcano and there were ants locked in mortal combat everywhere. The original queen sensed that the battle was lost and ordered her workers to seal her up inside a protective wall and leave a trail of her pheromone to trick the enemy into thinking she had deserted the nest.
This was a civil war. War fought within the nest. With food so plentiful, the original queen had allowed two other queens to share the abundance of the nest. When food became scarce, first one then the other queen revolted and stated war against their mother. Now, ninety percent of the original inhabitants had been killed. The battle continued and would only end when the warriors of the victorious queen killed all others in the nest. There would be few survivors and they in turn would succumb to a more numerous and powerful colony.
Cheyenne Mountain – General McKensey stared at the third report which popped up on his email. It came from Coronado and the subject matter was similar to the others. The ants were attacking each other. All across the country the giant ants were starting to attack each other with massive frenzy. Obviously, their primary food sources were running out so they were reverting to the only solution left to them, cannibalism.
My God, Hyram thought. They could not have killed over three billion people?
He punched a button on his desk. “Get Doctor Schmitt on the line for me.”
Tappy was, as usual, in the lab when General McKensey called. She told DARMA she would answer it from her desk.
“Doctor Schmitt,” General McKensey said. “Any further news on your son?”
“Agent La Roche is still trying to contact them on the frequency the message came in on. He hopes to establish contact with the abductors to find out what their demands are.”
“DARMA is the best computer we have left. I’m certain she will be able to tap into their communications system. Most likely, they’ve cut communication power intentionally to prevent her from doing so. Obviously, they want you to sweat a bit before they make their demands. But, that’s not what I called about.”
“The president worried about his daughter?”
“Yes, as would be any father. The primary reason I called is that a steady stream of reports is coming in that indicate the ants are fighting each other. What can we expect from that? Will they eventually kill each other off?”
“That’s a good sign.” Tappy sounded more exuberant. “Unfortunately, fighting among themselves indicates their primary food sources have become scarce.” She halted as the thought of what their food sources consisted of hit her. “It does not mean the end of the ants,” Tappy continued. “What they are doing is reverting to old tactics. Each queen has given the ants in her colony a specific pheromone identity card. Anyone in the nest is safe, however, any ant not belonging to that nest will be identified as an enemy.”
“So, they’ll start eating each other?” Hyram asked.
“That’s basically it. Each nest or colony will stake out a specified territory. Any ants or other creatures entering into that territory will be attacked and eaten as a food source. Eventually, large colonies will destroy smaller ones until food becomes scarce again, then they will expand in search of food. What we will have then is a number of nests scattered around in control of a much larger area. The queen will adjust the population density of the nest as food sources dictate. But, I’m afraid they will not disappear entirely.”
“No such luck, eh?” Hyram asked.
“No such luck.”
“How do we get rid of the damn things then!”
“Colonel Grace and I are working on that solution. We think we have a means but we haven’t been able to test it yet. We just recently received a live specimen to work with so it will be some time before we know whether it works or not.”
“Anything my people can help with?”
“I’ve already sent all our research data to Colonel McKendric at your labs. He will try other avenues of similar research. That’s just about all we can do for the time being.”
Hyram could sense the worry in Tappy’s voice. “I know you’re worried about Jacob and Caitlin, but my gut tells me they’re safe. I have every confidence in Agent La Roche.”
“Me too, General. But I can’t help but worry. That Moses creature is so evil.”
“Huck will find a way. Men like him always do.”
“What’s going to happen when this is all over, General?”
Hyram mulled her question over. “You mean when we destroy the ants?” He never gave a second thought to the possibility of the ants not being destroyed. Hyram had every confidence that the superior intellect of humans would eventually win out.
“We’ll mourn out dead and thank our God,” he finally replied. “Then, we’ll start rebuilding and repopulating the earth.”
“Man may come and go but earth abides,” Tappy whispered.
“Something like that. But I think the earth will discover that human kind is harder to get rid of than even the cockroach.”
“I know one cockroach who won’t be around when I get my hands on him,” Tappy retorted. She was referring to one slime bag by the cockamamie name of Father Moses.
“Get some rest, Tappy. Mankind, and womankind, is depending on you.”
General Mckensey hung up the line.
Tappy smiled as she ground her foot against the lab floor in a circular motion.