Chapter 261 Another voice from the dark (1/2)

As the voices of the new hatchlings ring throughout the room, and I start to wonder just what it is that I've done, another voice sounds within my mind.

[Original Species has been detected. New species type has been a.s.signed.]

Gandalf?! What the heck are you on about?!

Is he saying that the new hatchlings are recognised by the system as a different species to mine? I did make a lot of changes…

Does this mean that the workers will attack them? That would be terrible!

Before I can process the implications of what is being said, the voice of the grey one continues to speak.

[You have been designated as the progenitor of this new species. Do you wish to align your species, and that of your colony, with this new archetype?]

Uhhhhhhhhhh.

Yes?

I suppose?

The instant I a.s.sent within my mind, there is an audible rumble around and within me. A lethargic feeling rises up through my limbs and claws towards my mind, dragging me down into the la.s.situde I recognise as Torpor.

[Crinis! Watch me …]

Before I can finish the sentence, my thoughts slow like congealing grease until they move no more.

…

I'm up!

[Crinis! Crinis! How long was I out?!]

I sway my eyes across the scene around me and try to process what has happened. To all appearances, not much has changed. The hatchlings are still congregating together, shouting and arguing with each other with increasingly loud voices. Something that has changed, is the workers. Their movements are slowing, some of them are already still, and I recognise the creeping lethargy of torpor in all of them.

[Master?! Is everything alright?] Crinis asks, worried.

[Just tell me how long it's been since I last spoke to you!]

[Only a few moments, I haven't even made it up the tunnel to you yet!]

Just a few seconds? What in the name of heck is going on here?

The voice of Gandalf mentioned something about new species and I agreed to have mine changed. Maybe I should check my status and see if anything has changed.

Sure enough, when I bring up my status, my species has changed. No longer [Formica], but [Formica Sapiens].

As time pa.s.ses, workers are crowding into the nest, crawling down the tunnel from below and stuffing themselves into chambers only to immediately grow still.

Wait a second!

Bursting out of the chamber, I rush down the main tunnel of the nest, pa.s.sing Crinis on her way up. I ignore her confused questions and throw myself into the Queens chamber. Behind me I can see more workers making their way in from outside, crowding the entrance and crawling over each other to make their way inside the nest.

Inside the Queens' chamber I find the perpetually s.h.i.+fting guard of workers around her has grown eerily still. The stillness feels so strange here, in this place of motions and activity in the heart of colony.

Gently s.h.i.+fting the workers out of the way I find the Queen herself, silent and still.

Oooooh boy. I hope I didn't make a b.o.o.boo.

So, if I'm reading the situation correctly, the moment the new generation was born, the system recognised that a new species had been created, then gave me, the creator of that species, the right to change the entire colony to a new designation?