Chapter 1163
The third colony exploded. It happened a day or two before their ship arrived in the area, and humans were still talking about it.
Crossed Antennae immediately set about scouring the area, but she found only what she feared. Also a few human bodies, but those seemed to be from people of the Exalted Quadrant so that didn’t matter. But the main thing she found were tiny remains of the void ants.
She understood why they would do it, of course. The humans wouldn’t find any traces they could make use of. Nor did anyone have expectations of being rescued.
It wasn’t part of the plans. But perhaps it should have been. At the turn of the cycle, Crossed Antennae had to leave so many colonies to handle themselves because she could only be in one place at a time- but here, things weren’t happening all at once. The goal was very different.
Her people weren’t meant to be a buffer against the invasion of the upper realms. They were simply meant to watch over people and knowledge. If in the course of those duties they perished, it would have been acceptable- but they had neither been able to save those around them or themselves.
Though one of her daughters had saved a single individual, and they likely could have saved more. They just hadn’t thought it worthwhile.
Crossed Antennae had to think on this. Individual humans had value, just like individual void ants. It still had to be weighed against their overall mission, and their presence being truly discovered was a massive risk for themselves and the Chaotic Conglomeration. Even so, they were necessary to keep tabs on those who had agreed to follow certain rules in exchange for the knowledge of the Alliance- and to keep it out of the hands of the Exalted Quadrant.
Mostly, they should have expected that she would come for them. But how could they have, when even she didn’t truly know? It was a risk that almost seemed to lack any proper form of balance.
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