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Back The Nest Save as PDF
Chapters (82)
  1. Cover
  2. Copyright page
  3. Introduction by Will Errickson
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. TREMORS
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. SUSPICIONS
  13. 1
  14. 2
  15. 3
  16. 4
  17. 5
  18. DREAD
  19. 1
  20. 2
  21. 3
  22. 4
  23. 5
  24. 6
  25. WITNESS
  26. 1
  27. 2
  28. 3
  29. ALERT
  30. 1
  31. 2
  32. 3
  33. 4
  34. 5
  35. ENCOUNTER
  36. 1
  37. 2
  38. 3
  39. 4
  40. 5
  41. 6
  42. HAVOC
  43. 1
  44. 2
  45. 3
  46. 4
  47. 5
  48. 6
  49. SEARCH
  50. 1
  51. 2
  52. 3
  53. 4
  54. 5
  55. CLASH
  56. 1
  57. 2
  58. 3
  59. 4
  60. 5
  61. 6
  62. 7
  63. COUNTERATTACK
  64. 1
  65. 2
  66. 3
  67. 4
  68. 5
  69. 6
  70. 7
  71. VICTORY
  72. 1
  73. 2
  74. 3
  75. 4
  76. 5
  77. 6
  78. 7
  79. 8
  80. 9
  81. EPILOGUE
  82. About the Author

The smoke seeping in from the forest fires was not the only cause of the community agitation. Their spiracles had known such a stinging from time to time when they were back in the dump. Now it came along with a confusion of signals, difficult to sort out, baffling to decision. The murky air carried urgent roach calls as well as the smoke. Some of the roach signals were clear, such as alarm and urgency, but there was something else—something the straining sensories in the Nest could not take in or use for action. As a result, contradictory emanations were coming from the Dome in the center. The disarray was making some of the insects wild, leading them to sudden cannibalistic assaults on neighbors.

Many of the layers of roaches lay quiet, however. Most waited torpidly for some clear stimulus of hunger, thirst, sex, alarm.

Suddenly, the Dome ceased its uneasy pulsations. The Nest grew quiet, silent, motionless. Not an antenna stirred. As suddenly again, the Dome heaved, shuddering so violently that many layers of roaches were displaced. The disturbing message from outside had finally been deciphered! . . . Roaches outside were captives . . . They were relaying not only their own call for help, but an urgent message . . . “The Nest itself was threatened. . . Large animals were seeking the Nest, to destroy the Colony . . .”

Defend! Defend!

The Dome heaved violently: Send out the fighters! . . . Follow the scent, and attack! . . . Launch another raid! Besiege and storm the Enemy!

The central Dome spasmed again, and great roaches raced up the exit tunnels after their captains who had rushed to the front. Something magnetic in the Yarkie night was now tiding the roaches irresistibly—urging, requiring, dominating. It had to be responded to by each insect. It had to be fulfilled, as stomachs needed food, as wombs needed sperm. Survival was at stake! . . . Kill! Destroy whatever was inimical! . . . Strike first! Strike and protect! . . . March! Strike! . . . Protect the Colony! At all cost!

Layer after layer of the great roaches peeled off the Dome. Roach platoons formed up quickly in orderly fashion, multiplying into battalions, with designated commanders in charge. Thousands upon thousands of the roaches hastened out through the freshly dug tunnels until the only insects left in the Nest were the egg-­laying females—who were depositing their oöthecae early because of the disturbance—and the palace guard around the Dome, which, having completed its commands, now subsided into a slow rhythmic pulsing.

The guard roaches, in thousands surrounding the Dome, were truly mammoth insects—as much as eight inches long and well over an inch around, with mandibles and teeth as viciously dangerous as any jungle animal. The huge mouths and sawteeth could chop through bone as easily as pulp. These were literally the killer sharks of the Colony, especially bred and programmed to be the royal protectors. They circled in an endless, fearsome procession of deadly intent around and around the Throne of the Roach Society.

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