The queen suddenly stopped moving. She turned her huge head and looked around the room with her many eyes.
The clones flattened themselves as much as possible against the wall, but they realized something had changed—being tiny insects wasn't keeping them hidden anymore.
Each of the queen's eyes fixed on their exact positions. There was intelligence in that gaze—an awareness that no normal thaid had—and it sent chills down their spines.
"It knows we're here," a clone said.
"Fuck…"
"The earlier behaviors make sense now," another clone said. "The bugs weren't just getting smarter—they were being guided."
"What do we do?"
"We mus—"
The queen's mandibles shifted, producing a series of complex clicking sounds. Somewhere in the facility, the other bugs heard it and answered the call.
