"Now," said Anne, "Where were we?" The faint glow of the light overhead glinted off her shiny ant carapace.

"I'm glad to finally meet an ant queen face-to-face," I said. "It's not every day that you meet a queen with so many loyal subjects. That being said, I'd like to respect your time, so perhaps we should get straight to business. You mentioned that being an ant queen keeps you busy."

"Yes," said Anne. "As I said before, any nearby ants are easy for me to command directly." As if to demonstrate the point, a group of ants on the ceiling formed a swirling pattern, then dispersed. "I can move them as easily as if I were moving my own limb. However, whenever I need to send them on missions, I need to fine-tune things. And there is always a tradeoff between fine-tuning and the finite amount of time I have in a day."

"Sounds like a tough balancing act," I said. "But, uh, how exactly do you communicate with them, if not through speech?"

"Hmm," said Anne. "Actually, I was wondering if the same method might work on you. May I?"

"I…"

Before I could react, I saw a giant notification pop up.

Quest: 'A nod of agreement'

Description: Nod

Reward: 1 exp

Accept / Reject?

I paused, blinking at the notification, then glancing at Octavia. I recalled her doing something like this once before. "You see it too?" I said.

"Yes," said Octavia.

It seemed that Anne had the same ability. I accepted.

New active personal quest: 'A nod of agreement'

I dipped my head.

Quest complete: "A nod of agreement." Reward: 1 exp.

Anne tapped her two front legs together in delight. "You two both have the ability to be quest-followers. Most excellent."

Octavia nodded, this time in agreement rather than for instrumental purposes. "So you provide instructions to your ants by giving them quests?"

"Yes," said Anne, "though my ants are uniquely loyal to me. They'll follow any quest that I give them in the pursuit of even a miniscule reward. If I want specific behavior from them, all I need to do is stack up enough quests with greater levels of specificity."

"How specific are we talking?" I asked.

"A very good question," said Anne. "And precisely the root of my problem. I often encountered problems where I would give the ants instructions to find a specific item, but neglected to give them a quest that would reward them for coming back and reporting their finding. I can only presume that they found it and concluded that their servitude was over."

"Almost like programming a computer," I said, recalling my engineering classes. "The best part is that they always do exactly what they're told. The most annoying part is that they do exactly what they're told."

"Yes," said Anne. "It isn't enough for me to tell them to find a specific mineral. If I tell them to find something, they'll wander aimlessly. If I tell them 'go to a location that has these specific qualities,' and 'look for this specific item,' and 'report back with your findings,' and 'alert me if you encounter hostile creatures,' I can tweak each of those with a different level of reward to get them to prioritize certain tasks first. With enough fine-tuning, I can get them to cooperate on tasks, but it took a great deal of trial-and-error to reach that point."

Octavia asked, "Do they need permission to eat? Will they starve if you don't tell them to find food?"

"They don't only do what they're told," said Anne. "They still possess some rudimentary instincts that serves as their 'default behavior' whenever they're not following instructions. True to their nature, they will rest when tired, and eat when hungry. But they can only follow very narrow question prompts. And the problem is that they can only complete a quest once. Once they've received the reward, the quest ceases to be a motivation. I need to keep giving the same sets of instructions, over and over again."

"Sounds like a big time sink," I said.

"It was," said Anne. "It was the primary obstacle preventing me from expanding my domain to attain the grandeur that I aspired to. Ants can only do what they know by instinct, or what their quests compel them to do. I spent far too long stuck on that problem until I realized what should have been obvious from the start."

Octavia glanced from Anne to me, then back to Anne. "If what comes next is supposed to be obvious, then it's not obvious to me.

Anne laughed. "You need not feel shame. As I said, it took me far too long to realize it myself. If ants can only follow quest instructions, or follow their instincts, then what I had to do was rewire their instincts. Give them 'programming from birth' to behave the way I wanted. I could give them quest-like instructions that would never be permanently fulfilled. I could give them something like a quest that would refresh every day, or every minute. Like a hunger that could not be sated. The ants would be endlessly motivated to do whatever tasks I programmed them for. Rather than telling them to spend the day gathering a particular type of resource, I could tell them to spend an entire lifetime doing it. That was what I wanted: an army of mindless automatons requiring no maintenance. And…" Anne paused.

"And…?" said Octavia, prompting her to continue.

"And, you can see how things worked out," said Anne. "At first, things seemed to be going well. But at a certain point, they seem to have developed a mind of their own." She shook her head. "So, yet again, the time has come for me to wipe them out and start again."

"Yet again?" I asked. "This has happened before?"

"I've had many failed experiments," said Anne. "Such is the nature of experimentation. If we were certain of the outcome, there would be no need to experiment. Research is often the art of failing in new and unexpected ways. I have many failures, and I am not ashamed of that. But this was the first failed experiment to escape containment."

"How long ago did this happen?" Octavia asked.

"It's been years since the fire ants breached containment," Anne said. "It has been a significant hindrance to my own development, as I've had to divert considerable resources to the task of preventing the problem from growing more severe than it is already. We have been at a bit of a stalemate. And I'm thinking that you two are the key to breaking that stalemate."

"What's so special about us?" I asked.

"For one thing, I can talk to you," said Anne. "That's more than I can say for any of my ants, or any other creature below the surface. For another, our ideas seem to be aligned. And more importantly, you are capable of formulating your own plans."

"I see," said Octavia. "We have the ability to reason on our own."

"Right," I said. "So you could just specify a vague goal -- like 'go out there and bring me some food' -- and we'd figure out all the specifics of how to do that on our own without the need for you to micro-manage us with a long list of instructions."

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Yes," said Anne. "And let us remember how quickly a 'quest to obtain food' might involve unanticipated events, like being attacked by enemies. An errand to retrieve meat might involve encountering a new type of enemy and having to figure out how to defeat them. There are some goals that the ants can't complete with their own limited mental capacity. You two seem much better at weathering the unexpected. I expect you'll be much better at carrying out my instructions."

Octavia chittered. "We're here to receive and then carry out your orders?"

"Indeed," said Anne. "I presume you arrived here to join forces in the pursuit of our common goal."

"I did," said Octavia, "but I'm not sure that I envisioned it playing out like how you describe, with us following whatever instructions you give us." The spider's tone was defiant, as if challenging Anne.

"With all due respect," said Anne, "how did you envision this collaboration going? I offered you my plan. Do you have a counter-proposal? Did you arrive with a plan?"

"I…" Octavia glanced at me. "Did you have a plan, Drew?"

"Not exactly, no," I said. "I would need more information to formulate a plan."

"Then I'll save you the trouble," said Anne. "I do have a plan. If we follow my plan, the fire ants will be wiped out completely: if that's all you desire, the collaboration need not continue further beyond that point. After that, you may return to your lives without continuing to be menaced by the fire ants, and I can return to my own work. If you carry out your part of the plan, then I can offer you my personal guarantee that I will carry out my part of the plan."

"And what is your personal guarantee worth?" Octavia asked. Again, her tone was one of questioning defiance.

The ant queen took several steps forward. "It is worth approximately as much as your personal guarantee that you wouldn't attack me after I exposed myself to you. You arrived here talking about the spirit of collaboration and trust. I've now told you that I'm willing to collaborate, and explained what such a collaboration would involve. Why the sudden change of heart, my dear Octavia?"

"I see your point," I said, interjecting before Octavia could respond. "Of course, all three of us should do whatever's necessary to attain our shared goal. I think that maybe Octavia is resistant, because the way that you described it made it sound like it would be making us do the lion's share of the work, but of course, we understand that you'll be working quite hard as well. Right?"

"Exactly," said Anne. "In fact, I will be doing the the most important task involved with exterminating these rebellious fire ants, just as I have been for the past several years. I would like nothing more than to get back to work and continue executing my plan. But in order to do that, I need you to procure something for me."

"I think we can manage that," I said. "What is it you need?"

"I require an embercore," said Anne.

I glanced at Octavia, wondering if this was another type of mineral she had yet to introduce me to, but her face showed no sign of recognition. Octavia's face showed no hint of recognition at the term.

"Can you tell us more about these embercores?" I asked.

"Perhaps instead of telling you, I should show you."

A parade of ants followed from a previously-unseen hole on the wall, carrying an item. Behind them, a procession of ants followed, carrying what I realized was a separate item.

The ant thralls deposited a smooth orange rock in front of us, several inches in diameter, and not quite a sphere. "An embercore," said Anne, tapping it. "Albeit a very small one. May I test your recognition skills?"

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"An embercore has a distinctive appearance," said Anne, "but it is not always easy to know for certain whether you're looking at one, or just a very round and very smooth rock of a particular hue. Under low light, orange does not look so different from most shades of brown.. I would like the ability to send you out into the world and be able to recognize an embercore. To that end, please allow me…"

Quest: 'Locate an embercore

Description: Touch an embercore

Reward: 1 exp

Accept / Reject?

I accepted.

New active personal quest: Touch an embercore

"Go ahead," said Anne, gesturing to both me and Octavia. I looked at Octavia, who raised a claw poised over the embercore before gently tapping it. "Oh," said the spider. Octavia turned to me. "Now you try."

I tapped the embercore.

Quest complete: "Locate an embercore." Reward: 1 exp.

My claw lingered on the embercore for a moment as I felt its texture. Surprisingly, it was cold to the touch. With a name like 'embercore,' I had half expected it to burn me.

"You can stop touching it now," said Anne.

"I know," I said. "I'm just getting a feel for it. May I?"

"You may," said Anne.

I tapped the embercore, and let it roll several inches. Anne quickly snatched it up. "Careful with that," she said.

"Sorry," I said. "Is it fragile?"

"An embercore is not easily broken," said Anne. "But it is not an item to handle carelessly. If dropped from a high distance, it can become very hot."

"Interesting," I said. "That would explain the name. What is it about being dropped that causes it to heat up?"

"The embercore can absorb many types of energy," said Anne. "It converts them into heat."

I nodded. "And strikes are a form of kinetic energy."

Anne set the embercore down, gently placing it before us.

Anne looked to me, and then to Octavia. "I need you to understand something very important. Do not allow an embercore to come into contact with glowstone. Understood?"

"I understand," said Octavia.

"Is there a specific reason?" I asked.

"It will cause a chain reaction," said Anne. "Leading to an explosion."

"We'll try to avoid that, then," I said.

"Is that why you want us to carry out this errand?" said Octavia. "You don't want risk your own ants?"

"It is not a matter of danger," said Anne. "I don't expect this retrieval mission to threaten your lives. After all, I can tell you about the dangers of combining embercore and glowstone, and you will act accordingly. My ants, as I've said, are not quite as skilled at converting intent into action. I have done my best, but it has led to accidents in the past."

"Not your worst mistake, I'm sure," said Octavia.

"But still one I'd like to avoid, nonetheless. Are you willing to do this for me?"

I looked at Octavia, and gave her a slight nod. Octavia nodded back. "I think we can oblige," I said. "Though I'm not sure exactly where we should be looking for it. Could you tell us where to look?"

"Of course," said Anne. "To be clear, I don't know precisely where they are located. If I did, it would be much easier to send my ants out to find them. But I do know the location of several areas that seem promising based on what my scouts have reported. Would you like a visual?"

"That would be helpful," I said.

"Excellent," said Anne. "Would you care to follow me to my map room?"

I asked, "You have a map room?"

"Yes," said Anne with a chuckle, "though not all of the mapping that takes place there is spatial mapping. It is a place for me to map out my thoughts when I wish to present things visually."

"Yes," I said. "Lead the way, Anne."

A procession of smaller ants surrounded Anne, lifting their queen off the ground and carrying her to the edge of a room. A larger group of ants parted, revealing a passageway, and Anne's royal procession disappeared into the gaping hole.

I began following after Anne, when I heard Octavia's voice behind me. "Wait."

I glanced back at Octavia. "Yes?"

Octavia hesitated, then whispered to me. "Can we go?"

Anne reversed her march forward and returned to the audience chamber with me and Octavia. "What's the problem?" said Anne.

Octavia shifted. "I…didn't realize we were going to be spending so much time here," she said. "I'd like to tie up a few loose ends and make sure that our home is sufficiently barricaded with webs to prevent any intruders from paying us an unexpected visit. That would give me the peace of mind to focus completely on whatever plan you have for us."

"Alright," said Anne. "I'll be here waiting for you."

"Thank you," said Octavia. "We won't be long."

Without saying anything, I allowed Octavia to lead the way back to the tiny niche.

It was a long walk, and I tried not to let my annoyance show as Octavia repeatedly glanced over her shoulder, as if scared about being chased by something. Every time I opened my mouth to speak, she hissed for me to be silent.

Back at our niche, I watched as she webbed up the entrance, then looked at her quizzically as she beckoned me down. I followed her without a word, and she raised a web above us.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

"Soundproofing." Octavia tapped the web. "It'll do. Who knows how much her ant minions hear?"

"Probably not much, if they can't understand speech," I said. "Now what's this about?"

"I know that you're annoyed with me," said Octavia. "But I need you to listen to what I have to say and take it seriously."

"What is it?" I asked. "You think we're walking into a trap?"

Octavia nodded. "I don't trust her."