And my desires, my dear child, were fulfilled with frightening inevitability. I just played with the old stub, and suddenly my father and mother grab me, wrap me in several layers of soft white-tree bark and demand that I be silent and not move.
The rustle of thousands of feet, the stifling smell of acid, the gnashing of jaws clenching me… There is the last mental cry and then the silence. The telepathic connection with parents, which until now has not been interrupted for a moment, has disappeared forever. They carry me, carry me. A day or two or three – into the unknown world.
And now imagine an anthill on the planet of Dhana. It looks like an ordinary earthly, only adjusted for the growth of ants. On Dhana, they are of human height. Of course, around the anthill everything is trampled for a kilometer – not a blade of grass, just dust. Ants rush with soft rustling like cars on our roads. There are people here, each with a small water bottle with formic acid on the belt, which they periodically spray on. All calmly go about their errands. They wash and hang clothes, collect mushrooms and mould, a detachment of hunters riding on ants’ rides to a distant forest, women carry formic milk from below, and young people play with rodent ants. The goal of the game is to beg the ant for what it carries. This is done this way: they take two sticks and in a certain rhythm tap them on the ant whiskers. If everything is done correctly, then the ant will give the carrying.
Little Siegle is five today, the age when the children of the tribe of the Lords of the Ants are solemnly declared adults. She, like everyone else, rushes along the edge of the anthill, trying to intercept one or another rodent ant. One of the ants stumbles upon her and knocks her down. Here you can’t yawn; otherwise they will vividly consider you food. Siegle quickly taps the password “friend” on the ant moustache and a request to give her the white bundle that is clamped in his jaws. The ant relieves its burden with relief and disappears inside the anthill. He needs food and rest after a long expedition. Siegle scarcely drags a heavy bale to her home. What did she get? A real living boy – he is sleeping!
“Take it to the ants. Let it be eaten, anyway we can’t save it!” – The mother says.
“No, he’s mine. I’ll take care of him.”
“The Elder will not let you do this!”
“I will blandish them!”
“The Elder cannot be blandishing. They do everything only according to the Law – according to the Great Law of the Four Truths, about which, my little one, you still do not know anything. But you can speak on the Council yourself, because from today you are already an adult.”
Siegle on the Council
Elder:
“The law says: a stranger who appears near an anthill must be given to ants.”
Siegle:
“My mom said that you decide according to the Law of the Four Truths, but for now you have informed me only one. And what do the other three TRUTIONS say?”
Elder:
“They will not help you. Listen: if a stranger appeared near the anthill through no fault of his and the ants didn’t touch him, then he should be taken to the nearest forest within two days and released. When the same stranger reappears, the basic rule of the Law is applied to him. So tells the second TRUTH.
If a stranger is needed by the tribe and invited by its members, then he is a guest and can remain on the territory of the tribe for 10 days, while a guardian is appointed, who must all the time stay with the Guest all these 10 days. So tells the third TRUTH.
According to the second TRUTH, you can take a stranger to the forest, but it is dangerous because you are small and fail to protect him from a running ant. However, he will also be eaten in the forest.”
Siegle:
“No, it’s not that. And what is the fourth TRUTH?”
Elder:
“This truth does not suit you. Moreover – it is generally impossible!”
Siegle:
“Tell it!”
Elder:
“If a member of the tribe of the Lords of the Ants decided to connect his life with a stranger, becoming his husband or wife, then he is obliged to take full responsibility for the stranger’s behaviour and to prove to the tribe within a year that the stranger can become one of us. Otherwise he becomes a stranger and forever expelled from the tribe together with his ward.”
Siegle:
“That suits me. I will be his wife!”
Elder:
“????????? – Let it be!”
Mother:
“She is only five.”
Elder:
“The law says: at the age of five, the child becomes an adult and is responsible for his decisions. Let it be as she decided! And may you have no other husband besides what you chose! This is what the law says!”
A year had gone by. Siegle and Raa were inseparable. They played, worked and studied together. A year later, the Elders recognized that Raa had no difference in his skills from other children of his age. He was no worse than others in talking to ants with a “stick code”, asking for a drop of sweet food from them or what they carried, did not forget to spray himself with acid, and even once before everyone’s eyes he rode on an ant. So Ra became one of the Lords of Ants.
From the Registry Office of the village No. 573 (Pitvill)
Aleksandra and Maria are twins, born on February 13, 50th year until the end of the world.
Parents: father – Aleksandr Sergeyevich Ryaboy, mother – Lyubov Dmitrievna Ryabaya.
From the records of Sasha’s and Masha’s neighbour – Valentina Semenovna Kotlovanova
Sasha and Masha grew up before my eyes. They are good girls. Sasha loved to say: – I’m not Sasha! I am Aleksandra!
They got a difficult fate. Father drank. At home it was hungry. I often fed them. When they were 10 years old, their father died, and a year later their mother died.
By that time, the girls had matured and coped well with their non-consuming economy. Mostly they ate food from their garden, and some of the villagers helped. They had no money. They wore clothes given by the state, and received it in the school for poor. The girls grew up large, strong, but they didn’t have any admirers, apparently, it was due to their unfortunate surname Ryabaya, therefore, maybe they possessed no outstanding beauty. And the guys were afraid of their heavy hands and a severe look. After the eighth form, Masha became a milkmaid, and Sasha suddenly left for the city.
Explanation of Lyuba, daughter of Valentina Semenovna
I think the history of our village1 and the fate of my mother needs to be told.
The village was inhabited by all the servicemen, who must prepare food, wash clothes, and sew up their pants. But nobody from the village stuck their noses into the pit. There were only some people in uniform, those designated as “secret ones”. Then the pit was either finished or abandoned – in general, no one knows about this. Those in uniform went off somewhere. And where did the convicts go – no one knows. Just before departure, a young soldier came to the village and took out a roll bending from his bosom:
“Here,”