Responsibility(2)

The broodmother was laid on its stomach in the forest nearby, its shell creaking and cracking everywhere as it grew once more. Its swollen abdomen had grown relatively smaller, implying that it had already consumed most of the stored food. This growth spurt put the creature at more than three metres long, and about as tall as an adult human. However, its limbs, pincers, and head had little changes to them.

The broodmother staggered forward, leaving three translucent oval eggs behind. They started pulsing the moment they touched the ground, and one could see beings within rapidly taking form and growing. Pincers pierced through the eggshells, and half-metre-long worker drones that looked like the young broodmother crawled out. There was about ten minutes of difference between the creatures being laid and breaking out, and just like the broodmother the first thing they...