Red Rock

Chapter 19: More Equal

Chapter 19 More Equal

Daire stopped his leisurely walk to take in the scenery. The beauty of the thousands of small forests waving in the distance never ceased to amaze him. Each forest he entered was a new personality to be discovered. Some forests had rocks and stone the size of two story buildings anchored into the ground, while others had none at all. Some had as many as four bodies of water in their center, while others only had one. No forest was the same.

While Daire let his mind wander, a thin line of black insects poured out from under a rock in a concatenated fashion below his feet. Soon his shoes were being used as a little highway for the tiny creatures, transporting food and chemicals to mark the way for the others. With little effort, Daire lifted the light rock and placed it on its side. The colony of carpenter ants panicked at the sudden change of their habitat and scattered, looking for the source of the problem. He watched the thousands of ants collaborating with each other, all acting in unison to solve the dilemma that he had created.

Daire used to look at the ants as a selfless efficient society where every little being works for the betterment of the population. He admired their lack of authority over their counterpart. Each ant knew its duty, doing their job for the good of the colony with little to no regard for itself. It was all about the future. But he didn't look at them the same anymore. The queen was pampered, demanding and accepting sacrificial treatment for her life to continue. Her demands were met without question, as the ants feebly attacked Daire's legs and fingers with their tiny mouths. Daire was the problem and he had to be eliminated. He watched how the queen was escorted away from the danger, hiding deeper in the tombs of her castle. Daire brushed the black ants off his arms and legs, replacing the rock back on top of the panicked colony. 'How great would it be to be Queen?' he thought, getting lost in the inner works of nature.

"Back from your pampering walk?" Jacob said mockingly of Daire's work ethic.

"Do you need anything, Jacob?" Daire replied, trying to get to the point of his dickishness.

"Our sambu weavers have finished enough sweaters to start distributing them to the people. We gave everyone an identification chip like you asked, they will each return this chip in exchange for a sweater."

"How many have they woven thus far?"

"Three-hundred," Jacob said, disappointingly looking down at Daire's sambu made sweater. "I see you've already exchanged your chip."

"I didn't have one. They just gave it to me when I checked on their progress!" Daire said laughing. "Go see them. They'll give you one too!"

"You're really milking your benefits dry, huh?"

"Hardly a benefit," Daire reasoned. "I'm testing it out."

"Pretty snug I bet."

Daire shot Jacob a hard look. "Yes, it is. But since I built this society, I deserve to have a benefit once in a while."

"Once in a while?" Jacob mockingly repeated. "Between your leisurely walks and midday naps, I'd say you have been pretty well compensated."

"What's the point of this Jacob?"

"You're letting this leader thing get to your head. You're not the same person you were before."

"I made this society based on fairness and equality of social classes. This has been my ambition since before we even got here, so how dare you accuse me with such denouncement!"