It All Started With Magnets

.17.

Two weeks later

"So if you wanted to have babies, you would need to ask for permission?" I glanced at At'kat'vo from my position tucked half underneath my instrument cluster that was forming my ship's dash.

"Correct. I would need to petition my pod's brood mother and she would add my name and my chosen clutch to her list and from the next hatching we would be given one to two hatchlings from that brood." The words had me raising my eyebrows slightly.

"So it's kind of like adoption in a way then? They aren't biologically yours but you raise them anyway." It was honestly so fascinating when I learned new and unexpected things from the aliens I was surrounded by. I knew the questions should have come up when At'kat had taken me to Il'tig's brood hatching but I had been so fascinated and a touch creeped out by the larvae hatching that I hadn't had the mental capacity to question anything.

"Well biologically they would be considered what you humans would call nieces or nephews as the brood mother is my 'sister' but the dynamic is much different. She is the brood mother and I am merely a drone. There are male and female drones and we are all infertile but we are born to help our hatching's brood mother raise the next generation. Which is why we petition the brood mother for hatchlings to raise." He clicked his mandibles together and I nodded, twisting the wires for the sound system together and capping them off.

I glanced over at him as I carefully clipped the wires up and out of the way. "So is there like a brood father? The male who helps fertilize her brood mother's eggs?" It stood to reason that there needed to be a male to help in that. Mainly because the k'gtar were so varied in appearance most of the time, that meant that there was genetic variations so asexual reproduction was out.

"Yes. The king drones." He gave a decisive click at that and I stripped some more wires to prep for capping.

"Does they help?" I could only imagine how much work it would be having that many hatching without having any help. I knew the basics that there were nest 'workers' that helped with the laying and the hatching but everything else seemed like it would be nice to have another set of creepy spider finger hands around to help.

"No, they die immediately upon implantation of the spermatozoa." He said it so casually that my mouth dropped open as images of the k'gtar brood mothers acting like human preying mantises flashed through my head.

"What?" I stared at him intently and he looked at me, clicking low in his throat that denoted amusement.

"I got you." He gave a louder set of amused clicks and I burst into laughter.

"At'kat'vo! Stop being a brat!" I tossed some of the caps at him, hating how he probably barely felt them bounce of his chitin. I had come to realize he was a rather witty, droll type of creature and if he could use his species' inability to show emotion to his advantage, he would. Usually by saying something incredibly off the wall and shocking everyone else. Well mainly just me but I was learning his tells.

"I cannot help myself." He looked pleased with himself as he tilted his head. "But in all seriousness. The king drones step in when the brood mother reaches the end of her breeding cycle and hatches out the next generation brood mother and four to five king drones. They raise her and the king drones to adulthood. From there there is a mating swarm where the new brood mother and the king drones go to pair off. She will more than likely pick several far away king drones where her hatchmate king drones will choose brood mothers much further away as well."

"To prevent inbreeding?" I quickly twisted the wires together and capped them before clipping them up and out of the way next to the others.

"Correct. It also helps to prevent fighting for territory. When the nests are interconnected through partnerships, we are more inclined to share resources."