Description

The world of Henry Roach-Dairier continues, but the torch of chronicling the events has past to his grandson and namesake. Some twenty to twenty-five thousand years after the extinction of human beings, the earth is quite different. It is dominated by highly-evolved, large and intelligent ants and cockroaches, and other "wild" insects. Ants live comunal lives, dedicated to each other, while roaches are materialistic and self-centered. Both species are chemically dependent on plastic--mined from the land fills of the long extinct duo pods--the most valuable resource of the ant/roach world. Plastic is vital to the mental development of ant larvae and roach nymps. Without it, they reach adulthood physically and mentally impaired.

After the death of his grandfather, young Henry Roach-Dairier II promises to research and complete the story of how the ant colonies formed the Combined Colonies of Insectia. In this setting, one roach official, whose plastic mine has run dry, forcibly takes over a nearby ant colony. A second roach does the same thing to another colony but takes it to the extreme, slaughtering the entire colony and then taking over his rival's interests and depriving his ant slaves of the plastic their young need. Young Henry Roach-Dairier finds there is much more to the story than is taught in either culture. In revealing the entire story, he places his own life in danger.