| Ant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Naming | |||
| Binomen | N/A | ||
| Morphology | |||
| Body type | Hymenopteran | ||
| Intelligence | |||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Sapient | ||
| Aggressivity | Medium | ||
| Ecology | |||
| Place of origin | Earth | ||
| Locomotion | Hexapedal | ||
| Behind the Scenes | |||
| Universe | City | ||
| Created by | Clifford D. Simak | ||
This is a sapient species of ants whose civilization flourished alongside that of the dogs and the robots, long after most of mankind migrated to Jupiter to become Lopers.
History[]
The development of the ants was triggered by the behavioral experiments of a mutant named Joe, who devised mechanisms to allow the anthill to remain warm during the winter, thus freeing the ants from their need to hibernate. Additionally, Joe left miniature carts and other constructs near the area, to be found and examined by the ants. After a few generations, the ants started building their own. Even after Joe abandoned his experiment and left the ants to survive on their own, they kept thriving.
Twelve thousand years later, the ants had evolved to the point of creating huge, fully mechanized cities, and had also developed tiny mechanical drones which could enter the circuits of robots and reprogram them to help the ants.
Seeing that the ants' minds were so alien that they couldn't be reasoned with, and that the dogs and robots no longer had the knowledge and technological means to stop them; the robot Jenkins realized that the ants' empire would just keep growing until they covered all of the Earth. Understanding that this was inevitable, Jenkins saw no choice but to use his knowledge of parallel realities to relocate the dogs to a different Earth where they could continue to live and develop their civilization in peace without worrying about the ants.
Appearances[]
- "Census", by Clifford D. Simak (1944)
- "The Trouble with Ants", a.k.a. "The Simple Way", by Clifford D. Simak (1951)
- City, by Clifford D. Simak (1952)