Tony was speaking with his grasshopper friend, Felix, one sunny afternoon, who told him what a housefly had whispered the day before.

"The fly said that humans can talk to other humans far away by speaking only in a low voice, and that they can visit that big white rock in the night sky, and...". Tony drifted off in his thoughts, staring into a stream as it swirled and foamed. He had watched the humans for hours when they visited the swimming hole, frollicking and shouting as they splashed in the clear water. They were carefree and never seemed to be all that busy or worried about gathering food.

"Felix," Tony interupted. "Why can the humans do all of these wonderful things yet we cannot?"

"Because you are only an ant, and I am only a grasshopper," was his answer. But Tony had a plan.

Over the next few months, Tony visited a lot of neighbouring colonies and gave many speeches. He always received great applause, and word soon spread about the Great Ant who dreamed of a better way. Tony gave each colony several specific tasks, and in half a year they were to meet in the Big Field and reveal their discoveries. The ants that remained in those colonies during the meeting would have to work twice as hard, but in the end life would be much easier for them all.

Six months later, the Big Field was filled with an enormous amount of ants reporting from hundreds of colonies. Tony was situated in front of them with a panel of scribes; as each group of ants came forward with their findings, the scribes recorded the information. Four days later, Tony had what he needed and asked everyone to return to their respective colonies. He told them they would be visited during the coming weeks, and the massive crowd buzzed with anticipation of the new life they would soon make for themselves. They cheered passionately and slowly dispersed, some glancing back at the historical field as it faded from sight.

With appointed engineers and scientists, Tony visited the colonies with secrets from the human world. He showed them how to make steel, extract combustible fuels, and harness the power of electricity. They were taught about structural support systems, agriculture, and even an intricate currency for trade. Soon, billions of ants were following Tony's wishes, and the results of their work came quickly.

The grasshopper came to visit Tony one afternoon. Tony was going over blueprints with a supervisor, but was glad to see his old friend again and took him aside to chat. Felix seemed worried, and Tony asked him what was bothering him.

"The other insects and animals have been talking, Tony. While it's true the humans have created some amazing things, they think only about today. They don't worry about the future of their species... yet this, good friend, is our sole purpose in life." Felix paused and looked at the puffy clouds passing overhead. "We have to make sacrifices in our lives for the sake of our children. All the animals know this, Tony, and so do you." Tony thought Felix was merely jealous, and bid him farewell after some unrelated small-talk.

Two years later, the ants were completely self-sufficient. Surface and underground factories refined larger amounts of food and ore using assembly-line tactics to meet the growing demands of The Colony, the new name for the collection of many colonies scattered over the plain. Vendors operated shops, and trade-ants repaired the machines that made the products that filled the shops. Synthetic light allowed them to not only work at night, but also enjoy the many forms of entertainment that had soon followed the success of industry. Even the ants that still worked hard all day had many new ways to relax when it was over. Towns became cities, and transportation networks linked shipping routes and public grids. Each level of hierarchy had presidents and chair-ants, which were governed by a body of elder ants that rejected or approved the new ideas presented by the many sectors. Life was good, morale was high, and the ants soon had all they had ever dreamed of; and the things they didn't have could be attained by simply working harder.

Tony declined a position in government and instead decided to manage a beach on the outskirts of The Colony. The white sand had been imported from far away to the south during a campaign seeking out unreached colonies. He had returned with good news that The Colony was spreading rapidly.

The ants didn't interfere with the routine lives of other animals much. They had passed a controversial bill to farm selected larvae from other "less important" insects, a necessary means of feeding The Colony. There were confrontations with distant mounds over land rights, but the ants just bought their "enemies" off with technological gifts. On rare occasions this didn't work, they used force. But that was a last resort.

Younger generations grew to understand the systems they were thrust into surprisingly well. They had strong opinions on Colony issues, and their primary passion was organization and politics. The factories began relying solely on machinery, for no ant was too keen on spending their days working in the hot sun.

Then one happy day, "watchers" returned with the final details needed to complete The Colony's greatest feat: the microchip. In only a short time, elaborate records were being stored in massive computers. The ability to communicate increased, and progress grew accordingly. Anything seemed possible.

Ants not wishing to work for the benefit of The Colony were given a small monthly wage and lived in sub-standard dwellings well beyond the wealthy districts. "We're not animals, "Tony had said during one moving speech, "we must look after our own kind." Later included in the "Love For All Ants" document were pensions for ants born with an odd number of legs as well as those injured during work duties. The ants couldn't imagine how their cannabalistic ancestors had once taken advantage of those less fortunate.

Over the years, The Colony spread itself over many terrains, and great cities emerged where there had once been nothing. Minor conflicts erupted betweeen city officials, usually over matters concerning the natural resources they all depended on which had to come from further away as time passed. It was costing the cities more and more to transport them.

At first, the central defense department was formed by The Colony to ward off the other insects they shared the forest with. Then it focussed on controlling larger animals, which even included humans from time to time. The ants harvested toxins and venoms, engineering them into weapons posted along the limits of their respective cities. Civil conflicts inevitably broke out, and the artillery became directed toward their fellow kind. Protesters, including the aging Tony, spoke out against the violence, but hostility spread like a virus among the cities. The colony divided, then divided again. Political debates turned into riots, and the once-magical kingdom created by fierce cooperation suddenly had borders.

Tony had been at the beach when it happened. A strange sound shot out from his city, and he glanced up to see a wave of fire sweeping over the land. The rush of warm air that preceeded it tossed him into the stream, where he began to sink, unconscious.

No ant had seen it coming. Several cities had independently discovered how to split the atom at virtually the same time. Two important officials had an arguement, and before the dispute was resolved, one ordered his weapons to action. Other cities nervously watching the missiles on their radar screens released their own nuclear arms in uncanny unison.

Some survived, especially those in poor districts, while others returning from their business meetings abroad found their great trees charred, their cities in ruin, and the strong pungent smell of death filling their antennae. The survivors gathered in the Big Field, stumbling with lowered heads from the forest .

Tony had regained consciousness somewhere downstream, and managed to reach the Big Field a few days later. As he looked over the small group that gathered there, he thought back to that hopeful day so many years before, a time when ants of all ages and origins had filled that very same field as stangers and left as comrades.

"What happened to us?" he heard himself mutter.

Tony spotted Felix the grasshopper limping out of the forest, and Tony rushed to his side. Their eyes filled with pity for the other, and they embraced in a tearful exchange of understanding.

"What will you do now?" Felix asked Tony after he had some time to rest.

"Oh, I'll be fine," Tony said with a sigh. "But them, I don't know how they'll cope. Most of them are young and only understand the ways of The Colony." They were surely doomed.

Tony and Felix lived out the remainder of their days together in a glade far away from The Colony's ruins. He had ants visit him from time to time, and when their weary faces ignited with talk of the "old days", Tony would hush their memories with a stern look. On one occasion, an ex-watcher from the North-West city had stayed with Tony an entire evening. He took Tony aside to a private rock crevice, and spoke softly with him late into the night. When the ant left the next morning, Tony showed Felix a translated script that the watcher had removed from a human book so many years before. It was short and concise, and read:

"...and when man's greed consumes him, pushing the entire race down a horrible path of self-destruction, it will be the simple and disciplined ants who will inherit the Earth."