I’ve never been so scaredin my life, whether as a human or Arvian. The Queen was gigantic; she towered over the other Arvians scurrying around her. Arvians I’d previously seen destroy and mangle tanks cowered before her.

She was at least 110 meters in height, maybe twice that in girth. Her abdomen was swollen with eggs and, even as we watched in horror, eggs were expelled onto the floor with a wet slop and greeted by the other Arvians as if they were cavemen receiving fire for the first time.

Massive fangs pushed out of her mouth like miniature mountains, saliva dripped and hissed on the floor below. Her eyes were relatively small, about the size of a car door; she obviously couldn’t see very well and relied on her fellow Arvians for every whim. Suddenly a plan hatched in my mind.

I turned to Ashley and whispered my plan into her ear.

What I didnt see was the Arvian nearby that heard and understood every word.