Insects (The History of the Galaxy)

Insects are an alien race in "The History of the Galaxy" series of novels by Russian science fiction writer Andrey Livadny.

The first encounter between humans and Insects is described in the novel "Demeter", although signs of the race's former glory are discovered in earlier novels. The Insects' current technological level is close to that of humanity, as humans have shared many technologies with them. 3 million years prior to that, however, they were an interstellar empire capable of building massive structures in space and on planets.

Physically, they are reminiscent of Earth ants, but are human-sized. They also walk upright and appear to possess telepathic abilities, allowing them to communicate with other species with ease. They do possess a spoken language but seem to prefer telepathic communication. Unlike their Earth "cousins", they are not hive-minded. Each is an individual in its own right. Certain older individuals can hone their telepathic skills to establish mental contact over large distances (e.g. planetary surface to a ship in orbit).

Known Facts

The history of the Insect race goes back millions of years ago, when their race flourished in the region of space now known as the Sleeve of Emptiness. They were aware of, at least, three other intelligent races in their sector of space. It is during that time that most of their great achievements were made.

Everything changed when the Forerunners were detected approaching the Sleeve. These proto-matter creatures only possessed a low-level intelligence, but their sheer numbers and incredible resilience more than compensated for that. Flying towards stars like moths to the flame, the Forerunners consumed all matter they found: planets, asteroids, space dust, etc., leaving only stars and empty space in their wake. It is unknown if the Insects initially attempted to fight the swarm. What is known is that, unlike the Delphons, they chose to escape and preserve their race and culture.

To this end, they began an undertaking of massive proportions - they were building a Dyson Sphere. This massive structure would completely encase their home star, both providing living space for the entire Insect race and preventing the Forerunners from being guided to the system by their star.

The project was only partially successful. The sphere was finished, but other important parts were incomplete, including the computer designed to maintain the sphere. Despite their efforts, the Forerunners found the sphere and attacked it. For reasons unknown, the sphere was not destroyed, although it sustained heavy damage. The surviving Insects, along with the Logrians, fled their space and, eventually, encountered the Harammins. These humanoids agreed to let the two races stay on the condition that they become the Harammins' servants. Using the knowledge and skills of their servants, the Harammins constructed powerful gravity generators that hid their space from the Forerunners by bending light around it. The three races continued to live in the hidden space for 3 million years, with the Harammins eventually turning the other two into slaves and forbidding them from knowing the past.

A small colony of Insects was left behind during the exodus. However, over time, the planet's ecosystem changed and the temperature lowered. As the Insects require heat to incubate their eggs, they sought out deep caves filled with radiation for the purpose. This had the side effect of causing mutations in the offspring, eventually removing their natural telepathic abilities.

Things changed when a human colony ship landed on the planet, which they named Demeter after the Greek goddess of green growth and motherly love. Shortly after the colony was set up, the first armed conflicts took place between the two races, eventually turning into an all-out war. The human colonists, concerned mainly with their survival, lost many of their technological advancements. All industry but military came to a standstill. The war continued for at least a century, when new arrivals to Demeter managed to resolve the conflict. Apparently, the Insects wanted access to the humans' colony ship and its reactor to incubate their eggs. After managing to establish contact with the rest of humanity, the two races were evacuated from the planet and taken to separate worlds.

After the Harammin attempted invasion of human space, the Insects and the Logrians were freed from their slavery. Both later joined the restored Confederacy of Suns.

The novel "The Dream of the Mind" also reveals that, during the construction of the Dyson Sphere, the Insects collaborated with the Logrians on improving their hypersphere travel. At that point, they relied on hypergates to send them to other hypergates. Using the hypersphere's natural properties, they attempted to send planets to the 10th level of the hypersphere, which appears to be the anomaly's center, where all the vertical force-lines converge. If successful, the planet would allow them to set up a portal at the center of the hypersphere, they would be able to travel anywhere in the universe in hours, if not minutes. After eight failures (the planets broke apart during the hyperdive), they finally succeeded in sending a planet through. The project was hampered by the fact that time flows much slower on the 10th level than in normal space. The project came to an abrupt halt when the Forerunners attacked the Dyson Sphere, cutting off the Insects and the Logrians sent to that planet. They were eventually killed by humans who got "sucked-in" to the 10th level.