Zema

What we have here is something... unusual. At least, by her species' standards! Perhaps by yours too, though. I mean, it's not often that you meet a giant humanoid bug...

Zemaoti is a fairly good sample of the species called, by themselves, Xemachiti. She's basically humanoid in shape, and she's got pretty characteristic coloring for the species, her carapace being a glistening blue-black color with mottled golden patterns that are outside the norm, while her skin, where it can be seen, is a somewhat lighter blue shade. Purple eyes peer past the lenses of her exoskeleton, as well, and are a fairly common color among her people. Her height of seven and a half feet, though, is a bit more than the average member of her race.

She's got four arms, like any of her kind, each with one elbow, one shoulder, and a very flexible wrist. She's got four hands, as well, each with four fingers, the thumb being rather longer than ours. She's got a tail, about six feet long, tipped in a grasping claw, and two legs, each ending in four-toed feet, with fully opposable digits. Odd to envision, I know, but bear with me.

Her whole body, really, is sheathed in this glossy exoskeleton. Every inch of her is hidden behind it, a goodly portion of the time. Her back, however, has an addition. She has a total of four wings, each as long as the span between her shoulders and her ankles. These beat like a dragonfly's, granting her limited flight.

Naturally, her body is adapted for such things. She has two pairs of lungs, each organ considerably larger than a human lung. As well, she's got a highly efficient digestive system, capable of processing pretty much anything she could eat, and two hearts. She also has an endoskeleton, as well, mostly as a redundancy, should something happen to her exoskeleton(unlikely. It's VERY strong).

So... what about this alien girl, eh?

Well, Zemaoti is very new to the concept of having a name. She's new to the concept of being alone, as well. The idea of being an individual, and not part of a cluster or the larger hive, is utterly alien to her.

It's a natural evolution, really. Or rather, a response to external stimuli. Zema ventured too far afield, and was separated from the cluster, and the hive, by a concussion. It takes a LOT to get a concussion, for her kind, but it happened. One of their lobes figures prominently in psionic abilities, which is a huge part of their lives. This lobe was damaged, cutting her off. And, when one of her kind is cut off, and female, well, their body reacts as best it knows how: It prepares to make a new colony, with new clusters.

Zema recovered, though. Her psionic abilities were far stronger than a common worker or scout's, as well. However, with her own mental abilities returned, she could feel the other scouts within a few miles of her. She signaled... and the response she got was utter confusion.

Her mental patterns and pheremones had changed. She identified herself as one of them, yet everything about her screamed that she was /not/ one of them. They were baffled, and the queen was too busy for them to have good contact her. The Cluster was easier, but it made things... tricky. Zema went back with them willingly enough, if only to speak to Mother again.

She learned what had happened. She learned that it had happened before, in the distant past(not so distant when queens share relevant memories), and she learned that there was nothing she could do about it. The change was irreversible, and the soldiers, workers, and scouts present all felt it. It disturbed them deeply, for several reasons.

To cut to the end, Zema left. She was given a ship, and she set out on her own. Alone, again, really for the first time in her life. Frankly, it was terrifying... she only hopes it will be easier.