Sandkings

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Sandkings is a collection of science fiction short stories by George R. R. Martin, published in 1981. The multiple-award-winning title story concerns a race of insectoid, militaristic alien 'pets' who worship their master until he badly mistreats them. It was adapted into "The Sandkings," an episode of the new The Outer Limits, as well as a 1987 graphic novel, published by DC Comics, adapted by Doug Moench, Pat Broderick, and Neal McPheeters.

In the original story, sandkings are a race hive-based social structure, not unlike ants or bees. The "maw" is the center of each hive, and generates all of the "mobiles", similar to worker ants or bees. Important differences are that all of the mobiles are essentially just extensions of the maw, and that a sandking hive is far more intelligent than a queen ant, capable of more complex social interactions. If the maw dies, all of the mobiles die instantly as well. One higher social behavior that the sandkings demonstrate is quasi-religious. When presented with the image of their benefactor or owner, they sculpt the image of this person on the front of their hive. Upon reaching the maturity, when the mobiles no longer resemble large insectoid creatures and now are more like upright humanoid insects, the face of each mobile is a copy of that same face. Furthermore, the expression on the face, both the sculpted one on the front of the hive and the face on the mature mobiles, reflects how the sandkings feel about their "owner." When the main character, Simon Kress, initially got his four sandking maws, the portraits they built wore relatively benign expressions. As time went on and Kress forced them to fight battle after battle for his own amusement, the expressions on the faces became more and more sinister.

Also included is "The Way of Cross and Dragon," about an inquisitor in a distant-future interstellar Catholic Church who must suppress a heresy concerning a sainted Judas Iscariot.