The Tyranids were what ants and termites would be if they could evolve further and become intelligent. What made such intelligence incomprehensible was that the Tyranids had never evolved emotions. They were aware that such concepts such as sympathy and honour existed in the species they harvested, but they viewed them only in the abstract and dismissed them as evolutionary mistakes. Gene coding for emotion was never made use of by the Hive Fleets.

Yes, the Tyranids were intelligent, but intelligence was not a quality particularly valued by the Hive Mind. A Tyranid creature could reason, but it never did so out of self-interest. Intelligence, like everything else, served only Tyranid hive instincts - or rather, it served the single great Tyranid instinct, the one overwhelming, compulsive urge.

SURVIVE! AND SURVIVE FOREVER!

When the Tyranids invaded a galaxy, they took aboard vast amounts of foodstuffs and raw materials, but those were not what they came looking for. They knew that every system, whether mechanical or biological, eventually runs down. Most species lasted only a few million years. A few - like some Earth ants - managed to survive for up to a hundred million years. But sooner or later they perished as their DNA either failed to adapt or simply deteriorated through natural wear.

The Tyranids had found the only possible remedy for this. They moved from galaxy to galaxy, harvesting fresh, newly evolved DNA with which to renew and reinvigorate their own. They were the universe's ultimate life form. Quite possibly they had existed forever, and would continue to exist forever. Quite possibly the universe contained an infinite number of Hive Fleets.

The Imperium of Man had beaten off one Hive Fleet. Perhaps it could beat off others. It would be a rare reversal for the Tyranids, but that did not matter at all. In a few millions years the Imperium would be gone, the human race would be gone, and some other Hive Fleet would arrive, meeting weaker resistance, and would leave the galaxy lifeless and desolate.

Then, a few billion years later, life would evolve all over again, on millions of planets.

And again a Hive Fleet would move in...

Jaxabarm did not think the Hive Tyrant was at all aware that he was eavesdropping on the Hive Mind. He was not worthy of notice. The Tyranid did not respect human intelligence - they did not respect any intelligence, not even their own. All they saw in the human race was a species possessing young, vigorous DNA.

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He would try to persuade Drenthan Drews to join the Imperial Guard and help defend the Imperium. Hive Fleet Kraken had to be repelled or humanity was doomed.

Not that the outcome was of any importance to the Tyranids. To them, species evolved and perished like blades of grass. Galaxies condensed, blazed, then guttered out. The supposedly immortal Chaos Gods would not even last that long. They would perish when the psyches which sustained them died out.

Only the Tyranids lasted forever.