Interlude – Skitter

Stupid Twolegs and her stupid requests. The spider had asked time and time again to come with him to the Birther and it had taken far too long for it to accept.

As if there was something better to do than help the Birther get better.

The spider clicked angrily as he quickly traveled through the webbed passaged held by its kin, moving past his siblings dragging another bountiful harvest destined to the Birther herself.

He poked one of his brothers who moved slowly, dragging a prey while hobbling awkwardly on seven legs, the last one nothing more than a stump.

Why waste time if you are slow? The spider poked the injured kin until it moved away, letting him take its place as it went back to its den in order to molt.

Weak ones are useless for the Birther he thought as he started dragging the cocoon.

She needed all of them to survive and get better. And maybe the spider had found a solution. All by himself if you could believe it!

He clicked once more in annoyance as the thought of Twolegs, or A-Lis as it kept calling itself, came back to his mind.

Why did it have to be a stupid creature like that? Why not me or one of the kin? Why is food suddenly more important than myself? If only there was a way to get A-Lis powers without A-Lis… maybe I could eat it? Get its powers?

The arachnid stopped on his tracks for a seconds, blocking the convoy of suppliers and eliciting a concerto of hisses from the spiders behind him, the first of which started poking the spider’s abdomen, only to receive a faceful of silk for its troubles.

No. too risky. Don’t know if it will work and Twolegs waits for this one to come back.

The spider moved again, speeding up to make up for the time lost thinking and soon the other spiders disappeared behind his back as he emerged on a tall and narrow bridge of limestone that bisected a vast underground lake, its dark waters illuminated only by huge red shapes slowly pulsating across the expanse.

The stone structure was just wide enough for a couple of his kin to pass side by side if they were very careful.

Nevertheless, the crossing was much more difficult with a load like the one he was dragging behind. He had seen what happened when the prey wrapped inside moved enough to fall down the edge, dragging the surprised kin down into the waters with it.

The spider didn’t like water, that’s why he usually took the longest route, the one they had conquered many molts before from the previous inhabitants. Sadly, that one took much longer and still wasn’t safe, as the remnants of the non-kin nest were still attacking the prey caravans to this day, trying to take back their tunnels and replenish their numbers.

In his memory, the stupid creatures were as clear as if he had seen them only a sleep before; The spider thought about those hairy and stubby legs that allowed them surprisingly long jumps and their stupid huge eyes that could see him everywhere. He remembered their silent ambushes in the dark and more than anything he remembered the time he had found their main nest.

It had been his mistake that time.

Rushing in with the others without even knowing what would be expecting them had been a very stupid move. A move he would regret for his entire life.

He remembered entering the den of those spiders, the tall cave apparently empty as they stepped in. Then the sight of his kin get snagged one by one by their foes without being able to do anything about it, the non-kins walking upside down on top of his head.

On the ceiling.

On the ceiling. Spiders don’t go upside down. How could this one have known?

He had retreated. Run away and gone back to the nest to inform the Birther of the loss of tens of kindred.

And she had been angry. Oh, so angry. Not at him, that was the thing that stung the most, She had simply been enraged at those non-kin spiders on the ceiling and sent the Thinkers to punish them.

He remembered their derisive clicking at the sight of his dead siblings. How they had easily thrown their silk globules up to the ceiling of the enemies’ nest and slaughtered the spiders; their webs cutting the prey even before they reached with their fangs and sickles.

He had stared in awe at the annihilation and then watched silently as they walked past him, their carapace unblemished after destroying the creatures that had decimated his brothers.

He had heard them, just before they vanished from his senses, what they clicked between themselves.

Stupid male tactics. If there weren’t so many we would be extinguished already.

He remember them laughing, the Thinkers. The females.

This one is not Stupid he thought as he angrily launched a line of silk every few meters as he traveled along the dangerous edge, the cocoon calm as the prey he had re-sedated before attempting the crossing couldn’t make any dangerous move during the passage.

He had made a mistake before, but he wasn’t stupid. He had promised himself to prove that even if he was a male, he was as clever as the females. That he was a Thinker.

That was the reason why he had gone all the way to the edges of their territory, where it was far deadlier and also where only the males went.

No female meant no orders but those from the Birther itself, those that came even before they hatched: Defend Birther, Feed Birther, Help Birther. As if he needed those instincts to know it was the most important thing that the Birther survived!

Leave those for the stupid kindred, this one will cure the Birther and earn himself the Name! He had thought.

A Name. What wondrous thing! Unique and special.

Something that would set him aside from the swarms of unimportant males surrounding him, as only Thinkers received a name and Thinkers were only female. So Far.

That was why he had delved up and up until he had found a suitable place, a large cavern full of food with a small nest that was having trouble sending supplies back to the main one; it hadn’t taken long for him to arrive on top, showing the rest of the kins the techniques he had seen employed by the females and studiously copied and modified to be suitable for his smaller and weaker body.

After a mere hundred sleeps, the entire nest knew how to launch silk and work together to bring down large game; left thin and almost invisible lines of silk between the larger pillars in order to confuse and snag the flying preys and always asked for support if a stronger creature resisted capture from one individual.

The spider had already started contemplating about coming back to the Birther to show his progress when, coming back from a hunt, he had seen the strange twolegs appear in the cave, using light to see and sounds to steer the stupider creatures in one direction or the other as it captured the confused stragglers. That was pure genius!

He had sent one of his kins to investigate its den, only for it to die there, its silk now used as a tool between the strange upper feelers of the creature.

And how it used those feelers! Launching objects and using them to stab into the enemy like he and the Thinkers did and doing even crazier things with the smaller antennae that sprouted from the feeler’s end.

He had waited, for many wakes on end, for an appearance of the monster, observing it from the darkness as it accomplished incredible feats: from shining light from its own body; to using the silk of the stupid kins it killed, as a bait for the Crawfish haunting the many pools of the system.

When the twolegs had appeared with a different limb after disappearing for a lot of days he had thought it had molted and evolved into something more powerful.

How wrong. It was eaten and it used the part of something else to make herself whole again. Twolegs might be as clever as the Birther. Surely more than the Thinkers. Ah! Who would have thought of using something belonging to another one? Incredible. And she is Food! What would this one do with thoughts like those! He would get the best Name from the Birther, one with so many sounds.

He hissed happily at the thought as he finally managed to cross the bridge, his foot-spikes echoing a few more times in the silence of the lake before he moved back into the tunnels.

He was now getting closer to the main territory of the spiders, where they were at the top of the food chain.

He moved past droves of hatchlings weaving their first webs and getting ready to delve into the unknown; walked through the halls of a couple of the younger Thinkers, seeing them eat the food their many males brought them and working to rid the Birther of her ailments; he crossed egg rooms and hatcheries and pantries filled with prey until, finally, the spider reached a large cave with a vaulted ceiling supported by towering columns of hard, dark-green stone from which hung wide curtains of silk.

The stone of the cave was different from the limestone on the upper levels of the system, harder and coarser, without the humidity so present in his own nest. Every now and then, the mineral presented large striations of the same silvery-white metal that also composed his fangs and foot-spikes.

The entirety of the cave was suffused by the soft blue glow of the slime molds that had been laboriously bred by Olush of the Thinkers over the course of many molting cycles. She had found them many sleeps away from this cave and transported them with much difficulty in order to illuminate their previously dark world.

The mucilaginous mold now grew on the scraps left over from the Birther’s feeding and accurately placed by her helpers in the best spots to illuminate the cave.

The spider stopped for an instant to admire the cradle of its species before decisively moving down the carefully carved steps that led to what would be called the Sanctum, if the spiders actually knew the word.

His spikes plinked noisily on the stone as he crossed the first guards; large females with razor-edged sickles for limbs, their carapace studded with sharp metallic spikes for increased protection.

He kept moving, ignoring how they stirred and clicked, watching him attentively as he walked on, finally encountering the first of the metallic crystals that sprouted from the stone, growing more numerous the closer you got to the Birther, as if the caves themselves wanted to gift her their riches.

Only when he was well within a forest of them did the First Thinkers show themselves, blocking his way and clicking interrogatively between themselves, trying to figure out why a male was carrying the next meal to the Birther and why it was at this time.

Who sent more food to Mother? Clicked Eisor in confusion as she moved gracefully through the thick crystal structures, trying to take a better look of the tiny male in front of her.

I bet it was Qhevi, she keeps rambling with her theory of food. As if eating more would cure her. Scoffed Chillushrith as she pulverized a crystal on her path, ignoring the astonished hiss of the others at the destruction.

Well what are we gonna do with him? He looks pretty I dare say. Look at its spikes, very long and sharp. Good breeding I say. Hissed in appreciation Ricee while poking him softly.

I bring cure to the Birther! Proudly announced Spider, clicking defiantly in front of the most important Thinkers of the nest.

He talks? Inquired Chillushrith

He does indeed. Confirmed Eisor.

I did say it was Good Breeding. Replied smugly Ricee

They weren’t taking him seriously!

I bring a cure to the Birther. This one will rid her of the Illness!

Oh and how will you do it? Is your great cure inside of your tiny little wrap? How could you bring something that we haven’t already tried? Hissed angrily Chillushrith as she towered on the trembling male.

He is a confident one. I quite like him indeed. Clicked appreciatively Ricee.

He does look pretty sure. Maybe we could check what he found? Show us your cure little one.

Eisor moved closer, extending on her legs to inspect the wrap.

Not to you! I will bring to the Birther the knowledge. I will receive a Name! and will become a Thinker. This one is not stupid.

A tittering laugh erupted from Eisor while Chillushrith hissed in scorn.

Ricee only murmured a quiet “spunky, I say” as she prodded him some more.

Stay away! This one will go to Birther whether you want it or not! The arachnid started moving between the large legs of Chillushrith in an effort to reach the Birther.

Now come here you litt...

Let him come. It’s been a while since something has caught my attention.

The Thinkers stopped on their tracks, letting the tiny spider pass through their legs and soon following behind, this time far more subdued in their behavior.

In front of his eyes, the crystal forest opened up, showing a large, round nest of layered silvery silk; in its mid, resting on a heap of the soft and smooth material, lay the shape of the gargantuan spider matriarch, her metallic silvery body marred by streaks of black that had already eaten through five of her eight legs, leaving only blackened stumps that couldn’t even be restored by molting.

As far as he knew, the Thinkers had found a way to lessen the effect of the poison by having the Birther molt very frequently, which was the reason why a large amount of supplies was so important for the colony. The practice, however, was only palliative and the effects of the poison was still slowly killing her.

They hadn’t found a solution for it. The Legacy of the Anathema.

What is that cure you talk about little one? Is it in the silk beside you?

The clicks of the birther were gentle, if echoing, in his mind. He quickly pushed away the useless food, clicking in dissent before starting to explain himself.

Birther! I bring knowledge of a creature with two legs that knows words of power. This spider witnessed it closing its wounds with its words, break through silk with liquid light and shrug off the poison of this one in less time than the huge and strong preys.

This one has talked to it after saving it from a danger. After long talks the twolegs has promised to try and help the Birther in exchange for silk and safety even if it doesn’t manage to cure the Birther on the first attempt, saying it would grow stronger and try again and again. it also wants the Birther to answer its questions.

I understand. And where is this… Twolegs?

The twolegs is still up in the wet caves, it said it wanted the Birther to promise not to harm it before saying yes to a Meeting.

A number of affronted hisses came from behind him as the Thinkers started commenting at the insolence of that creature, finding the spider in quiet agreement.

Silence. If there is a chance of finding a cure in this creature’s knowledge then let it walk the halls of our colony untouched by our fangs or limbs.

Such is my Will.

All the spiders present instantly stilled, accepting the truth of the Matriarch words.

Chillushrith. You will organize and lead a swarm to protect the creature and lead it safely here. No harm will come to it no matter the cost.

The normally boisterous Thinker quietly assented and moved to organize the cluster.

Little One. I heard of your desires. You will be rewarded for your courage and cleverness, but first I will meet this twolegs.

You will accompany the swarm and inform the creature of my words.

The spider shivered in joy as the words washed over him.

The gangly Thinker known as Ricee gingerly stepped closer, as the Matriarch seemed to ponder on the news.

Dear Mother, I dare say this lit..

Enough Ricee. This one is free to do what he wants. You will not have him in your nest. Unless he wishes to obviously…

The Birther moved her large gaze on the tiny spider as he anxiously tried to move away from the inching Ricee while clicking negatively.

And it doesn’t seem to. Such is my Will.

Dammit murmured Ricee the Thirsty.

NOW.

Please tell me about this twolegs, little one. I wish to know of the one who might become my savior.

The spider happily started his long story and back into her cave Alice suddenly sneezed.

*****

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