Dear God, my head hurt!
I wasn't sure where I was, but it sure as hell didn't smell like the Windwraith.
There was the vague stench of rotting things and damp clay around me. When I finally opened my eyes against the protests of my screaming head - I wished I hadn't. The thing looking at me was a Sadikika Spider.
Sadikika Spider: A large insectoid found only in the outer rim planets of the Timok system. These creatures are approximately fifteen meters in diameter with eight to twelve legs (the males sporting 14) measuring 18 to 20 meters in length.. While it is known that they are poisonous, there is no official measurement of their lethalness, as everyone who has come into contact with them has eventually died. Avoid at all costs.
I took a deep breath and did the only thing I could think of. I started screaming hysterically. If the thing had ears, it was momentarily deafened - but ambled over to me amiably, looking me over with the thousand little eyes in it's huge head and tested the strength of the web covering the back wall of the cave. The web I was currently part of, cocooned very tightly and efficiently. It was warm - I had to admit that, and after the bitter cold outside, a welcome change.
But the warmth of the cocoon wasn't going to help me get out of this mess. I was grateful she wasn't hungry yet. As she backed off, I got a better view of the inside of the cave - well, what I could see of it anyway. Man, was it dark back here!
There were a number of two and a half-meter tall pods, roughly egg-shaped arranged in a half-moon around the web. Very, very close to the web, to the point where the spider had to be careful how she retreated from her test. Turning my head to my left and beginning a slight struggle - which did nothing but wiggle the web and make me sea-sick - I noticed I wasn't the only waiting meal for my hostess. Several small animals indigenous to this area were stuck in various places and positions around the web; some intact, some only waiting to be finished as a left-over.
That explained the smell.
Like a fidgeting mother Phelox, the huge creepy crawler wandered back and forth behind these pods, checking each one over with the proboscis which grew from the center of her eyes. Shit, were these things what I thought they were? Eggs - Sadikika Spider Eggs! Sixteen of them and I was going to be part of their first meal if I didn't get my size eight ass out of here. Given, most people would argue that there wasn't enough of me to feed your typical Antarean gnatfly, but I wasn't going to test the theory.
Strangely, the wiggling didn't sicken me this time. I wriggled and squirmed until I had managed to turn one of my hands toward the cocoon lining. Frantically I began feeling for a flaw in the wrappings. I had the brief insight of what the criminals on Pleta Six had felt like when they became living mummies. I shook the thought out of my head and concentrated. The bouncing in the web gradually subsided and my fingers grazed a tiny overlap. Sighing in satisfaction, I worked as many fingers as I could into the sticky fibers and tried to pull or rip or anything.
The comlink on my wrist kept getting stuck in the gooey strands and I had to retreat those few fingers. Then a thought occurred to me. I couldn't have been here for too long - after a few hours, Caleb and SAALA would come looking for me. Finding the trace signal from my comlink would make it easy, even as far underground as I was. Of course, I had no idea how far underground that was - but I could assume, couldn't I?
However, staying alive until the calvary rode in was the first order of business. I managed to slip the comlink around by sticking the band to the inside pulp of the cocoon and turning my wrist by fractions. Then, I stuck the band the to the gummy filaments once more and shifted the comlink down to where my fingertips could just barely brush the round face.
I tapped insistently, hearing a multitude of bilious bleeps and whistles until I heard the one I wanted. I froze, not wanting to inadvertently hit something. I gingerly pulled my head down as far as it would go into the cocoon, about bottom-lip deep, and called out, "Saala! Answer me goddamnit!"
"Mmmmff?" was the response I got.
Shit, I thought. Either she can't hear me or I just can't hear her. "Saala, push the volume up on the comlink until I can hear you. Don't ask questions, just start raising the volume."
There was a high whine from the inside of the cocoon that shot the spider from her reclining position on the floor and to her feet. I kept a careful eye on her until I could hear the whine begin to subside and Saala's muffled voice asked, "Zosia, please acknowledge." The volume was still too low. If the spider moved, it would drown out the sound of anything she said to me.
"A little louder Saala - but not too much. I've got a guest here who isn't too happy with loud sharp noises."
The voice went up another five decibels and though still sounding as though she was talking through her hand - figuratively of course - I could make out every word. "Zosia, please acknowledge. Where are you?"
"I'm in the middle of some cave about to be lunch for the hatchlings of a Sadikika spider. Can you get Caleb's narrow butt down here and get me out of this flippin' web?"
"One moment, Zosia. I'm tracking the origin of your comlink. It seems you've been carried quite a distance from your original survey site. You're about six voanks off course. Geez, I forgot how big these things were."
Forgot? What the hell did she mean, forgot? She'd had access to them already?
"Um, Saala. I know how big this ugly bitch is, can you just get me out of here?" There was a pause on the other end of the conversation and I heard Caleb's voice.
"Zosia? I need to know her size so I can prepare a tranquilizer."
"Tranquilizer? Screw that - just kill the thing!" I was lucky the Corp didn't record me saying that - I could have lost my post right then and there.
"Zosia, just give me an approximate. Otherwise I'm not coming anywhere near that cave."
I sighed a martyr's sigh and focused my eyes on the immense figure across from me. "She's a ten legger - stands..." I took a look around the cave for an estimate. The web I was in took up half the back wall and she came about to the middle of the web when she was looking at me. "... about eighteen meters at bent height. I'd say she weighs between four hundred and fifty to five hundred pounds. That close enough for you?"
I could almost hear the nod through the garbled comlink. "Gotcha. It's a rough estimate, but even if I overdose her a bit, she'll be awake in time for her babies births. Hey, did you know those things are gonna hatch within the hour?"
Ha ha. Very Funny.
"Just get your ass down here and get me off this web, huh? I don't care if she's so drugged she doesn't remember her own name."
"Okay, okay. I'm comin'."
They didn't shut down the comlink - I could still hear the vibrato the mini speaker put out when the volume was up so high. "Saala? How about putting down some cameras once you guys get here? This hatching might be something to see - once this is all over."
"No prob, Zosia. According to my records, no one has footage of the hatching. It would give the biologists some neat new fodder for their papers. And you'd be one of the only people ever to wind up in a web and live to tell about it. Do you think we could get a sample the web to analyze?"
Frustrated and frightened as I was - I could still see her point. "Yeah, Saala. I'll try to grab a handful of the cocoon. That should be enough to keep the bio's happy for a few years."
There was a low shudder above me in the cavern and a healthy sprinkle of clay landed on me from above. "Whoa!" I hollered. "Was that you guys?"
"We're here, Zosia - just touched down. You aren't that deep into the caverns after all. I have the opening on screen just sitting here. It's actually very shallow."
I nodded looking up and shaking the damp clay out of my hair. "I guessed."
"Caleb's on his way...hang tight." There was a tinny giggle, "...hang tight...get it? You in a web and all?"
"Yeah, yeah...whatever. Hold on, I think I hear something." There was a slide of dirt from behind my hostess and Caleb appeared - dirty and not at all happy with the situation.
"Zosia? Where are you? It's darker than the Vegogian pearl mines in here. Wait a minute, I'm gonna light a raybar."
"Um, Caleb - that's not the most brilliant idea right now. This lady's not gonna take too much more aggravation and I have no idea how the light is likely to affect her."
"Wonderful - how am I supposed to find you then? Radar? Where the hell is the spider - I need to get her tranked so we can split before those little ones hatch."
"Thank you for stating the obvious - hold up the trank gun and I'll tell you when to fire." I saw his head bob a couple of times in the shadows and I saw the glint of diamond steel in the gloom. "Okay, hold steady - go a foot to your left - your other left; now down two feet. Hold it there a second. Saala, give me a minor feedback whine on the comlink." There was a momentary high-pitched screech from inside the cocoon and the spider rose to her feet - at perfect firing angle for Caleb's tranquilizer. "Shoot now!" I yelled.
There was the sound of a thick 'whoop' and I saw the spider quiver. If it's possible, I'd say the poor thing blinked at me in confusion and slowly sank back down into the cool clay on the cavern floor. There was a whoosh of air over me and the pale light reflected in the many facets died. I heaved a large gusty sigh myself and began to wriggle in earnest. "Light that damn raybar and get over here!" There was a flare of green light and Caleb's face came into view, scurrying over the rocks.
When he reached me, the top of his head barely reached my waist. "How the hell am I gonna get up there to cut you down?"
I groaned, "I don't care how you get up here - just get me down. You'd better get a move on, those little cuties are gonna hatch pretty damn soon."
He nodded and, like pirates children are shown in history textbooks - placed the laser-cutter between his teeth and came hand-over-hand up the web next to me. "Hey, you know, this stuff is easy to climb. You don't have to worry about falling off - you sorta stick to it." Duh.
"It's the resin on the strands you idiot - didn't you pay attention in bio class?"
He reached across me and started cutting, lengthwise down my torso, "Nah, I had a nasty habit of falling asleep."
Finally I heard the cocoon crack and I had to clutch the web strands myself to keep from dropping to the floor.
"Don't forget my sample!" Saala chimed in.
I took the laser-cutter from Caleb and cut a large chunk from the cocoon, stuffing it into the front flap of my jumpsuit. The cavern took on a whole new perspective from the ground and I finally got a good look at the web itself. I was wrong in my estimate of how tall it was. Thankfully Caleb had overdosed Mama spider.
"Saala, can you get those cameras down here? I want some pictures before Mama and her little darlings wake up."
"Can do, Zosia. One sec and I'll have Wheelie and his friends mobile."
Our "camera crew" show up only a few minutes later, right on time. I was lucky enough to get a few perspective shots of the cavern and web and to get the precise measurements for later comparison. Then prettily posed shots of eggs, Mama and my own cocoon.
Just as I was wrapping up, Mama's little sweethearts decided to be born. I just turned the camera on the eggs as a whole and set up another one to capture individual shots. Then we got the hell out of there. These little buggers were gonna be hungry and there was no way I was sticking around. Once the films were sent to the Corp, we received a formal thank-you from the Biology freaks and a request for the spore count in the area I'd originally been surveying. I sent back a report that said, quite frankly, that the spore count would wait for a week until I'd had some much deserved shore-leave.
Riding the Web is the sequel to Get Me Off This Planet which introduced the character Captain Zosia Donovan.
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