by Sandy Nathan
“Get down there and get Wesley,” Bud said, pointing at the opening to the lower level. “Look sharp. These boys are fast.” He intercepted some about to head off the group. The minute they moved toward the opening, the spiders leapt in that direction, abandoning their fight with Bud.
“Watch it. There’s somethin’ real important to them down there.” He sidled over and scorched them as they crowded into the opening. He blasted, and kept blasting, turning around as intuition or his ancestors prompted him. The hall boiled with Bud’s rage. He kept firing, and whatever energy was coming off him kept coming.
And so did the spiders. They kept coming, climbing over the bodies of their friends. There seemed to be no end to them.
Grace, Sam, and Jeremy slid down the incline to the lower level. It wasn’t made of cement and steel like the rest of the underground. The ramp was newly excavated earth. It looked like a gigantic bulldozer had created it only hours before.
When they raised their eyes, they stopped abruptly. She sat on the opposite side of the grotto on a silky throne, her enormous pearly abdomen hanging over the edge. Jagged hairs ran along its ridges. She looked at them with multifaceted red eyes, a white queen. Spiked arms and legs ferried the lower portion of a human leg to her mouth. Her split mandible clicked as it scissored open and shut. Her bulk filled half of the thirty-foot wide tunnel. Far beyond her, the surf crashed and blue sky glistened. The tunnel extended under the meadow and opened to the sea.
Spiders skittered down the ramp into the queen’s chamber. Why, was easy to discern … her egg sack was bigger than she was. Eggs squeezed out of her abdomen as they watched.
To her right, in the corner of the freshly excavated cavern, long cocoons hung. People were in them, the Bigs by the size of them. One was darker, indicating something black inside. Wesley in his commando suit was packaged for later consumption.
Sam Big was hanging from the ceiling, spider web holding him up. His body swung freely, exposed. His eyes bulged and sweat poured off his face. He squawked in the Voice, now just a wail. Both of his hands were cleanly nipped off. The stubs didn’t bleed; the queen’s venom must have stopped it.
“Oh, Sam! Kill me! Kill me if y’ can find it in yer heart. If y’ ever loved me, kill me. She’s eatin’ me piece by piece.”
His freshly cut lower leg dribbled a bit. The queen held the leg to her mouth for a suspended instant.
Sam raised his gun and raked Sam Big up the trunk, and then across. And then he turned the gun on the queen.
“Get back, Sam, this is better.” Grace fired up the flamethrower. The queen leapt at her, screaming. Grace stood her ground. Jeremy tossed a bit of plastic explosive at her and they all ran for the hanging bodies. The queen caught what Jeremy threw in her mouth. When the plastic exploded, she splattered the walls of the cave and everything in it.
The spiders shrieked. Bud took them on, while Grace cooked the remains of the queen and her egg sack.
Jeremy tried to cut through Wesley’s sac with a knife. He couldn’t. The spiders rushed him.
“Mom! Bud!” he cried, not wanting to use his machine gun for fear of hitting Wesley.
Bud turned and sliced the spiders in half with the blue beams, leaving Wesley unharmed. Grace and Sam covered his back. The grotto rang with shots and surging flames, and then it seemed to be over. Sam and Grace stood down, backs to Jeremy and Bud who stood by Wes.
“Can you cut through the cocoon?” Jeremy said, “I couldn’t.”
Bud narrowed the beams coming from his palms and sliced Wesley’s cocoon top to bottom. Jeremy pulled his feet out and he slipped to the ground.
He looked dead. Bud leaned over him and pushed on his chest, breathing into his mouth. “Come on, Wes. This is not a good day to die.”
Bud did more with his hands, and the small cave roiled with spirits. “Come on, Wes.”
Wes’s eyes opened. He blinked. He rolled over on his side and threw up. “Oh, God, I feel so sick.” He saw Bud. “Spiders, Bud!”
“We found them, buddy. We need to get you out of here.” Wesley’s eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness again.
“Come on, Jeremy, let’s get him out of here. We’ll tell the others to get ready to go.” Bud looked at Sam. “Are any of your people left alive? We can get them out.”
“Yes, they are alive. I can find them.”
“OK, we’ll get Wes up top, and bring the others down to help. I’ll get the horses ready to pull them with travois. We’ll be right back.”
Jeremy and Bud lifted Wes and headed up the stairs.
Grace pulled up her facemask and looked around. “We did it, Sam. We won.”
He opened his mask and smiled at her. “Yes. We won.”
“Let’s get out of here, Sam,” Grace said.
“We must finish.” He turned his gun on the web-shrouded forms hanging from the ceiling. They were Bigs. If they escaped, they’d kill them in a minute. And if they were left there, they’d die a slow death of spider venom and suffocation.
They moved methodically over the hall, killing the surviving spiders. Finally, they stood in the middle of the hall, the stairs to the surface in front of them. They pulled their masks up again.
“I love you, Sam. I will love you forever.”
He smiled. “I love thee, my Lady Grace.” He kissed her. Then he put her gloved hand on his heart. He wrapped her in his arms. They could have stayed there a long time, but the scaffolding creaked ominously.
“I need to get my people, lady.” He looked upward. “Will ye be all right?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine, Sam. I doubt there’s anything down here that I can’t handle with a flamethrower and a machine gun.
He waved at her and made his way to a shadowy opening she hadn’t seen.
Grace watched him go, wanting to get out of there, yet unwilling to leave until Sam was back.
The scaffolding groaned again.
48
Grace waited for Sam, looking around the hall. Splattered and singed hunks of the spiders and mounds of the white guck inside them were everywhere, along with segmented white legs and sharp pointed feet, and spider hide with lines of spiky hair. Some of the remains were blood-streaked. Those must have been spiders that had fed on the Bigs’ blood or the women’s.
Looking up at the lofty ceiling with its steel armatures laced with webs, she marveled. They fought spiders, not Bigs. It was crazy. She caught a movement from the women’s pit. A spider? A surviving person? That was unlikely; the women were encased in cocoons and full of venom. But some might be alive.
The lights were still on, but were much dimmer than they had been during the fighting. Grace was surprised when the air a few feet from her began to glow. The glow took on a lovely golden hue. It grew brighter and a figure materialized inside it. She shouldered her gun and picked up her flamethrower. The figure became more solid.
“Oh, it’s you!” she said, smiling widely. It was the tall doctor who had saved Ellie’s life. “What a surprise.”
His eyes were fixed on her. He needed to be very skilled and very compassionate. He also needed to be fast. No telling how long that ceiling would hold up. He could survive the collapse, but she couldn’t.
He smiled at her. “I want to congratulate you.”
“You speak English.”
“Yes, I’ve learned all of Earth’s languages since we last talked. Congratulations are in order.”
“Oh, well, yes. It was quite a battle, but my friends and I worked together.”
“I wasn’t referring to that, though it was a very clever piece of work.” He needed to weave a bit of magic around her so she could absorb his message. Her arms relaxed and she lowered her weapons.
“You’ve been singled out for a rare honor, my dear.” She listened. “I need to tell you more about my people before explaining it.
“My world is close to perfect. We have no crime, no war, and no hunger. We are ancient and intuitive. These gifts have come at a cost; our ab
ility to engage in carnal reproduction disappeared many ages ago.”
She gazed steadily at him. He could have dressed her in a ball gown and feasted on her opulence, but he liked to look at her in the singed commando suit splattered with white guck. She was so exciting.
He noted her compacted chest and knew her breasts were bound. He wanted her to open her suit a little, so he could see the swell of that constrained bosom. Something subtle. She raised her hand to her throat and undid her suit just enough. Wonderful. She was following his directions without words. He gave her the maximum level of sedation as he reached the most delicate part of his message.
“We need to be frank about your future, my dear. You will die if you stay on Earth. If you manage to stave off starvation or disease, you’ll get old and ugly. That would be a tragedy.”
He peered into her eyes, hoping to see that she was agreeing with him. He couldn’t tell; her eyes were slits and her pupils had rolled up in her head. He’d made the spell too strong. Well, it would wear off.
“The good news is that you have charmed our world. Every household in our world has its monitors turned to you.”
He paused a moment, wanting to see her reaction, wanting to set the stage for his great announcement.
“I also won a great victory today. I am the new chairman of the council of elders.” She was silent, so he elaborated. “I have unlimited powers. I have made myself the first of our kind to begin live breeding with humans. Our experimentation with Ellie and Jeremy’s children made it possible.” He lowered his voice, imparting the wonderful secret. “Grace, I am whole, as nature once made my sex.”
Her eyes opened wide and she struggled to speak. She couldn’t.
“I am the first male in the live breeding program, and you will become the first female. That is the real honor you won today.” He smiled at her.
“Do you know what really made our being together possible? The show today—the battle. I worked so hard to make sure it had the effect I wanted.
“I carved out this huge space. I had to, how would we get the wide-angle shots? The result was electrifying! Shocking! Exciting.
“I dug the queen’s lower level and dumped the dirt in the ocean. What a surprise for the viewers—a grand underground vista instead of a cramped little pit. It was a lot of work, as was bringing the spiders. Hard work, even for me.” He beamed at her.
“The spiders were what gave you your ratings. You are a superstar, Grace—our first and only. I got on the screen at the first commercial break during the battle and asked my people if they would like me to live with you on our own moon, and to share our life together on screen. The response was incredible. The data gatherers couldn’t hold the information, so many people voted yes! They want us to be together, now!”
“I won’t go with you. I’m married to Sam. I love him, not you,” she choked out.
His eyes narrowed. “You’ll come with me if I have to paralyze you and carry you off. And you’ll do whatever I want. Do you understand?” He grabbed her shoulder. She glared at him, but couldn’t move.
“We’re going now, Grace. Give me your hand.”
She grabbed her machine gun and leveled it at him, pouring bullets into him. They passed through him, making his body jerk, but not hurting him at all. When the gun was empty, she pulled up the flamethrower and attempted to burn him. The flames did nothing.
“Nothing from your planet can harm me, Grace. But I can harm you.” He didn’t touch her, just looked at her. “You must learn that. I can hurt you. And I will hurt you, whenever I wish.”
She doubled over in pain, gasping. “I won’t go. I’m married to Sam. I love him. I’ll never love you.”
“That idiot!” He raised his hand the way he had seen Bud and Wes do. He thought of flames coming out of it, searing, scorching flames that would destroy anything, especially Sam. They shot forth from his palm, boiling golden flames, a hundred times hotter than the Indians’ and a thousand times worse than her flamethrower’s. “I love Sam,” he mimicked her voice. “I’m married to Sam. Not anymore.”
He blasted the entire hall, his fire filling the space, all but the area where they stood. The two of them stayed cool and safe, but the flames ripped around the chamber, incinerating everything, burning the dead spiders and women to ash.
Flames sought the tunnel that Sam had taken. He heard cries from behind the wall, but they ended in moments. He laughed.
Grace cried out. “You killed Sam.” She stood, staring in the direction of the tunnel he’d taken. “You killed him, and all his people. And the women.”
“You’ll come to love me more than him. I’m a doctor. I can make you love anything. You’ll feel more pleasure than you can imagine. Forget him.”
Grace moved her hand quickly. He knew what she was trying to do, but he was quicker. Her suicide capsule was hidden in her glove.
He grabbed the capsule. Putting it in his mouth, he bit down. The poison did nothing to him.
“There’s nothing you can do.” His eyes glowed. “You have too much spirit; you need to learn to obey. You will do whatever I want, and you will be grateful.” He slapped her face, hard. Blood appeared on the corner of her mouth. He wiped it off, healing her instantly, but leaving the pain.
“You don’t appreciate how hard I worked today. I carved out tons of rock, blew that tunnel to the sea. Made the scaffolding so the roof wouldn’t fall in.” His voice was petulant. “Tell me you appreciate it.”
Her jaw clenched. She stood defiantly.
“Tell me you appreciate it, or I will rip out Jeremy’s right eye.”
“I appreciate your efforts very much. Thank you,” she said.
“Now, put your arms around me. We’re going.”
She hesitated.
“Do it or I’ll cut off both of his hands.”
She stepped closer and put her arms around him, tears in her eyes. “Please don’t hurt anyone. I’ll do what you want.”
He chuckled. “I think I will bring your people with us. You obey so nicely when I threaten them. Hold on, we’re leaving.” He put his arm around her to draw her away.
A powerful blast of air almost knocked him off his feet. Ash and cinders flew in fiery cyclones, zigzagging around the hall. He put his hand out to steady himself. Buzzing filled his ears. Something whirred above his head. Before he could turn, it settled on his back.
Grace leapt away, half propelled by the gust of wind. Ellie’s iridescent wings appeared on each side of the doctor’s head. They created a hurricane of moving air. She could barely kept standing. Grace put her hands over her ears, trying to mute the sound. Flashes from Ellie’s scales shot around the cavern, mingling with the flying cinders and ash.
Grace watched in horror as Ellie’s curls and slit silver eyes appeared over the doctor. Ellie leaned over his head and the lower part of her face split vertically. Her mandible closed on his skull.
While her spiked front legs pierced his eyes, Ellie’s other legs clung to him. He screamed and lunged backward. Ellie’s wings moved tirelessly, preventing the doctor from flinging himself over and pinning her down.
The stingers on Ellie’s hind legs appeared. She stung him again and again and again, all along his spine. He choked and gasped, face swelling.
“No …” he said. He fell on the floor, golden light emanating from his corpse. His outline softened and he dissolved into a puddle. Fumes arose from it, making Grace’s eyes sting. The puddle disappeared into the floor.
“Oh, Ellie, you saved me. Thank you,” Grace choked out.
Ellie buzzed at her, shrieking. She was telling her to get out of here, to run. And then Ellie took off, flying straight into the hole where Sam had disappeared.
Grace grabbed her weapons and ran up the staircase.
49
As she climbed, the stairs became steeper; the distance between landings, endless. She dragged her weapons, fearing to leave them. When Grace reached the severely damaged second doorway, she didn’t know
if she could make her way across the rubble and up the twisted wreck of the staircase. She left the flamethrower and machine gun below the door and pulled herself up.
Hanging in the chunks of blasted cement, she collapsed, weeping. He killed Sam.
“Jeremy … Help me, help me … someone.” She called over the rubble. “Help me …”
“Mom?” Jeremy was standing in the meadow, peering down the hole he’d blasted. He turned to the others. “Did anyone hear a voice?”
“Jeremy … Help …”
He jumped into the opening. He saw his mother hanging over what was left of the second doorway. “Mom?”
“Help me, Jeremy. I can’t …” She was crying.
“Bud, Henry, help me get Mom.” Jeremy clawed his way to her. “Mom, what happened?”
“He killed Sam.” She went limp.
“Get her guns; they’re back there,” Jeremy directed, picking her up beneath the arms. Bud took her legs. They carried her out and laid her on the pasture. She didn’t move.
Mel, James, and Henry stood by. They were ready to pull out and go back to their base camp where Lena waited with the babies—hopefully. The packhorses were laden with the computers and the tent. The other horses were saddled and ready to ride. Wes sat in the grass with his commando suit peeled down to his waist. His skin was tinged gray, but he was alive and pretty alert.
Jeremy and Bud moved Grace over to the trees and put her down. She sat, staring, her face frozen. No one talked to her, not knowing what to say. After sitting rigidly for a few minutes, she put her head to her knees and began to sob. Her naked, wrenching sobs conveyed what words couldn’t. Sam was dead.
After a while, Jeremy asked, “Mom, what happened?”
She looked up. He’d never seen her so desolate. “It was the doctor who came to help Ellie. He developed a fixation on me. He’s been filming us and selling it on his planet. We’re cult figures there. I’m a cult figure there.
