Of Men and Spiders

Lucy was livid. "Scott did what?!?"

Of course, Charlotte answered as matter of factly as she did anything. "He insisted we save a freighter being raided by pirates. One of the pirates, who claimed to have been forcibly recruited, requested asylum, which he granted."

Pinching her nose, Lucy counted to ten. "Just please tell me, this pirate doesn't have free rein of the ship..."

Charlotte didn't seem anywhere near emotionally involved enough for Lucy's liking, as the spider woman answered. "She does not. Scott has her locked in a room under my supervision. At the moment, the pirate is resting, as is Scott."

There was one bit of information there that caught Lucy's attention. "She? How old is this pirate?"

For once, Charlotte didn't seem confident. "I am unsure, though I would hazard younger than yourself. Should I wake Scott to inquire about a more specific approximation?"

Lucy sighed and leaned back. "No, I'm reasonably sure I can guess, and I'll be back soon anyway. I hope he had the presence of mind to sweep her for electronics."

Charlotte seemed more sure of herself this time. "Yes. She did have an inactive portable computing device, but Scott had that incinerated. The pirate initially protested, but she relented when he clarified that this was a minimal condition of her asylum."

Lucy shook her head. At least Scott wasn't a complete idiot, only nine-tenths of one. Then again, he was young and stupid, just like she had been. If she was honest, he still hadn't made half as many mistakes as she had at his age. Still, she hoped this one wouldn't cost him far more than such a small amount of compassion should, even if said compassion was motivated by other factors.

-

Cleo sat in her room, bored and a little frightened. Still, it was a nice room, or at least nicer than she'd had all to herself for about as long as she could remember. She had a bed, desk, and her own bathroom. There had been a terminal on the desk, but the kid, Scott, had removed it before leaving her in the room. That left her with a whole lot of nothing to do but sleep. But how was she supposed to sleep with that creepy ass spider thing sitting in the corner of the room?

The spider was about the size of a small dog with a couple of pincers. It hadn't really moved since it settled in its corner, only shifting slightly to follow Cleo's movements about the room visually. Scott had insisted it wouldn't bother her so long as she didn't try to do something she wasn't supposed to, but that was an awfully big claim to take on trust.

At the moment, Cleo was lying on her bed, staring at the thing. A part of her just wanted to roll over and pretend it wasn't there, but every time she thought about it, she imagined the thing creeping up on her once her back was turned, and that image kept her frozen in place.

At some point, her exhaustion must have overcome her fear because the next thing Cleo knew, she was awakened by a chime at her door. A quick check revealed that, yes, the spider was still in its corner. Then the door chimed again, and Cleo sat up mumble shouting toward it. "Yeah, yeah, I'm up. Just hold on!"

After a moment, she unlocked and opened the door. How idiotic was it that she was kept prisoner in a room where she controlled the lock? When she'd first got here, one of the first things she did was open the door to look outside, but another spider was waiting there, larger than the one in her room. It had started moving toward her, which was more than enough incentive to close and lock the door again. Thankfully, this time, it was the kid, Scott, on the other side, waiting with a tray of what she hoped was food.

Scott waited awkwardly a moment before asking, "May I come in?"

The kid was so uneasy Cleo couldn't help but let a bit of a cocky smile slip as she answered half sarcastically. "It's your prison, warden."

Realizing he wouldn't get a better answer without asking again, Scott entered the room and set down the tray on the desk. For a moment, he straight up had his back turned to Cleo, and she wondered at his naivete, though a slight sound from the corner reminded her they weren't alone in the room. When he stepped away, she could see what looked like a few steamed vegetables and a bowl of mush. She raised an eyebrow. "Torturing your prisoner already?"

The kid actually smiled in sympathy. "Yeah, sorry about that. That's about all we've got at the moment, though hopefully, we'll get a few more supplies shortly. It's perfectly safe. Until I sorted out the garden, we were living on that paste for the better part of a week. It tastes like it looks, but it's got all the nutrients you'll need."

Cleo couldn't help but feel bemused. This kid really was some country bumpkin. "You have a garden? On a ship?"

Scott shrugged. "Yeah, it helps pass the time, and fresh food tastes better than that mush. But we still don't have everything we need for a healthy diet, hence the bowl."

Cleo shook her head. It wasn't that big a deal. However, there was something she did want to address. "I've had worse. I'm sure it's filling. However, what do I do the rest of the time?"

That made Scott stop for a moment. "I'm sorry?"

Cleo rolled her eyes. "You know, something to do? Exercise, maybe a book to read? You took away the only computers I had, and even prisoners get their time in the yard or library."

Scott stopped and tilted his head in thought. "Well, we do have a rec room, and it has some exercise equipment. I'll need to remove the electronics, though... What will you need? Two hours a day plenty? Aside from that, I can get you a few basic data slates with limited functionality with books on them."

The kid was so quick to bend over backward for every little request. This was going to be way too easy. Cleo shook her head. "That'll probably do. So what's the idea? You gonna come and escort me there and back every day?"

Scott nodded. "Yeah, might as well. The garden is hard work, but I should probably get a more well-rounded workout. Besides, it'll help me pass some time. There's not enough to do on this ship anyway."

Cleo couldn't help but tease him a little. "You're just hoping to get a look at me working out, aren't you?"

Scott got noticeably flustered. "That's not what I..."

Cleo smiled and shook her head. "Relax. I'm just giving you a hard time. Two hours would be fine to start, so long as you get me something to read the rest of the time."

After a moment, Scott sighed. "Yeah, good. I still gotta get some other stuff done and prep the room, but I'll come get you later."

Just to push him a little further, Cleo winked at him. "Can't wait!"

After that, Scott left, and it was just Cleo and the spider in the room again. Suddenly, she wished that bumpkin was back if only to distract her from her living nightmare of a roommate.

Ignoring it for a bit, Cleo went over to try the food. That paste was every bit as bad as Scott had said. It was an unpleasant sensation eating something so slimy yet tasteless. Still, like she'd said, she had eaten worse.

After a few bites, Cleo sat back and considered her host. He wasn't really any younger than her, but he still felt like a kid. Maybe it was the easy life he led, or maybe it was the fact that a bit of flirting had turned him from a hard ass to another teenage boy in less than a day, but it just seemed like he was out of his depth. Still, things were turning out better than she'd feared. At this rate, her stay here would be pretty comfortable for however long that lasted...

-

As Scott removed the connections of another terminal in the rec room, Charlotte watched him work. "Are you certain it is wise to give the pirate girl so much freedom aboard the ship?"

Scott looked up and shrugged. "Well, the way I figure it, this is the best way to see what she's really up to. At this point, she still seems to think you're basically some guard dog, here to protect me and follow simple commands, and that's all, so if she's gonna try anything sneaky, like reprogramming one of those book pads to use as an interface and connect it to the ship, she'll probably do it right in front of you. If that happens, we can decide what to do from there. If not, and she was telling the truth about being kidnapped and forced to live as a pirate, well, then we're just being kind to another victim. So either way, it's a win-win."

Charlotte examined him for a moment. "And what shall I do if she does attempt to connect to the ship's systems?"

Scott looked up again. "I don't know. Bite her? I'm assuming you've got some venoms that'll debilitate rather than kill, right?"

Charlotte nodded in that awkward way of her. "Yes, though, why not just kill her?"

Scott frowned. "Because if she is working for my grandfather, I've got some questions for her..."