Of Men and Spiders

Cleo was dying of boredom. To be fair, it was somewhat her fault for pushing too far too fast, but how was she supposed to know this crazy family was hiding a secret this asinine? She moved her piece to the end of the board and said the customary "king me" without any of the usual gusto that usually came with that proclamation.

Alice capped her piece before taking her own turn and hopping over three of Cleo's, taking them from the board as she did so. The girl had won all eight of their last games, and it looked like this one wouldn't be any different. Then Alice noticed the Cleo hesitating. "You're getting tired of this, aren't you?"

Cleo sighed. "Well, it's not your fault, but yeah, kinda. Being stuck in this room all day, every day, is just getting to me a little, that's all."

Alice stopped and thought a moment before turning around and looking at Charlotte behind her. “Charlotte, I'm going to take Cleo to the garden."

Cleo sat up at that and held out her hands. "Woh, hold on! My punishment is almost up, and I don't wanna stir any hornet nests again so soon!"

But Alice wasn't paying attention to her; she was still facing Charlotte, whom she addressed again. "Well, I think Scott's being stupid! She didn't mean any harm and is still my friend!"

Another moment of silence was followed by Alice sighing and making a head motion that would have typically been accompanied by someone rolling their eyes. "Ugh, now you're being stupid too!"

Alice then turned to Cleo. "What do you think Charlotte is? For real."

Cleo looked back and forth between Alice and the spider, Charlotte. On the one hand, she didn't want to just spell out everything she'd figured out or thought she had anyway. On the other hand, being called out like this didn't leave much time to think up anything else to say while keeping track of what she should know because of things they'd outright told her. "Well, I think... er...I guess they're an alien colony that all share one name and communicate silently? They helped you and Scott in the past, and now you're all working together for some reason?"

Alice turned back to Charlotte. "See? She practically knows everything!"

Another moment of silence. "Who cares whose fault it is? Keeping her in just this room is dumb! She would have figured it out eventually, anyway! Scott and I did!"

Cleo watched the one-sided conversation with interest. It seemed her idea about silent communication had been right on the money.

Eventually, Alice turned back to Cleo. "Okay, let's go."

Cleo looked back and forth between Alice and Charlotte again. "I don't think I should leave this room until I hear from Scott. I don't want to make things worse than they already are..."

Alice groaned and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, come ooon! It'll be fine. I already talked to Charlotte, and she already talked to Scott. As long as you stick with me and Charlotte comes along, you won't get in trouble!"

Cleo looked back at the giant spider monster and its wicked-looking fangs and pincers. "Are you sure? Like, really sure? I wouldn't want to get on Charlotte's bad side again..."

Alice walked over, grabbed Cleo's hand, and pulled her to her feet. Based on how the girl didn't even bother to brace herself or show any signs of effort, Cleo wondered just how strong the girl was as Alice answered her questions. "Yes, I'm sure! You'll be fine! Just stick with me, and Charlotte won't bother you!"

Seeing as the girl was all but dragging Cleo across the room, she finally gave in. "Alright! Alright! You win! I'll come along peacefully, I swear!"

Alice let go of her hands, and Cleo followed along, wondering just what she was getting herself into. "I don't see what's so cool about a garden anyway. Just a bunch of plants stuck in a room on the ship. Doesn't sound very exciting to me... But I guess I'm glad to stretch my legs a little..."

Cleo wasn't sure how Alice managed to put a skip in her step with that many legs, but the girl seemed quite pleased with herself as she answered back. "You'll see!"

Well, that certainly added a bit of mystery to the equation, but just in case it turned out more or less like she expected, Cleo started imagining how to pretend to react impressed as they walked through the corridors. She wondered if bringing her hands to her mouth and exclaiming her amazement wouldn't be overselling it a little, but Alice was still young, so maybe a bit of overacting was what the situation called for.

Finally, they came to a door and stopped. Alice turned around, looking far more stern than usual. "Cover your eyes!"

Cleo couldn't help but grin slightly at the girl's eagerness and innocence as she complied, covering her eyes with one hand. "Okay. Lead on."

Alice grabbed Cleo's free hand, and then there was the sound of a door opening, following which Cleo felt a gentle tug drawing her forward. She walked forward as instructed but was surprised to notice the ground was unexpectedly soft. Not only that, there was an earthy smell in the room. Apparently, they used more traditional gardening methods than the typical hydroponics. That was usually more costly and complicated to pull off on a ship, but maybe it was the only method Scott was familiar with? And if that was the case, what was the source of the sound of running water in the room?

The other odd thing was Alice led Cleo much further into the room than she expected. And when the girl said, "Okay, you can open your eyes!" it echoed a little. Just how big was this "garden room?"

When Cleo opened her eyes, she froze for a minute. Rather than a tightly packed room, Cleo was standing in an impossible open field, complete with a creek, a large hill with a tree on it, and a well-maintained garden like she'd seen in any number of historical T.V. dramas, all surrounded by an odd rocky wall. Had Alice somehow transported the two of them to a planet's surface? Had they been on a planet all along?

Looking up, the sky looked weird, like some sort of forcefield was in place. But even then, it didn't look right. It was more like Cleo was looking at the stars through a thin layer of water. It added an even more ethereal feeling to an already otherworldly room.

Cleo didn't even realize she was standing still, mouth agape until Alice popped up in front of her field of view. "So, what'cha think?"

Cleo looked around again, at a loss for words. "What? How? Where? How..?"

Alice grinned like a cat who'd cornered her prey. "It was all Charlotte! She wanted someplace for Scott and me to be able to go to feel comfortable! From what you said back in your room, I thought it might help you, too!"

Looking around some more, Cleo went back to an earlier thought. "Are we really still on a ship? I've never seen anything like this!"

That was when a familiar figure, the nightmare-inducing spider insect hybrid from Cleo's interrogation, walked up. It was almost with an afterthought that she realized Scott was there too when he spoke up. "Well, kinda. We've made a few...additions to the original ship."

Cleo looked at Scott like he'd just told her planets were round. "Yeah, I can see that! But how? Why?"

Scott shrugged. "Well, I won't say how. We still need to keep a few secrets! But as for the why..."

That was when another feminine voice spoke up. "I have observed that most animals thrive when allowed to remain in their native habitats. This is similar to the environment I first encountered young Scott and Alice in as I could create, and I believed that such conditions would benefit their well-being."

Cleo was confused, trying to figure out who was speaking and from where, before realizing the voice wasn't coming from behind the spider monster. It came from the spider monster. It was Charlotte speaking...

Thinking fast, Cleo responded in the most articulate manner she was capable of at the moment. "Ummm... What?"