Of Men and Spiders

Scott watched as Charlotte swept through the freighter and the pirate ship. Neither was anywhere near the size of the ship they now called home, even before Charlotte had made her additions, so it didn't take much time. The only real resistance they'd offered had been at the entrance to the loading dock they'd landed at, and once that'd fallen, they seemed more interested in retreating into their ship and taking off. Too bad they weren't quick enough.

Scott wasn't sure how he felt about Charlotte killing and eating the pirates. It's not like they'd caused him or his family any problems the way the group on the planet had, but on the other hand, they were preying on innocent people, and he couldn't really let them go either, or they'd report Scott's location, as well as Charlotte's capabilities, back to whoever was in charge.

Scott was surprised to note how intact everything was as he walked through the corridors. The pirates must not have been here long and were probably still cataloging the haul to decide what was worth taking and what to leave since their smaller ship couldn't haul everything in the freighter. Eventually, he made it to his destination, the mess room. Charlotte had noted several humans that didn't appear to be pirates holed up there.

As Scott keyed the door to open, he could see she was right. There were a half dozen people tied up and gagged, who all looked up in fear as he entered. Scott held up his hands to show he wasn't a threat. "Relax, I'm here to help. The pirates have all been dealt with."

One of them, a girl about the same age as Scott, seemed to be urgently trying to say something, so Scott ungagged her first. Once he did, a veritable stream of words started to pour out. "You gotta get us out of there! There are some freaky spider monsters on board! They killed the pirates! Who knows when they'll come back for us!"

Trying not to laugh at her very understandable fear, Scott did his best to calm her down. "Woh, don't worry! You're perfectly safe! Those, uh, 'spider monsters' won't hurt any of you, I swear! They were only interested in the pirates, but they'll leave you all alone. So long as you don't try to hurt them or me, they're actually quite docile."

Scott hoped Charlotte would forgive him for oversimplifying her like that, but they really shouldn't stick around for as long as a full explanation would take. As he untied a few others, one of the older men who looked like he was perpetually tired of everyone's bullshit and seemed like he might be in charge gave Scott a look that clearly said he had his doubts about this young kid's sanity. "So what, those things are with you?"

Scott shrugged and smiled a little abashedly. "Yeah, kinda. Don't worry though, they'll be leaving with me too! We just heard your distress call and decided to come help, is all."

The girl looked at him like he was crazy, not that Scott could blame her. "Are these spiders like your guard dogs or something?"

Scott nodded, still feeling a little awkward. "Well, that's oversimplifying things a bit, but yeah, kinda."

The captain, as Scott was mentally calling the one who seemed in charge, looked suspicious. "So what, you were just in the neighborhood and decided to lend a helping hand?"

Scott shrugged. "Well, that and I don't particularly get along well with pirates. I've had a few bad experiences with them, and let's just say we don't exactly see eye to eye."

The captain just kinda looked at him a moment before speaking again. "So what now?"

Scott shrugged. "Well, now I assume you can handle things from here, so the spiders and I will load ourselves back into my ship and take off while you all continue on your way with an odd story to tell." Scott hesitated a moment. "Though I'd appreciate it if you could keep the story among yourselves for a while. Do that, and we'll call it even...sound good?"

Rubbing his freed wrists, the captain hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, I doubt anyone would believe us anyway. I suppose it's the least we could do." Though Scott noticed the captain was still behaving oddly, given the situation, he supposed it was somewhat warranted.

As Scott walked back to the ship, he felt oddly disappointed. This seemed so anticlimactic. He knew they were probably scared and exhausted, and it's not like he was expecting the people he'd saved to be singing his praise or anything, but this still didn't feel quite like he'd expected it to. Was it just Charlotte's presence making them paranoid? That was definitely possible. Still...

As he stepped into the shuttle's cockpit, Charlotte greeted him. "Are the non-pirate humans safe and well?"

Scott shrugged. "I guess so. In any case, we've done all that we can. I suppose they've got it from here. How about you? How much did this cost you in the way of resources?"

Charlotte didn't seem particularly fazed. "Well, the distraction appendage has ceased nearly all functioning, and several smaller appendages were neutralized before eliminating the threat, but most of the material can be reabsorbed to provide energy and material in constructing a new appendage. Considering an estimated twenty percent loss in energy, my total losses can be made up in less than a single day of rest and feeding."

Scott couldn't entirely keep himself from picturing Charlotte eating herself, and it was certainly a disturbing image, though not nearly so much as it would have been not long ago. He was getting far too used to this kind of stuff.

As Scott started prepping the ship to return, Charlotte spoke again. "Were you able to find yourself an acceptable mate among the ship's crew?"

The question caught Scott so much by surprise that he breathed in awkwardly and proceeded to have a coughing fit for a good thirty seconds before responding. "What? No! Why would you ask something like that?"

Scott was wondering if this was another weird Charlotte joke when she answered. "Well, I assumed that was why the young female crew member followed you aboard the ship."

Scott stared at her blankly. "I'm sorry, what?"

A sudden scream from the main cabin behind the cockpit told Scott that Charlotte was not, in fact, joking. He looked at her incredulously for a moment before standing up and opening the door to the back. There, he found the girl from the mess hall pressed up against the wall of the ship, trying to stay as far away from Charlotte's "distraction appendage" as possible. Upon seeing Scott, she pointed to it. "What the hell is that thing?"

Scott looked at it, then back to her, and shrugged. "Well, it's dead." Charlotte chose that moment to blink with several of its eyes as if to disprove Scott's claims, and he shrugged again. "Mostly."

He examined his guest. She was a bit shorter than him but muscled in a way that said she was no stranger to physical work. Her hair was short, very obviously dyed red, and brushed over to one side. She also had several piercings in places that probably had hurt to get. She was kinda cute, however... "But it's supposed to be here, you're not. Care to tell me why you're stowing away on my ship?"

The girl held up her hands. "I wasn't trying to make trouble or anything. I just wanted off this ship. This wasn't exactly what I signed up for. At this rate, I'll spend more on food and storage than they'll pay me; I just wanted to hop ship and get to another station so I could start over again, that's all!"

Scott narrowed his gaze. Something was definitely off, but he couldn't tell what. "Well, in that case, this isn't the ship you wanna stow away on. We won't be stopping at any stations for quite some time. You're better off with the freighter."

The girl shook her head. "No, that's fine. I just don't want to stay here. Please?"

Now, that seemed really off to Scott. He looked around at Charlotte's appendages in the room, including the nightmare fuel distraction, then back at the girl. "Why are you so insistent on coming with us? What's really going on?"

The girl must have realized he wasn't buying her story and deflated a little. "Listen, if I tell you, do you promise not to sic your weird spider pets on me?"

That wasn't exactly reassuring, and Scott shook his head. "She's not my pet, and I wouldn't promise you that anyway. All I promise is to hear you out as long as you keep it brief."

After a moment, she sighed and nodded. "Alright, I'll take what I can get. Leaving me here is a death sentence. I'm not actually part of the crew. I was brought over with the pirates. I made the distress call and was supposed to be the bait to draw someone out of hiding; I'm guessing that was you."

A few of Charlotte's appendages started moving closer to the girl, who held up her hands again and spoke faster. "Listen! I didn't have a choice! I was an orphan, and they grabbed me years ago! They use me to draw in unsuspecting ships, and so long as I do what I'm told, they mostly leave me alone! But now that you've killed them all, I'm free to start over, just like I said! I don't think the crew here would be willing to give me that chance! You were my only option..."

Scott stopped her and thought a moment. That all...was a lot to take in. He had to assume she was telling the truth about being with the pirates. There didn't seem to be any benefit in claiming that otherwise. However, the rest was a little too convenient. A damsel in distress comes running to his spider-monster-filled ship to be swept away to safety. It was just a little too....convenient.

She stared at him as if waiting for him to make a decision. Charlotte also seemed to be waiting for him to make a call. Assuming she was what she claimed, he couldn't leave her here, but what if she was lying? What if she was just waiting for the right moment to stab him in the back? Looking at her, he couldn't just order Charlotte to kill her. Killing a pirate shooting at you is one thing, but with her standing there totally at his, or rather Charlotte's, mercy, killing her felt....wrong. And, like she said, leaving her with the ship's crew would probably be about the same thing. That left only one option.

Scott closed his eyes briefly, then opened them, staring down the girl. "I don't trust you, but I don't particularly feel like leaving you to die or killing you in cold blood either, so here's the deal. You can come with us, but you'll be a prisoner until we can find a place to drop you off. That could be months or even years from now. If you do anything to harm or otherwise betray me or my sister in any way, Charlotte can and will kill and eat you. Do you still want to come with us under those conditions?"

The girl smiled gratefully. "Yes! Please!"

As she started walking toward the cockpit, Scott held out a hand to stop her. "Nope, you don't get to see where we're going. You stay back here. There's a seat right there you can strap into." He pointed to a seat next to the nightmare-inducing distraction appendage.

The girl looked at it, then at him, as if to check if he was joking, but when his expression didn't waver, she nodded and sat down carefully strapping in as instructed.

As Scott turned and started to head back into the cabin, she asked one last question. "Which one's Charlotte?"

Scott looked back at the various appendages around the area. "All of them." Then he walked into the cockpit, sealing and locking the door behind him.