The screen lit up. The spider chittered once again, and words raced across the screen in response.

  “Why have you come?”

  I looked from the screen to the spider, and back.

  “Why have I come?”

  “Yes,” the screen wrote, in response to a single dominating click.

  Why do you understand me? I thought, but that didn’t answer the question.

  “I had to…” My answer ended in a short, choking scream as the spider raised one foreleg so that the underside was pointed in my direction.

  Again, the chittering came, this time punctuated by a short, sharp whistle.

  I stared at it, not moving. Around me, there was movement, and I turned to look at the other spiders. They had come no closer, but they moved restlessly on the spot. More chittering followed, but it was the vibration of the object in my hand that drew my eyes back to it.

  “Why did you come?”

  I looked at the spider with the upraised foreleg. It had not moved, not toward me, or to change its position. I took a deep breath, and willed my legs not to give way.

  “I had to get away from the bandits.”

  “Why?”

  I stared at the screen.

  “How are you talking to me?”

  “We have friends.”

  “From the village?”

  “From your village.”

  “Who?”

  “Why did you flee the bandits?”

  I remembered why, and felt my face grow cold as I blanched, but the spider was insistent.

  “Why?”

  “Because…” I felt my stomach start to rebel, swallowed hard, and tried again. “Because they were going to kill me.”

  “Why?”

  “I tried to save the starman.”

  This time another whistle punctuated the chittering. It sounded like pure puzzlement condensed. I didn’t bother looking at the screen before I replied.

  “Because I was hoping he could help.”

  “Why?”

  “He was different to the bandits.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Does the starman live?”

  “I don’t know; he disappeared, when I ran.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I broke the beer.”

  “Beer?”

  I stared at the spider. How did one explain alcohol to a creature that turned its prey to fluid? The day, the enormity of what I was to the spider, the impossibility of the device in my hand, it all hit me, flowing over me like a wave, and my knees gave way.

  This time the spider’s chitter held an impatient rattle, and I glanced at the screen.

  “You will come with us.”

  Movement followed the words, and I looked up. One of the huge creatures had moved to stand beside me, the appendage it extended from below its jaw looked surprisingly like an arm, complete with a long-clawed hand on the end, but all I could see were the fangs beyond.

  I screamed, and pushed off the ground, angling up and away from the monster beside me. I hit the hard-edged limbs of the one standing behind me, and elicited a startled hiss at the impact. Off balance, I ricocheted into the first creature, and then ended up on the ground at its feet. A clawed foot was pulled out from under me, and then placed firmly across my shoulder and chest.

  I wriggled, but that only made the foot heavier. More chittering. A louder hiss, and fangs loomed over me, the tear marks running down them etched with blue. I didn’t dare raise the hand with the gadget to see what they said. And I didn’t dare resist when one of the under-jaw hands wrapped my wrist and lifted the screen where I could see it.

  “Where is the starman?”

  “In the village.” The words were out before I could think.

  “Where?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Could he be out of the village?”

  That thought stopped me cold, so I thought about it. In the end, I shook my head.

  “No. There is only one way. He did not follow.”

  “Then the human that came through the hedge after you is a bandit?”

  “What human?”

  “You did not know you were followed?”

  “No.” But the words gave me comfort; the bandits were not human. Close to us in form, but definitely not human.

  The hand around my wrist kept the device in sight.

  “Is this human a bandit?”

  More movement, a man grumbling, chitters and whistles that sounded like a warning. All followed by a very human sigh. I looked toward it, twisting my head around to look up, relieved when I was allowed to sit, the foot that had pinned me settled behind my back, lending its support as the starman came into view.

  “You!” he said, and received a stern nudge from a foreleg.

  It did little to subdue him.

  “Are you all right?”

  “No,” I said, then, “This is not a bandit, and, yes, I am all right.”

  The man relaxed. After that ‘no’ he’d tensed up as though he was going to start a fight. Now, he looked down at where I sat on the aqua-colored grass, and then he sat down facing me.

  “What are these?” he asked, gesturing at the spiders around us.

  “They live in Blacklegs’ Forest.” Even as I spoke, I realized I might be insulting them, and I felt myself blush.

  Around us, the spiders chittered and whistled until, with a series of firm clicks, one of them brought the rest to silence. Yellow Tears, I thought, noticing how the markings on their faces differed. I looked at the device.

  “How did you hope he would help you?”

  I looked at the starman.

  “I thought he might bring someone to free us from the bandits.”

  The man laughed, but not like he saw anything funny.

  “Sweetheart, we can’t fight the pirates. The best we can do is send out an emergency beacon, and that only when I get back on board.”

  I sighed, and pushed down the disappointment threatening to overwhelm me.

  “When will that be?”

  He shrugged.

  “Don’t know. Bullet hit the transmitter. It’s broke, and I’m stranded. They won’t come dirtside until I contact them by radio to tell ’em it’s safe.”

  Now I really did want to cry. It wasn’t safe. It wasn’t ever going to be safe.

  “How…how long will they wait?”

  All emotion leached from his face, and he glanced skyward.

  “Two, maybe three orbits. We don’t have supplies for longer.”

  “Oh.”

  He reached toward me, perhaps to lay a comforting hand on my shoulder, I don’t know. Either way, a fast-moving foreclaw batted his hand down.

  “Hey…” he began, but the nearest arachnid hissed him to silence.

  He looked at me, then at the spiders, and shrugged.

  Yellow Tears reached out a foreleg and touched me on the boot with a careful claw. I looked at the spider, and then at the device, as Yellow chittered.

  “We can rid you of these bandits.”

  The other spiders swiveled their heads toward her. I just stared.

  “How do we tell them from the other members of your colony?”