Spider facts!

  Category: Anatomy/Physiology

  Subcategory: Marine Behaviors

  Some spiders thrive in an aquatic environment. The classic example is the diving bell spider, which lives in a natural diving bell formed from webbing. Other marsh and tropically-based spiders have a variety of coping strategies for flooding or surviving submersion, ranging from hydrophobic hairs which trap air to slowing their metabolism to survive hours or days.

  He found himself looking over the river and the pond beneath the falls again as the canopy cleared.

  “Perfect! Well done,” Loo said.

  They were about halfway between the falls and the column where Jon had found Louis.

  “What? I was running for the entrance to the cavern. This is nowhere near that.”

  “A happy coincidence then, because this is definitely close to the best exit. Take out your little stick of telekinesis.”

  The roars behind them were getting closer as the bear continued its pursuit, but Jon had gained a huge amount of ground on the beast. The last few trees had traversed a sharp ravine; it sounded like the beast was having to take the long way round.

  Still, he kept on high alert, knowing the bunnies and the cherubs were both nearby in large numbers.

  The staff snapped out as he lifted his foreclaw.

  “What’s next?”

  “Now its time to learn some more magic. You are going to practice one of the most basic applications of telekinesis, pushing and pulling. We’re going to call this trial by fire, as trial by bear feels a bit of a reach. This exercise is a little different, rather than picturing anything I want you to focus on your sense of touch. Place the staff on the ground, focus on it like its a limb, and tell me what it feels like.”

  Jon dropped the top of the staff down to the ground, and pretended it was an extension of his body. Nothing happened.

  “I feel the staff, but nothing else.”

  “Really? You don’t feel like the prettiest little bear in the whole wide world?”

  “Loo, for fuck’s sake-”

  “You keep using that word like you don’t know what it means.”

  “It can be used figuratively!”

  “A figurative fuck?”

  “Listen, we’re on a bit of a timer. If it happens to me, it happens to you.”

  There were grumbling noises from the back of Jon’s mind.

  “You need to link yourself to the staff. I thought it had already paired with you, but try running a bit of energy through it. Pretend you’re using the energy from a kill, like you do during an upgrade. Just run it out of your body and into the staff.”

  Jon did as he was bid. The energy circulating in his body was a little different in feeling than the psionic energy. It was less pliable, and seemed to want a conform to some sort of container like a liquid. The mental energy was liquid when it pooled, but as soon as it left his brain it took on whatever form he gave it then stayed put. After a few seconds of struggle, Jon opened a channel towards the staff, and immediately received a system message,

  “Successfully bonded with Lesser staff of the Magister. Telekinetic powers enhanced.”

  Jon tried again to feel the ground through the staff, and to his relief he felt the grass and mud of the river bank.

  “I can feel the staff. What next?”

  “Great. Now grab a small rock.”

  Jon began walking towards the river bank,

  “Not physically you chitinous lemming! Don’t you remember the salamanders? I meant with the staff.”

  “Can you give me a bit more than that?”

  “Pretend you are touching one of the rocks with the staff, then imagine you feel yourself grabbing it.”

  He spotted a rock ahead of them on the river bank. It was about the size of a large bowling ball. He felt through the staff and grasped at it, lifting it into the air. The rock went up, and Jon felt as though he were balancing it on the end of the staff. It was quite difficult with the disadvantage of the leverage.

  “Ambitious choice, but well done. Now push it away into the water.”

  Jon pushed, and the rock drifted about five meters to the side before falling into the water as Jon lost his grip. It had almost looked weightless as it drifted off to the side, but it sure as hell hadn’t felt that way.

  “As you get more proficient, the process will grow easier and easier. It will always depend on a combination of your physical and mental power, and there are practical limits to the distances you can manipulate objects over. I would expect that you’ll notice the limitations are a little shorter in range than your other abilities like the psionics. That will change if you can develop a skill rather than relying on the staff.”

  A roar sounded out from the edge of the forest.

  “Time to go,” Jon said.

  “Grab a rock before you go. The biggest one you can carry comfortably.”

  Jon didn’t question it, he just grabbed a small boulder lying nearby with his palps and left. He began to run along the river away from the waterfall, towards the column, but Loo immediately corrected him.

  “Nope, you’re heading straight for the waterfall and the pool at the bottom.”

  Jon stopped. Time was pressing, but this was a little too much. He needed to know:

  “Why would we go to the waterfall? There was no exit there. Why on earth would we go where all the bunnies and cherubs are gathering?”

  Louis reply was terse,

  “Making a chamber like this requires the presence of a teleporter. There’s only one place in this cavern with enough magical turbulence to hide something like that, even if it is doing it poorly.”

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  Realizing that was all he was going to get, and honestly all he had time for, Jon turned about face. He began running flat out towards the waterfall.

  Another roar, and Jon risked a glance back. The bear had made it out of the forest, and it clearly had spotted him. Jon picked up the pace.

  He reached the tree where he had tricked the alpha and the bear into fighting earlier A bit of his dragline silk remained here, and he was able to use it to quickly ascend into the tree.

  He continued his run, noting scattered patches of yellow blood on the ground. As he continued towards the falls, Jon had a brief window where he thought he would make it.

  Then he saw the figures begin pouring out of the caves over the waterfall, followed moments later by a line of bunnies sprinting down the cliffside path.

  Both the cherubs and the bunnies were out in force. It was clear they knew he was coming. A large purple cherub was flying in the vanguard with a group of the orange ones.

  “Well, time to let our bear friend shine,” Loo said.

  Jon let the bear close the distance between them, slowing as he approached the falls. He didn’t see exactly how it got past the narrowing in the bank behind him, as he was too busy monitoring the approaching bunnies and cherubs.

  They had paused to fight a quick skirmish, slowing them considerably.

  He found himself halfway between the bear and the bunnies, both about thirty meters away.

  There were a few alphas scattered in the group, and a number of smaller bunnies that Jon didn’t bother to count. The cherubs were harassing them, but would scatter whenever the alphas let loose a sonic attack.

  The dynamic changed as the big purple cherub approached. It flew slowly, and lower to the ground; it seemed even more rotund than the others, with its belly bulging like a woman in third trimester.

  Jon had expected something of a standoff before the battle began in earnest, but he was mistaken. The bear behind him charged by, bellowing as it shifted its focus from catching up with Jon to attacking the bunnies.

  Jon used the mental link to fake a little cry of fear, and was happy to see the bear going into a frenzy.

  As the bear rushed past him, the vegetation carried it along and reached out to bind the bunnies. Two alpha’s tried to hit it with sonic waves, but branches speared up and forced them to abandon their attacks.

  “You make a good damsel in distress.”

  “Not helpful. Now what?”

  “Now you dive down to the drain.”

  “What?”

  “Just get in the damn pool before the gravid one starts dropping babies!”

  “What about the salamanders?”

  “Swim fast?”

  Just then, Jon saw the purple imp getting into position over the bunnies.

  They were hopping about, trying to spear the bush bear with their quills, but with no success. The vines surrounding the creature were too thick, and every time a smaller rabbit impacted the vines they were sucked into the mass with a crunch. The alphas kept backing away, firing sonic blasts as they did so, but they had little effect.

  Then the red cherubs began falling among the bunnies.

  The bunnies turned to face the new threat just as the purple cherub flew overhead. It spread its legs with a squelching sound. Two red cherubs fell from the between its legs, landing spurs first on one of the quill bunnies.

  “It is time to go Jon! I don’t know that your bearamour can hold out against that thing!”

  Jon ignored the absolutely horrendous pun, scouting out a path towards the falls. He realized he had no idea where to actually go:.

  “You need to get near the falls, the space you need to get to is at the bottom of the pool under them. Hopefully the salamanders will be distracted by this battle.”

  Jon did as he was bid, running for the riverbank and leaping towards the patch of rocks he had washed up on. The battling cherubs, bunnies and bear seemed oblivious to his departure.

  He jumped from rock to rock, nearly slipping into the water as he hit a slick patch near the falls. He eyed the space where the water was churning. This was an absolutely terrible idea.

  He gathered his courage and prepared to leap into the water. As he did so, he remembered something. His spider body did not sink. It floated.

  “Ideas please!”

  “This is the reason why you needed a rock. Hopefully you won’t need the telekinesis too.”

  Jon was concerned, unsure if the rock alone would be enough to drag him down, but he jumped in anyway.

  The turbulent currents pushed him back against the rock, and he found himself slowly sinking face-first towards the depths of the pool.

  “Now what?

  “Feel for a pull in the current, that’ll be the drain.”

  “What?”

  “Just keep your senses peeled damn it.”

  They continued to sink, and an aberrant current shoved Jon away from the rock face. The water was turbulent, and Jon couldn’t see a thing, but he began to feel a sucking feeling somewhere to his left.

  It went against the flow of the river, and Jon flailed towards it. He made no progress, but then he hit the bottom. He began pulling his way along with his claws.

  Oregano sent Jon a message of alarm. Jon noticed a large form swim by overhead, and he hit out with a psionic needle. It was far less clean than Jon’s attack on the bear, but to his surprise he found he pierced his opponent’s defenses easily.

  There was no time for his full Seldinger approach, and he flooded the connection with psionic energy, seeking the mind on the otherside. He suddenly found himself seeing through a salamander’s gaze. He pictured himself as a boring, tasteless morsel, but radiated the impression of something valuable nearby. The salamander’s gaze left him, and roved the bottom of the pool as it picked up on this feeling, and Jon heard Loo say,

  “There!”

  The salamander had spotted a hole a few meters to his side.

  The hole was comparable in size to a manhole cover, and the sucking feeling from the base of the pool came from it. Jon dug his claws into the mud at the bottom of the pool, and shoved his rock towards the hole with his telekinesis.

  He felt the current begin pulling the rock towards the hole, and he stopped pushing the rock, instead trying to picture himself holding onto it with his claws. The rock seemed to stall out halfway between him and the hole, but Jon felt his claws leave the mud at the pools bottom, and he began floating towards the hole.

  His mental bridge to the salamander snapped, and the salamander’s attention returned to Jon.

  Its maw opened wide, and crackling energy was running along its teeth. Jon lashed out with a psionic assault, the energy moving far more precisely than he expected. The salamander’s gaze went blank, and Jon rejoiced: that was a partial seizure!

  “Told you the dexterity would pay off!” Loo crowed.

  Oregano had kept calm so far, but Jon felt him beginning to scrabble in his carrier. The rat sent an image of an air pocket in the sac closing with water.

  “Hang in there buddy!” Jon sent back.

  The rock had drifted further towards the hole, and Jon grabbed onto it once more.

  He was jerked wildly to the side, and then the current had him too, sucking him into the hole after the rock. The world went black as he entered the well, and Jon lost his grip on the boulder.

  It no longer mattered though, as the current ripped him down and to the side. He was rushing through an underground river. Jon slammed into a wall and went wheeling off. He was spinning, and could no longer really feel which way was up or down. Jon felt the tunnel he was flowing through suddenly open into a wider channel. As it did so, the water temperature dropped precipitously and the flow of the water around him slowed a great deal.

  Oregano sent another image, this time filled with panic and despair as his lungs burned and the world remained black and cold. Jon wasn’t sure exactly how long he could hold his own breath, but it seemed it was longer than the rat. Oregano had only moments left before he would lose control over his reflexes, breathing in the water.

  Jon could feel himself floating up as the current slowed, but there was no way to determine how far he lay beneath the surface.

  Oregano was scrabbling, panicking in the carrier. Jon could tell the rat was burning through his time even faster by being so active, and tried to calm the rat to no avail.

  Bracing himself, Jon opened his mind further to the rat, accepting the burning discomfort raging in Oregano’s chest. As he did so, Oregano stopped flailing, but it wasn’t enough. The rat was fading quickly.