Salticid [Scifi Short Story]

Part 2 of 3 - Spider Chamber

Salticid PART 2 of 3

by Christopher T Garry

Artificial dawn filtered down through the crevasse and sent root shadows across Pelly's chest, stomach and legs. Her eyes were open. She could smell the cool earth around her in the small space. With the way the roots supported her she appeared almost to be seated in a reclined flight chair. Across her abdomen, lap and legs she felt the warmth of hundreds of Cleaners perched on her semi-sleeping form, huddling, but nearly still. The sunlight warmed them and they warmed her. As she stirred, the Cleaners shifted. She winced at her stiff weakness. She could almost feel broken bones that were set and knitting, and she could see that most of her body was...what...bandaged? Suddenly sleepy again, she blurred her attention, wondering about her dad, the fall and how she might have gotten here...where ever here was. So many Cleaners... live here.

From under her sleeping form, warm mist rose and intertwined with the roots. Steam traced its way through varied paths around the hanging vegetation, dangling rock formations and moss-covered crystals protruding and dripping with moisture. Far below, a hush of rushing water emerged from a hotspring, disappearing into the dark of the far wall.

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For Deming, the passageways between the caverns were so narrow that it required belly crawling. Most of the tunnel travel was dull and backbreaking, and it left little breath for idle talk with Ari, as it took nearly half a day to get from one cavern to the next this way. Mercifully, the air was fresh, usually rushing past him in either direction. The first Cleaners to find him in the tunnels passed by in a fuss of consternation. However, after a few days, the spiders adjusted and simply hopped up to scramble over his back in the narrow passage.

Their arrival in the first cavern was uneventful. Ari suggested nicknaming each cavern as it went into her record. With Ari's memory capacity she would never lose her way. 

This first cavern was named Twilight. The dim light was the same all hours of the day. The vegetation was not nearly as rich and the place looked abandoned of small animals, birds and insects. There were very few Cleaners spotted and there appeared to be no rivers or lakes or hills. Where they might have expected a simulated sky, the artificial ceiling was plainly visible, and was without any variations in the weather. The cavern was only a fraction the size of their home cavern, what Ari called The Atrium.

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While Deming worked his way through the myriad of caverns and tunnels, Ari occupied herself as best as she could with memories of vocational work, old data and theoretical compositions that she filed away to research later. 

It took several days for Deming and Ari to develop a routine for travel. Since the tunnels were very difficult to maneuver, a tunnel day meant grueling hours of scrabbling, followed by a bare minimum of exploration of the new surroundings upon arrival. He needed to determine any danger in the cavern, clean up and rehydrate. Then of course eat and sleep deeply. Ari's mind was still haunted by Pelly's blood evidence, and they wished they knew more about what to expect, other than a surprise attack in a dark cavern some day. 

To Ari, the tunnels seemed straight as a beam of light and never forked. So far, any given cavern had at least four tunnels leading away, but sometimes as many as a dozen. She had speculated that some tunnels would be compromised or cracked or even collapsed, but this was not the case so far. They accepted that the caverns, the connecting tunnels and the only known rising access way to the surface were all several thousand years old. Despite this, either the planet was more stable than was typical, leaving no tectonic shifts to cause damage or there were maintenance forces at work besides just the Cleaners.