Arach by C.M. Simpson (books to read for 12 year olds TXT) 📕

that the seats in the command section would convert to stasis pods if the ship was breached. I didn’t need a console to do what I was doing, so what he said made perfect sense. I sighed.

“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

His mouth tightened.

“I’ll try and keep the pain to a minimum.”

“Just do it, Mack,” and even to my ears, I sounded tired.

13—The Defense of the Shady Marie

The move to the observation seat was less painful than I expected, but it still took me a minute to catch my breath.

“Tens, we maneuvering, or letting them come to us?”

“Letting them come. Engineering isn’t back on-line, and Case is stashed.”

Stashed?

“Where the arach can’t find her. Along with the navigator. I didn’t want them in their heads.”

Well, that made sense. I wouldn’t want the arach in their heads, either, given what those two knew.

“Exactly.”

“Can we get the rest of the crew in escape pods?”

I was figuring we could jettison the pods if things got really bad. It would give the arach less hostages, and take them time to retrieve the pods—time Odyssey could use to get close enough to board. Time for their reinforcements to arrive. More chances the crew would have of surviving, if the spiders went into a feeding frenzy.

“It would slow them down,” Askavor said. “They would gather the pods, and then make a show of each kill to prove their dominance. If you infuriate them enough, they will give all of you to the queen as hosts for her young—which means you would be preserved unharmed for at least a day after she had boarded.”

I remembered Delight at the end of the Costral mission. Was that what she’d meant when she’d said they were incubating? Delight’s reaction was instantaneous.

“Don’t,” and she sounded sick when she said it. “They start doing that, I suggest you kill your crew before…”

Her voice faded, and the comms link cut. When she came back, she was just as brief.

“Just get your crew in the damn pods. We’ll have rescue teams on stand-by.”

I wondered if they’d be teleport teams, but didn’t ask.

“We are hailing the arach, now,” Delight continued. “You can observe, but you’re out of the loop—and they won’t know you’re on the line.”

She didn’t add anything more, but the forward-screen flickered, and split so we were looking at both Delight, and the view screen holding the arach that had answered her call.

This one had chosen a mostly human shape, in which to respond, although its face was a blend of both human and arachnid features, with two large, dark eyes beneath a band of six smaller ones, and a mouth and jaw that had no humanity at all. I watched the creature’s mouth parts move, and heard the spider language coming out of the speakers at Delight’s end, and then it stopped, and looked expectantly at Delight.

Delight’s mouth tightened into a thin, straight line, and then she spoke.

“Unidentified arach cruiser, state your business and intent with the world of K’Kavor.”

Again, the arach spoke. This time, its words were followed by a halting male human voice that came from off-screen.

“We claim the world of K’Kavor, and everything in its system. Its people will serve our people, and its territories will, once again, be our territories.”

“We do not agree. You and your people are to leave the system, and are never to return.”

Again, the arach replied, but this time, there was a gasp, and, before I had time to wonder what that meant, the arach lashed out, and dragged a thin, naked human into view. Letting the man go, the arach rattled a single hard syllable at him.

“Please…” the man whispered, flinching as the arach reached over and laid a palm against his cheek.

The sounds it uttered in response made the man sob, and I heard a second sob echo him. The arach repeated the syllable, again—then followed it with a softer sound. The man’s shoulders slumped.

“As you wish, master,” and he folded his arms across his chest, and stepped towards the arach. When he was less than a foot away, he tilted his head to one side, and the arach wrapped him in its arms and drew him close. Shifting a hand to hold the man’s head steady, the arach glanced once at the screen, and sank its fangs into the human’s throat.

“Stop!” Delight ordered, but the arach ignored her, morphing from the human shape he’d worn to a form that was pure spider, as the human withered in his grasp.

When it held nothing more than a husk, the arach’s form shuddered, and returned to the more human shape it had worn at the beginning of the call. Blood still glistened on its fangs, and it turned its head, looking at something we could not see. The next string of sounds it uttered was clearly a command, and a young woman stepped into view.

Tears had left tracks down her cheeks, but she was not as thin as the man that had been summoned before her. She was just as pale, though, and her eyes were wide with fear. This time, when the spider spoke, she translated in a soft, clear voice.

“The crew of the Shady Marie will surrender to the justice of the Hunt Clan K’Tkenach for their rebellion—and the Odyssey liner, Sugarsides, will leave the system, allowing us to reclaim our territory without interference.”

“Your territory?” Delight asked, her voice as brittle as starlight.

“We once ruled this system. We will rule it again.”

“No.”

“You would deny us what is ours by right?”

“You lost control of this territory eons ago,” Delight told him. “You relinquished all claim to it when you left it to survive without your protection and rule.”

“Factors we are now correcting.”

“Too late,” Delight said. “This world has earned the right to determine its own future. In the name of the Inter-Galactic Coalition, I order you to abandon this invasion.”

“It is not invasion, but reclamation,” the girl stated calmly, her tone at odds with the arach’s agitated chittering.

“You left this