A New Kind of Spider

A New Kind of Spider

     Yenan bend down to pick up what appeared to be a piece of pottery of some kind. He had to dig around it a little before he dug it out. “This one looks very weird too.”

     “I’ve found another one too,” said Tinna from behind Yenan and the other side of the ruins they were in.

     “Is it as big as all the others?” Yenan asked as he turned and started walking toward Tinna. He never stopped looking at what he found as he did it.

     “It’s bigger.” Tinna gave what she found to Yenan when he got there.

     Yenan carefully placed his find on the ground next to a still sitting Tinna. Then he examined what Tinna gave him from different angles. “I think this is the biggest one we have found so far.”

     “Our ancestors must have been huge.” Kasom joined Yenan and Tinna. So did Graci and Xandix.

     “That would explain the size of these places,” said Yenan. “I was starting to think they all lived in mansions or maybe even castles.”

     “What I don’t understand is why they look so weird,” said Graci. “They almost look like they weren’t made by a human.”

     “I noticed that too.” Yenan helped Tinna get up. “It’s getting dark out there. We better call it a day.”

     They could see the hover houses as they headed out of those ruins. After all, most of those ruins were gone. Only a few partially standing walls remained.

     Xandix suddenly stopped. “I almost stepped on another one of those huge spiders.”

     “You should be used to them by now,” said Yenan. “Besides us, there isn’t anything else living in here.

     “Are you sure we are the only ones alive here?” Graci said with a big smile on her face.

     “I don’t blame you reacting like that,” said Kasom. “I’m afraid of those things too.”

     “I’m not afraid of them,” said Xandix. “It’s just that it came out of nowhere.”

     “I’ve noticed that they have been doing that a lot,” said Kasom. “I have seen them at several of the other ruins we have been at.”

     “So have I,” said Graci. “And you’re right. They do suddenly appear - and they disappear just as fast.”

     Yenan started looking around the sandy floors wildly. “Where is our little friend? Did anyone see where it went.”

     “The last time I saw it the spider was over there.” Kasom pointed in the direction he saw the spider last.

     Looking around as he walked over to where Kasom pointed Yenan headed to a small corner wall. “Has anyone been in this section of the ruins today?”

     “I was over there a few days ago, but there wasn’t anything there to find. So I didn’t go back.” Graci joined Yenan. So did Xandix, Tinna and Kasom.

     Yenan had already started looking around that wall. He got on his hands and knees and began searching the sand in that area. The others joined him. Suddenly Yenan slipped, and his hand disappeared into that wall. He quickly pulled it back out.

     “Maybe I’m wrong, but I think I just found a hidden part of these ruins.” Yenan got up a little shaky.

     “I’ll also wager there are hidden parts at the other ruins too.” Xandix tried to help Yenan, but he brushed him aside.

     “You are too young to be wagering.” Yenan said with a big smile on his face.

     Yenan glanced over his shoulder at that wall. That part of it was adult size. “Do any of you remember if there’s a wall like this at the other ruins?”

     “I think I have seen a few walls like this one,” said Kasom. “They weren’t that tall though.”

     Turning and walking back to that wall Yenan stuck his hand through it again. That time he didn’t pull it back. Instead he moved it up and down. Then he followed his hand into that wall.

     The other GraveDiggers looked at each other in shock. Then one at a time they followed Yenan. Graci and Kasom were first. Followed by Xandix and then Tinna.

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     Graci emerged from a jagged rock wall first – and almost knocked Yenan into what appeared to be a bottomless cavern. They both barely got out of the way on that small ledge before Xandix and Tinna joined them.

     That cavern looked like it took up the entire core of the planet of Morim. Yenan, and the others, saw that because of the head light he had no. The others turned theirs on right after they got there.

     “How deep into Morim do you think we are?” Xandix asked after a few minutes of silence.

     “It looked like we only walked a few feet to get here,” said Yenan. “In those feet I saw a lot of rocks. I’d say we are probably about a mile into Morim.”

     “This ledge we are on looks like it circles around this cavern,” said Xandix. “It also appears to be man-made.” Xandix and Graci looked down their side of that ledge while Kasom and Tinna peered down theirs.

     “You humans didn’t create that ledge – or this cavern,” came a female voice from within the darkness in front of them. “I did.”

     “What’s that?” Graci asked as she pointed her finger, then her head light, into the darkness. The other four head lights soon joined hers. In the center of that darkness was a gigantic spider. Beside her hugeness she looked exactly like spiders – except for her head. She had a face of a female.

     “I’m sorry you found me. I was hoping you wouldn’t until the rest of you humans did when we take back our planet you evolved onto.”

     The female spider head looked down. The five head lights quickly followed. They couldn’t see them too good, but there must have been about a million pair of large eyes staring up at them.