Chapter 13 - Aspirant

"This is nice," said Zaire, "this is the true spirit of camaraderie. Fate had set us against one another as enemies and yet here we are breaking bread as friends."

"You can be his friend," said Kel, "I still don't like him."

The three sat on weird hand-tree logs they had dragged around the fire eating hunks of meat from the six-trunked something or other. Behind them the frame for the larger shelter looked fantastic after a few hours of hard work.

"Yes you do," said Zaire, "you're the one who invited him."

"I just dislike waste more than I dislike him," said Kel. "And it was a close call."

"Well whatever the reason I appreciate the offer," said Decker.

Kel snorted with derision.

"We still haven't had proper introductions. You already know I am called Zaire but my last name is Esper," said Zaire, touching his chest "I was born on a starship, the H.C.S. Disasteriously Varied Mental Model, so I don't have a home ring. Kel here's full name is-"

"None of your business," Kel finished for him.

"Kel, enough," said Zaire, "your hostility accomplishes nothing."

"My hostility accomplishes opsec. You tell this sprellhead your life story if you want, that's your prerogative. You don't tell him anything about me."

"What's he going to do with your last name?"

"Not your call."

"Have it your way," said Zaire.

"Look, I get it, I made about as bad a first impression as you can," said Decker. "I'm Sam Decker by the way. Centauri Ring."

"See, Kel, you're ringmates," said Zaire.

"So is one third of the human race, so what?" replied Kel.

"How did you get involved with A.R.C.?" asked Zaire, ignoring her.

"I'm not sure. The Lodge Mistress has been real cagey about it. I think they started monitoring me when I destroyed a peacekeeper drone."

"Why would you do that?" asked Zaire.

"So I could, uh, bypass a peace bond and, you know, beat someone up," Decker admitted.

"Great," said Kel. "Real upstanding citizens they're recruiting into the Corps now."

"How did you get involved?" asked Decker.

"I have a familial connection to the Sidereal Choir," explained Zaire, "I was permitted to apply to lodge directly."

"So you know a bit about A.R.C. then right? The other lodges?" asked Decker.

"A little," said Zaire.

"What can you tell me about the Violet Motley?" asked Decker.

"The Jesters," said Zaire. "I don't know much. They have a reputation for... thinking outside the box. They're very closely allied with your lodge, actually. The Neutronium Dragons."

"Really?" asked Decker.

"It makes sense. The two lodges are very different but that can be a strength as a much as a weakness. They cover each other's blind spots."

"How many lodges are there?" asked Kel. She dropped her unfriendly attitude like a hot potato.

"I have no idea," said Zaire, "it's all supposed to be secret. But when you grow up around it you hear stuff."

"Well what lodges do you know?" asked Kel.

"Um, besides our three lodges and the Violet Motley there's the Entropy Hawks and the Axiomatic Suns, at least. I think there's more though."

"That many?" asked Decker.

"The Corps does have to protect the entire human race, plus all the other species living peacefully within human jurisdiction," explained Zaire.

"All without any support from the human government," added Kel, with a sniff.

"-it's a reasonably large organization," Zaire finished. "Especially when you take into account all the support personnel and infrastructure. Not nearly large enough though. The way I hear it they're constantly overextended."

"I guess I never really thought about it much until I became involved," said Decker.

"That's the idea," said Zaire. "As much as possible A.R.C. likes to keep the civilian population from having to worry about these things."

"Maybe if they didn't people would be a bit more grateful," added Kel.

"I think most people like the 'Space Rangers'," said Decker.

"True, when you put it that way," Kel laughed. "If you call them the Space Rangers I think most people are in support of us. It's A.R.C. they take issue with."

The three talked and ate until there was almost nothing left of the quadruped but bones and gibblets. When they had finished their meal they took what was left of the carcass downwind of the camp to burn it. They buried the ashes.

It was getting late. It would be dark in a few hours. Zaire opened his mouth to invite Decker to stay the night at the camp but Kel cut him off before he could speak.

"No," she said, hovering two fingers a few centimeters from Zaire's lips. "He can't."

"I should get going anyway," said Decker. "I need to start setting up my own camp. Thanks for the food. I was positively starving."

Kel looked Decker up and down, and didn't make any attempt to hide it.

"Is that petty little plasteel knife really your only weapon?" asked Kel.

"I suppose so," answered Decker.

Kel sighed.

"Stay there," she said, and disappeared behind the lean to.

When she reappeared she was holding primitive club. It was literally nothing more than a rock wedged between the two sides of a stick that had been split along the top. Animal fibers had been used to close the sides around the rock and further secure it to the stick.

"Here," said Kel, holding it out for him to take, "you're going to need this."

"Thanks," said Decker, grasping it gingerly.

"Yeah, yeah," said Kel, waving him off and walking away with her back turned.

Zaire immediately went in for the hug.

"I'm glad to have met you," he said.

"Likewise," said Decker, awkwardly patting Zaire's back. "Take care of yourself. Good luck with your trial."

"Make your own luck," said Zaire.

Decker nodded and hung the club on his belt. Then he picked up a nearby stick and, with a nod of approval from Zaire, stuck it in their fire until it was alight.

* * *

Decker wasn't even sure where he was going, he just started heading back in the direction he came. He wasn't in any hurry to try and reclaim his shelter but he figured the general area where he built it was still a good spot to set up camp. He would find a good place a decent enough distance from his old shelter and from Kel and Zaire's camp.

Decker had a full belly but he was exhausted. The only time he had slept in the last 48 hours or so was when he was passed out hanging upside down. He figured he'd find a location for his camp, drop off the fire Kel and Zaire had given him, and then fall asleep beside it. A shelter could wait until morning.

As Decker carefully made his way through the thick alien growth of the forest he heard a distinctive hum. It was distant at first, quiet, but it grew in intensity. The source of the hum came closer and closer.

Decker's enhanced ears allowed him to track the source of the noise with pinpoint accuracy. He could almost see the source as it moved through the canopy. He tried to hurry along but the source of the hum was faster than him.

It was following him. Stalking him.

The hum was familiar. Decker remembered where he heard it before. It was the same noise that accompanied the skeletal hand that had taken over his shelter. The noise of the unseen monster that had driven him out of his own camp. Decker could feel dread filling his guts.

Decker imagined the great skeletal hand climbing through the canopy on bone fingers, waiting to descend as though from the leaves and branches to grab him, pulling him screaming into the endless void of space.

He continued to easily track the monster by the hum. It moved with almost preternatural grace and silence. There was no trace of its movement or hint of it's presence except the hum. Decker could not imagine how a stealth predator could ever survive with a glaring drawback of this kind. Maybe it hunted deaf prey?

With several rapid movements the source of the noise was suddenly directly above Decker. He was startled by the speed but jumped out of the way the very moment he became aware of the monster's presence. Doing so forced him to drop his torch, which went out a few seconds after touching the ground.

The monster descended from the canopy on a thread of silk. It was a giant spider-like entity covered in sharp bony chitin. Its mouth parts were miniature claws dripping black ichor. Its eyes a cluster of unknowable intelligence. Skillfully wrapped around its four front legs was a net woven of spider silk. As it fell its stretched its legs and attempted to snare Decker in the web.

It would have caught him too, had he not been able to track the creature by sound. Lucky for Decker he started dodging a few moments before the spider had even launched its attack, and it succeeded at nothing but grabbing empty air.

Decker rolled twice then immediately popped back up to his feet without the use of his arms. He drew his knife with a flash and immediately became aware of the inadequacy of the weapon.

Moving so fast it seemed to simply disappear, the spider shot back up into the canopy by its thread. It was still humming merrily.

Decker started to back away and tried to keep his front facing the direction the monster was coming from as it stalked through the canopy waiting for an opening.

Hearing the source of the hum begin another series of fast movements Decker started running. The spider kept up, its hum staying just behind Decker as it shot from branch to branch.

The spider again dropped down in front of Decker, hoping to seize him it in its net of webs. Again Decker was able to just barely avoid disaster by wildly throwing himself to the side. This time he crashed into a hand-tree before he finished sliding and was forced to scramble to his feet with his hands. The spider popped back up into the trees.

Decker considered making a break for Kel and Zaire's camp. After all they both still had railpistols. Even at the low settings they were stuck on surely that was more than enough firepower to blow this spider into invisible particles. They were close enough he just might make it.

No. It wasn't an option. Decker wasn't going to put two good people at risk to try and save himself. What if the railpistols were useless against the spider? Giant spiders weren't even strictly possible using baseline physics so who knew how tough the sprelling thing was. It was already making a joke of the square-cube law. Tellus forbid anything here make any sprelling sense.

At exactly that moment everything suddenly made sense.

The hum. The reason a predator was able to survive while emitting a constant hum was because the hum was on a frequency that most living things couldn't hear. Decker remembered where he had heard it before. It wasn't just at his shelter. It was the nurse drone and the drop ship. It was AG!

That's how a giant spider was walking around on legs that physically couldn't support its weight: it had an antigravity field. There must be some kind of implant or organ inside it that was generating the field. If Decker could just locate it...

Decker decided to try and lure the spider out, see if he could get close enough to it to try something.

He started running again, following the spider above him with his ears, trying to anticipate when it would strike. When he could hear it getting close he stood in one place, his muscle tensed like coiled snakes.

The spider was cunning, but not intelligent enough to call this bluff. As it descended from the canopy Decker deftly dodged to the side and then, getting just a small running start, made an inhumanly high leap onto the creature's back.

Several of the bladed ridges on the spider's chitin cut into Decker's body but he was able to hold on to two of them and keep his purchase on the thing's back. He grunted in pain. It tried to throw him off desperately; as long as he was there it couldn't retract back into the trees.

Listening carefully Decker was able to identify the spot on the spider's body where the hum from the AG field was the loudest. Using the ridges like hand holds Decker dragged himself further up the spider's back, cutting himself even worse as he did so. By this point he was yelling constantly.

The spider skittered back and forth, shaking wildly, trying anything it could to throw off Decker. His dirty hands gripped the ridges so hard that they bled and he was tossed from side to side.

Decker held on with one hand while he grabbed his knife with the other. The spider shook itself again and Decker's body slid out of place but he was able to maintain hold with his one remaining hand. Painfully dragging himself back into position Decker drove his knife into the spider's back.

The tip was chipped slightly. Otherwise there was to effect.

Decker nearly lost his grip with his one hand. Quickly transferring his knife to his mouth he grabbed hold of a ridge with the other hand.

Decker considered letting go. All he was going to do at this point was get his hands all cut up. Still, it might be a slightly safer place to be than on the ground. It was painful to hold on. Then again, he was sure he wouldn't be able to get back on.

As the spider bucked and kicked and tried to throw Decker off he noticed something clattering against his leg. It was the club Kel gave him.

Of course!

Holding hard with one hand, Decker took the club in the other and brought it down with the last of his strength into the place he had attempted to stab. There was a small crack in the chitin. He hammered the crack again and again until his club was broken and useless. The crack widened.

Tossing aside the club and briefly grabbing hold of the ridge with his other hand to keep from being thrown by a particularly nasty kick of the spider's legs, Decker took his knife from his mouth. He stabbed it into the crack.

The tone of the hum changed slightly. Decker stabbed again. And again. The tune grew higher and weaker. With one final stab the hum went completely haywire before finally sputtering out into nothingness.

The antigravity field popped like a bubble. Suddenly the spider's legs could not support it. It's giant body fell to the ground and collapsed in on itself.

Decker found himself covered from head to toe in spider goo, flakes of carapace, and his own blood. 

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