Cleo tried to piece together everything she'd learned as she picked up the fallen chair she'd been tied to. Whatever secrets she'd been expecting Scott to keep aboard the ship on which she was a self-made prisoner, none of what had been revealed had even been on the fringes of her expectations.

First off, there was Alice. The reason for Scott's reluctance to allow them to meet face-to-face suddenly made more sense. Cleo had thought it was because he was worried she would do something to hurt his little sister, and apparently, that had been correct; it just wasn't physical harm he'd been worried about. But how had she gotten that way? His story about her being badly injured and that being the only way to save her was clearly ridiculous unless there was something else he wasn't telling her...

Of course, that led Cleo to the other secret revealed at the end of her little conversation with Scott, that monster of a spider centaur he also called Charlotte. All the spiders she'd seen before now had been far larger than anything she knew of, but that thing had dwarfed all of them by several orders of magnitude. What's more, it was clearly more than some simple guard dog.

Looking at the other spider, the other Charlotte, in her room, Cleo couldn't help but wonder what the connection between it and what she'd just witnessed was. Why did these spiders all do what Scott told them? Just how smart were they? What was their connection to Alice?

Usually, Cleo did her best to ignore her large, scary spider roommate, but now she examined the creature. It stared back passively, or at least she assumed it did. With all those eyes, who knew where its attention was focused at any given moment? But there wasn't much more of note within the room other than herself. Was it possible Scott had told her the truth? If so, why did they just have a weird creepy spider body sitting around for his sister, and who had performed the surgery, or whatever, to transplant her into it? Was this some bizarre genetic experiment out of a horror movie? Was she next? Is that why he kept Cleo around?

Cleo was just wondering if she shouldn't try and find some way to kill the spider and flee the ship when her com chimed. That surprised her. She didn't think Scott would suddenly come back all nice and polite after that exit so that just left one other option...

Walking over to the com, Cleo keyed it before answering. But how did one talk to a little girl trapped in some weird spider-human hybrid body? Finally, she just forced something out; not sure what she was saying even as she said it. "Hey Alice, what's up?"

Cleo cringed. Did she really just say, "What's up?" like nothing had happened? How did she expect the kid to answer? "Nothing much, just wondering if you wanted to play more checkers?"

After a short delay, but before Cleo could think of something else to say to smooth things over, Alice spoke. "How'd you know it was me?"

The apparent innocence made Cleo smile a little as she answered. "Well, Scott and I just got done talking, so I didn't think it was him, and you're the only other person who has this number, so..."

Alice answered back, "Oh, that makes sense." Then went silent for a little longer. The silence dragged on long enough that Cleo was just trying to think of something else to say when the girl spoke again. "You're not...scared of me now, are you?"

How was Cleo supposed to answer that? Because the answer was yeah, kinda, but she wasn't about to say that to the girl. Not because of Scott's threats, though that might have been enough in other circumstances, but simply because listening to the girl's small, vulnerable voice trapped somewhere between scared and hopeful reminded Cleo of herself when she'd been a kid and a bit of an outcast.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

After a moment's consideration, she decided something between a lie and the truth might be best. "Scared? Me? Naw kid. You're nowhere near big or creepy enough to scare me. I've been through dozens of star systems and seen some really whacked-out shi...stuff. It'll take more than a little girl with a few extra legs to spook me!"

After a few more seconds, Alice responded. "I'm not that little!"

Of everything Cleo said, that's what she took exception to? She keyed the com back. "Based on that answer, yeah, you are, but that's okay, kid! Being little is great! It means you can get away with all sorts of sneaky stuff, like talking to someone you're probably not supposed to!"

Alice was quiet again. "How'd you know?"

Cleo barked out a laugh. "Because, kid, I told you, I've seen my fair share of things! That and Scott seems really worried about you."

There was another moment of silence, and then Alice responded. "Wanna play checkers?"

There it was. It took a little longer than Cleo had expected, but the girl had finally worked her way back to checkers, like always. Cleo smiled. "Sure, kid. Let's play."

Of course, she wasn't acting purely out of concern for the girl. After all, however much trouble Cleo was in with Scott, so long as Alice was a little attached to her, odds were good he wouldn't space her just to get rid of a headache.

-

Scott was lying in bed, wondering if he'd gone too far or not far enough, when "someone" knocked in that odd way only Charlotte did. Without getting up, Scott shouted, "It's open."

Charlotte walked in. "Just like you thought, Alice almost immediately contacted Cleo."

Scott nodded. "And, how'd it go?"

Charlotte tilted her head to the side. "They're playing checkers again."

Laying back, Scott nodded. "Well, I suppose that's good..."

Charlotte tilted her head to the other side. "Are you not angry Alice contacted her after you said not to?"

Scott sighed and shook his head. "No, a little rebellion is normal and healthy in humans. Tell us we shouldn't do something, and it just makes us want to do it all the more. But Alice listens when I'm really serious. I simply warned her not to so she wouldn't get hurt, but if she wants to take that risk, that's up to her. I'm sure she would have listened if I'd been more serious about it."

Charlotte shook her "head," which involved a lot more torso movement than a human's did. "Being told not to do something makes you want to do it? How did you humans survive long enough to become sentient?"

Scott grinned back. "Curiosity is a powerful teacher. If you survive long enough to write down what you learn, it can teach you and others a lot."

Charlotte didn't seem impressed. "No wonder you humans breed in the billions. You need to just to keep up with natural selection!"

Scott laughed. "Yeah, you're not wrong!" Then, after a moment, his attitude sobered. "Did she do anything else? Cleo, I mean?"

Charlotte stopped and considered, likely trying to figure out what was relevant rather than relaying every minute thing their captive had done. "She seemed to spend more time contemplating me than ever before. She may be on the verge of figuring everything out. Was it wise to have me reveal myself in the interrogation like I did?"

Looking up at the ceiling, Scott shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know, but I figured seeing Alice probably already tipped her off, or she'd come to another more horrible conclusion, which may quickly turn her into a real enemy. Revealing you will probably add some weight to what I said while also driving home that harming me or Alice would probably be a very bad idea. But was it the right call? I'll probably only be able to answer that with the benefit of hindsight."

Charlotte was silent a moment. "Human interpersonal interactions are more complicated than I realized."

Scott laughed. "Our situation is a bit more complex than usual, but yeah, you're not wrong."

After a few more moments, Charlotte nodded. "Very well; I shall continue to monitor the situation and relay any pertinent information." Then, after a moment, her tone changed. "What would you like for dinner tonight?"