Arachna watched from her perch on the ceiling of the engine room as the Yumen known as Xander walked.

Clonk, clonk, clink

The Yumen's outsized boots pounded noisily against grated metal floors.

She smacked her beak together. Just staring at the Yumen made her so hungry. He would be a tasty meal. But how would she trap him? She was so much smaller than he was. The Yumen would be able to crush her like a bug.

Think.

If she snuck up on him, a few drops of her acid would do the trick. But it wouldn't kill him instantly, and then wouldn't the Yumen call his friends? Then she'd be in trouble for sure.

There had to be a better way. Something more stealthy. If the ship had these things called marines who fought Krath then she need not alert them to her existence. It wasn't worth sharing the same fate as the dactyl.

She crawled forward to position herself above the walking Yumen, her six working legs moving in unison while her two deformed, knobby limbs hung loose. Horde, they were a nuisance to have flailing around while she tried to maneuver.

Suddenly, an idea flashed before her eyes. This Xander would soon arrive at the top floor of the engineering room. Once he did, he would want to investigate the body of the other Yumen known as Engineer Carlsen.

Perhaps she could wait for him there and set a trap. But what?

She scampered toward the remains of her host, peering down at him from the ceiling. There wasn't much left of the Carlsen body, but there were his clothes, hat, and boots. They were stained with blood of course, which dripped over the metal floor panel.

Think Arachna.

She slowly lowered herself down from the ceiling toward the carcass. Would her webbing work as a trap?

She wasn't completely sure. It held her but would it be strong enough to ensnare a Yumen?

There was only one way to find out. And it wasn't like she had much of a choice. Once Xander found the remains of the body, the Yumens would figure out that there was a Krath on board the ship. Once that happened, she would be hunted down and killed.

Not good.

Suddenly, her instincts took over. She didn't entirely realize what she was doing as her body worked. As she lowered herself to the floor, her spinneret secreting a very different type of silk as she did. This seemed to have an adhesive quality to it. Arachna instinctively felt an urge to move away from the strand as soon as she had stuck it to the ground.

There it was—a trap—a single thread line from the ceiling to the floor. The lower portion of it was sticky—a simple, very basic trap.

Would it work? The single strand of thread from the ceiling to the floor was barely visible.

Still, it seemed to be missing something. It didn't seem quite right.

Clonk, clonk, clonk

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Xander was getting closer. She needed to think fast. What was her body telling her? Her instincts took over again. Need more webbing.

Arachna scampered toward the wall, attaching another strand and then running it back toward the tip of the first. She repeated the process several times, moving at top speed.

As she moved, she was careful to note which portions of her web included sticky adhesive webbing and which did not. That allowed her to walk on her own webs without getting stuck.

As she worked, she threaded the various strands of thread together, adding weak layers of web that were designed to break. Then she added stronger, pretensioned threads that would snap back like a sprung trap once the weaker threads broke.

A web.

She stared at her masterpeice as she stealthily retreated into a dark corner where the ceiling met the wall of the room. The web was barely visible, but at just the right angle, it glinted in the Xitherium light.

Beautiful.

Arachna couldn't believe she created such a thing so quickly. It wasn't really her so much as her body just leaping into action. Something she didn't entirely understand but thoroughly enjoyed. Being a Krath was such a wonderful thing.

Clonk, clink

Xander approached, his flashlight scanning the floor. "Where's that light panel? Void, I hate coming up here. What the—"

The Yumen's eyes widened, and he gawked as he shone his light down at the remains of Engineer Carlsen.

"Carlsen? Is that you? By the Void," Xander said in disbelief as he backstepped, his lips beginning to quiver.

Arachna began to panic as adrenaline coursed through her limbs. The Yumen was only a few steps from her trap, but he'd already seen the body. Now he would turn away, and her trap would be a complete failure. What to do?

She acted fast, lowering herself on a piece of silk thread, directly behind Xander. The engineer's face was white as he was fumbling in his tool belt for something.

"Need to call this one in," Xander said, his legs shaking. He strobed the room with his flashlight. The white light cut through the violet Xitherium light like a telescopic laser.

Just need him to take two steps forward, Arachna thought. Not backward. She was nearly at his level now, while dangling from the ceiling above. He didn't see her.

Suddenly, Xander's eyes widened even bigger. "Is that a w-w-web?"

Horde, he had seen it. Arachna threw up her knobby forelimbs. It was over. She would be dead as soon as the rest of the Yumen colony heard the news.

Xander turned to run away from the web, not even bothering to finish his call. The Yumen was so scared his entire body was visibly shaking.

Maybe one last chance, Arachna said to herself. Her knobby limbs were heavier than the others. She swung them backward, gaining a bit of momentum. Then she pivoted forward, swinging her entire body toward Xander.

As she did, the Yumen's light flashed directly at her, her eight red eyes glowing a menacing red as she snapped her beak. She did her best to look fierce.

Then she released her grip and jumped.

Xander nearly jumped out of his boots he was so scared. The Yumen didn't know where to run—a Krath behind him, a web in front of him.

Arachna made the decision for him. Her momentum knocked him back just enough that he stumbled and tripped.

Directly into her trap.

As his body made contact, the web did the rest. The pretensioned threads stuck to his body and then pulled back. The weaker threads that had been holding in the tensioned strands snapped. Like a spring, the uppermost tensioned strands pulled the Yumen's arms up above his head, while others lifted his entire body into mid-air. His legs were also pulled apart by strands near the base of the web. In the end, Xander was dangling in mid-air in the shape of a large 'X.'

He thrashed about wildly as he screamed. As he did, he only managed to tangle his body, further ensnaring himself in Arachna's web.

The trap worked better than expected. Arachna stared, not truly believing she had managed to produce such a perfect trap in just a few minutes. For such a small creature, she'd manage to ensnare a Yumen far larger than herself. Not that she could take credit. Her instincts had done all the work. She'd need to thank her Hive Mother for that.

Click, click.

She gnashed her beak together as she crawled toward the struggling Yumen, eager for yet another meal.

If she could put this together in just a few minutes, what could she do if she had a longer period of time, say 30 days?

Perhaps she might survive after all.

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