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Talia swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest. This was it. Either she was about to make contact with an alien species or become spider chow.
“Neo,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the rush in her ears. “Can you translate?”
[Informative: Attempting to decode alien vocalizations. A proprietary Cortex Inc. Linguistics model has offered to support translation for a surcharge of 50 Scan Credits and an unrestricted global license for all linguistics data created.]
Talia’s eye twitched. Was her AI trying to shake her down in the middle of… this? “Neo, tell that AI that I’ll pay it 50 credits, but if it doesn’t figure things out, it’s going to be eaten right here along with us!”
[Notice: Linguistics model has accepted your counteroffer.]
| Cortex Inc. Credit Charge: -50 |
| Cortex Inc. Credit Balance: 225 |
[Informative: Attempting to decode alien vocalizations. Please stand by.]
The giant red spider tilted its head, mandibles clicking together in a rhythm that was almost… curious? She tried not to think too much about it. The other spiders had gone still, but there was still an undercurrent of whistles and shrieks in the background while Big Red examined her.
The lull stretched on for what felt like an eternity before Neo finally responded.
[Informative: Alien vocalizations analyzed. Attempting to synthesize response.]
Talia held her breath as a strange, garbled noise erupted from her suit speakers. It was an eerie mix of shrieks and clicks, not unlike the sounds the spiders were making.
Big Red recoiled slightly, then tilted its head in the opposite direction while moving slightly closer to her.
“Neo… what did you say?” Talia hissed.
[Informative: Unknown.]
Talia felt her jaw clench. “Unknown? Why say anything then!”
[Notice: More data required.]
The red spider approached closer, its mandibles clicking together rapidly as it produced another series of vocalizations at her. She waited for Neo to translate, but the AI remained silent.
[Informative: Alien vocalizations have increased in complexity. Additional analysis is required.]
She clenched her fists. “What did we pay that thing 50 credits for?”
The red spider seemed to grow more impatient, its mandibles clicking together faster while it swayed from side-to-side a bit. She felt a bead of sweat trickle down the back of her neck.
“Neo, hurry,” Talia hissed.
[Informative: Attempting to synthesize response.]
A second set of garbled noises echoed from her helmet. This time, the red spider seemed to react more positively; its mandibles slowed their rapid clicking, and it cocked its head to one side, as if it was listening intently.
Talia let out a shaky breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Maybe it was working? “Neo,” she said, more firmly. “Keep trying.”
[Affirmative: Continuing communication attempts. Language decoding and encoding in progress.]
The two supporting spiders continued to chitter back and forth with the red spider leader. The smaller spider with the machete was suddenly highlighted in yellow on her HUD. A guttural “Maker!” echoed from her helmet speaker, while a text bubble appeared over its head, the statement repeating incessantly from the creature.
It was joined by the other spider her drone had rescued, the same word being repeated while it gestured at her and the CRD-X9.
Finally, Big Red turned its attention back toward her, it let out a new series of clicks and a helpful text bubble translated. “Maker?”
Her mind scrambled to try and process what was happening. “Neo,” she whispered. “What do they mean?”
[Informative: Linguistic patterns detected. However, the term ‘Maker’ does not have a direct translation within the current database. It could be a reference to a creator or progenitor figure. It could be utilized colloquially as ‘Maker of All Things’ or another unknown meaning.]
“But… that doesn’t make any sense. I didn’t create them.” She looked between the spiders, which had turned their attention to each other. She could see on her HUD that most of them were chittering away, repeating the term ‘Maker’ between themselves often.
[Affirmative: However, it is possible they are attributing some form of significance or status to you based on their own cultural or societal norms.]
“That’s… that’s crazy,” Talia muttered, her mind racing as she tried to come up with a plan. She’d seen enough holovids to know that if they saw her as some sort of god…nothing good could come with it. She’d either end up roasted on a fire spit or sacrificed to some alien god!
“Neo, we need to understand them better. Can’t you harass that linguistics AI into doing better?” she asked.
[Affirmative: Raising Linguistics Model processing priority to high. This will cause the other Cortex AI units to harass it until its priority is returned to normal.]
“Uh…what?” Talia blinked.
Before Neo could answer, a new spider jumped in front of Big Red, waving its front claws in the air and clicking angrily. Talia’s brow furrowed as she recognized this one as well. It was the thief spider, the one that had stolen her survival crate!
It turned and gestured toward her emphatically after a short conversation with the red spider. Her HUD highlighted it in yellow, and a speech bubble formed over its head. “Taker!”
All around, the cry was taken up by almost half the spiders. “Taker! Taker! Taker!”
The undercurrent of “Maker!” slowly was lost in the new chorus, except for the two spiders that she had helped. They seemed incredibly agitated as they hopped back and forth, their speech bubbles upgrading their “Maker!” to “MAKER!” as they tried to gain the attention of the other spiders.
A fourth spider came forward, more slowly than the other three. Its face was badly burned, and it seemed almost drunk as it swayed uneasily. Talia felt her stomach drop as she recognized this one as well. It was the one she’d shot in the face with her multi-tool.
Big Red centered its attention on the wounded spider which pointed its forelimb directly at her and echoed the thief’s accusation. “Taker!”
The red spider looked between the two accusers, its huge eyes flicking back and forth before turning to her two supporters. Finally, it turned toward Talia. It emitted a low growl that almost seemed at odds with all the chirping and chittering of the other spiders.
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The massive speech bubble above its head translated. “Maker? Taker?”
It repeated the question, but she didn’t fully understand. All around, a chorus from the various spiders filled the air with “Taker!” and “Maker!” revealing what seemed to be each different spider’s opinion. The cacophony of alien sounds filled the surrounding jungle.
Things were spiraling out of control.
“Neo,” she muttered, her voice barely audible over the noise. “What do they mean by ‘Taker’?”
[Informative: The term ‘Taker’ does not have a direct translation within the current database. However, based on contextual clues and behavioral analysis, it could be inferred as someone who steals or takes away. Or possibly ‘harms’ or causes damage.]
Her eyes slid onto the thief spider. They were accusing her of stealing from them? The spider had stolen from her first! And she had only shot the other spider in self-defense! She took a deep breath.
The spiders seemed to become more agitated the longer she delayed. The chorus of “Maker! Taker!” reached what felt like was a crescendo.
“Neo, can you transmit ‘Maker’ to them?” Talia asked.
[Affirmative: Transmitting translation.]
Her suit popped out a series of alien clicks, but the noise did not die down. It only seemed to incite them further, while the red spider became silent and thoughtful as it stared at her even more intently.
An idea suddenly struck her. Maybe she could prove to them she was indeed a ‘Maker’ if she could demonstrate... making something?
“Neo,” she said, her voice becoming steady as her plan formed despite the fear gnawing at her insides. “Can I use my multi-tool to create something like the machete? Without the survival fab?”
[Warning: Fabrication of complex items using the multi-tool without proper fabrication equipment may cause inaccurate or subpar results.]
“I don’t need micro-millimeter precision for a machete, Neo!” Talia snapped back. She unholstered her multi-tool, causing a chorus of hisses and shouts from the spiders.
“Danger!” they screeched in unison, all of them hopping back-and-forth sideways in agitation. The giant red spider’s mandibles clicked and clacked angrily, but it didn’t join the chorus.
“Here goes nothing,” Talia muttered to herself, activating her multi-tool’s fabrication mode. She pointed it at the roof of her CRD-X9, painting a small pillar. After solidifying it, she had Neo make a rough machete shape on top of the protrusion.
The spiders suddenly went silent as the form of the metal weapon glowed a brilliant orange yellow hue under the lasers of her tool. She finished shaping it and then switched to the cooling mode to harden the metal. She reached down to grip the solid Durasteel handle and ripped it free from its pedestal.
She lifted it up high above her head. “Neo, tell them ‘Maker!’ and turn up the volume!”
[Affirmative: Translating response, ‘I am Maker!’ and setting volume to maximum.]
The entire scene went silent after her proclamation. The gaze of the red spider seemed to double in intensity.
It finally replied, returning its verdict to the other spiders, “Maker!” A cacophony of spider chatter erupted in response; a gibberish of alien language that had no translation other than random symbols to her linguistic system. Some of the spiders even began to wrestle with each other, arguing over the two words until the red spider shouted overtop of them.
“Obedience! Maker!”
All the spiders stiffened and calmed, a low current of ‘Maker!’ being almost whispered between them from what she could see from the speech bubbles appearing over their heads.
[Informative: A scan of the red spider would likely yield valuable data. Additionally, a detailed scan of one of the smaller spiders could also yield scan credits.]
Talia shook her head. “Are you crazy? It’s too dangerous. We can barely communicate with them!”
[Informative: The potential credit value for the scans could exceed 5000.]
She hissed annoyance, her gaze shifting up to meet the red spider’s massive eyes. That was… a lot of credits. With that many, she could buy some serious upgrades for her base and suit. It certainly would make planning her next steps easier.
Tapping her translate icon on her HUD, she called out, “Maker!”
It looked at her, giving her the attention she wanted, but…shit. Somehow, she kept her voice steady. “Neo, ask it if I can scan it.”
Her suit made a series of sounds, but it didn’t seem effective. The red spider tilted its head toward her and responded with a “Maker?”
Talia sighed in frustration. This was going to be harder than she thought. Her heart pounded as she slowly raised her multi-tool towards Big Red. An instant outrage from the smaller spiders erupted. “Danger!”
The volume and intensity startled her. The red spider took a slight step backwards, and she quickly lowered the tool. Her brow furrowed as she thought of a plan. She aimed her multi-tool at her own head. “Neo! Tell them ‘Scanning!’ even if you have to make up a new word!” she instructed.
[Informative: Translating message.]
She pulled the trigger. The standard green lasers for her tool’s scan mode traced over the side of her helmet. The scan wasn’t worth anything, of course, but she felt hopeful as the spiders seemed to observe the demonstration intently.
“Okay. Repeat the word ‘Scanning!’ to them.” Talia ordered. She pointed the multi-tool toward one of the spiders she hoped was more on her side, the one that had somehow figured out her drone had helped it.
The other spiders hissed and pulled back again, except for the one she aimed at and the one with the machete. They seemed more at ease, and both let out a slight message of ‘Maker!’ at her.
She pulled the trigger, and the scanning beams filled the space. The dappled gray patted and checked itself out as if expecting to find something amiss, but seemed to realize it wasn’t being hurt.
| Cortex Inc. Credit Value: +500 |
| Cortex Inc. Credit Balance: 775 |
The scan completed. The chittering sounded subdued, as if they didn’t know whether to be upset or happy.
So far, so good; one down, one to go. She activated her translator icon again. “Scanning!”
She raised the multi-tool toward Big Red. This time, the spiders didn’t seem to object as much, and the red spider didn’t flinch at all as the green beams traced across its large carapace.
The red spider watched her intently, its many eyes following the green beam of light as it swept over its body. After a moment, the scanner beeped and Talia lowered her multi-tool.
| Cortex Inc. Credit Value: +5000 |
| Cortex Inc. Credit Balance: 5775 |
“Five thousand…” Talia breathed; she was surprised Neo had actually been right about how much she’d get for the scan.
[Informative: Preliminary analysis of scan data suggests these creatures are all members of the same species but of different castes and genders. The smaller black spiders appear to be female workers, while the larger red individual displays characteristics typically associated with males in sexually dimorphic species.]
“Like… ants or something?” Talia mused aloud, her mind racing. “I wonder where the queen is…”
[Informative: The Cortex Scan Affiliate AI has offered a substantial bounty for a detailed scan of any possible ‘queen’ of this species.]
Talia frowned at Neo’s revelation. “I think we’ve pushed our luck enough for one day already,” she muttered, glancing warily at all the spiders surrounding them. The chatter was growing louder and more argumentative by the second.
Even if the translator couldn’t translate many words, she could still infer what their emotional states seemed to be just by observing their gestures and tone. She needed something to placate them…
“Neo, use the scan data to create a schematic for a human-sized replica of the big spider,” Talia instructed. “One that I can make right now with the multi-tool.”
[Informative: Sculpture schematic complete.]
She activated her multi-tool, causing another wave of chittering to run through her audience, but she focused on the overlay. The sculpture didn’t have any internals and was essentially just a solid rendering of Durasteel, but it was unmistakably a chrome representation of the giant red spider. Neo had even copied the patterns on Big Red’s torso, painting them as black and gray lines etched into the steel.
As soon as the sculpture cooled with the finishing ray, she picked it up and held it up to the giant red spider. All around a chorus of “Maker!” erupted, except for the two spiders that had been against her from the beginning, the thief and spider she had injured.
The giant red spider tilted its head as it studied the sculpture, its many eyes moving over the Durasteel replica. After what felt like an eternity, it reached out with its two massive forelimbs and gently took the sculpture from her.
A litany of new chitters and chatters erupted from Big Red. All the other spiders seemed intent on their leader as they listened carefully. It finished its monologue with a final loud rumble: “Maker!”
Talia allowed herself a smile. It had worked!
[Informative: User has successfully established a form of communication with alien life forms.]
Talia winced. “Don’t go getting ahead of yourself, Neo. But I think you’re right, we won’t be eaten right away at least…”
The red spider finally seemed satisfied with… something. She didn’t quite know what, but it took her Durasteel sculpture with almost reverent care and retreated towards the cave. She wasn’t sure how it had fit through the barrier she had erected inside unless they had dug it out. Only female worker spiders would have fit through the small passageway she had left.
To her relief, most of the remaining spiders also began to disperse. Most of them had turned their attention away from her and went to do… spider-alien things. She could feel the tension in the air dissipating. Her two detractors looked at each other before turning and returning to the cave to follow Big Red.
It was time to… carefully extract. Before she could give the order to Neo, two spiders leapt up onto the roof of the CRD-X9. A moment of panic surged through her as she instinctively backed away, but they made no move to attack. They simply stared at her, their forearms fussing with their mandibles and heads.
It was the two spiders she had traded with and rescued, the dappled brown and dusky gray.
“Uhh…hello,” she said cautiously, eyeing them warily.
In unison, they repeated their earlier announcement. “Maker!”
Talia’s gaze darted down to the base of the vehicle. Sure enough, the imposing spider-wall was gone. “Neo, reverse the CRD-X9. Slowly. Let’s get out of here.”
The CRD-X9’s engine hummed back to life, its electric engines whirling softly as tracks began to pull it back toward her entry point to the jungle. She watched as the two spiders on the vehicle’s roof made no move to leave, their eyes fixed on her as they balanced on the vehicle.
“I guess… you two are coming along?” Talia asked.
“Maker! Maker!”