A Song of Spiders

Chapter 3 - The Message

The dusty grey glow of dawn gave Dex's small bedroom a metallic sheen. He got up, turned on a small light that added a little gold to the silver light. He slowly moved himself on his arms to the bathroom, showered and put on his legs.

They were made of a soft metallic material derived from spider silk that Dex knew was also used in soldiers body armour. They had simple electronics that automatically controlled his gait and movement by sensing his brain’s intentions. He had worn them all his life and was very used to them, but still  he stood warily, never fully trusting them since the knees had unlocked a few weeks ago throwing him backwards.

He carefully walked to the central dining room. Karma was already up from her room and eating breakfast at a long bench. Dex noticed that while she was wearing the same Father’s House garb as him; grey and dull, she had added a purple and red paisley scarf tied over her mass of copper corkscrew curls. Her tiny elfin face stared intently into her breakfast bowl.

‘Morning me raggle-taggle gypsy-o’ said Dex cheerfully. 

She looked up sharply ‘Why'd you call me that?’. 

‘The headscarf, you know, the old song?‘ He attempted to sing a bit, but trailed off under her icy stare.

‘No offence?’. He ventured. 

‘None taken’. She said and resumed staring into her cereal, stabbing it with her spoon. 

She was not a morning person, he thought. He looked at the clock. It was 8am. 

‘Time to go back in time.’ he said with a theatrical air. 

They headed outside into a bright but damp morning. The air was full of the buzzing of insects. Dex and Karma wrapped their arms around themselves and ran to a small stone pier by the river. They waited in silence, looking around and behind them tensely.

‘It’s not true they’re attacking people? I heard more stories last night. Bodies found, half eaten, in bug nests.’ whispered Karma.

‘Who knows? My theory is instinct made the bugs avoid us for thousands of years but I think they are starting to realize that as they’ve got bigger, we’ve started to look smaller and less able to swat them.’ He looked around him again just as they heard the rhythmic tuc-tuc of an approaching riverboat.

‘Finally.’ said Karma with relief. She jumped up and ran to the pier edge. A young man on the riverboat threw her a rope. She tied it up as the riverboat pulled in to the pier. The young man opened a gate and lowered a metal gangway. As soon as the gangway came down they hopped on with relief. Dex walked with Karma to the front of the boat and took a deep breath. The riverboat pulled away and headed up the river between busy quays full of traders, their carts and bustling crowds. Ragged men in small currachs slowly moved out of the way of the bigger riverboat. Some contained whole families huddling in improvised tents.

‘Ah, the sun is shining and the air is actually fresh-ish, I can even smell the Guinness brewing.’ Said Dex cheerily.

‘They’ve just burned the hops at the brewery. But I guess this does count as a good day by Irish standards.’ muttered Karma grudgingly.

‘More new bunting. It is not as if the entire country has forgotten the fecking thing.’ she pointed at the line of bright flags billowing all along the river in the morning breeze.

‘We will be able to get off work to attend though. The last Eucharistic Congress was generations ago. The pope’s not even been seen for 10 years or something.’ Said Dex.

‘It is not like we are off work at all, day off my arse.’ groaned Karma. ‘I am not even awake yet, I don’t have the energy to argue with you.’