Spider-Bots Rising

Chapter Eleven: Nigel's Path

"Nab us!" Chuck shouted, raising his fists. "Who says you nabbed us? You ain't nabbin' nothin' without a fight and a sack big enough for these ears!" He started switching his feet back and forth like a boxer.

The floating fish watched him, calmly. "Oh I am sorry," the fish said kindly. "Terribly poor choice of words on my part. I only meant that I'm jolly glad I found you!" His voice made the Dreamseeker think of teacups and silk ties.

"Why. Were. You. Looking. For. Us?" Abby asked. She wasn't in a fighting stance like Chuck. But she wasn't coming any closer to the fish either. "Who are y-you?"

"Of course! How rude of me!" the fish cried cheerfully. "I am Nigel." He did a sort of mid-air bow and swept his tail grandly to one side. "Nigel Smitherington Humperdink, to be exact. I am a betta fish dreamt by a small boy in the hills of Yemen. Which is odd, since my species of betta fish is native to the far shores of Cambodia. What a creative lad that small boy was! It boggles the mind! Isn't it wonderful how–"

The Dreamseeker cut him off. "What do you mean that we don't have much time?" For someone in a hurry, she thought, this fish sure does like to talk.

"Right you are!" he said. "We are rather in a hurry. The spider-bots are sending a swarm here now. Your destruction of their nest has not gone unnoticed. Aranay was a top bot and the Queen will not be pleased that he's gone. We must leave at once." He said it all very matter of factly, even cheerfully.

The Queen? Who's the Queen? the Dreamseeker wondered. But there was no time to ask questions. Fear was building inside her as she imagined hundreds of spider-bots running towards them.

"Where can we go?" she asked, looking to Nigel.

"Hang on a sec, buddy," Chuck cut in. "How do we know that this is all for real? We don't know ya from a hole in da ground. How do we know this ain't some kinda trap? How do we know there's even really spider-bots comin'?"

But before Nigel could respond, Chuck's last question was answered for him.

Far off in the distance, they heard a faint rumbling sound. As the sound grew closer, it grew louder and clearer. It was the sound of sharp metal legs pounding into the forest floor. It was the sound of a thousand hurried footsteps. As the roar of those footsteps drew nearer, another horrible sound became clear. The metallic clicking of pincers.

"Quick!" Nigel called, sounding worried for the first time. "We've got to get back into the tunnel! The bots' sensors can't pick up signals under the ground. They won't be able to hear us down there!" He waved a fin at the hole in the ground where he had just wriggled out.

"Ch-Ch-Chuck is right," Abby said. "Never. Thought. I. Would. Say. That. But we do not know the motives of this fish. It would be unwise to f-follow him."

The clicking sound was getting louder. The Dreamseeker could see the leaves of the trees start to tremble.

She looked into Nigel's big bulging eyes. Then she looked at the others.

"There's no time to worry about that now," she said. "We'll never be able to move fast enough to outrun the bots above ground. Nigel, you lead the way. And if you try anything shady, you might never come out of that tunnel. Got it?"

"Excellent! Sure thing! Lovely!" Nigel cried. He leapt higher into the air and dove back down into the hole. He swam in fast little circles in the dirt, widening the tunnel opening to fit everyone. When it was wide enough, Nigel disappeared into the darkness below. The Dreamseeker followed, with Abby and Chuck close behind her. Nigel smacked his lips again, and the hole closed behind them with a POP.

The tunnel sloped down at a steep angle, almost like some kind of dirt covered slide. They slipped and slid their way down, the darkness rushing past them. After a short while, the tunnel evened out and they stopped sliding. They stood up. But there was only darkness all around.

The only thing the Dreamseeker could see was Nigel floating in front of her. Down here in the tunnel, he let off a faint sort of light. Above ground his body had been a deep dark purple. But down here, his scales shone neon violet. Where his tail had been a rich crimson, it was now a shocking, glowing pink.

In the dim light coming off Nigel, the Dreamseeker could see Abby and Chuck behind her. Abby's red eyes gleamed. Chuck's pointed ears brushed against the top of the tunnel.

Just then thousands of quick footsteps thundered overhead. Clumps of dirt came loose from the ceiling.

"We'd better be off," Nigel said. He turned and swam off through the air into the darkness before them. The others followed.

"Nigel," the Dreamseeker said, jogging a bit to catch up to him. "How did the spider-bots know that something had happened to Aranay? How did they know so quickly that their dwell had been destroyed?"

"The World Wide Web, of course," Nigel replied. "The Web invisibly connects all of the spider-bots together. They can share information across vast distances in a split second! When something happens to one of them, they all know instantly. As if they all share one brain. That's the problem, I'm afraid..."

"What's the problem?" the Dreamseeker asked.

Nigel sighed. "The idea of the World Wide Web isn't new. There were always myths and stories about such a network, but most people believed it was just that: a story. The sharing of information is very powerful. But people felt it might be magic too powerful for the Dreamscape. The magic of technology is indeed a special kind of magic. It could do a lot of good in the Dreamscape. But nobody has actually attempted to build it before now. There have always been...concerns... about what might happen." Nigel peered back at the Dreamseeker out of the corner of his eye. "Dark things. And now there are rumors that those dark things may come to pass."

"What sort of dark things? What is coming to pass?" The Dreamseeker was getting tired of asking so many questions. She wondered if she would ever feel like she knew what was going on.

"It's hard to say, exactly," Nigel went on, slowly. "I have been tracking the building of the World Wide Web for some time now. But it is difficult to get close to the spider-bots. It seems that the Web, the connection it creates between them, it does something to their minds. Changes them. Perhaps even damages them. That's why some people call the World Wide Web 'The Net'. Because it can be a trap. " Nigel paused, as though holding something back. "And the spider-bots aren't looking to keep this technology to themselves. They want it to spread. And if it does, every mind in the Dreamscape is in danger."

The Dreamseeker was quiet for a moment, letting it all sink in. She didn't know what to say. "Where does this tunnel lead?" she asked quietly.

"To the canyon," Nigel said. "To the middle of all this darkness and mess. To the only place where it can all be stopped." He looked back at her and a small smile flitted across his face. "We're going to see the Queen."