Spider-Bots Rising

Chapter Twelve: The Desert

The party tramped on through the tunnel for a long time. But the tunnel was dark and narrow so it was hard to say how far they walked. Or how much farther there was to go. The sound of the spider-bots' footsteps had faded away some time ago.

As they went, Nigel told them about Queen Arachni.

"Spider-bots are a hive revery. That means they have a society of their own. A society that is not ruled or advised by The Council," Nigel said. Somehow he sounded even more English when he was explaining things. "Their society is ruled by a queen: Queen Arachni."

"Hey, yeah, I've heard of her!" Chuck called from the back of the group. "She's supposed to be a real piece a work! A no-nonsense type of gal."

Nigel pursed his lips a little at this. "Indeed," he said. "She is very strong, and very smart. And all reports say that she will do anything to get her way. Isn't that right, Abby?"

"Y-yes," Abby replied. "All spider-bots know of Queen Arachni. Every new spider-bot is made to protect her. T-to do her b-b-bidding. But most bots never meet her. I was n-never sure she was real. Often she is spoken of as an idea. Like. A. Threat." Abby's broken sensor began flashing again. "B-before I left my nest, the bots used to tease me. They s-s-said if my glitch was n-n-not fixed, Queen Arachni would e-e-eat me up. Queen Arachni does not like weaklings, they said."

"Well it was their mistake to think you were a weakling," the Dreamseeker said.

"But I'm afraid they were right about the Queen," Nigel added. "She is dangerous in the extreme. She is not known to have ever shown pity or mercy. And she is certainly at the middle of this. So it is her that we must defeat."

"Oh Goodie," mumbled Chuck.

After a while the Dreamseeker felt the pathway begin to rise. It was getting steeper. They seemed to be climbing back towards the surface. Finally, the Dreamseeker saw Nigel's bright glowing tail disappear just ahead of her. She followed him and found a round opening pointing up at the sky. She climbed out and was followed by Abby and Chuck.

They found themselves standing on a wide open desert plain. In every direction the plain was vast and flat. In the distance the Dreamseeker could see towering walls of rust colored rock. There were no trees, and the ground was hard, cracked, and covered in fine reddish dust. A whistling wind spun the dust into graceful spirals. Except for them, it seemed to be empty.

"Where. Are. We?" Abby asked.

"The desert," Nigel answered simply. Out of the total darkness now, Nigel's colors had returned to normal. "Queen Arachni has gathered her forces in the canyon." He waved a fin toward the distant horizon. "This is the last free part of the Dreamscape before we reach the canyon. I thought that perhaps we could camp here."

"Okay, okay, time out my fishy friend," Chuck said coming forward. "I still need a couple a questions answered before we start takin' orders from you."

"Goodness!" said Nigel, flustered. "I didn't mean to be giving orders! I simply thought–"

"Yeah, yeah," Chuck said, brushing him off. "You helped us escape that bot swarm. I can see dat, and I'm grateful, believe me. But I wanna know how you knew where to find us in the first place. And I wanna know how it is you know so much about all this World Wide Web stuff!"

The Dreamseeker looked to Nigel, curious to hear his answers. Why didn't I think to ask him that? she wondered. I just trusted him. Was that a mistake?

Nigel straightened up and fanned out his tail. The Dreamseeker had to admit that he looked impressive.

"In the Dreamscape, there are ways of communicating without The Net. There are ways of tracking someone without sharing a brain. They are less sure, perhaps, but they are safe. And The Council certainly knows how to use them. They told me you three were coming, and what you were trying to do. I knew I could help. So I found you."

"And why exactly is The Council keeping you in the loop with all this?" Chuck asked. "Last time I checked they sent the Dreamseeker here on this quest. How is it that you have all this insider info about The Net and such, but we've never heard of ya?"

"I have been tracking stories about The Net for a long, long time," Nigel continued. "As I told you before, my species is from Cambodia but I am from Yemen. I have never fit in well with the dreams from either place. When I first heard about the World Wide Web, I was excited. I thought that the total freedom to share information would lead to a sense of connection! I thought that perhaps through The Net I could find a place to belong. But in my years of searching I have found that things are more complicated than that." His fins wilted slightly. "When I heard of the spider-bots' plans, I knew I had to do something. Your quest is to defeat the spider-bots, Dreamseeker. My quest is to help you."

They all stood in silence for a moment. The wind whistled again and fluttered Nigel's fins. Then Chuck cleared his throat.

"Alrighty," he said. "Sounds good to me. But y'know, a guy's gotta check these things..."

After that they agreed to set up camp and get some rest. The Dreamseeker suddenly noticed just how tired she was. They decided to look for shelter along the large rock formation in the distance.

As they walked towards it, the Dreamseeker thought about everything they had done. What if The Council had made a mistake? she thought. What if I never was the right person to take on this quest? I don't know nearly as much about The Net as Nigel does. And Chuck is so much more careful than I am. Abby is so smart and knows more about the spider-bots than I ever will. Why was I chosen as the Dreamseeker to take on Queen Arachni? What do I have to offer that's so great? And what if I fail... Even the idea of it made her stomach flip over. Luckily her train of thought was interrupted by Nigel as they reached the rugged rock face.

"We had better try to find a cave a little higher up," he said. He looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were rolling slowly towards them from the horizon. In some places they were purple, tinged with a sickly green. In other places they looked almost black. "A storm is coming."