Of Men and Spiders

Scott wasn't sure if he was amazed or concerned, but every one of the plant samples Charlotte had chosen had proven safe to eat. Taking it a step further, he even tested some of the plants she'd indicated were mildly irritating to them, and sure enough, his skin showed a reaction shortly after contact. Of course, he stopped testing them at that point.

Charlotte's grasp of Basic was also growing by leaps and bounds. While he couldn't say she sounded like a native, most of the time, her sentences were relatively clear, though she still needed the occasional word defined. She was obviously more intelligent than he'd first assumed, possibly more so than he. Given his lack of other natural advantages, that was somewhat...disconcerting.

At least she still seemed content with the role of friendly neighbor. As far as Scott could tell, she seemed to genuinely enjoy interacting with Alice in particular. However, that could be because Alice was more trusting from the get-go.

At the moment, Alice was riding on the back of Charlotte as the spider woman galloped around the clearing they'd built their home in. His sister was hooting and laughing while Scott shook his head. Seeing the way Charlotte's legs moved still creeped him out somewhat. Something he was starting to actually feel bad about, though thousands of years of instinct was not something one could overcome quickly or easily.

Still, at least Alice seemed to be having a good time. However, Scott had to keep himself from reacting defensively when Charlotte all but skidded to a halt in front of him before helping Alice down to the ground.

It was easy to forget just how much larger than him the spider woman was, but this close, all delusions fell away. However, it was hard to be too scared when Alice was laughing and giggling while shouting, "More! More!"

For her part, Charlotte just shook her head. Her motions were still more jerky than a human's, giving everything she did a minor uncanny valley feeling as she spoke. "Later Alice. This body was not designed with that much endurance in mind. It will take a lot of food to recover from that activity. Besides, I want to see what Scott is doing."

Scott couldn't fathom why she always showed so much interest in whatever project he was working on. This one wasn't even as complicated as some of the rest. Still, at least it was Charlotte looking and not one of "Charlotte's eyes." Those things still freaked him out a little. No animal had any business having that many eyes on it. Spiders already had too many, with eight. Increasing that amount by a factor of ten was just plain overkill!

Charlotte watched him work for a moment before explaining. "Oh, I remember that! That's the same sticky mud from before! The stuff you used for the roof tiles!"

Scott nodded. "Yes, although it's not mud. Well, I suppose it is, kind of, but there are fewer particulates in it than ordinary mud, and it's much better for this kind of work. We call it clay."

The large spider woman leaned closer as he kneaded the clay together. "Why do you mush the clay together like that?"

Scott continued working the clay as he spoke. "I need to make sure I mix in any dry lumps with the rest of it and work out any air bubbles. Air expands faster than clay when heated, and if there are any bubbles in the clay when I cook it, it could explode."

Charlotte continued watching as Scott took the finished product, pulled off a lump, and started pinching around the sides, slowly creating a lip, tilting her head from one side to the other. Scott couldn't tell if she was trying to get a better view or simply moving out of habit. However, Scott knew the silence wouldn't last long with her. It never did.

As if on cue, Charlotte asked the question he knew was coming. "What are you making?"

Scott kept working as he answered. "Bowls. This is the simplest and most reliable way I know of to make them. They won't look nice, but they'll do the job, and that's the important part." He laughed. "You know, I remember making things like this back in school... I always thought it was a waste of time, but then again, a lot of things I thought were a waste have come in surprisingly handy out here."

Charlotte shifted her attention from the bowls to Scott's face. With three sets of eyes, she still had too many eyes as far as Scott was concerned, but it was far better than those eye spiders. However, Charlotte was either unaware or unconcerned with his discomfort as she asked. "What's a bowl?"

In answer, Scott held up the first finished bowl. He'd smoothed down the sides so it didn't look too bad. Of course, he was still well aware of many imperfections, but overworking the clay could cause almost as many issues as underworking it, and besides, he was looking for functionality, not beauty. "This is a bowl. Once I cook it, it'll be able to hold water effectively. Now that we've got meat and vegetables, I think it's time for us to start making soup. It'll be a nice change of pace from roasted meat all day, every day!"

As he started working on another bowl, Charlotte tilted her head back and forth again, and Scott braced himself for the next in a never-ending barrage of questions. It didn't take long for her to deliver on that expectation. "What's soup?"

Scott smiled a little at the thought of something new to eat. "Soup is when you take various ingredients, often meat and vegetables, put them in water, and boil it all so the flavors mix. It tastes good, warms you up, and provides a wider variety of nutrients than just one or the other. It's perfect on a cold or rainy day, but right now, I'll happily have some just for a change of pace!"

After a few more moments of silence, Charlotte spoke up again. "What's school?"

Scott sighed. He probably shouldn't have mentioned that, as it was a bit complicated to explain, but he supposed he could at least give it a try. "School is a place where we, humans, go when we're young to learn. People who specialize in different areas of education, like math, grammar, or science, teach us a little of what they know. As we grow older, we pick specializations and focus on those as we grow up until we can make a living working in that field."

Charlotte tilted her head to the side again. "So you don't learn everything?"

Scott laughed a little. After finishing his last bowl, he started making coils and layering them to make a bigger pot for cooking while he explained. "No, there's far too much knowledge for any one person to know. Even in one subject, so as you split off, you focus more and more on your particular area of expertise."

Charlotte didn't even wait to process the information this time. "How many areas of expertise are there?"

Scott sat back, thinking. "Honestly? I don't know. Once you get specialized enough, there are thousands, maybe even millions."

As he added another coil to the pot, Charlotte tilted her head again. "Why are you making this one different?"

Scott smoothed the edges together as he explained. "Because this one is going to be bigger, and it's going to need a lid, so I can't just pinch it up like I did with the bowls. I'm making this one to cook the soup, which will be poured into the smaller bowls for eating."

Charlotte nodded, seemingly satisfied with that explanation, then shifted gears back to an earlier subject. "How many are millions?"

Scott stopped and blinked a moment, tilting his own head before deciding how best to answer. "Okay, you know how many ten is, right?" He drew ten dots on the ground and drew a circle around them." If you take ten groups of ten, you have a hundred." He drew ten circles and put those in a square. "Then, if you take a hundred groups of a hundred, you get ten thousand. "He drew a large square, with lines bisecting it, making ten smaller squares along the side and bottom. "Then, if you take a hundred of those, you have a million."

Charlotte stood absolutely still for once. Scott was worried his explanation was a little too complex for her, but then she spoke again. "And there are a million humans?"

Scott shook his head. "Oh no, there are many more than that. There are thousands of cities with millions of people and millions more who live in smaller communities."

Charlotte stared at Scott a moment before speaking again. "Why are there not millions of humans here?"

Scott smiled sadly as he looked around. "Well, we come from a faraway land. We were only supposed to visit here and then head back home, but we got stranded. This place was intentionally left uninhabited so we could visit somewhere quiet and secluded in small numbers. It's meant to be a place of rest and relaxation, though it hasn't really been either for us..."

After finishing up the pot, Scot started making a lid when Charlotte asked. "Why don't you go back then?"

Scott clenched his jaw, fighting back some unbidden tears. After a moment, the urge passed, and he smiled sadly. "We would love to, but like I said, we're stranded. We don't have the knowledge or ability to get home. Our parents were going to take us back, but now our mom is...dead, and who knows if or when Alice's dad will show up... So, I'm just doing my best to survive until we figure something out. Thankfully, the specialization I started learning prepared me somewhat for this, but not enough to get us out of here..."

Charlotte was silent for a couple of minutes this time, and Scott was about to get some firewood when she asked her next question. "What's a mom and dad?"

That one hit Scott hard enough that he couldn't quite fight off the emotions. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself while he wiped away the tears, leaving streaks of clay across his face as he did so. "A mom and dad are adults with kids, like Alice...and me, I guess. They're supposed to protect and educate their kids, preparing them for adulthood, but it doesn't always work out. Sometimes the kids have to protect and educate themselves, or each other..."

Scott sniffed, squared his jaw, and took another steadying breath. "Listen, that's enough questions for today. Go play with Alice for a bit... I need a moment to myself..."

Scott felt Charlotte's eyes on his back as he walked away to get some firewood. He hoped his sudden display of weakness wouldn't leave a lasting impression.

-

Charlotte watched Scott walk away with conflicting emotions. Millions of humans? All individuals? How can such a chaotic system work? Where did they all live? What would they do if they found her? Would they pose a threat to her survival? How much more advanced could a society of millions of these humans be, specializing in different tasks? How could there be that many tasks?

Then, there was the question of what to do with these two humans. Apparently, neither of them were fully grown. They were like young Shes, still dependent on their life giver but out on their own, building their own colony before they were ready. If humans were a threat, perhaps removing these two now would be wise. Given the number of humans Scott had spoken of, they surely wouldn't be missed...

And yet...Charlotte couldn't bring herself to consider that as a real possibility. Knowing how young and vulnerable they were somehow made her feel...more protective of them than before. It was an odd feeling, and She didn't fully understand it. But when Alice walked up to her and pulled her hand, asking her to come see this neat bug she'd found, Charlotte complied, following the tiny human, resolving to watch and protect the small one as needed.