Of Men and Spiders

Charlotte was watching Alice splash around in the water of the creek. Usually, Scott said that Alice could only use the creek when he was around to supervise, but when Alice asked this time if he'd let her swim so long as Charlotte was around, he shrugged and said, "Why not? So long as you don't mind keeping an eye on her, Charlotte?"

While Charlotte knew she could effectively watch Alice with her eyes and hands, she decided that since this was the first time Scott had trusted her directly with Alice's wellbeing, she'd keep her listening and speaking appendage on hand just in case. That means She could only watch Scott using her eyes, and limited her ability to question why he was splitting a long stick partway down and digging out a groove in the middle of the split or why he was sharpening a short log and cutting an inverted groove near the blunt end of his creation.

Meanwhile, Alice splashed about, occasionally showing Charlotte a "cool bug" or a "neat rock." Apparently, the ritual here involved Charlotte acknowledging how cool or neat the find was, and then Alice would discard the important discovery to search for another. While Charlotte learned much less about tools and their many applications from Alice, watching the younger girl was still a surprisingly enjoyable task.

However, after splashing about in the water for a while, Alice started gathering sticks. Charlotte tilted her head to get a better look at what Alice was doing. The smaller female seemed to be looking specifically for small dead sticks that could be found all around the trees near their camp. At first, she ran the sticks over to a pile they were keeping near the hut, but eventually, she stopped, Looked at Charlotte, then walked over and handed her a fistful of sticks. "Here. Hold these."

Charlotte complied as she spoke to the small female. "Why are we gathering sticks?"

Alice kept picking up sticks as she answered. "Because Scott always needs small sticks to start his fires, and this way, he doesn't have to go looking for them tonight when he gets back."

The small female found a stick almost as big as she was and started pulling it over before looking at Charlotte. "Help me with this one."

Charlotte shifted her handfuls of small sticks to one hand, then reached down and easily dislodged the larger stick while following Alice back to the pile with her load. The pile in question was steadily growing due to their efforts.

After another couple of loads, Alice looked at their pile and nodded. "That should be enough for today!"

Charlotte examined the pile with doubt. "I suspect Scott would like a few more larger logs."

Alice nodded. "Yeah, but you can't get those without something to cut the wood, and Scott won't let me use his axe!"

Charlotte shifted her vision to the small girl. "I could always cut some wood if you don't think Scott would mind."

Alice nodded. "That would be great! It would save Scott a lot of time tonight!"

Charlotte nodded. "Then I'll bring over one of my other selves momentarily."

It was a small matter for Charlotte to awaken one of her blades. This appendage was usually left dormant, used only for the protection of essential appendages, but in her time with the tool users, She was starting to think of her selves more abstractly and how they could be used to solve problems they hadn't initially been designed for. After all, her selves were, in a very real way, her own tools.

Alice was teaching Charlotte an abstract contest of wills using representative symbols in the dirt called "tic-tac-toe" when the blade arrived at the clearing. The competition was quickly forgotten as the young girl walked up to Charlotte in awe. "It's so big!"

Speaking, Charlotte nodded. "Yes, I am. Now, please stand back, Alice. I wouldn't want any flying debris to hit you!" Charlotte reached out a hand with her speaking self as She'd seen Scott do on many occasions when Alice's attention was not properly focused. Alice dutifully took Charlotte's speaker's hand, but her eyes never left Charlotte's blade.

It was a simple matter for Charlotte to steady a log into place with her hands while She cut through the log with her blade. The mineral-reinforced bone blades cut through the log in one quick swing, and She repeated the action several times to make smaller, more manageable sections.

Meanwhile, in the forest where Scott was working, he was fitting the long stick and the sharpened log together at the grooves and was starting to bind them together using his twisted fiber. While the purpose behind the tool remained unanswered, it seemed to be nearing completion. Scott would probably begin heading back soon.

Alice was hopping in place and laughing while shouting, "Again! Again!" after every swing of her blade's arm. After a little while, they had a reasonably sizable pile of wood, and Alice got to go up and look at the blade again. Her face scratched up a little before she found a way to voice her thoughts. "So, whenever you need something, you just make a new body to do it, right?"

Charlotte nodded. "That's a simple way of putting it, but yes."

Alice thought some more. "But what about before that? Who made you? The first you?"

Charlotte thought back. There was a time when She'd existed as only a little more than an appendage to another. Though She'd been intentionally created with the ability to grow and learn beyond that, otherwise She'd have nothing to remember. "I came from another life-giver, much like you. I was raised to be a She, a self that is awake, a self that can think thoughts my life-giver did not think. I was created to think new thoughts that my life-giver could never think, to grow beyond what She was. When I'm ready, I will make my own She to grow beyond whatever limits I find for myself."

Alice looked at the ground and kicked it as she spoke, though her actions were without her usual exuberance. It was like she was moving just to move but otherwise lacking purpose. "Do you...do you miss your mom?"

Charlotte tilted her head to the side, looking at the young female in her care. "My 'mom' gave me everything She could and set me out into the world to grow and expand into whatever I could, but I had enough time to create an echo of her that goes with me wherever I go."

Alice was silent momentarily, and Charlotte could tell there was something else behind the young female's words. This seemed to be a common thing with humans. Given the limitations of vibration-based communication, many ideas were left only half expressed. Thinking of what the unspoken thought could be, Charlotte hazarded a guess. "However, if I had been taken away from her before I was adequately developed, I think that, yes, I would miss my mom. Do you miss your mom?"

Alice grabbed Charlotte's leg and started leaking saline from her eyes and making that drawn-out vibration that sounded like prolonged laughter but wasn't. Unsure what to do, Charlotte simply let the girl hold on tight and vibrate.

This went on for a while, but eventually, the girl slumped over and fell asleep. Unsure of what to do, Charlotte picked up the girl and walked her to the hut. The orifice was a little small for Charlotte's legs, so She just placed the small female as far inside as She could reach before sealing the orifice.

Meanwhile, Scott announced his return with some new shouted words Charlotte was unfamiliar with. He held his new stick and log combination, pointing it at her blade. After a moment, he turned his head and addressed speaker Charlotte, though he never took his eyes off blade Charlotte. "Tell me that...thing is another one of yours?"

Charlotte nodded. "Yes, that is Charlotte."

Scott still seemed weary of it, but he relaxed some of his more ridged muscles. "And what happens if you lose control of that...thing?"

Charlotte tilted her head to get a better look at his new tool. Perhaps it would help if She used his own body as an example? "I cannot lose control of my sharp-tool-self, just like you can't lose control of your hand. The greatest danger I could pose is if this part of Charlotte somehow became damaged and lost from the rest of me, it might fall over, potentially damaging whatever it fell on. But nothing nearby could cause that kind of damage, so it is of minimal concern."

Scott didn't seem ready to stop staring, but Charlotte had her own questions. "What's your new tool for?"

That finally snapped Scott out of whatever was on his mind as he looked at the tool, then Charlotte's speaking self, before sparing a final look at her blade self. "Oh, ummm...this? It's a hoe. I'm going to start a garden."

Charlotte wasn't sure what a garden was, but it sounded interesting...