Of Men and Spiders

After a rather...fitful night's sleep, Scott had some decisions to make. For instance, did he still want to move? As disturbing as the nightmare-inducing spider monsters were, they at least seemed somewhat benign. After all, they'd had Scott and Alice at their mercy and just let them go. But who's to say that wouldn't change if there was ever a famine of some sort?

Scott sighed. On the other hand, if the planetary assessment somehow missed these giant spider monsters, who's to say what other predators it had missed? At least these spiders meant the possibility of there being other major predators was significantly reduced. Better the devil you know, and all that. But if he was going to remain, he would at least build himself and his sister better protection from the spiders so they couldn't just come and go as they wished. That meant he needed more tools than his simple pocket knife, and that meant he had a lot more work ahead of him.

However, the first thing Scott did was go and check some of his traps again. Sure enough, almost all of them had caught more prey. They were far more effective than he would have thought possible, but at least the presence of so much food meant Scott could focus more on his other projects. He didn't even bother to reset the traps this time. By the time he'd dried this meat, he and his sister would be set for several weeks.

Several times while he was doing his rounds, Scott got the uncomfortable feeling of being watched, and every time he'd turn around, there would be one of those spider monsters. He didn't know if he should be relieved or worried that they were making less effort to hide. Scott eventually resolved to keep his spear close but otherwise pretend they weren't there.

Once again, Scott started drying the meat, but this time, he also laid the skins out in the sun to cure and set aside some of the fat to be rubbed into the skins as they dried. Then he decided to take advantage of the long wait and make himself a crude hand axe. As near as he was to the creek, finding some flint to do the job was simple. He chose a piece long enough that part of it could be used as a handle so he'd have a better grip. Then, using another rock, he banged the edges until he had a usable blade.

Turning around, Scott saw one of the smaller spider monsters with something like a hundred eyes he'd first noticed in the tunnel standing near the drying leather. Using a stick, he gently prodded it. "Hey, get away from that! Shoo! Shoo!"

The spider obediently backed away but stayed near, seemingly content to sit and watch. That's when it struck Scott. He hadn't reached for his spear. He'd just grabbed a small stick and shooed away a spider monster that belonged in some eldritchian horror story as if it was some sort of inquisitive cat. He was so dumbfounded at the odd change in his life's direction and resulting perspectives that he took a moment to just sit down and process things for a minute. Since his mom's... disappearance and his resulting struggle for survival, he'd been constantly pushed to the limit, peaking in his exploration of the fleshy spider caves. Honestly, it was exhausting to think of everything that had happened, and a part of him wondered if he'd just gone crazy along the way. Certainly, if anyone had relayed a similar tale to Scott, he would have assumed that person had lost their mind. Maybe...

His sister's laughter drew Scott out of his introspection. He smiled at the sound and looked over to see what odd thing she'd decided was a new game, only to see her riding on the back of one of the larger spider monsters like it was some kind of pony. That made Scott stop for a moment before he shouted out. "Hey, get off that thing!"

-

She was pleased with the change in demeanor from her two tool users. The female had noticed She several times, but rather than run or challenge her as it had before, it simply looked at its sharpened stick before going back to what it was doing, but even better than that was the male.

The male tool user seemed to accept She as a member of its pack now. It was vibrating at She so much that She was getting plenty of samples of their language to analyze, and her translation was progressing faster than ever. Additionally, the male seemed content to grab hold of She and lead her around as it went about its daily tasks. Unlike the female, most of the male's tasks were harder to discern the meaning of, but at least he seemed more comfortable around She than ever. At one point, he even climbed on top of one of her hands, producing rhythmic vibrations that She still could not grasp the context of, though after the female vibrated toward the male, that ended with the male climbing down.

Speaking of esoteric tasks, She watched as the female laid out the dermal layer of the carcasses it had recovered from its traps. She thought the outer flesh was of little nutritional value to the tool users, but it seemed to have some purpose in mind. However, when She approached to get a closer look, the female made it clear that She wasn't to interfere with whatever process was being undergone.

What was more fascinating was when the female tool user began using basic tools to craft more advanced tools. It searched through the water until it found a stone with specific characteristics. She could not immediately tell what was so important about this stone, but then the tool user started banging another rock against it, forcing parts of its chosen stone to chip off. It repeated this until it had a pointed edge along half the stone face. Then, the tool user wrapped the dried skins it had left in the sun around the dull portion of the stone and tied it in place with the fibrous materials it had twisted together, forming a handle that provided a considerably better grip.

She was impressed with the number of steps involved in this tool's creation. This level of complexity once again displayed a level of problem-solving far beyond her original estimations of the tool user's intelligence, and She wondered what its purpose was, but thankfully, She didn't have to wait long.

The female took its new tool and started using it to chop at several smaller saplings in the area. It cut through the wood far more effectively than the smaller purified stone the tool user kept in the folds of its fibrous coverings, allowing it to cut much thicker wood than it could before. It focused on long and straight growths, going so far as to chop off any branches coming off them. It replanted the trunks of the trees into the ground, forming a large square, with two sides set up with many smaller sticks all of the same height, but the other side steadily gaining in elevation with a peak near the center. When completed, it took more sticks and started attaching them to the replanted sticks using the twisted fiber material from before until there were several bars of different heights across the tops of the posts, to which the female then attached even more sticks, forming what looked like a series of triangles on top of the square base.

The tool user then lashed on more vertical sticks, creating what She could only assume was a frame of some kind. Assuming it would attach more branches and leaves to the exterior, this was quite an ingenious construction. It would offer similar protection to the tool users' much simpler conical structure while allowing for more space and structural integrity.

However, instead of putting up leaves, the tool user picked out some large flat stones near the flowing water and placed them around the structure's base. This was much more labor intensive than the leaves, and She was wondering just how it would stack the rocks so it was stable, but at the very least, it meant this was much more sturdy than leaves and branches.

This likely meant the tool users had decided to make this a permanent residence. An idea She was most pleased with! It meant her further investment into a new, more refined vibration-producing appendage would likely be a worthwhile effort of time and materials. This one would vibrate more precisely and with ranges that were closer to that of the tool users. It had been a lot of effort, but it would only take a little longer to finish.

However, then the tool user did something that confused She. It started mixing fibrous plant growth into mud gathered from the flowing water, then patted it over the stones and covered it on all sides, with a heavy layer on top. Then, the female placed more rocks on top of that mud and repeated the process, building walls up to the top of the frame. Didn't it realize the soil would wash away the first time it rained?

-

Alice ran in and out of their new home laughing. "It's just like a playhouse back home but made out of mud!"

Scott grinned. "Well, it's more than mud. The fiber I mixed in will harden it to something more like brick, but otherwise, yeah."

Alice looked at the open roof and frowned. "Are you going to put mud on the roof too?"

Scott also looked up, knowing the next step would take longer. "Something like that, but a bit more...refined. Today's been a long day already, so what say we call it a night and get back to this in the morning!"

Alice soured just a little. "Does that mean we have to sleep in the leaf tent again tonight?"

Scott chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, it'll have to do for another night or two, but don't worry, we'll have a proper house again soon, even if it's a little small!"