The loose strands tickled against her like a thousand bugs crawling all over her body. And no matter how much she rubbed at her arms, her hair, her face, the feeling wouldn’t go away.
A light appeared, casting a shadow against the clogging ropes, and the patterning askew. Kat rushed forward with her stomach in her throat.
Clawing, grasping, tugging, and panting until she reached the end.
Her eyes jumped around to stare at the room before her, the helm of the ship, the bridge, as her palms continued to brush off the invisible critters dancing on her skin.
A web. It’s a web.Her eyes caught hold of something large moving above her.
Eight limbs, four arms, and four legs crawled from the corner with a thick length of long, silky black hair. Her back hit the bulky wall.
A face that looked like a skull, inhuman, with an extended metal jaw came next.
Sharp, dagger-like teeth flashed at her, dripping venom at the mouth only to pull taut at sun-bleached, phantom-like skin. It crept until it was directly overhead and the hair she knew so well fell in front of her.
“Dommik,” Kat whispered to the-not-quite-a-spider, not-quite-a-man monstrosity staring down at her. “Come down,” she gulped. “And talk to me.” Her bladder had never felt so heavy.
The jaw shifted back into a beautifully tragic face.
“You’re not afraid of me?” he snarled, his deep voice no more than a hiss between metal teeth.
Her gut flipped. “Should I be?” She squeezed her hands into fists, refusing to look away from him. “Is this...this is why I’m not allowed above? I understand now. I’m not afraid of you.” Kat reached up and brushed her fingers through his hair to cup his head and pull him down to her. “Please come down.”
She watched as Dommik’s jaw shifted back into his head, soon followed by his legs that in turn landed like thunder before her, his extra arms went next until he was wholly humanoid again. Kat reached out to him but pulled her hands away, uncertain.
“That is my true form. My other half that powers a third of my mind, body, and machinery. I’m a spider. A Cyborg. A man. And each part of me, each piece of me wants to control. My DNA is not human and the child I seeded inside of you will not be entirely human as well.”
Kat instinctively rounded her belly. “Will it be unwell?” The question tasted sour on her tongue. The thought of her baby being sickly scared her.
He crouched to his knees his arms rested over his thighs as he looped the cord around his palm. “No. It has nanocells running through its veins. Our baby will be perfect and if we’re lucky will have your hair and your eyes.”
Kat felt relieved and stifled at the same time. “I like your hair and eyes too.”
Dommik smirked up at her with a devilish twist. “Thank you.”
She released her breath and stepped away from him to wander around the helm. The panoramic view of the universe was left alone as she eyed the console and the captain’s chair with worn leather caved in. It was dark like the rest of the ship but was brightened by the stars and the same silver aura. The webbing was all around her but unlike the rest of the passageway, there were piles of unused rope about and cigar butts lying in a tray. Kat could feel Dommik’s eyes on her as she explored.
She turned full circle but was unable to find a second door. “How do your androids get to you?”
“They don’t. They can’t right now. The hallway is barred off and has been these past two weeks.”
Kat turned to him. “Because of me?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sorry.”
“I know. I was hoping you would come to me sooner. The wait has been miserable but now...now you’ve seen all of me.” His hand waved around the room. “I have nothing left to hide.”
She looked around the space again and up at the intricate webbing. At the dips and grooves between numerous metal brackets and the bizarre geometrical shapes throughout. It was beautiful and dreadful. But as she continued to stare at it, she found that she wasn’t afraid of it or of him. It made her sad.
“Is this why you’re alone?”
Dommik stood up and came to her. “No.”
“Then why?”
“I hate the way people smell.”
