The Spider Queen

(Unknown Starship – Fifth Floor)

(Holding Room)

The scent of blood filled the air as a headless corpse crashed to the ground motionless. No one dared to speak a word as the two monsters walked into the room with slow purposeful steps.

It was back.

The terrifying mercenary who had become a nightmare for the handful of survivors that remained after the massacre.

What was truly horrifying was its ability to copy itself and split into mirror images that were completely identical.

The sharp barbs at the ends of their blade-like appendages gleamed under the light.

It was a chilling reminder of the threat posed by the creature and its clones.

"Does anyone else want to try and kill us?" one of the figures whispered in a mocking tone.

A wave of bloodlust radiated outwards and soon beads of sweat began to appear on the foreheads of the survivors.

It took all of their strength not to collapse in the face of such monstrous killing intent.

"Relax…. we can't break them," the other figure spoke and placed a firm hand on the shoulder of her companion.

Sophie's clone realised her mistake and quickly hid her bloodlust.

There was an important mission to be done.

This was a key moment that would decide if they would be able to leave the planet.

Sophie's clone could only pray that the humanoid alien that she had just killed was not the pilot.

Both hybrid girls in the room were made from the Rsychosis technique since the original Sophie was currently in the spaceship hangar waiting for their arrival.

The other two clones were in charge of setting explosive devices in the engine room with timers that would go off three days later.

Detonating high class explosives near the warp core would completely disable the starship and hopefully provide a distraction for the rescuers when they arrive.

Despite what the scared aliens in the room might think…

Sophie did not plan on killing all of them.

The fight with Captain Dawn and the previous massacre had left a bad taste in her mouth so she ordered the clones to leave enough food and water in the holding room for the survivors to live.

It wasn't a foolish decision since Sophie also prepared a back hand by leaving behind a false clue to throw any future pursers off their trail.

For this misinformation to be effective, she needed the survivors to leak it out to the rescuers.

"The sacrifices that are chosen today will be picked using a slightly different method than before," one of Sophie's clones snarled.

Tension filled the air as the room fell completely silent.

The two copies were in no hurry to break this hostile atmosphere because this was exactly as they predicted.

One minute passed….

Two minutes passed….

Five minutes passed….

Sophie's clones continued to pretend to contemplate while the survivors did not have the courage to even move a muscle.

Finally, one of the clones broke the silence and pointed at a random survivor who was shivering against the wall.

He was missing an arm and his wound was hastily bandaged using cloth that had been torn off his robe.

Getting proper medical help in the holding room was impossible and it appeared that the Stukuins race did not possess a healing factor.

"I figured out what game we are going to play today!" Sophie's clone yelled joyfully.

She clapped her hands in excitement and spun around like a little girl.

It would have been a cute sight if not for the blood that was still dripping from the tip of her blade-like appendage or the terrifying fangs that extended outwards.

The best tactic to use when engaging in psychological manipulation is to be unpredictable.

The level of fear and tension in your victim's mind could be maintained by constantly keeping them guessing.

Most intelligent lifeforms assume the worst in dangerous situations.

The fear of the unknown is more potent than stating your goals and threats out loud.

Sophie's mirror image bared her fangs and smiled before speaking, "We will choose two or three sacrifices based on what job you have!"

"What a lovely suggestion!" the other clone followed her lead and also tried to mimic the high enthusiasm in her companion's voice.

"Why don't we start from the back? Whoever I point at must say their name and then what job they have on the starship," Sophie's copy loudly declared.

The unlucky survivor looked around the room for some support but none of his fellow crewmates would look him in the eye.

Everyone just tried their best to prevent the gazes of the two sadistic tormentors from falling on their bodies.

"My… my… name is Lisetera… and I… I work in security," Lisetera spoke with a clear quiver in her voice.

An unhappy look flashed across the faces of the two monsters and Lisetera could feel her heart begin to race.

It was over.

She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst but nothing happened.

One of the creatures pointed at another survivor and then the cycle continued.

"They call me Electera and I….

"I'm just an engineer…"

"Please… I only do data entry… please… let me live.."

The thought of lying did not even cross the minds of the survivors and they honestly spoke about their positions onboard the vessel.

There were two reasons for this.

The first being that the seeds of fear that Sophie had planted in their hearts had already taken root in their psyche.

The second reason was that no one knew which jobs would lead to them being selected as the next sacrifice.

It was better to be truthful than to take a risk.

Sophie's clones kept the playful grins on their faces but secretly they were both feeling a bit flustered.

With every job that was called, their expectations turned to disappointment. Was it possible that all the pilots were dead?

In that case… what would be the new plan?

One of the copies wanted to send a mental message to Sophie through the network but was stopped by the other clone in the room.

There was no need to panic yet.

Wait until everyone in the room had spoken and then they would decide what to do depending on the situation.

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Sophie's clones kept pointing at random survivors in the room.

Again, and again their fingers would stretch outwards to select a new survivor until only a handful remained.

Until finally…. several voices said the words that the copies had been waiting for.

"Lt. Shirren…I am an officer in charge of ship navigation and piloting."

"I… I'm a trainee pilot.. my name is… Penshese."