The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Lunar Colony Renoran)

(Abazin Mining Corporation- Base Camp)

Qiana could not shake off a strange feeling of uneasiness as she headed for her tent and opened the flap that led to the inside.

Two days had passed since she had arrived on the lunar colony and from the outside it would appear as though everything was completely fine.

There had been no more accidents, none of the androids had been destroyed, production levels were up, and all the workers had been incredibly polite and respectful to her.

And yet…

Qiana could not help but feel as though this was the calm before the storm. The strange grin on Nadia's face and her burn marks…

A reminder? A reminder of what?

The young woman lay down on her sleeping bag and stared at the walls of the tent. She took off her glasses and rubbed them carefully with a loose piece of fabric from her pocket.

There was no need for a cultivator to wear glasses but at this point it was more of a force of habit for Qiana.

Besides cleaning them was always a way for her to relax and clear her thoughts.

The atmosphere around the base camp was mostly silent but Qiana could hear what sounded like a rustling noise coming from just outside her tent.

Someone or rather something was crawling around on the ground…

She froze in place and horrific dark marks began to crawl up the parts of her exposed skin. A cold look flashed across Qiana's face as she reached for the knife that was attached to her hip.

Just as the handle of the weapon was mere inches away from her outstretched hand, a horrific scream echoed through the night.

Qiana quickly burst through the flap of her tent and saw a frightened woman shivering uncontrollably.

"What's going on?" Qiana demanded roughly as she looked in the direction where the woman was staring but found nothing.

"Monster… I saw… a monster…" the woman stammered in shock as her fingers trembled and her face whitened with fear.

Qiana took a closer look at her outfit and discovered that the woman was one of the supervising miners who would go down to the pits to monitor the androids.

"What the hell?" a rough voice interrupted the woman's cries.

Carter strode out of a nearby tent with a plasma rifle held firmly in his hand.

He was not the only one to be affected by the scream and one by one the other members of the base camp peeked out of their tents.

"Monster… I saw a monster…" the frightened woman kept repeating as she stared at the area behind Qiana's tent.

Qiana narrowed her eyes and quietly extended her senses to cover her immediate surroundings.

Nothing.

She could not sense any living organisms or anything out of place.

"Monster? Were you fucking drinking again Olivia? Fuck man! How many times do I have to tell you to go easy on the bottle?!" Carter yelled in frustration as he clearly recognised the woman.

"Wait just a moment…" Qiana raised up her hand and cut off Carter's shouts.

"Let me check the security cameras to see if anyone or anything has managed to sneak into the camp."

"My lady… Olivia tends to see things when she drinks… there really is no need to check the security feed," Carter replied smoothly.

Ordinarily Qiana would agree with him because she could also smell the wine coming off Olivia's body but…

She had definitely heard a rustling noise…

"Are you disobeying my commands?" Qiana spoke coldly and silently released part of her inner cultivation.

The ground beneath her feet cracked slightly and the shadows behind her body began to move ever so slightly as if they were alive.

"Right this way my lady…" Carter replied fearfully as he gestured for Qiana to follow him to the large tent in the center of the base camp.

Carter stopped right outside of the entrance and opened the flap for Qiana to enter inside.

Nadia refused to let him inside the building even though he was one of the leaders of the mining operation.

If he had to get any information, then she would simply send it to him over the virtual Net via a secure data transfer link.

"My lady? You're here late…" Nadia yawned sleepily as she stretched out her arms.

Qiana's eyes briefly flicked over to the horrific burn marks that covered her skin before she focused her attention on her face.

"I need to see the security video feed of the last ten minutes of the area behind my tent," Qiana spoke bluntly.

"Sure… I guess…" Nadia shrugged her shoulders and stumbled over to the table in the middle of the room.

She powered on her wrist communicator and connected it to the surveillance system installed around key locations across the lunar colony.

"Not this one… not this one… oh here we go…" Nadia muttered quietly to herself as she tapped one of the buttons and a large holographic screen appeared in mid air.

Qiana watched patiently as the screen began to show the events of the last ten minutes of the area outside her tent.

Five minutes… nothing happened…

Six minutes… the screen trembled slightly for a moment and a distortion filled the screen before quickly disappearing.

Seven minutes… Olivia walked towards her tent, fell down on her backside and screamed at apparently nothing.

Eight minutes… Qiana left her tent and spoke to the frightened woman.

From there the events were just as she remembered.

Qiana frowned slightly as she remembered the distortion that filled the screen around the six-minute mark.

"What was that? Why did the screen briefly fill with static?" Qiana asked curiously.

"Oh, that's completely normal… sometimes brief solar flares from the nearby star will mess up the equipment…" Nadia explained calmly.

"It isn't really an issue because the android's have their own power cores and the video feeds are only affected for a few seconds at most."

Qiana tapped her fingers against the side of the table with numerous thoughts running through her mind.

Perhaps the rustling noise that she heard belonged to Olivia stumbling her way through the darkness…

But did the noise really sound like footsteps? Or was it more akin to something slithering on the ground?

"Thank you for your help," Qiana placed a warm hand on Nadia's shoulder and thanked her sincerely.

The small skinny woman turned and looked at her with an unreadable expression in her dark brown eyes.

"Not a problem at all young miss… the solution to most mysteries is usually the most logical and boring answer," Nadia whispered softly.

"Yes… you are right… sometimes I have an overactive imagination," Qiana replied politely as her grasp on Nadia's shoulder tightened for a brief moment.

The young woman smiled at her subordinate and then walked out of the tent.

Nadia stared at her departing figure completely unaware that there was now a tracking and listening device stuck on her clothes.

The corners of Qiana's lips gently curved upwards as she stared at the numerous stars in the night sky.

She needed to do some preparations…