There's a gentle ding in my head.

I ignore it.

*Ding*

Shut up.

*Ding*

*grumble*

*Ding*

What?

*Ding*

Without thinking, I automatically flop my arm over to hit the snooze button on the alarm clock. My hand hits a rock, and I hurt my knuckles. Also, my claws scratched my palm.

I wake up, groggily. What?

*Ding*

It's in my head. I'm not used to not being a human, or on Earth.

*Ding*

Okay okay! I'm up, I'm up. Maybe I should see if this world has coffee or some other kind of caffeine.

*Ding*

I pay better attention, and there are gentle dings in my head, notifying me of something. I wanted to sleep more... but I guess that isn't going to happen. I start to back up, and...? There's something behind me. Something soft, slightly pillowy, but... squirmy. Not wanting to know, but looking anyway, I turn around and look. It's an egg sac. An egg sac for... what even... is... going to... hatch..?

Four messages are waiting for me.

Okay, well, I knew I could have kids by myself, but I thought I'd at least have to do it on purpose. I'm hungry, though. There is that mammoth, though I should probably go get some wood and build a fire so I can cook it so it'll last longer. There are TONS of that meat, but it doesn't mean I should be irresponsible with it. Where's that lantern...? There is a very slight flicker coming from a tunnel entrance, so I must have left it back on its perch. "Brood mother, huh?" I ask myself out loud.

"Information brood mother. Information caste designer."

The hive-mind could be a really bad thing, and I'm expecting bad, since I'm getting too much good stuff. Maybe it's because that lady and her supervisor said I could be compensated? Might be a bit too much, counting as overcompensation, and I don't really want them taking anything back or making ridiculous counter-effects.

Really, I just hope they forgot about me.

"What aspects are available?" I think loudly. Nothing. "Information aspects." Nothing. "Information available aspects?" I start asking. "Okay then, what aspects are available to me?" I ask out loud, my voice echoing slightly within the widened chamber.

There is a LOT of room for more stuff! I like experimenting anyway. Always curious, right? It's just a good idea. But the quotation marks are questionable- it means that it's what I know it as, but that isn't really what it's called, or so I assume... but drider isn't on there. The spiders I was, people I was, and, for some reason, the dead animals that either I killed myself or helped to kill recently and who had nearby corpses counted. But drider didn't. Well, I don't... I'll experiment and see what happens. But I might as well get that 'information hive-mind' out of the way!

Oh. Well, since nothing is invading my mind right now, I guess it's fine? I was worried it would force me under control of something else, or just reveal to me I already was. I'm... the eggs! I wonder if that's what it was. Either that, or maybe the scalewolves? They did seem to know where each other was even if they couldn't see or hear the others. It didn't really matter, I guess.

...

After moving a few small boulders from the top and sides of the hill (there weren't many decent-sized rocks around) to the inside of the cave's wide area, it was time to move all the sticks and leaves I needed, so I started on that. But before igniting it I thought it might be better to... I didn't have any tools to cut it better. However, on my trip back and forth through the cave tunnel, I felt... less hungry. I'm not sure why. There was this... stuff... on the ground. It wasn't there before. In fact, the ground wasn't so hard and rocky now, but somewhat soft, though the tips of my legs pierced it, but it closed back up quickly enough. Maybe it was just dented, if you can call...

It was actually... I don't want to say it, but I leaned down and felt it, and it felt like slightly cold, coagulated vomit and cold raw chicken skin. I was glad my legs weren't as sensitive as they used to be! Wanting to look at ANYTHING else so I didn't have to think about it or feel it anymore, I saw that it was all over the mammoth's body. It looked like it had decayed faster than I thought, too... what a waste of a ridiculous amount of food.

Those eggs- I don't know how many there were, but if it was based on spider numbers, then there... whew. But it didn't look big enough to erupt with a million cat-sized spiders, only a dozen or two at the most. That's just assuming, I had no idea what I was talking about and I admitted that to myself. Maybe fifteen or so? Ten to twenty, I guess. It didn't really matter to me since I never intended to birth them anyway, but since they were there, I guess I should be a decent parent and... should I act like a human or spider?

A human would... should take care of them and raise them. A spider mother would let them eat her. A spider male would already be dead at this point. So I guess I'll... find something for them to eat, since the other stuff I brought back (on purpose or not) didn't seem to be anything that could be eaten anymore.

I'm also going to need something to write on, and with. But I can't go running off now, though I really want to. At least I can try to use some raw materials to make some stuff to help me out on my journey once I'm able to make it. While I'm at it, I can grow an entire ring of corn around the lake. I've decided it's a lake, and not a big pond. I'm not able to submerge myself in it entirely to clean myself off, but I can get close to it if I move to the center. There are a few river stones down there, but I'd need help to move them. Might be able to dig it out so it's a bit deeper too; and it isn't like it wouldn't fill up because of the stream I found that feeds into it.

I think there's a subterranean pile of boulders at the bottom of the lake that lets it drain elsewhere, though if I'm right, it isn't much of a pull because I can't find it. There are little fish swimming around in the water, but I think it's best to leave them alone since they're probably what keeps the place crystal clear and clean of algae and mosquitoes. Unless thoe aren't things here, and then they don't. The water isn't warm, but it isn't *that* cold. A little brisk, maybe, but I used to go 'polar bear swimming' and not just because someone dared me to. I actually enjoyed it.

...

While relaxing in the water and bathing, a breeze picks up and flutters my nearby articles of clothing. The rhythm reminds me of my pet, Djraine. She'd walk up to me when my hand was flat, palm-up in the bottom of her cage, and put the front part of her leg on my finger, and then if she was tired she'd back up and go to sleep in the cave I made her, and if not, she would climb onto my hand. I don't know for sure if what she was doing is what I thought, but I've always felt that it was a spider's way of giving a hug. I had heard of humans teaching spiders their own name and to come when called, but I figure it was because they'd recognize the vibrations in the ground (since spiders are deaf) and go to the source because they were trained to expect food. I never taught my spiders that, though.

It wasn't like Djraine was my only pet spider- I had two others. Well, three others but one I never named. There was Malas, a male rose-hair tarantula, and Aneis, a black widow. People thought I was nuts for having a pet that could kill me, but I didn't think it was dangerous. She died after I had her as a pet for two years, which then I researched their lifespan- and found out that they only live that long. So I guess I did a good job?

I had first met Aneis at work, when I was a janitor. My boss moved a dumpster and saw a black widow nest and egg sac, and asked me to kill them all. Instead, I captured the girl in a couple coffee cups and brought her home and put her in a fish tank. Far more room than she needed. I kept her fed with moths and crickets, and cleaned the cage every so often. She wasn't stupid. She kept building erratic web shapes closer and closer to the cage's opening- which was an issue because of how hard black widow web is and that it attached the lid and it was difficult to break it without hurting her. I scared her crazy every time I opened it, but that was for feeding or cleaning, and I didn't have a choice. She knew exactly where the food would come from, and anticipated it. I even started throwing crickets in the cage at the bottom so she wouldn't climb up, but down- but she didn't fall for it.

I dunk my face in the cold water to clear my head. I need to find some food for my children so they don't eat each other when they hatch. Spiderlings do that. As for Malas? He wasn't smart like the females were, and I don't think he liked me. He's the only spider I had that ever attacked me (not with fangs, but utricating hairs) and even my scorpion didn't do that.