Chapter 33
The Web

Seven couldn't move, and for that matter she could barely breathe. One of the arachnids had attacked her from behind during the shockwave collision and had taken her by surprise.

Even though she was much larger than the spider, it had wrapped itself around her torso immobilizing her. Then another Gullina had then started to drag her and her captor away by her ankles. The creatures seemed to communicate in an unknown means for they made no sound when attacking.

She had screamed for the others to help her but they had seemed frozen. The shockwave had clearly been effecting them.

She was now hanging from a large adhesive polymer. It was slowly wrapping itself around her body as if it had a mind of its own. Her new living prison was strung between the catwalks in the engine room. She took the moment to look around to analyze the situation.

The room had significantly less arachnids than Chakotay had said were there before. So she assumed they must have gone elsewhere.

In the middle of the room the strange energy flux hovered, centered inside the now dormant engine core.

She couldn't be sure, but her ocular implants seemed to be picking up an atmosphere venting from inside the anomaly. It was definitely a doorway from the place the spiders had emerged from. She wondered if it was a two way anomaly and would allow travel through from this side.

Scattered around the room a few Frain under the control of their masters were working on the machinery and computers which still had emergency power. She looked at one of the Frain as closely as she could.

The subject she chose to analyze was a female about Sil's height and age. She was covered in smaller arachnids which were perhaps Gullina young. They were wrapped around her limbs and neck. Seven hypothesized that since they hadn't fully matured they needed to work together, as each young spider was adding to the amount of control they had over their host.

Suddenly Seven felt a sharp pain in her leg. She looked down as much as she could while adhered to the webbing. On her leg she saw one of the smaller spiders had attached itself and had bitten into her. She wondered how long the doctors anti-venom would last.

Across the room, the female she had been watching suddenly collapsed. Seven tried to see if she was ok but she could only see her legs from behind one of the workstations.

Then one of the larger spiders grabbed the woman by the ankles and began to lift her with some of the polymer that Seven was held in already. After a moment the woman was hanging beside Seven.

The female seemed conscious and was staring at her with fear in her eyes. Seven had no idea if the situation the Frain was in had made the woman afraid or if seeing an alien had. After all, for all she knew the woman had grown accustomed to being a slave.

The woman moved her lips to speak but Seven couldn't hear her. She seemed too weak to speak.

The smaller spiders that were attached to the woman detached their grip and started to move to different sections of her body. Suddenly the woman screamed in pain.

Seven then realized what was happening. The Frain woman was being eaten alive by the young. And in the adhesive polymer was were the feeding took place.

Seven hazarded a look down at the spider on her leg and there beside it she saw another moving to attach itself on her other leg.
Seven closed her eyes. She now knew the venom was the least of her worries. It seemed the Gullina released their victims from their dormant state while they ate them. And due to the fact they must have realized that Seven was immune to their control, they had decided to skip to the eating phase of the procedure.

It seemed the Doctor's anti-venom was to be her doom.

Chakotay heard screaming up ahead and began to crawl faster. Even though he was getting steadily closer to the cries he didn't know if it was Seven or not. Whoever it was it sounded like they were in terrible pain.

Tuvok was behind him and was crawling at the same increased speed. Ahead of them Chakotay could see an opening, which was the same size as the crawlspace, he also saw they had made it to the Engine room.

However, the sight he saw was one of horror. Across the room from him, hanging on a giant moving web, was Seven and a Frain woman. The source of the screaming seemed to be the Frain woman. She was writhing in pain. He couldn't tell why she was in pain from where he was but Seven seemed to be agitated as well.

Seven took notice of him and became still as she peered at him. She seemed to be trying to convey something to him without saying anything aloud. Maybe that was it entirely. The Gullina that were around the room didn't know he was there and she knew any act on her part would give him away.

Tuvok was behind him waiting. Chakotay motioned for him to be as quiet as possible. He then peered out from the hole and looked around to get placements on every living thing in the room. None of the arachnids were near him. There was however a Frain man using a console below him. He seemed to not notice the head peering at him from about a meter up.

Chakotay readied his phaser and took aim at the arachnid closest to Seven. He would first attempt to free her and then he would worry about the rest of the room. Tuvok would know to lay down cover fire once he made his way out of the access hatch.

He fired a beam at the Gullina he had been aiming at and it collapsed from the force. The rest of the room seemed to come to life in almost an instant. The Frain under the control of the venom began to sway back and forth as if they didn't know what to do. The arachnids however weren't so confused as they quickly scattered out of sight. He couldn't tell if they were afraid or taking up a more tactical position.

Chakotay quickly dropped down from the hatch and pushed the Frain man aside without any real reaction from the stunned slave. He quickly crossed the walkway to where there should have been an access ramp to the other side of the room, but it was gone. He knew he had seen it when they had been here the first time. But now there was just a large gap.

Above him he heard some movement and he quickly looked up. There he saw the ramp in question. It looked to have been torn free and raised by the webbing as if it had been made of paper. Had they done this on purpose?

A trap.

Chakotay quickly turned to return to the hatch, but had realized too late what was happening. He was surrounded with nowhere to go.

Tuvok then began to fire at the arachnids surrounding Chakotay. It gave him some time to think, but not much. He had to think fast and they were coming from all sides. Except for one.

The open area where the engine core was, which sat about four meters below him, was clear. But the distance to the platform on the other side of the span seemed too far for him to traverse. He could jump for it and try to make it, but it was a risky move. If he fell he would fall into the energy flux that had remained open inside the engine core.

He had no idea what would happened if he entered it. Would he go to where the spiders came from? Would he be vaporized from the energy output? There was no way to know.

He looked up at Seven, and he made a choice.

"Seven, cut yourself free!" he yelled to her as he tossed his phaser in her direction. It landed and stuck to the webbing a few inches from her left hand. He had no idea if she would be able to reach it but he had taken the risk. If he fell, she would need his phaser more than he would.

He leapt for the other side just as an arachnid charged his left leg. It must have caught him slightly as he jumped, because he felt his trajectory change.

He wasn't going to make it.