Hourly Challenge: Things with more than 5 limbs

a/n: Doug and Alexa test the Spidey 005, a completely OC skell, in Demon's Pocket in Oblivia.

Too much exposition, not enough action or editing.

All the good things belong to Monolith Soft, but I built Spidey.

"I still say this is a bad idea," Doug grumbled into his headset.

A twinkling square on his video display brightened noticeably as his teammate gave him a big grin from the cockpit of her own skell. "Come on, Dougie," Alexa answered brightly. "You said that about every other location I suggested. This was the only one that we came close to agreeing on."

"Only because the other ones were worse. Come on. Admit it. The Noctilucent Sphere? Do you have a death wish?!"

"It would have been a great testing location," Alexa argued back, her smile still blinding. "Climbing all the way up to the sphere, navigating the underside of the curve, weaving through the vines, ..."

"... dying immediately because you woke up an intergalactic menace of legendary horror ..."

"I would never!" Alexa sounded so shocked he almost believed her. "I am the model of restraint."

"You're piloting a prototype skell and you're itching to test it out by pushing it to its limits. You're not fooling anyone."

The video went from twinkling to blazing as Alexa's smile filled her entire face. "Oh yeah, baby, I want to dance all over those limits, with all eight feet. Spidey 005 is gonna be a game changer."

"I still think that's a dumb name for a skell."

"I was not naming it OctoTraveller like you wanted. Don't worry, Sakuraba will name it something boring when it's given a general release. Which is never gonna happen until it gets fully tested. So let's go go gooooo!"

Alexa really didn't need to nag him. Doug was almost as curious about the new skell as she was. It had originally been designed to help BLADEs reach higher locations on the planet. Then the flight pack had made any further development unnecessary. However, a contingent of Prospectors and Pathfinders had recently lobbied for a fresh look at the design. Unlike standard skells, the prototype had four pairs of limbs, and was capable of moving using one, two, three or all four sets. The idea was that something this good at climbing walls would be perfect for exploring caves where flight was at best clumsy and at worst likely to invite ferocious enemy attention.

A few minutes later they reached their destination in Oblivia: Demon's Pocket, a cave located on the southern edge of the bottomless crevasse that cut through the continent. The cave entrance was several meters below the lip of the canyon, accessible only by flight. Or possibly by climbing using this new skell.

Doug maneuvered his skell carefully until he was hovering motionless over the sandy ground, then released the payload. Spidey (with Alexa inside) dropped the small distance, landing with a bounce. Doug was worried the round skell would roll over the cliff and he'd have to punch the accelerator to rescue his teammate. Nothing went amiss, however. The sphere flattened and the eight legs extended, halting it as soon as it had moved enough for Doug to land smoothly.

"Okay, let's review the plan," Doug said into the comms.

"Got it, got it," Alexa said impatiently. The spider skell appeared to be dancing, just as she'd promised."First I check mobility, like this." She was busily extending and retracting each leg, then each pair, then opposing pairs. Spidey twirled and scuttled up and over Doug's own heavier skell.

"Cut that out," he growled.

"Limb mobility, check. Foot attachment, check. Balance at up to ... let me see, 50 degree shift ... check."

"You're going to need more than 50 degrees," Doug said worriedly.

"I'll take it slow. Let's get me tethered."

Doug's boots hit the deep sand with a whisper and he pulled a metal cable out from his skell, hooking it to the top of Alexa's. Side by side, you could see how small the prototype was. He banged against the window of the pilot's capsule, waiting to see her thumbs up, then returned to his own skell. He'd fly alongside her skell as it climbed down to the cave, acting as a safety line in case of accident.

Alexa and Spidey approached the edge of the chasm with more patience than their earlier playfulness would have suggested. Alexa talked wild, but Doug knew she was deeply professional. He listened to her stream of comments and measurements, everything from environmental temperature to tension on each leg joint. The skell perched on the edge, than slid smoothly over and around the cliff. Doug engaged his engines and flew gently after her, maintaining enough of a distance to avoid any backwash from his propulsion but not enough to tug on the line.

Spidey made the climb without incident and Doug landed next to it when they reached the inner cave entrance. Alexa popped her head out and grinned at him. "We would have gotten here faster if I hadn't had to keep that line from tangling. I could have twisted around that last pipe instead of inching sideways like a crab."

"Next time you can go up the Sphere all on your ownsome."

"Cool beans, Dougy! Promise?"

"Promise. Now, are you gonna go map the ceiling of this joint or what?"

"Hand me those 3d laser scanners and let me at it. Just don't start a fight with any cantors out of boredom."

"Trust me, I won't."

And he didn't. At least, not until Alexa dropped a scanner on the head of one, leaving him to face an enraged enemy with almost as many limbs as Spidey.

a/n: Olberic's theme on loop, I wonder why. I could tell you a lot more about Spidey 005, it's size, specs, uses, development. Be grateful I stuck with the one hour limit.

You need more of Alexa and Doug testing things? Check out "Dances with Saltat", which has actual action and character development as well as too much skell enthusiasm. Also tango and wild backstory.