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Talia did a quick check on her HUD. The next nearest ferrite deposit wasn’t close - it was on the opposite side of where those alien noises had come from earlier.

The thought sent shivers down her spine; meeting those spider-like creatures again was something she wanted to avoid if possible.

“Neo… I’m going ahead with melting down some of these artifacts.” She finally announced.

[Warning: While User is in a survival situation, it must be noted that potential legal liability may occur if these objects were created by an indigenous sentient species which has yet to achieve faster than light travel.]

Talia scanned the cave, her eyes settling on several pieces of armor of which there seemed to be plenty of. At least she wouldn’t be melting down some one-of-a-kind sword… maybe. They seemed all-alike to her, but there was no real way to be sure she wasn’t melting down someone’s precious heirloom.

She gathered them up and piled them into their own pile. With a deep breath in and out, she adjusted her multi-tool and pointed at the artifacts.

A flash of light joined her headlamp as the items began to disintegrate, breaking down into their base elements before becoming floating particles that flowed into her survival-tool. Its status screen flashed green on her HUD as the process completed.

[Multi-Tool]

| Power Level: [91% (Batteries x2)] |

| Durability: [97%] |

| Tool Level: Basic |

| Total Capacity: 62/100 |

[Contains]

| Refined Silicates x2 |

| Durasteel: x48 |

| Advanced Alloys: x8 |

| High-Conductive Material: x4 |

The new heft of the tool was immediately noticeable, and she grunted as it felt like a workout to hold the tool up any longer. The exo-skeleton upgrade would fix that, but until then, she was at risk.

As she considered the readout flashing across her HUD, she realized her haul wasn’t enough for the upgrade; she needed more High-Conductive Material and Advanced Alloy. The refined silicates she could collect on the way back to her crate from the rocks, she hoped.

She shifted through the remaining artifacts until an unusually large shield caught her eye. It was adorned with more gold trim than the rest of the things; perhaps it would be all she needed?

The moment she touched the shield, the sound of rustling caused her heart to jump. A spider screech erupted from the shadows nearby, and as she turned to look, one of the alien-spiders rushed her. With a startled scream in reply, she stumbled backwards, her rear landing hard on the cold, rocky floor.

The shield clattered against her suit and she fumbled frantically to grab her multi-tool as fear threatened to seize control of every nerve ending. The alien creature lunged forward, a scythe-like blade of an arm slicing down between her legs, right into the shield’s metal handgrip.

The multi-tool was heavy, but adrenaline powered her arm and she whipped it around to aim at the spider, the momentum carrying it further than she intended and banging its grip against the shield.

The single, harrowing thought that this was how she was going to die flashed by as the alien loomed over her, but instead of skewering her with its other arm, it screeched and fled, taking the shield with it.

The spider’s sudden retreat forestalled her from firing on it, but she kept her weapon trained on it warily as it went. The weight of her tool was bothersome, and after regaining her feet, she supported her wrist with her other arm.

The spider continued to screech and crash through the artifact edges of the cavern, causing a calamitous cascade of metal reverberating through the cavern. Talia slowly regained her breath as she backed away toward the entrance, while glancing away from the spider when she could to look for other hostiles.

If it wanted to run away, why didn’t it just go? She swallowed as it dawned on her that there was only one entrance to the space, and she was currently standing in it. She was blocking the only exit for the panicking creature that was now screeching and running amok.

That also meant that it had been lying in wait when she had first arrived, and had remained silent the entire time, or her suit’s audio sensor would have picked it up. It had only reacted when she had moved to pick up the shield. A shield it was still carrying.

She blinked. It was keeping the shield between it and her, and had been doing so the entire time. It knew what the shield was for!

Her earlier panic began to recede. A dangerous inkling began to form in her mind, and finally, she decided to take a risk based on what she’d seen from the creatures so far. The muzzle of her multi-tool lowered slowly to point at the floor between her and the spider.

The response was immediate as the creature stopped its frantic shuffling through the piles of metal and began to calm down.

[Informative: It appears that the local fauna understands the threat of User’s multi-tool.]

The new silence was deafening as she watched the spider shuffle back and forth over the artifacts it had knocked over. Wanting to hurry up and leave, she pointed her multi-tool at one of the items and started to disintegrate it for material when she was interrupted by a screech.

She whipped the tool back towards it, causing its rush to skid to a halt. It lowered itself to hide behind its shield better, but its legs hopelessly stuck out from behind the bastion.

[Notice: While artifact material is not immune to multi-tool deconstruction, it could present a hazardous delay to dealing with the hostile wildlife if it makes another rush towards User.]

“No shit.” Talia quipped before trying to swallow away the dryness that had formed in her throat. “It’s trying to protect the artifacts from me.”

Each pass of her headlamp agitated the spider, so she kept the beam pointed away. Her light amplification gave her enough vision to not need it anyway. Her eyes widened at yet another realization.

“Neo! That’s the same one that was hauling my crate. Look at its fur. It’s the same color.”

[Notice: While User observation is correct, multiple members of the species might share colorization characteristics.]

“Do you think he was trying to haul my crate here to put it with all the other artifacts?” Talia asked.

[Unknown: There is not enough data for this unit to correlate motives or motivations for this creature.]

She shook her head. It was clearly intelligent. “Neo, do you think we can communicate with it somehow?” Talia asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Talia took a deep breath, then flipped a switch that enabled her external suit speakers. “Hey there,” she began, her voice echoing slightly in the cavernous space. She pointed to herself with her free hand. “I’m Talia.”

The spider didn’t react immediately, but its many eyes seemed to fixate on her as though trying to comprehend what she meant. She wasn’t sure what to do, so she stared right back at it.

That elicited a response after a moment. It pointed its free pincer at her while shifting back-and-forth sideways while sending a series of high and low pitched chitters that echoed throughout the cave.

[Informative: The creature’s vocalization appears to be complex and varied. It is likely this species possesses an advanced form of communication.]

“That’s great, Neo,” Talia murmured dryly, keeping her gaze fixed on the creature as it continued to emit sounds that were completely alien to her. “But unless you’ve suddenly learned their language while I wasn’t looking…”

Her voice trailed off as she shrugged at the creature before pulling out her machete and pointing at it in an attempt to mimic its earlier gesture.

To her surprise and mild alarm, it responded by lifting one of its scythe-like arms, mirroring her action.

“Well…that’s something.” She muttered more so for herself than expecting any meaningful response from either Neo or the spider-alien.

Talia frowned as she considered the pointing gesture. It seemed to value the metal artifacts.

That gave her an idea.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly approached. The spider tensed up immediately but didn’t lunge at her like before. It was wary yet curious; or at least that’s what she hoped it was. It wasn’t shrieking or lunging towards her, so there was that.

She set down the machete as close as she dared to get to it, and then quickly retreated towards the entrance while keeping it in sight.

The alien went still for several moments before cautiously moving towards where she’d left the weapon. It dropped its shield and picked up her gift with both pincers, its two red, spider-like eyes scrutinizing it before letting out what sounded like an approving chirp.

“I think…I think he likes it,” Talia murmured.

[Notice: Results are inconclusive without further testing.]

Suddenly, the spider shifted, and one of its hind legs kicked off against the golden shield it had claimed from her. The metal circle rang as it clattered against the rock floor before sliding across the cave floor towards her.

It stopped just short of reaching her boots, causing Talia to snort in amusement. “Heh…does this count as testing?”