The Spider Queen

As Qiana walked towards the gate, she could not help but notice that the corridor seemed to stretch longer than she initially thought.

There was a faint chill in the air despite the fact that the sun was now moving towards the middle of the sky.

Qiana rubbed the sides of her arms and let out a light sigh. She froze in place as she saw that her breath had turned into a faint white mist.

Was it that cold inside the spaceport?

Why did they not turn on the heating?

Ten minutes passed and Qiana quickly realised that something was wrong.

She had been walking down the same four hundred metre corridor for the last couple of minutes but the distance between herself and the end had not changed.

The corridor seemed to be infinite and the metallic door at the end loomed just out of reach as if mocking her inability to walk towards it.

"Alright… just take a few deep breaths…" Qiana whispered softly as she leaned against the wall and took a moment to compose herself.

Her shoulder brushed against the wall\'s hard surface and then she felt something warm and sticky flowing down her arm.

Qiana shivered after feeling the strange sensation and quickly glanced at her shoulder to see what was wrong.

Her right arm was now missing.

Well missing was the wrong word.

It had somehow been ripped completely off.

The arm was now stuck to the side of the wall and Qiana watched in horror as a large mouth appeared on its flat surface with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth.

She quickly grabbed her arm and pulled with all of her strength. Her arm slipped out of the wall\'s maw just as it slammed shut.

Qiana was running high off adrenaline and fear but fortunately her mind was working properly.

She reached into her storage bag and pulled out a syringe that was filled with a foul greenish-yellow liquid.

Blood spurted out of the large wound on her shoulder, so Qiana knew that she had to work fast.

She stuck her arm back in place and then used the syringe to inject the severed limb with the regenerative liquid.

Small fleshy growths connected the severed limb to her right shoulder and within three minutes her arm had been successfully reattached.

Qiana cast a wary look at the savage looking mouth on the wall and took yet another step backwards.

She stumbled slightly as she began to feel a bit lightheaded. The regenerative liquid did not have the ability to replenish the blood loss.

And judging from the large crimson pool on the ground… it was a miracle that she was able to still stand.

Qiana swayed lightly from side to side as she gritted her teeth and channeled all the qi in her dantian to the different parts of her body.

The rush that the circulating qi gave her was enough to pierce through the mental fog that was beginning to cloud her mind.

It was a temporary measure, so Qiana knew that time was of the essence.

Dark shadowy marks travelled up her body and the young woman melted away into the shadows beneath her feet.

A small circular metalloid device was flung at the gaping maw. The maw eagerly swallowed the device and a sadistic smile flashed across Qiana\'s face.

Three…

Two…

One…

BOOM!

A massive fiery blast filled the corridor with flames and debris fell down from the ceiling and crashed to the ground.

Qiana was protected from the explosion in the shadows and when the cloud of dust cleared, she emerged from the pool and headed for the hole in the wall.

She ran through the hole and was greeted by the hot desert sun that sent down scorching rays of light.

It would be safe to assume that the explosion would have attracted the attention of the workers and passengers at the spaceport but as Qiana looked outside…

No one was there.

The spaceport was now completely empty.

The large buildings scattered around the complex were eerily quiet, the airfields did not have a single spacecraft and not a single person could be seen in sight.

Qiana tapped her wrist communicator and the screen flickered to life. She checked the coordinates and her face soon turned pale.

Somehow, she had arrived at a location a few dozen kilometres away from where the spaceport was supposed to be located.

Which begged the question… if the spaceport was not supposed to be here then…

What was this place?

"Young miss? Are you alright?" a warm and friendly voice came from behind her and without hesitation Qiana flung a dagger in the direction of the sound.

She heard a heavy thud of a body slumping to the ground but soon a hoarse laughter filled the air.

Qiana turned around and saw the middle-aged man who had been working at the front desk lying down on the ground with a dagger in the center of his forehead.

Black blood slowly flowed down from the open wound, but it was the man\'s nonchalant attitude that was the most unnerving.

He slowly got up from the ground as if there was not a blade stuck in the middle of his skull. Qiana pulled out a blaster rifle from her storage bag and pointed it at the man.

"Do not come closer," Qiana sternly warned as her finger wrapped around the trigger.

The middle-aged man lazily placed his hands in the air and created some distance between himself and the noble woman.

His eyes occasionally flickered between a normal hue and a sickly yellow colour that Qiana recognised.

"I assume that you know what is going on… tell me," Qiana roughly demanded as the tension in the air slowly thickened.

The middle-aged man tilted his head to the side as if surprised by Qiana\'s demand and yet the wide grin on his face never faded.

"Young miss… we mean you no harm…" the man slowly spoke as his arms remained upwards.

"We have been watching you… placing you in danger… it is a test... one that you have passed with flying colours."

"Test? My arm was ripped off and an explosive was place under my hovercraft… that it not a test…" Qiana hissed in rage.

"The explosive was not our doing… we merely used the corpses of the ones responsible for planting the device…" the middle-aged man calmly explained.

"Alright let\'s say I believe you… how could I possibly trust what you are saying? What is your goal and motives? What is the purpose of this so-called test?" Qiana questioned slowly.

She continued to point the rifle at the middle-aged man but extended her senses to cover the surrounding area around her body.

One false move and she would fire off several rounds into the creepy man\'s body.