Portia enters the vast, alien geometry of Gilgamesh, feeling dwarfed by its rigid, right-angled spaces. Six spider peer groups have breached the ship, but radio jamming isolates them, forcing each to act alone. Portia’s dozen-strong squad seals the shuttle-bay breach and advances cautiously.

Forewarned by vibrations, they ambush about twenty human defenders before the spiders can set heavier weapons. Human arms include bullets and a stunning focused vibration that paralyzes the spiders and kills one. Portia’s squad fires spinning glass darts that inject a rapid neuroactive payload; armored foes require risky direct injections. Four spiders die, but the defenders collapse, twitching and rigid.

Following Kern’s guidance, Portia targets air vents to avoid massed human forces. Her field-chemist prepares an aerosolized mixture for the circulation system, intending to seed multiple points across the living section. The spiders detect airflow through their vacuum coats, place the first canister, and move on to deploy more.

A historical interlude explains their weapon: ancestral memories preserve research from a captured human long ago, allowing spiders to model human biochemistry using mammal analogs. After fierce debate with Avrana Kern, they forged a last-ditch agent—subtle, not overtly toxic, but attacking human brains. Sensors barely notice as it spreads chamber by chamber.

Portia inspects fallen defenders, confirming the drug’s effects: hallucinations and incapacitation. Pressed for time, she leaves them unsecured and advances. Soon she finds a room of unarmed adults and juveniles already succumbing—staggering, collapsing, losing control. With resistance dissolving, Portia’s squad verifies no remaining threat and pushes forward to conquer more compartments.