Gold Digger (Patreon)

Woman: Aimee Stock
Spider: Creative Commons

To say that Gerri was mercenary might cast the entire profession into a bad light. Gerri had already had a half dozen husbands, spent them into bankruptcy and then left them for a new identity, city and (of course) victim. The fact that she was still legally married (under six names) to six men all over North America didn't bother her in the slightest. What did bother her is that her last mark's stolen money was now running out and she needed a new mark.

After a few days, she decided that the owner of a major research facility would make a fine target. Rumour had it he had trouble with women ever since his high school days. He’d be a push over for her. After all, despite the fact she was now 29, she’d kept in shape. A sexy blonde was a tough resist for any man as she well knew. All she had to do was lure him out of his research cave. But it seemed he wasn’t one to spend much time on the outside. She’d heard of men so focussed that they had no outside lives but she never expected to meet one. Well, no matter, she just had to find an excuse to meet him in his lair.

It took a bit of bribery but she managed to get a delivery man to let her deliver a parcel. After talking her way past the guard dog of a secretary, she found herself on the steps of the inner sanctum. A white concrete building that her Internet searches had told her was a level 5 containment facility (whatever that meant). It mattered little. Once she had him in her clutches, he’d be hers and his money, too. This place would likely fold once she was done with him but what did that matter.

“Enter and proceed down the main corridor,” an obviously robotic voice announced. This was could be a problem. Robot security couldn’t be bribed, or sweet talked. “Proceed to room 7 left.” She did so, in hopes that this was his office. Likely it was just some mail drop and she’d have to come up with something else.

Room 7 Left appeared to be some kind of hotel room. There was a writing desk, some kind of small monitor and keyboard setup, and a second room that held a bed in the rear. She dropped her package on the desk and turned to go when a pneumatic hiss and a solid thunk informed her that the door behind her had closed tightly.

“Well, Gerri -- or maybe you’d prefer Francine, or one of your other aliases,” a man’s voice came over the intercom.

“Gerri for now. You let me go immediately!! My company ...”

“Knows nothing about you and could care less. As it happens, Don told them and us about you the moment you tried to bribe him the first time.”

“You can’t hold me here -- “

“As it happens, I can. You hurt a very special friend of mine from college days. I’ve given him enough to keep going with his anti-viral work but you’ve stolen more than money from him. It may be years before he gets his spark back. If I were of a mind, I could hold you here until the police come. I suspect you’d rather not face them and the six wealthy men you’re still married to.”

“What, I hid ...”

“In this electronic world, you did a really poor job of hiding anything. In fact, your picture appeared on a little web group months ago. You’ll find you will have to work a lot harder now given that you are so well known.”

“I’ve still some funds ...”

“Not any longer now that I’ve eMailed Ken. I’m sure his lawyers have your assets seized by now.”

“They’re not under ...”

“Your own name. Lousy protection with the biometric data needed to open any bank or investment accounts now.”

“Missing person ...”

“For a non-existent person? You really must take me for a fool. No one knows of you or cares about you. Only your apartment manager will notice in about three months when he orders your eviction and confiscates your belongs for back rent.”

“What do you want? I can be very ...” she assumed a very provocative pose, hoping to divert his attention from the disgust and anger his voice held.

“Not that from a she spider like you,” there was a hiss of gas and Gerri found herself dizzy and in a heap on the floor. “You see, I have a little project of my own. You’ll make a fine addition to my personal zoo if Ken doesn't want you back as it happens.”

His voice became distorted and muffled as if he had donned something over his mouth. The door slid aside just long enough to admit a man carrying a gas injector. He walked over to her, pressed the flat front against her arm and fired the trigger. She felt the cold fluid jet into her arm. He straightened and left the room. As soon as the door sealed again, she heard blowers come on.

“What did you give me?”

“Something to make your outside match your inside, my dear.”

“Just what do you mean by that?” she demanded but a change in the tone of the intercom told her he was no longer listening.

She wandered over to the computer. Stupid of him to leave her access to the outside world. She’d get him for shooting her with some kind of drug. After a four hours, though, her cursing took on a different tone. She could access nothing but incoming entertainment feeds. No eMail, no social contacts, nothing.

A metallic clunk announced the arrival of something. She went over to the small table to discover a covered tray of food. She was about to throw it around the room when her stomach announced it’s opinion. She decided he’d have to come back in to check her out at some time. Maybe she could overpower him somehow and get loose. Surely she wasn’t the only victim of this madman.

After dinner, she sat and watched the entertainment feeds. Somehow, the antics of her favourite stars simply didn’t hold as much interest as they had when she was in charge planning her next mark. In the end, hours earlier than she usually did, she decided to head to bed.

The next morning, she felt strange. The damned drug he’d given her must still be active. She discovered that a loose fitting gown or dress had been delivered while she slept. The uniform was rather uncomfortable and she detested clothes she’d worn more than once. Rather than continue to wear it, she retreated to the perceived safety of the washroom and put on the new items. A small voice provided the unwelcome observation that he probably had cameras in the washroom, too.

While she was changing, she made her first discovery. The back of her buttocks was hard and black. She could still feel things touch it but the touch felt strange, different. She put on the gown and stormed from the washroom.

“What are you doing to me?” she demanded of the walls. There was, as expected, no answer.

Over the next few hours, she watched and felt the spread of the strange black skin. It soon covered her hips to her waist and was starting to spread to her front. It mercifully stopped on either side of her vagina.

By noon, she made the discovery that the buttocks were bulging and was hard, smooth to the touch. By twisting herself in the washroom, she managed to get a look at the thing. It looked like some kind of spider tail. Large and round and black. As she got down from the toilet, she noticed her gown had snagged on something and made a further discovery. A pairs of bumps had grown down her sides. Once more, she shrieked her anger at the silent walls. Once again, there was no answer.

She began to check her body every few hours. This monster was changing her but she had no idea into what. All because her last husband ... and he hadn’t been even terribly good in bed. Shit. All she had wanted was his money. This wasn’t fair. By noon, the bulge at her back was huge -- easily a meter across and more than a meter and a half long. She was sure it wouldn’t stop there but there was nothing she could do about it. She thought of killing herself but something immediately took over and she became impossibly happy again. Having done her share of street drugs, she recognized the influence of drugs. He weren’t going to let her get out of this in any way other than his way. Damn him!

By evening, she began to notice she’d was unable to sit upright. Her bottom had changed shape so much that it was all she could do to lie on her stomach. If the stubs weren’t so uncomfortable to lie on. By bedtime, she began to notice her legs were shrinking and weakening. Her lovely legs had started to look more like scrawny chicken legs. A change in the quality of the intercom announced the return of her captor.

“I see you are progressing well. Just as the nanites I injected have been telling me.”

“You can’t do this to me. I have rights. I’ll get a lawyer, I will. I’ll sue you into the ground.”

“No one knows you are here or will ever know you are here. You might be interested in knowing your former husband is being kept informed as well. He’s quite interested in my little project.”

“Ken!” she pleaded. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Please make him stop this.”

“As it happens, he isn’t able to do anything even if he wanted to. I send him reports and he responds. His latest messages indicate interest in your condition and considerable satisfaction. Your voice isn’t recorded nor do I broadcast to him directly.”

Gerri stomped as well as her weakened legs allowed to her table. Some small voice told her she’d eventually have gotten into trouble but men seemed so easy to manipulate. Money and beautiful things held too much attraction. Things! He hadn’t taken the original outfit! Her cellphone was in there.

She dashed to the washroom and flipped open the device only to discover there was no signal in the washroom. Well, no matter, There would be a hot spot somewhere in the room. After a futile ten minutes, a somewhat amused voice came on the intercom.

“You might as well give up. This entire facility is a Faraday cage. No radio signals in or out except through specially shielded fibre optics.”

“Damn you!” was all she could think to say.

The next morning brought new and unwelcome surprises. Her body around her hips now blended smoothly into the black of huge spider’s abdomen. A quick check by sight and feel told her the worst. She now had two stubby legs and a pair of sharp fangs flanking her vagina. The fact that she could move them slightly was of no interest to her whatever. No man would find her attractive now anyway.

By noon, she discovered the eight bumps at her sides had grown a short, shiny cylinder. She tried to get to the washroom but her human legs were little more than emaciated sticks. It was all she could do to drag herself along the ground when her lunch arrived. By supper time, her side bumps had grown bumps of their own that soon lengthened into hard sticks. The damned things looked like spider legs and spiders creeped her out. Once again, the drugs calmed her down. She couldn’t even get mad without the damned nanites controlling her. Using her arms and the creepy legs, she managed to pull herself into bed about three hours later. The entertainment channels were of no interest whatever. The only thing that interested her was what was happening to her body. She cried herself to sleep. This wasn’t fair. Not fair at all.

Morning brought awakening but no good news. Her pairs of legs now had a third stick and looked even more like spider legs than before. She could no longer stand up normally. She now bended smoothly from her body into that of a huge black spider. The butt, thankfully, had stopped growing for now. She hated women with huge butts and had worked hard in the gym to keep hers the size she knew men wanted. Somehow, this demented man had attached her to a spider or changed her into one, an equally bad option. Her human legs hung like limp sacks from her hips. Feeling backward along her body she discovered short fur on her spider body and legs. The fur, when touched was extremely sensitive.

The legs continued to grow as lunch approached. The spider legs now had four sections and the beginnings of tiny claws. She had no doubt that the claws would soon be full size. Her human legs had continued to shrink. Soon they were little more than flesh coloured bumps on chitin coloured hips. Her waist was becoming increasingly flexible. She turned herself nearly around and then, in disgust, twisted back to face front. She was a disgusting, creepy, filthy spider.

Halfway through the afternoon, the intercom came on again.

“You’re finished my dear. An a very fine drider you make, too.”

“What are you going to do with me?”

“First we’ll do a series of quick medical tests. Now I know you won’t cooperate so ...” a hiss announced the return of the anesthetic gas.

Gerri found herself crumbling into a mass of hideous legs. A man with a lifting device of some sort entered the room wearing a gas mask. He deftly strapped her up and she found herself lifted and transported out a side door. She twisted her head dizzily as she left the room to catch sight of the sign by the door.

Subject: XTD-219

Species: H. Sapiens Latrodectus

TF Date: 2095-07-05

Half an hour later, she was returned to a different area. It was more open, more like an arboretum than a hotel room. Once the effects of the gas wore off, she began to pace the area.

“I had thought to give you back to your previous husband,” the intercom announced. “He doesn’t want you so you’ll join the rest of my private zoo.”