Even though I was sterile as a human male, I was fertile as a female spider. I apparently had egg sacs with 14 in them. I guess that it never had come up until now even in ooze form. A normal brown widow spider could lay anywhere from 120-150 eggs. If that was the case it seemed that I had 10 times less of the amount. They were probably going to be big though. The popup said I did not get any eggs fertilized from mating. It seemed that either Benson pulled out or shot blanks. There were five ways to do it. They were:
Ovuliparity means the female spawns unfertilized eggs (ova), which must then be externally fertilised. Ovuliparity is typical of bony fish, anurans, echinoderms, bivalves and cnidarians. Most aquatic organisms are ovuliparous. The term is derived from the diminutive meaning "little egg".
Oviparity is where fertilisation occurs internally and so the eggs laid by the female are zygotes (or newly developing embryos), often with important outer tissues added (for example, in a chicken egg, no part outside of the yolk originates with the zygote). Oviparity is typical of birds, reptiles, some cartilaginous fish and most arthropods. Terrestrial organisms are typically oviparous, with egg-casings that resist evaporation of moisture.
Ovo-viviparity is where the zygote is retained in the adult's body but there are no trophic (feeding) interactions. That is, the embryo still obtains all of its nutrients from inside the egg. Most live-bearing fish, amphibians or reptiles are actually ovoviviparous. Examples include the reptile Anguis fragilis, the sea horse (where zygotes are retained in the male's ventral "marsupium"), and the frogs Rhinoderma darwinii (where the eggs develop in the vocal sac) and Rheobatrachus (where the eggs develop in the stomach).
Histotrophic viviparity means embryos develop in the female's oviducts but obtain nutrients by consuming other ova, zygotes or sibling embryos (oophagy or adelphophagy). This intra-uterine cannibalism occurs in some sharks and in the black salamander Salamandra atra. Marsupials excrete a "uterine milk" supplementing the nourishment from the yolk sac.
Hemotrophic viviparity is where nutrients are provided from the female's blood through a designated organ. This most commonly occurs through a placenta, found in most mammals. Similar structures are found in some sharks and in the lizard Pseudomoia pagenstecheri. In some hylid frogs, the embryo is fed by the mother through specialized gills.
There were lots of terms and names went over my head. I just went with what I did know. I knew about chickens. They laid their eggs in the sunlight and could lay one almost every day. It would be fine if I only had to deal with one at a time. I shuddered to think of laying all 14 at once. I chose Ovuliparity. That settled that. It was now time to turn my attention to the study hall room. I was already getting some curious looks as I walked to the seats in the classroom. I made sure to sit down next to Cody. I could tell him apart as Cody had on red socks. It was my idea. Dustin was wearing white. I tried to get his attention, but he ignored me. I sighed and took my shoe off. It was very sneaky. I did not have any socks on. I pressed my foot against him and he looked at me. He gave me a dirty look until I raised it to bare skin. 'It's me, Cody. I'm part of the ooze that got on Benson this morning.' He jolted in his seat and Dustin asked what was wrong. I moved my foot and continued looking in my book. He then turned to me and put his hand down. I reached over to touch it. 'How did this happen?' he asked.
I smirked as I told him 'I drained his energy and grew up until I was able to take human form. I actually have several human clones now.' His eyes were wide. He leaned over and whispered "Do you want the jar back? I was thinking about using it." "Go ahead and use it. We are friends now." I whispered back. He blushed softly. "Since you can grow, can I get a second jarful. Dustin might need one too after today." I said "You need for me to drain another blessed human. It will only take 25 minutes. But it will mean you need more jars to hold all of me." He took his bag by the handle and looked at the jar. I touched his hand and said "I can be your body guard outside of school." I then had a thought. "Now that I think about it, I can help you both out. I just need to wait to get them together." I had the child and spider head over to the twins' house. I was more than willing to help them out. When it was time to go home, Cody explained who and what I was. Dustin did not believe me until I liquified and simply reformed behind him. He freaked out until Cody convinced him it was cool. He seemed to come around.
