Lost and ??????

Posted on Thu Mar 4th, 2021 @ 8:51pm by Lieutenant Jessica Holland & Lieutenant Anna S. Thesia M.D.

Mission: The Jungle
Location: Red Zone Planet
Timeline: After Welcome to the Jungle

Jessica and Anna continued to move through the jungle, Anna was munching on leaves while Jessica's stomach began to growl. "Have you spotted any more of those berries Anna? You nibbling on nature has made me hungry."

Anna was amused by Jessica's complaining about her eating habits. Was it her fault that plants indigestible to Jessica agreed well with Anna? "No... but I do have another idea. Can I have the knife for a moment?" They were dealing with an emergency, and so Anna figured this was appropriate, even though she would not otherwise have resorted to this.

Taking the knife, she approached a fallen tree. A jungle environment, warm and moist as it was, meant that even hard wood disintegrated fairly quickly. She looked around for a bit until she found an entry point. She jabbed the blade into the wood and split its bark off. "Tree bark? Not quite." She figured she knew what Jessica was about to say. But then, stripping off a little more, thick, white insect larvae became visible. "Dinner", she smirked.

Jessica looked at Anna and then to the insect larvae, then back to Anna. "Are you kidding?" She asked but knew Anna wasn't. "You first." She suggested.

"Are you sure?" Anna asked. "There aren't that many, you might not get enough if I eat part of them." She didn't relish the thought of eating the animals, but she understood that she'd have to go first so that Jessica would be able to stomach the idea, and the larvae. "Okay, I suppose I better make sure they're not poisonous." She picked one up and bit off its head, wanting to kill it quickly and not cause it any pain, before chewing on its succulent body. "Not bad, and certainly safe", she said, but made a face nonetheless. "I never ate anything that was alive before but... this counts as an emergency, right? I mean, we have to eat something, even animals are okay under these circumstances." It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself, rather than Jessica.

Jessica watched as Anna ate the insect and then gave her opinion. "Anna it's okay and especially under these circumstances it's okay to eat insects, bugs or animals to help us stay alive." She looked at the larvae again, heaved a sigh and said. "Okay give me some. I have to eat something to keep up my strength."

Anna picked those she could get and placed them onto her palm, holding them out to Jessica. Despite having quite the jaws, to be able to chew through wood, they seemed to lack the instinct of trying to bite Anna's skin. That was unexpected but not unwelcome. "It still feels weird."

Jessica took two of the insects. "Well. in for a penny in for a pound." As she plopped one of the larvae into her mouth and chewed rapidly before swallowing. She looked at Anna, "Not bad." She agreed.

"Please, have them all", Anna said, picking up more to give them to Jessica. "I can stick to leaves, they would make you sick." Those larvae tasted better than leaves but that didn't matter.

"No, no. were in this together, we share." Jessica replied stubbornly. So stop eating leaves." She looked around say the counter hanging in the sky. "We need to keep moving Anna." She urged her friend.

"Then eat up, Jessica", Anna said. "Consider it medical advice. I am able to filter poisons, I can eat pretty much anything here." Besides, having tried the animals, despite the taste not being too bad, she didn't feel well eating them. For her, it wasn't technically an emergency, she could eat the foliage.

Jessica took two more of the insects. "The others are for you, they have to be better than eating leaves." She commented.

Suddenly the jungle flickered around then blinked out and the pair found themselves in a huge holodeck. Distant weapon fire could be hear as well as raised voices. "What do you say we get out of here Anna and find out what's going on? Jessica suggested.

Anna blinked. She looked down at herself. Her dress was still torn but her feet were clean again, the jungle's dirt having disappeared. "Huh... yes. After you." It was clear that Jessica was in her element now, just like Anna had felt more at home in the jungle. "Unless you want me to go first because I'm more likely to survive getting hit?"

"No, I'll take the lead here Anna. You stay behind me and stay close." Jessica said to her friend who she had no desire to see get hurt. With that the pair left the holodeck and moved down the corridor.

Anna followed behind, always looking back to see if they were being pursued. Something must have happened to interrupt the perverted little game. "I'm glad it was a holodeck", she said. "Makes me feel better about eating the animal. Holographic ones I don't care about."