Writer's Note: This story is completely different from the first one I wrote, because I remembered a few stories I read a long time ago and how strange/erotic I found them...so I decided to jump from incest to...well this. The plot is fast-paced because I'm impatient. If you have any comments or suggestions, again I'd love to hear them. Assuming I get another day off in the next week, I'll probably write another chapter of Forbidden.
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The year was 1990 when Jennifer headed out on her first field expedition. She was young, brimming with confidence and eager to make a name for herself in her chosen field of botany. In fact, she was by far the youngest member of her research group.
Some people claimed that she was only sent off for the entertainment of the other researchers on their long and arduous expeditions into unexplored regions. On the other hand, she was more eye-candy than a man could take if they couldn't look, and she made it no secret that she wasn't interested in anything beyond friendship. "I'm already married;" she'd often say during mealtime if the subject came up. "My mind is married to my work, and my body belongs to god." The only response would be a chorus of forced agreement, effectively muffling the comments like "I'd like to be her god."
Most men would have liked to be her god. She was home schooled during her childhood, to keep her out of the public school system. Her parents were concerned about not giving her a religious upbringing, but their concern was quelled by her deep devotion to her church. This fear was soon replaced by another, however. By fourteen, she had developed a set of pert breasts and defined curves. This added to the image of her tall, thin body, with flowing chestnut brown hair and deep brown eyes. Her parents called her a vision of god, and felt that they had a responsibility to keep her away from men -- a task that they took very seriously.
At eighteen, she started college. She stayed in her room studying all through the semester, and didn't go out for anything but emergencies. The few boys who saw her were captivated, but she never talked to anyone outside her group of church friends from back home. A few of the professors who were impressed by her work encouraged her to be more social, but she insisted that she felt it would come between her and god, so they mostly left the subject alone.
After graduating, she got a job at a laboratory as an assistant to the head botanist. She helped process and catalogue samples from expeditions, but wasn't allowed to join the team on their extended trips. She wasn't allowed, that is, until that day.
Only a week before the team left, she was contacted by the head of research at the lab. They explained that her boss had become ill and they needed a replacement botanist. She was the only one available on short notice, and so either she went or they scrubbed the whole trip. She thought it over, and then agreed to go.
When the team arrived, it was dark and gloomy. There had been reports from the local military base that the natives feared the cavern formations in the area. Being neophobic, the natives were scared of anything that they weren't familiar with. This suggested to the researchers that there could be fungi, plants, or even animals which inhabited the caves. It was an opportunity to discover all new ecosystems, and it was too good to pass up.
The researchers set up camp just outside of the largest cave entrance. They set up lights within the camp to keep everything lit, and to keep animals away. After setting up, the consensus was that they should get some rest before beginning their collection and analysis.
The next morning, Jennifer woke up early. She was still tired, but too excited to sleep any more. She got dressed in her black sweat pants and dark blue dress shirt, and then began wandering the perimeter of the camp. She found that she was terribly unimpressed by how normal everything looked. Just as she was ready to give up and make some coffee, she saw a small plant that she couldn't recognize. It looked like a wheat stalk, only shorter, and the tip was red. She moved closer to the plant, and saw that the end was made of five curved barbs instead of being covered in seed pods. It definitely wasn't wheat.
She reached down and felt the texture, which was smooth. There was a prick on her hand, and she pulled back. She was surprised to see that the plant had pierced her skin with its barbs and she was bleeding slightly. Giving herself a rap on the wrist for not expecting a barbed plant to have a reflex reaction like a Venus fly trap, she decided not to tell the others about her blunder.
She made a note of the plant's location and moved back to camp.
After an hour of prep, the team decided to make their first trip down into the caves. Of the ten scientists, three went down and seven stayed behind to watch their equipment. The teams would cycle, three at a time, leaving the head scientist and the other two trios behind.
Jennifer was sent down, along with John the geologist and Brett the microbiologist. She felt relieved that she was sent down with them and not others. Brett was married and John was a good-natured guy, so she knew that there wouldn't be any awkwardness to get in the way of her work.
Jen mentioned when she saw another of the small barbed plants, and said that they must be spreading from somewhere in the caves. In order to satisfy her curiosity, the three headed through the caves searching for a larger collection of the plants. This took them deeper and deeper, finding the plants scattered along their path. They made their way down through a series of winding tunnels, obviously natural, continually marking their point of origin at each intersection.
