***
Excerpts from Stephanie's Research Diary
August 12: Today, at the base of a tree, Jacob found a nest with a completely new species of beetle. It's large enough to fill up most of the palm of my hand. They occasionally release a small dose of a sweet-smelling pink pollen-like substance. Jacobson inhaled most of a dose when he first found them, which prompted him to call the rest of us over. After 12 hours of observation, he's exhibiting no side-effects, leading us to tentatively rule the pollen harmless. Thank Christ, too - each member of the team has inhaled some over the course of the day. I know this is very unorthodox, especially for the discovery of a brand new species of insect, but I have authorised each team member to each keep one insect and take them all home with us tomorrow so that we can learn more about it. Something about its physiology - its psychedelic red-and-black swirls on its upper shell, its curious nature, or the strange pink pollen it sprays - whatever it is, something about it tells me it'll be a very interesting specimen to study.
August 15: The team is settled back home now, each of us smuggling an insect through customs. I should feel guilty, but the scientific value of this creature can't be overstated. I haven't heard much of anything from the other 8 members of my team, but so far my observations have been incredible. I've been feeding the creature mostly on instinct since we arrived home on the 13th. Its diet consists of vegetation - I've been experimenting slightly, and it's happy with garden variety leaves, but I've also fed it grass, lettuce, broccoli, and even grated carrots. It's happily eaten everything I've put in front of it.
Oh, and one minor detail - the creature grows exponentially. It's about the size of a Beagle now. I'm embarrassed to even be typing this out, but I've actually begun to treat it as though it's a puppy - I've been petting it, talking cutsey to it, asking it if it's hungry and such. Strange behaviour, but harmless enough, I think. The funny thing is, the insect almost appears to be responding positively to this treatment - using both its mandibles and its mouth, it responds to my talking and affection with a clicking and popping manner. At this stage, I can't tell if it's attempting to communicate affection in a similar way to a dog, or if it's just responding to stimuli like noise and touch. I also don't have enough data to determine if there is any sort of meaningful pattern to the insect's "dialogue".
Though I can see markings on its shell indicating the presence of wings, my insect seems quite content to walk throughout my house. I've begun to theorise that the pollen is similar to a musk, used to mark territory rather than to paralyse or poison predators or prey. It's been spraying the musk throughout my house, and often on me. At this point, I just kind of grin and bear it. At least it's making the house smell nice.
***
Stephanie saved the Word document and swivelled her chair away from the computer's glowing screen. At her feet, she saw the creature to which she was becoming increasingly attached. She bent over and picked it up. It clicked-and-popped happily as she started gently caressing its glossy shell, tracing her fingers over the red swirls, then the black. It crawled up her stomach and made its way up to her chest.
"Ooh, no, not there, please," she winced. For some reason, her breasts had become very sore to the touch over the past week or so. And, perhaps this was just her imagination, but they may have even gotten larger. Nothing about it made sense; she was still 3 weeks away from her next period, and Lord knows she couldn't have been pregnant - the last time she'd slept with a guy had been over a year ago.
It's not that she was exactly a stranger to sex, though. It just seemed that ever since she accepted her promotion to a full-time entomologist, Stephanie was just far too focused on her work to actually pursue anything too serious. And, for a girl who enthusiastically studied bugs all day, 26 year old Stephanie was far from the cliched unattractive female scientist. Standing 5'10" tall with silky-but-short very light brown hair, with bright green eyes framed beautifully by her blue cats-eye glasses, Stephanie certainly had her pick of men if she wished. Sure, big tits are always the fashion, but Stephanie was proud that her B-cups were still very perky, despite how much they were aching lately.
Besides, who needs human contact when she and her team could be onto the entomological find of the century? Stephanie hadn't seen anyone to talk to since she arrived home from the jungle two days ago. Not that it really mattered, anyway. She could do all her work online from home, and order pizza while she was at it. That'd been her diet at university for four years; why not go back to it for a week or so, just for nostalgia's sake? It's not as though she needed to lose weight, either - Steph was blessed with one of those figures that stayed slim and sexy no matter what she ate.
Her train of thought was interrupted by her insect pet spraying her with another dose of pollen. "Okay, okay, I get it," she joked. "Feeding time it is."
At the fridge, she discovered she was completely out of plant life to feed it. In fact, the only food she still had was a packet of beef mince that was due to expire tomorrow.