Terrarium

Hello All! This is my first story, I hope you like it. Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions. I appreciate you!

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Most of the overhead high bay lights in the industrial looking grow room were off, and the skylights in the ceiling were dark, casting a gloom over the multiple rows of soil filled raised beds with an unending variety of plants which stretched as off into the distance. The warehouse sized room was warm and slightly humid as a vast array of sprinklers, misters, and drippers maintained the appropriate level of moisture for each variety of flora planted throughout the room.

Off to the side, a little higher than shoulder height, was a louver grate on the wall which allowed air to flow out of the grow room, while the large fan on the far side pulled fresh air in. Small movements could barely be seen at one of the corners of the louver as one of the bolts securing the metal assembly to the wall slowly turned and worked its way out.

Just as the bolt made its final rotation and fell out of the socket, a quick, gloved hand darted out from between the louvers and nimbly caught the bolt, preventing it from clattering on the ground. Slowly, the metal assembly moved away from the wall, creating a slim opening at the bottom, and a dark, lithe form dropped silently through the opening.

Dressed in a form fitting black outfit, the figure paused and the hooded head of the interloper looked around quickly to make sure they were not heard, then proceeded to gently press the metal louver back against the wall, concealing their illicit entry.

Kat had been casing this job for two weeks, watching the comings and goings of all the university personnel, memorizing schedules, watching for security, finally deciding the best time to break in. She knew that most everyone on campus would be away on spring break and the place would be practically abandoned until the following week.

The pharmaceutical company she had been hired by was keenly interested in the research going on in this building and Dr. Primrose wouldn't even give the company reps the time of day when they called on her to try to negotiate a price for her research. That's when the company reached out to Kat through various shady contacts to 'acquire' for them what they couldn't buy outright.

Not far from where Kat landed softly on the floor from her stealthy entry, was a series of work benches, each flanked by short filing cabinets. Quietly making her way over to the nearest bench, she could see numerous pieces of glassware, beakers, test tubes, petri dishes and such, all cleaned and ready for use.

Reaching down, Kat opened the bottom drawer of the closest filing cabinet. The manila folders inside were filled with countless invoices for various lab purchases of the mundane sort. The rest of the drawers in this cabinet and the next several cabinets were filled with the same sort of administrative documentation. The next to last cabinet Kat found was locked by a stodgy, dull brass looking lock inset on the filing cabinet. Interest piqued, Kat pulled a set of small tools rolled in dark velvet out of her leather satchel slung about her shoulders and unrolled it on top of the locked cabinet.

A variety of small picks and wrenches neatly organized came into view as she unrolled the velvet. Squinting at the lock, Kat perused her options and selected a small but sturdy pick. Working the selected tool into the file cabinet lock, Kat intently focused on her work and was rewarded with a soft click as the lock released the latch on the file cabinet.

Returning her tools to her satchel, Kat turned to the unlocked filing cabinet and pulled open the top drawer revealing several sets of leather bound notebooks. Each notebook had a hand written date, and title on the subject line, briefly describing the contents. Kat began flipping through the notebooks in rapid succession, moving through the entirety of one drawing before moving onto the next.

Pausing momentarily when she found what she was looking for, the burglar pulled a slightly thicker, more worn journal from the cabinet and re-read the hand written title, "Specimen: Capiens Aphrodite Lupercalia". Prize in hand, Kat briefly looked up from the cabinet, quickly surveyed her surroundings and strained to listen for sounds through the unused entry door for any sign of activity.

Satisfied that she would be undisturbed, Kat skimmed the notebook for details. Detailed hand sketches and profuse written descriptions filled the pages with details of the initial finding of the plant, location, time of year, and other details of the jungle expedition.

Further in the notebook meticulously laid out the series of experiments to find the perfect conditions to maintain the health of the plant under laboratory conditions. It seems that the author of this journal, Dr. Alicia Primrose, was still struggling to find the best mix of nutrients, fertilizers, and overall environment for this extremely valuable specimen. Then Kat found the detail she was looking for: this specimen was being kept in this lab, in terrarium number 164. Of all the luck! Kat was hired to retrieve data on this highly sought after specimen, but now she should be able to grab a sample too! This would increase her payday by several orders of magnitude.

Elated at her good fortune, Kat looked down the rows upon rows of soil filled raised bed and found a sign at the end of one row indicating that the terrariums were at the end of the row and down a short hallway to the right.

Kat silently closed the file cabinet and hurried down the aisle quiet as a shadow and followed the short hallway. At the end of the hallway was a wooden door, with a darkened opaque glass window and no signs of a lock.

Turning the handle she eased the door open. Peeking inside to confirm the next room was unoccupied, Kat made her way in and silently closed the door behind her.

Like the previous room, this part of the lab housed row after row of botanical specimens. Each of these species must have had demanding environmental requirements because instead of simple raised beds for the flora, each specimen had its own terrarium to cater to the specific needs of each plant.

Walking down the rows of glassed-in plants, Kat noted the wide variety of lighting and soil conditions within each enclosure.

A bewildering variety of plants occupied the sealed containers on display; only a botanist could name them all. As Kat was not, her only indication of each terrarium's contents were the numbers etched on small metal tags affixed to the solid concrete bases.

Kat read the tags silently to herself, "162, 163, 164." Terrarium 164 was currently darkened, mimicking the day / night cycle of the occupant's natural habitat. Setting her satchel down in front of the a-frame step ladder next to number 164, she fished a small flashlight from her bag of tools.

With a soft click, the narrow light beam shot from the light and Kat lifted it to illuminate the contents of the terrarium. Scanning the plant in the glass enclosure before her, the beam from Kat's light traveled up and down the plant.

Peering into the darkened enclosure, she could see the plant was made up of multiple thick stalks spirally together through a wooden support lattice with many smaller vines snaking off in every direction the entire height of the plant, each sporting several heart shaped leaves, slightly larger than the size of Kat's open palm.

As she examined the leaves through the glass, Kat noticed that the veiny support structure of the leaves were an odd shade of pink that also ran through the frond of leaves in narrow streaks. In the light of her flashlight, the pink streaks seemed unnaturally iridescent. An odd plant unlike any she had seen before.

As Kat examined the plant, what she found near the base of the plant made her heart skip in excitement, a single, ripe looking berry, as bright pink as the streaks in the leaves.

Berries meant seeds, and Kat knew that the company that hired her would pay her handsomely for a specimen that they could grow themselves. Kat's eyes twinkled with giddy excitement as she thought about the payday she was about to receive.

Rapping on the thick tempered glass of the container, Kat could see that a quick 'smash and grab' was out of the question. Kat swung her flashlight to the top of the enclosure. "Latch and hinge, huh? Simple enough."

Climbing the conveniently located step ladder for better access to the top of the five foot tall enclosure, Kat easily opened the latch and swung the lid back on its hinges.

The inside of the lid held a variety of light bulbs, presumably to produce different frequencies of light and some mister nozzle for moisture control, with a couple of thin clear water lines running from the top of the lid down behind the terrarium.

The hinge itself was of the hydraulic variety that would hold position wherever it was moved. Kat tested the lid for about a minute until she was satisfied that she wouldn't need to find something to prop the lid to keep it open.

The glass walled container was four feet square in area and five feet tall, the plant occupied roughly seventy percent of the space, mostly towards the back of the container giving Kat a convenient, but small space in front so as not to crush the plant.

From the top of the adjacent ladder, Kat nimbly swung her legs over the lip of the terrarium and landed deftly inside, her soft sole shoes sinking into the lightly spread soil at the base of the plant.

Standing five foot three inches, she was light on her feet and a natural acrobat, as demonstrated by her stealthy entrance; Kat would have no issue, getting back out once her prize was in hand.

"A cutting and the berry should do the trick", Kat said out loud to herself as she bent low to choose the best branch to cut.

Standing with her back against the front of the glass, she had no room to turn or move around without pushing into and brushing through the green vines. Not noticeable from outside of the enclosure, Kat felt the waxy resin of the leaves brush against her bare forearms and face as she moved to a crouching position.

She was one of the lucky ten percent of people who were immune to the aggravations of poison ivy and oak, so her mind didn't register the slight transfer of resin to her skin as she jockeyed the branches around looking for the one that would survive the cutting and transplant.

Finding a branch to her liking about half way down the plant, Kat pulled a small knife from her pocket and deftly opened it.

Holding the branch with one gloved hand and the knife in the other, she put the edge of the blade to the spot where her chosen vine joined the main branch.

Kat pressed the edge of the blade to the vine and drew it back for a sharp clean cut that would allow the cutting to root well when transplanted, but the vine was tougher than it appeared. She pause and looked at the spot where she had attempted to slice, but it was unblemished.

She pressed the knife to the stubborn vine harder and sawed vigorously back and forth, with similar lack of result. Gritting her teeth, Kat placed the blade against the vine again.

No sooner did the knife touch the plant for the third time, the hydraulics of the hinge suddenly released its tension and the heavy lid of the enclosure fell back into place.

Kat's stomach dropped as she heard the lid slam shut followed by a softer click of the latch.

"No, no, no!" Kat cried as she quickly stood back up and placed her hands flat on the bottom of the lid, pushing to open the lid again, with no luck. She became more frantic, beating her clenched fists against the lid with similar lack of results.

Pausing a moment and taking a slow breath, Kat calmed herself. "This isn't the worst position I've gotten myself out of", she reminded herself.

With the exception of her flashlight and pocket knife, all of her tools were in her satchel, just inches from her though the glass sitting neatly at the bottom of the ladder where she had left it.

With an irritated harrumph, she gritted her teeth, calmed herself, and began methodically probing the seam of the lid / glass interface with her pocket knife, looking for a gap or weakness she could exploit to make her escape.

Unfortunately, this terrarium was extremely well built, and the lid seam was tight and impervious to all the probing and gouging Kat could muster with her small pocket knife. She could not reach the simple latch on the outside of the lid, and was making zero progress gouging the solid lid along the seal or anywhere else.

In desperation she changed tactics. The enclosure was only four feet wide by four long, so she nestled down into the plant, leaning her back against the solid back glass, leaves and vine stems brushing all over her face and exposed forearms. Her face and exposed skin began to feel flush, which she attributed to her mounting frustration at her situation. Kat channeled all of her frustration and anger at herself for allowing this predicament into a savage heel kick into the front glass of the terrarium in hopes of breaking her way out.

Strike after strike, her anger grew as the glass refused to yield. She switched legs, double mule kicked and continued to pummel the glass in every way she could think, but while her soft shoes were excellent for stealth, they were terrible for striking.

Kat exhausted herself after ten minutes of unrelenting kicks without the slightest sign of stress on the tempered glass of her hopefully temporary prison. Beaded sweat rolled down from her brow as she panted and slumped down against the glass. The warm flush in her face had broadened and traveled down her neck to her chest and her arms from shoulder to finger tips were now warm and lightly tingling. "I'm gonna have to up the cardio after this", Kat thought, taking the sensations she was now becoming aware of as a response to her exertion.

Not ready to concede defeat, Kat pulled her knees up to her chest once she regained a measure of her breath back, and began to think about other angles of attack.

She still had her pocket knife and flashlight, and though she was unable to crack the glass with blunt force, maybe she could chip away at it. The flashlight, though small, was of the sturdy variety that could double as a weapon if needed.

Kat got up onto her knees with her flashlight in her right hand and knife in her left. The line of warmness had traveled down over her breast and was currently halfway down her toned belly with the tingling sensation just beginning to encroach the territory of her A size cups. "Woah!", she exclaimed when the tingling reached her nipples, now erect hard pebbles, distracting her as her body responded with an answering warmth beginning lower still.

Blinking her eyes and shaking her head to clear her mind and focus on the task at hand, she placed the tip of the pocket knife squarely against the glass and brought her flashlight back preparing to strike.

Mustering all her strength, she swung her flashlight hard, striking the end of the knife handle delivering all the force generated into the knife. The blow connected as intended, driving the knife forward into the glass.

The glass, completely unaffected, sent the knife flying out of Kat's hand and into the far corner of the enclosure. Delivering the blow to the knife, the flashlight exploded into several pieces and stopped producing light, returning the terrarium she was now trapped in to the twilight condition she had originally found in the now cramped-seeming enclosure.

Kat bellowed in frustration loudly, then deflated a bit, with a heavy sigh. Feeling around the soft soil, she retrieved her small blade and found that the tip had been bent at a sharp ninety degree angle. Examining the area of her attempted exfiltration with her gloved fingers, Kat couldn't detect even the slightest of scoring on the surface of the glass, let alone any significant weakening of its structure.

"This stuff must be bullet-proof! A bit overkill for a terrarium, if you ask me", Kat mumbled to herself, dejected at now being completely defeated. Kat sat in silence for a few moments, idly brushing off the soil clinging to the knees of her dark, skin tight pants. Staring blankly at the empty terrarium numbered "165" through the glass and across the aisle from her, Kat tried not to think about what would happen when she was finally found.

Her mood darkened as she recalled that it was only the second day of this university's spring break, and it might be several more days before anyone came back to this building on campus, or longer, given this room was in the back of a horticultural laboratory of one of the smaller departments on campus.

As Kat's bleak mood worsened, she felt her body respond unexpectedly. The warmth of the flush that had been spreading through her body completely enveloped her whole body, as well the accompanying tingle, which annoyingly seemed to settle in her erogenous zones.

Sitting in potting soil as she was, her mind drifted to a tryst a few years ago when she had met a tall, blond hunk of a man at a bar. They hadn't even made it back to either his apartment or hers when they were all over each other.

They were both buzzed and extremely horny, they found a small open patch in some bushes next to a well manicured apartment building obscured from the road. Kneeling in the dirt, they frantically stripped the clothes off the other.

Practically tearing his shirt off, Kat paused for a moment, to marvel at this nameless stranger she had picked up at the bar. He was six foot two, broad muscular shoulders, impeccable pectorals, and Adonis-like six pack abs. His skin had a slight sheen of sweat, same as her due to the drinks and the warm evening. "You look fucking beautiful",he said to her as he stared at her lithe, athletic form.

Kat ran her fingers down his chiseled front, stopping to undo his belt. They quickly finished undressing each other, kissing and stroking each other's naked, sweat-slick form.

Finally removing Kat's panties and bra, the blond Adonis began kissing Kat's neck, working his way down to her small, pert breasts. Kissing, licking and nibbling around each breast, paying close attention to her nipples, he ravaged her as if she was a meal laid out for him and he was starving. Adonis' attention left her breasts, kissing and licking his way down her body, savoring all of her flavor.

Kat laid back on the bare earth,dirt clinging to her sweaty back and buttocks, as her Adonis parted her legs, crouched low and draped her legs on either of his shoulders. He began kissing and sucking on her warm inner thighs.

"Good enough to eat", he rumbled gravelly. His breath was hot on her mound and Kat's eye rolled into the back of her head as he gave her slit a slow wet lick from bottom to top with the broad flat of his tongue, lapping up the moisture already pouring from her.

Kat's mind snapped back to the present. "What the hell am I doing thinking about that at a time like this?" She was flustered, hot, and could feel her wetness seeping from her cleft.

There was a clock on the wall above the door she had come through, and she realized that she had already been locked in the terrarium for over three hours. Her face was still flush and her body was at a low thrum; Kat realized that she had been lost in her reverie for ninety minutes. With nothing better to do and exhaustion finally overcoming the heist-induced adrenaline spike, Kat ignored the feelings in her apparently hormone-addled body, curled up in a corner of the container and fell asleep.

As Kat slept, she had vague dreams of caresses from unseen hands, kisses from faceless mouths, and warm ephemeral bodies pressed against hers, only to be woken abruptly by a soft but insistent chiming.