Five Second Rule

Posted on 27 Sep 2017 @ 5:36pm by Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Captain Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant David Moreau Jr

1,555 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Finnean Crisis
Location: Captain's Quarters
Timeline: MD 6 || 2000 Hours

Joey was sitting on the couch with a plate of various flavored donuts settled on the arm next to her. In her hand, she was holding the PADD Harvey had given her that contained the book What To Expect When You're Expecting, and a lot of what she read so far proved to be quite informative. In fact, for just over the next few months, this book was going to be her best friend. Granted, she would only read it when there was time to, as there wasn't a whole lot she would allow to interfere with her duties.

As she continued reading, Joey reached for one of the donuts. There were just three of them, and now... two? Surely she would remember eating one. Taking a look around, she spotted both Rico was gnawing on his slobber covered sock, and Pequeno was sound asleep across the other side of the living room, so it was unlikely either of them managed to sneak over and steal it. Not to mention, she would have noticed them grabbing one of her precious sugary confections of perfection and running off with it. No... something else happened to it, but what?

She leaned forward to place the plate on the coffee table, then set the PADD down next to it before she pushed herself to a standing position. A quick scan of the living room didn't immediately offer up any leads until she spotted the chocolate covered donut with sprinkles on the floor by the table. Now... how in the hell did it get over there?

Then... it moved. Almost as if it were being dragged by something, but she didn't see anything.

"Am I craving donuts so much, that now I'm imagining them moving around on their own?" she asked herself out loud.

The donut moved again and now a few strands of some type of string or something seemed to be attached to the donut as it jerked and moved. Ahead of it, something brown and black and about the size of a small rodent moved and came into view. It looked like a cross between an Earth chipmunk and a spider with huge legs as it worked on dragging the donut towards the vent.

Joey let out a scream, that to anyone passing by, would sound like she was being murdered inside. She looked around for her phaser, but then remembered she was no longer Security and couldn't possess one the way she could months ago. Her only choice now was to let out a shriek of pure terror as she found herself leaping onto the couch.

When the Mama screamed and let out the ear piercing shriek, both Rico and Pequeno were on their feet and looking around with their heads tilted upward slightly to scent the air. There was something present that didn't belong, and it posed a very obvious threat if the Mama's actions were any clue.

The elder dog sniffed around a bit until he found the source of the foreign smell. His eyes locked onto the little creature, and the growling and snarling began. The sock hit the ground, then teeth were bared just as the German Shepherd went in for the kill.

At the motion of two large hairy things, the tiny creature immediately released the strands of webbing and darted towards the closest thing to it, which was the couch the screaming hairless giant was currently on. It raced up the side and over the giant's feet as it made its bid for freedom and a vent on the opposite side of the couch.

Joey let out a blood curdling scream as she bounced from one foot to the other, trying to avoid coming into contact with that... thing. She tried to jump from the couch, but got tangled up in her own legs and hit the floor with an oomph. Quickly, her head snapped around to the last place she'd seen it before managing to scramble out of the way.

Rico was on it, following the same path the alien creature took without the Mama being in his way. He was going to get the... whatever it was... at any cost. Pequeno, on the other hand, had other plans. He spotted the plate of donuts and tipped it onto the ground and started eating them, leaving the whole mess at hand to the capable hands of his more experienced brother.

The creature leaped off the edge of the couch and released a couple very sticky long strands of webbing behind it as it leapt to another chair. It released the webbing and went over the back of the chair in the hopes of hiding from the furry monsters that was now after it.

Rico was hot on its heels, sneezing when the little strands came into contact with his nose, but that didn't slow him down. He came to the chair and stared at the little creature with a snarl. His number one goal was to protect the Mama at all costs, and that meant doing away with the vile beast that had assaulted her with its presence.

It darted off again in a blur of legs and made a run for an exit which was the Captain and Joey's bedroom, it's long legs making short work of the distance as it raced away from the thing that was trying to kill it.

Rico was hot on its heels, snapping and gnashing his teeth as he went. As long as it didn't get near his Mama, he was okay. The white German Shepherd let out a mighty bark as he moved, trying to catch the creature before it could do anymore damage.

In a surprise twist, the creature spun a mass of sticky webbing behind it, then veered around as it released it and ran between the long legs of the beast that was chasing it and charged back the way it had came.

The canine tripped over himself trying to turn direction and tumbled across the floor until he came to a stop against the bed. He gave his head a shake and was up once more, chasing behind the abnormal creature. Another bark was heard before he came into view.

Joey screamed again, struggling to get to her feet as the vile beast came back into the main living area. What the hell was it? How did it get here? There were so many questions, but she couldn't be bothered to answer any of them as she found herself leaping back onto the couch. "Get it, Rico!"

The tiny thing saw the other furry beast eating its bounty and gave a chittering sound in either anger or despair and veered off for the vent again, not seeing that the other beast and made a run for freedom.

Rico was on top of the creature in an instant, snapping it up in his strong jaws and giving it a good crunch before he looked toward the Mama. With his head held high, he trotted toward her and opened his mouth, dropping the now dead and mangled creature at her feet. It was a gesture of love, and a sign that he would go to great lengths to keep her safe. He turned away from her in an instant to claim his own prize... the only donut his canine brother hadn't eaten.

Joey let out yet another blood curdling scream, leaping from the couch before the thing of nightmares could touch her feet. She clapped a hand over her pale lips and tried to look at anything but the couch. Were there more of them? There had to be. They were lurking inside the ship, planning their ultimate attack.

It was then that the doors to the quarters parted, and a tall figure entered the main loving area. He looked at the frightened Joey, then down at Rico who was happily chewing away at something that clearly did not match the treasured sock collection. Then Harvey saw it! He knelt down to pick up the object and examined it closely.

"Five second rule!" he declared before taking a bite out of the donut.

Joey shot up in bed, panting. She'd read somewhere that pregnant women suffered from odd dreams, but that was certainly one for the books. Thankfully, she didn't have to see what happened after Harvey bit into the donut, but the mental images of the webbing hanging from the pastry was more than enough for her to turn a little green.

She glanced to the two dogs curled up next to her and reached out to pet them both. Sadly, though, she wasn't going to be going back to sleep anytime soon. Might as well do something useful and constructive.

After pulling her red silk robe on, Joey made her way out into the living room, taking the time to look around for any moving donuts... which included under the couch, chair, tables and everywhere in between. When she was satisfied, she settled down on the couch, with her feet up, and reached for the PADD she'd left on the coffee table to begin a checklist for the things she would need to acquire before the twins arrived.


** NPC Spidermunk played by David Moreau

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