No answer from the Ishtar, so Trask and Greene examine the substance further.

"Ensign Trask to the Ishtar. Respond!" I waited, but there was no answer. We were too deep in the thick of the jungle to get a signal through.

I quickly looked to Greene. She was holding her hands up as her clothing slowly dissolved away. I took my tricorder and scanned. "This thing seems to feed on inorganic material..." I said as the scan indicated that Greene was completely unharmed by it.

"Inorganic? Is this thing alive?" Greene asked. She had collected herself and returned to her professional demeanor as soon as she realized that she wasn't hurt. She held her hand in front of her face and looked at the goopy substance on it. I gleaned my wrist light over it. It was transparent like water but with a thicker viscosity. I breathed a sigh of relief to see no acidic burns or scarring on the skin underneath. I then checked the tricorder results.

"I can't tell... it doesn't appear to have any sentience, it's just a chemical reaction of some kind." I held the tricorder so the science officer could verify my findings.

"Hmm... it doesn't seem to read any energy signal, but there is bio matter present. Could it be a sort of excretion from one of the plant life?"

I scanned the general area and found another trail of bio matter readings. This led away from the water bed, so I followed it with the lieutenant following behind me. We arrived at a clearing illuminated by more vegetation. The glow was like you would find outside a fluorescent-lit bar. The readings led us to a vase-like plant that was as large as a person. I made a scan of the plant and confirmed that it contained the liquid inside.

"A digestive substance?" I asked.

"Maybe, but it wouldn't get much sustenance out of inorganic material..." Greene replied as she approached the plant. She placed a hand on the membrane of the plant, pushing it to test its thickness. "This resembles a carnivorous pitcher plant back on Earth. The base of the pitcher is filled with acids while the shape traps insects like flies to be digested. The contents here could be used to weed out indigestible items before it feeds."

"I would be careful around that thing then, Lieutenant..." I said, stepping back cautiously.

"It seems firm to me, I'm just curious how this thing's juices became a pool of..."

As the lieutenant continued to press, the plant split open and gushed out its contents all over her. I jumped back quickly to avoid splash as I watched the rest of Lieutenant Greene's clothing disappear. The onrush of liquid washed her uniform away like it was wet paint, right down to her standard issue boots. She stood before me completely naked and covered in glistening plant juice. She looked down at herself. The oily substance dripped off her body in wet spatters. She then looked to me. The shock and embarrassment was clear on her face. We simply stared at each other awkwardly.