paludal
[puh-lood-l, pal-yuh-dl]
1. of or relating to marshes.
2. produced by marshes, as miasma or disease.
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“So, why are we here again?” Frank grumbled. “And I don’t mean what we’re doing. I mean why are we, specifically, here? I mean, this would be so much easier if we let a drone come in while we sit somewhere that isn’t a swamp.”
The other members of the team rolled their eyes behind their air masks. They had gotten tired of Frank’s whining. They had been able to ignore it to an extent, but he responded to their silence by complaining louder.
“First of all, this isn’t a swamp. It’s a marsh. Big difference.” The team leader, Michelle, said. Frank scoffed. “No really, there is. If this was a swamp, it’d be a lot harder, because there would be deeper water and bigger plants. A marsh is relatively easy to get around in, even on foot.”
“Could’a fooled me.” Frank grumbled loudly. He shook mud and water off the feet of his tightly sealed environment suit, just to show his point.
Michelle ignored the man and continued. “And we’re here personally because drones won’t operate here. The water would interfere with the mobility of a ground drone and air drones don’t have the equipment we need.”
“Then why couldn’t we get some techs or assistants here to do this?”
A sudden fog on the inside of Michelle’s mask made it hard to see for a moment, but it cleared quickly. “Because they don’t have the expertise we do, and you know it. I mean, we’re dealing with the worst viral outbreak since the Bubonic Plague. Would you really trust some lab techs to find something out here that could lead to a cure? Now stop complaining and keep moving.”
Frank grumbled for a few minutes, but said nothing that was intelligible. That is, until he found something else to complain about. “So why do we have to come out here? I mean, we can do this in the lab just fine.” Another groan to a another question that had been asked at least five times since the mission started.
“What better location to find a cure than the source of the disease?” Michelle said.
Her tone made it very clear that she was not going to say anything else on the subject, and any more useless questions would be shot down immediately upon asking. Again, Frank grumbled just loud enough that the people around him could hear the sounds.
It was not long before Frank’s need to complain about something kicked it. “God damn it, why do these suits have to be so hot?” Frank asked. He pulled at the heavy plastic of the suit in order to keep it from clinging to his sweat covered body. He was not met with much success.
“Don’t like it? Take it off.” Michelle said with a large eye roll. “Maybe you’ll catch the disease and save us all a headache.”
The rest of the team sniggered quietly, their masks muffling most of the sound. A low growl could be heard coming from Frank, but he said nothing. He also made no motion to follow the team leader’s sarcastic suggestion. He complained a lot, but he still liked his flesh attached to his body.
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Okay, I admit I wasn't quite sure how to end this one, so I just kind of did. Probably could've done better, but oh well.
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