A Day in the Life of a Larnikin Soldier

4:02AM NST – Oh, man. Dragged out of bed to fight blue pests, and I'm still half asleep. Those blue devils always seem to know when it's nap time and it's really not fair. We soldiers can't take care of our habitarium properly when we're not at our best, and sure enough, those blue guys destroyed another nester's egg just now. I'd go apologize to the poor nester, but that's not my section to patrol, and now I'm being put back in the hospital to finish recuperating...

4:04AM NST – Wow, do I feel refreshed! I feel like I could go for another eight hours, but I know that won't happen. I seem to get really tired after only about five or six hours anymore. Too bad we don't have any Energyblast Krawkade here. The Pinchit I share this quadrant with got put into the hospital as soon as I got out, and should get back to the field in just a couple more minutes, so in the meantime, I'll just have a look around and make sure everything is secure. Oh, and here come some of the workers. Since I get to rest before they do, they're always a bit slower coming out to work. I guess it's up to me to keep them safe until my partner gets back...

4:05AM NST – Those blue guys are starting to get on my nerves! Geez! I was just getting my perimeters secured when they jumped in over the fences again. My partner, and the other soldiers' partners, had to be pulled out of the hospital to help this time, because we really don't like the workers to fight. They haven't had our training and can sustain substantial injuries. But we fought the blue bugs off successfully this time and none of the other nesters lost an egg. But I really wish I could leap over the mossy twigs to get to that other quadrant when our pests are gone, like in the stories I've heard of our ancestors doing. Well, I guess I'll have this part of the board to myself again for a little longer until my partner is up to par...

4:30AM NST – Good! Here come a couple of nests for us to build. My partner got back in good health and spirits, but doesn't much care for the menial task of building nests. Our owner usually assigns workers to do the building, and I have to admit they're much better at it than us soldiers, but I like to jump in to help anyway when things are quiet. It really helps break up the monotony...

4:33AM NST – The nesters are finally being relieved of their eggs. It seems they were feeling a bit bored and spunky in the night and decided to play a trick on our owner again. They switched places, hehe! That really messes with her system! I feel really bad for the one whose egg was destroyed, but I guess it doesn't much matter since our owner is discarding them all anyway (poor unhatched little guys)...

7:12AM NST – We just had another pest attack, but there were none in our quadrant and my partner and I kept looking around, dazed and confused, for someone to fight. Finally our owner realized that our help was needed, but she kept putting us in the wrong places. I guess she got the hint, though, when we still looked confused, and I got taken up to corner 0 behind the tiki hut. You know, I couldn't see any pests, but I could sure smell them and just kept fighting the air until the stench went away. The interesting thing about being a soldier is that you never know where you might end up next. When the battle was over, the other Larnikin soldier, in the area I where I was put, got dragged back to my old quadrant and I got to stay in this one. And, I have a new partner – a Mootix. I hope this guy is as reliable as my last one. It looks like the blue boys destroyed one of the mud pits this time, but the saddest thing is, one of the workers got caught up in the fray and couldn't be taken to the hospital in time. So sad, but he gave up his life saving others, and that's what it's all about...

9:19AM NST – Hey! What happened? I wasn't THAT tired, but I just got dragged away to rest again. But it sure does feel goooood! I hope my latest partner will be okay alone for a couple of minutes...

9:24AM NST – I'm back, and I have my original partner back, too! At least I think so. You know, all these Pinchits kind of look the same to me. Funny thing about the hospitals – sometimes we don't get the care we need and have to be airlifted to the other one instead. But then our owner can't always tell which of us came from where, hehe...

11:02AM NST – All the workers have been taken to their houses for a rest, so it sure is peaceful...

3:08PM NST – I'm so bored! No pest attacks and the nests to be built aren't being placed in this section. I've got nothing to do but walk around, walk around...

3:10 PM NST - I guess I spoke too soon! Those blue bugs came in force this time, and they were brutal! I guess our owner was out doing other things, so we had to do our best on our own. Unfortunately, a couple of the houses were destroyed, and one of them was here in our quadrant. But I'm getting really tired, and my partner doesn't seem up to it, so I'll just stay where I am and see if I can repair it from a distance. Wow, it worked! How about that...

3:20PM NST - I know I'm going to have a nice visit in the hospital in a little bit, but I have to tell you how the nesters decided to break up the monotony again. It really didn't affect me (or any of the other soldiers), but it was fun nonetheless. Our owner was in the process of deleting the poor little eggs, but this time the eggs had switched places! Haha! You should have seen the look on our owner's face when she saw a Mootix egg where a Larnikin had been nesting, and a Larnikin egg where a Pinchit had been! Too funny, hahaha...

4:39PM NST – I almost forgot what day this was. It's my birthday! I'm seven days old today! To help celebrate (at least I would like to think it was because of, or for, me) our owner had nest-building races. And I got to participate, even though I shouldn't have, since it was really between the three species of workers. Each one – Mootix, Pinchit and Larnikin (go Larnikin!) - got a nest to build at the same time. About half-way through, I just couldn't help myself and jumped in to help my fellow Larni. And we won! Wow! I feel so good. I feel all glowing and sparkly. Oooh, now I see a bright light and I feel like I'm being lifted up, up, up...

Disclaimer – No Larnikins were actually harmed during the telling of this story.

The End