Water & experiments

'Seriously, how many times have we crossed this place by now?!' the trio crunched the dead plant parts under them.

Shadows flickered and jumped amidst the suspended landmasses attached to the titanic gray branches. Large silhouettes could be seen silently crawling over the woods in small numbers.

The survivor managed to spot one by chance and froze in place.

"What is that...?" he muttered as he tugged at the winged boy.

Angelo turned to look in the same direction.

"Hm, I dunno. They always come out when it's getting dark. But don't worry, they've never tried to eat me!" he continued on his path.

"Uh, hu..." Duncan suspiciously regarded the obscured creature as he tailed behind the angelic boy.

***

The survivors emerged from the dark and damp forest and unto the barren border separating the biomes. They headed for the glittering silver woods.

"Let's go, um, deeper in." Duncan said. "Where there are more trees, so that no birds come after us."

"Oh, good idea! Let's do that."

Soon the sheet of cyan moss squeaked underneath their steps. Duke trembled with mechanical clacks as he struggled to find a stable footing.

***

"So we pluck 'em, smack 'em, and stab 'em?" the boy asked.

"Yup!" Angelo leaned down and pulled at a water bug.

The dark dry dirt shuffled and the plant came out.

"Hit it!" Angelo held the creature over his chest as the roots along its circumference waved wildly and it struggled to escape his grasp.

Duncan awkwardly punched at the grainy center on the flora's brown underside. On impact, the creature laid limp and couldn't struggle.

"Why does that work, anyway?" he asked, taking out a knife and bottle.

"Dunno, I saw some other animals doing it and copied them." the winged boy flipped the plant over.

"Hm, well l-let's try some experiments on the next ones." he lightly cut into the plant's translucent membrane and collected the trickle of water in his bottle.

"Okay!"

When the plastic bottle contained a little water, he vigorously shook it and poured out the liquid. He repeated the same action again and checked to make sure the bottle is clean.

***

'Looks like one has enough water for a bottle and a half.' he organized.

"So, what do you want to try? Maybe we should hit them in different places?" the angelic boy tossed the deflated water bug on the ground.

"Hm, how about instead of hitting them on their weak spot, we stab them there instead? Maybe we could see what's inside."

"Um, but what if that really hurts them... Well I guess we're already stealing their water..." Angelo shook his head. "I'll go pull up another one."

"Wait, let Duke watch." Duncan turned to the machine. "Duke, mimic." he pointed towards Angelo. "He should be able to get it if you show him once. Then I'll fine-tune him by hand."

[Your trembling incompetent hand is unnecessary. Observe as I evolve past the limitations put forth by your shortcomings.] the machine watched intently with its eye lens.

"Ouh, okay!" the winged boy uprooted another plant and held the jerking thing in his hands.

The survivor regarded the grooved smooth underside of the flora. The ridges were arranged radially, bigger near the edge and smaller at the middle. A very subtle pulse of pressure could be seen traveling along the small channels, going from the center to the outer edges where the ridges splintered into the short wailing roots.

Duncan gently inserted the knife in the very middle with an uncertain face. As soon as the blade pierced the woody underpart the creature collapsed in on itself like an umbrella with the knife as a handle.

With the change in shape came a burst of liquid from the incision. The cut grew in size from the sheer pressure of water.

"Woah!" the boy reeled back far too slowly, both his hand holding the knife and leg from the knee down were damp. "Oh come on!" he inspected his clothes.

"Wah!" Angelo lost his grip on the plant after it deformed.

After expelling its reservoir of water, the creature laid flat on the ground like a pancake. The sagged translucent rubber did not contain a single drop of water, instead right beneath it laid a blue tinted green paste.

[Hasn't your body decayed enough for you to have gone beyond expelling liquid like that, creator?]

"Ughhh." Duncan grumbled. 'It's pretty warm out, it should dry out on its own.'

"What just happened?" the angel asked.

"I have no idea. It exploded?"

"Do you think it's dead?" Angelo poked at the creature with his foot. "... Do these feel pain?" the winged boy didn't have his usual smile.

"I dunno... I mean, honestly I can't tell if they're plants or animals. They're really weird..."

'Wait, don't tell me he's feeling bad for this thing when just a while back he was nuking birds and cats left and right as if it were an average Wednesday.'

"I don't like hurting nice things though... Is what we're doing nice?"

"... Well, in any case, do we have a choice?"

"Yea, I guess you're right. But let's not stab them like that anymore. I don't think this one will grow back..."

"Sure..."

'Welp, there goes my plan to dissect a bunch! And anyway, doing that explosion thing again is out of question. Can't collect any water that way.'

Duncan took out his phone and pressed a couple of buttons.

"Okay, and Duke should be able to pluck them for us now. Let's test him out."

[There is no uncertainty in my ability, witness for your own sorry self.] the automaton jumped into action.

Duke inserted its long folded hand underneath the closest cyan bump. It maneuvered itself as if it were drunk. Its hand kept slipping when it attempted to uproot the plant.

Duncan sighed and remotely controlled the robot with his phone. He adjusted its movement as it continued to work autonomously.

After successfully flipping over the mossy plant on its back, it clumsily struck its core, paralyzing the creature. It then moved onto the next bump and repeated, this time with little remote control.

"Here, let's quickly finish this up." Duncan passed the winged boy a knife and tin can.

"Alright Duke, do a few more and then stop."

[No. I shall not have my potential squandered by your insistent inferiority.]

***

The two rinsed the containers and collected all the water they needed while Duke was on standby. They drank some directly from the plants, packed up and prepared to leave.

'Hm, I can sorta make out little green clumps in some of the water. Probably just plant matter, nothing to worry about.' Duncan inspected a plastic bottle under the sun.

"All done!" Angelo flipped over the last few water bugs and settled their deflated frames into place. 

The sun had begun to set. It was still visible but not as bright as it had been. In the far distant sky, streaks of red eased into being. The green clouds grew slightly darker.

'Man, I wanted to mess around with the fire trees too. But it might get too dark and I don't want to think about what sort of horrors will start popping out then.'

"We should... go back?" the survivor said.

"Yea! Also, are you sure you don't want me to carry it?"

"Yup, it's fine, don't worry about it."

"Well, okay..." Angelo headed for the mountainous woods, Duncan dragging behind.

The winged boy walked a little slower so that Duncan caught up and they walked side by side. Eventually, Duncan intentionally dragged out his stride such that he was ever so slightly behind the angelic boy.

'Ahhhhh!!! I swear I've done more walking today than I have in all my life! And my back's killing me from this dumb backpack!'