My puddle admin, orders have been completed. ~

Oh! That’s fast A18… Somehow I spaced out for the time it required for energy levels to reach what the AI deemed ‘medium capacity’. What am I doing? The answer is, preparing for launch. So I am packaging my baggage and checking that I don’t leave anything here for some robber G02 to pick up. It’s very good that my ‘head’ can actually be stretched from the body. It can also be separated, but it will damage all the things I did. I don’t have a long-distance Wi-Fi connection to connect the image or to control said detachable head, nor another body for it to move.

Yeah, the AI must have some sort of device that makes all other NBs and their MMs listen to her. Maybe a different type of Bluetooth. Something I haven’t understood and checked completely but will need to slowly comprehend in the future. There is a reason why I need to leave this place, I feel the AI moved for a goal and staying here might not be the optimal result. It said this level of energy isn’t enough, it seems like resources are very scarce.

With many thoughts in the process, my current engine system started its waiting for a countdown. A countdown for the full launch of the first movement device I created after arriving here. Having high expectations in mind I gave the AI its order.

A18 initiate engine pre-ignition protocol, put some goggles on. It’s time for fireworks.

Swimming glasses on, swimsuit on… It’s tight~

My puddle master, I am ready to go to the sea with you!~

Can you teach me to swim?~

Are all safety devices in check?

It’s safe today~

Then A18… Start countdown!!!

Yay! Starting the countdown!~

P-43z and counting 43:00:00z Revision by admin to check all stations and personnel.

Admin check, A18 you ready?

Aye, my puddle!~

P-27z and holding 27:00:00z Checking out backup swim systems…

Activate and test motion, position, equilibrium, accelerometer and remaining sensors…~

How are the sensors Fairing A18?

I am sensible and cute my puddle!~

Good!

P-19z and counting 19:00:00z Starting overcharging of systems, current overcharge programmed 1%...

A18 are you fine?

It tickles a bit...~

Tell me when you can't tolerate more...

P-11z and counting 11:00:00z Overcharging energy systems... 10%

A18 how is it going?

It's... starting to feel good...~

I see, then continue.

Yesh!~

P-6z and holding 6:00:00z Overcharging energy systems... 77%

Mastah, I am near my limit... I can´t...~

A18, yes you can. Come on!

Yesh!~

P-3z and holding 3:00:00z Overcharging energy systems... 89%

Mastah...~

Just a bit more! Just a bit more!

P-0.20z and holding 20:00z Overcharging energy systems... 96%

My puddle! I... request to...

How are weather conditions?

Weather conditions are clearsh~

Is there any debris in the selected direction?

No debrish in near shwim pads…~

AI18 only 9z, you can do it, hold on!

P-0.09z and holding 9:00z Overcharging energy systems... 98%

Final launch window determination…

Shelected~

Activate flight recorders…

P-0.066z and holding 6:60z Overcharging energy systems... 99%

Ordering log recording for future events…

Main engine preparation complete… (T-6.6 seconds in real NASA program).

Starting ignition of the main engine…? Please~ Please~

P-0.066z and holding 6:60z Overcharging energy systems... 100%

My puddle, I am at my limits!~

Please...~

A18 you have done well... Preparations complete! Start!

Flagellar engine proton release complete! ~

Liftoff!!!~

Liftoff!!!

I joined A18’s cute and sexy voice with my own thoughts with excitement. The weird locomotion system created a water current that started to lift my body with increasing force. No sound came because I am deaf and also because it’s just a straw whirling water. But no matter, I lifted off the lightened ground with ease. What can I say, I practiced before the recharging. I even adjusted a little bit of overcharging, which is like what you have when your fuel is ‘empty’. Just that this ‘reserve’ turned out to be spent first instead of last, so if the energy went to zero in this journey, nothingness might await me.

Thrust/Run is the movement of going in a specified direction with this locomotion system, whilst tumble means an abrupt change of course. It consumes more energy to brake and redirect than doing a constant motion. Also, the faster and slower the engine rotates, the more energy that I spend; reason why, the best efficiency for locomotion was a bit above medium speed.

This speed also allowed me to have some reaction as it was stable enough to swim with an adjusting direction. It felt very versatile, like some of those flight simulators for fighter jets. Just a bit slower and with less visibility, but cooler sensors… Okay, maybe the last statement is false.

Thrusting forward with my flexible whisker made me able to have a better grasp of the surroundings. The light below me had the form of a circle, not perfectly symmetrical yet no plant grew over it. It had some dust and rocks that covered parts of its light. Around the circle, you could see what I called plants growing and quivering in their senseless motion. They surrounded the weird circle heat-mat like zealot supporters. Gaseous bubbles lifted around them as if they were breathing. It made me think that maybe the heat from the light area was enough for the water to have some part of it evaporating. A weird sensation that you get when the ‘sun’ is below you and it’s pasted to the ground.

Spoiler: Spoiler

The light comes from a circle structure in the center with a weird texture as floor. there are curved sand like structures with many plants like algae quivering around. Bubbles raise towards the darkness above the blinding light.

Note: Beware if watching in the dark. It's not eye friendly aka blinding...

Odd as the scene was, I felt calm. I mean, I am like a child playing with a new toy. It felt like flying as I could roll, loop, advance and even reverse! Even if I said those, I was very serious with my energy consumption. My exploration was, of course, the first flight attempt to search for energy. I chose a random direction based on what I felt had the most plants growing to check first. More life is equal to more energy, usually.

While speeding away from my previous dwelling, I gazed with my Puddle-Vision™ sensor trying to decipher the size of this world. Above, there only remained a fading darkness. It looked like some sort of eerie jaw in the black and white scales of my vision. Outside the circle of overwhelming darkness, you could see some sort of mist that swirled like a whirlpool adding to its definition of a perimeter. Something was sucking out that mist. Going up wasn’t the right option I thought, yet interestingly, there was no water ‘current’ recognized in my sensing domain.

With cautiousness, I deduced to keep swimming low and try to prevent a catastrophe secondary to flying way above ground. The vision sensor continued to move and show different angles of the encompassing environment, as I peered for something ‘different’ catching my curiosity. After a certain period of whipping and muffled splashing, my body arrived at an area where plants started to decrease in numbers. Not hard to deduce, these things probably needed that as a source of energy to thrive.

I decided to make a stop here. The purpose of such should be obvious. Taking a sample. I didn’t like going near the place where many of these weird things waved at me. It was good that they were sparser in this area. I selected one that was medium-sized compared to the others and arrived near it after double-checking the landing area was secure.

A18 search for information about these plants.

Checking in databases…~

No information found, my puddle…~

So these are unknown to the AI, huh?

I didn’t delve too much on this before because I was fully submerged in the sensor devices. I recall the AI was blind for a long time… Did it entangle with these weird plants before arriving here? Why isn’t there a log for that? Never mind should be a communication error once again, or maybe it didn’t record all.

A18 show me the current log.

My puddle logs are the most cherished memory of our time together!~

Hm, I should make a serious mode for when in experiment mode…

With the log opened I saw that the AI didn’t record many things. Is there a problem with information processing or the time that each event is taken? Storage problems?

A18 can you make the log more complete?

Answering my puddle!~

The log can have more events with a defined amount of z~

I see, so its 'time' doing trouble again.

A18 define the log after every 20 rotations of the flagellar engine.

Command Acknowledged! Recording after every 20 rotations, an amount of 10z ~

After adjusting the log recompilation, my flagellar engine rotated silently at minimum speed. I couldn’t stop completely. If anything happened I was prepared for a quick re-acceleration. For taking a sample the AI had specific NRs at her disposal. It’s just that those weren’t under my control and were system-specific. Something on which I didn’t have access to. So by thrusting my flagellum to the weird plant, its end which had the form of a sharp hexagon slapped the plant at its base. Interestingly, the plant was sliced like butter. It felt too easy.

Command AI can you store a part of that plant?!

Answering my puddle, system storage can only be used temporarily or automatic systems might become unrepairable. Do you wish to continue?~

Yes, continue with the retrieval. Tell me if the ‘period of zs’ is met, throw me a cute warning.

As you wish my puddle. ~

A myriad of AI-controlled nanomachines started to squirm inside my body as they attached themselves with a weird communication system, its purpose was to approach the cargo with a huge phagocytic complex like how a slime munched over its pray. The belly of my body which hovered above the samples to be collected expanded with ease as a myriad of pseudopods in the form of tentacles snared the cargo. Around twelve tentacles on each side of my body slithered their way eerily towards the specimens, grabbing them and slowly introducing them to the unknown 'system' inside my body.

More tentacles? Eh, is there a stomach inside my belly?!

This system appears to have the means to do special things yet it is more complex than I thought, with my vision sensor I could see that the system had a membrane! Different from my detached 'drones' with rusty features, the system had fully attachable ones, a feature of superior quality that was totally evident even if I only perceived black and white. The difference in followers made me envious, I felt like a caveman in such conditions were A18 had greater control and a better console! I am being left behind, this can't continue! I need more bots to allow myself to play and create the underwater Undernet!

While my thoughts and delusions invaded my small head, the tentacles finished an enclosure whilst creating a pocket dimension that was filled with the water outside and the samples. It moved inside my body slowly, making me feel some pressure at my surface point secondary to its expansion. A circumstance that happened slowly until the pocket fused with the ‘system’ controlled by A18.

Sample retrieval complete…~

Not enough systems for scan…~

Wait! you can scan things?

Focusing on isolation…~

Isolation complete…~

You can also lock things? Is that an antivirus installed? Don't tell me it is consuming all your workload!

Consumption of energy might increase during system processes being operational, please beware.~

Oh, cool! Just what I needed, something that increased my energetical debauchery and an antivirus system. I should’ve checked on this before. I also should've collected this green weed after scouting the area. Okay, nothing we can do now. Let’s continue towards another place. I hope it remains fresh for an energetical smoke. Chill goo, chill...

Advancing again didn’t take much time, the weird plants continued visible in the terrain, but there was something extra in my perception. Even though the plants declined in population the more I thrust my flagellum, I could feel the water retaining its warm feeling.

It wasn’t as cold as I expected it to be, I believed that once I left the light, I would lose the heat of my weirdly lobby with a floor-chimney. Not losing it came as unexpected good news, I was suspecting that the energy might decrease so low that I couldn’t explore until a certain distance. I am a heat machine at the moment, the more heat, the more I can live.

This depicted my way of securing heat from the environment as a priority. It was a new quest added to my quest system. Just that at this setting, I can’t create an isolation device and my body is like a badly sewn lump of fleshed machines. Not the best clothes to withstand cold and ‘wet’ weather.

It is obvious that I should prepare more, but doing so may deprive me of an opportunity to get something better. Betting all in a game is stupid if said game had a low probability of giving returns. But what if you were dumb against that probability?

Not knowing is worse than assuming. So, despite all that, sometimes going all out can become the only resort available. What is the AI wanting to obtain with more energy acquisition? No answers for now, yet it needs energy, thus I depend on that resource too. Either I get it cautiously while creating all sensors, or I find myself an opportunity.

This world has plants, which means there can be moving lifeforms outside. I can’t keep believing my current house won’t catch fire if I play hide all the time. I need to seek, and for that, I need to understand this place as my cleaned mind stated in the quest menu.

This shows that doing this process works, cleaned-guy thinks while player-guy does and rethinks without bias. Like a double-blind study where you don’t know what is right or wrong. You just create a system, erase your memory and leave yourself to redo it better without the laziness or the feeling of it being completed. Something that gives you the possibility to check for errors on designs you did or strategize to a given hypothesis. In this case, the ability to think of ways to accomplish an objective with a cool mind in a processed manner.

I continue my whirling movement, changing a bit the direction with a tumble when finding something that made me curious in my visible field of view. It was a wall, but this weird rising structure was big enough for me to compare it to the Great Wall of China.

This explained that I couldn’t see its end by the darkness at the sides of my vision and that when looking upwards it stretched infinitely until disappearing on the blackened and gaseous sucking vault. Additional to the wall was the new type of plants growing around it. They looked the same as those near the heat, yet these glowed! It was the reason why I could continue advancing with my seeing sensor, I have landing lamps for my puddle plane. Not that I plan to land, I need to explore more and maybe find other heating mats.

A18 Mark the current area as arriving at a wall.

The current area designed as a wall in log…

Conceiving my arrival to a perimeter, my engine moved slower trying to produce as fewer tumbles as possible and map the most out of the walls. Upon finding them to be similar, I forwarded myself faster in an attempt to continue at an efficient level of speed.

My puddle energy levels reduced to medium-low…~

As expected moving consumes more than what you would expect. I need a real-time energy regeneration device. The only things I can think of are food and solar energy. Nuclear energy would be extremely complex to pull off. Maybe these plants can help, but I can’t carry another when I need the energy to meet a goal.

‘Thanks A18,’ I muttered in my mind as a reflection of my encased humanity, which I didn’t want to lose.

The voyage with rocky formations at one side and a plain covered with algae-like plants never ended. The curvature of the path was shown in a basic made map that the AI created based on the recompiled log information. The simple answer to this was, I am surrounded by walls.

And this was how my first ‘flight’ came to an end. I completed a full race car circuit like a velodrome in what appeared to be a tubular cage of rocks. My plans for leaving the current place and find better housing were crushed. Once again, what I did didn’t give me the expected results.

Results for scanning of current sample: Unknown.

Requirements to complete scanning: Unknown. Needs User's manual input.

...

I am goo, I am trapped in a circular shaped tube or something akin to that. I have ground chimney... Yet I am rich... I have like a full terrain of underwater weed, the favorite delicacy for umami devourers... Yet, I don't have a mouth!

A18, order nuggets.

Order nuggets not found in the menu...~

What? No tip for you then! Even if you act all cute like that! I will mind my sleep for a while, call me when you are finished sorting the log!

My puddle, the log has been completed!~

Hmm, 5 more zs, please!

Requirements met, playing "Angry mom's voice"~

'Hey! Sleeping beauty wake up!' (Opening curtains sounds.)

Creating a bright flash over user vision...

"Time to go to... You lazy...!" (Weird voices made by angry mom! Added note: Very very angry mom.)

I don't know what happened but with this, my dreamy sleep was destroyed. As they say, put your mom's voice to an alarm and it can save your life...

My puddle has woken up!~

With the AI's prank done, a bit of 'brushing my teeth' and locking my engines in place, I went for the details I needed.

So A18, did the log and map creation get us something?

My puddle there is a hole near the opposite direction of liftoff.~

The opposite direction? A cave?

A18 show me the map.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Map made with the mission's log.

Blue track: Mission movement area.

Grilled chicken breast: Heat energy zone.

Green Dots: Places with visible plants that don't emit light. Color unknown.

Green Star: non-emitting plant recollection site.

Red question mark: Cave/hole/exit?

Blue dots: Plants that emit light. Color unknown. Painted blue to differentiate from the green color.

Note: AI interface is learning to draw.

A18 how much energy do we have?

Medium energy levels are charged. I... Can be overcharged on new lift-off.~

A18, then our new mission is to thrust our flagellum towards that cave! Prepare for exploration!

Yes, my puddle!