Eva saw a small flock of turnfins watching them from the nearby trees. “What?” she said.

“None of the turnfins are in the water,” he said. “Get out!”

Eva waded back toward shore. Behind her rose a monstrous flower bulb from the center of the pool, supported on a thick, hairy stalk. Wide-eyed, Eva stopped, turned, and watched as the bulb opened in the warm sunlight, a prodigious bloom full of speckled, spattered color. It reminded her of a gigantic exotic orchid as it released a cloud of pollen particles into the air surrounding it.

“It’s so beautiful,” Eva said. Dazzled, she stared at its center. The banded filaments of the flower stretched like tentacles as they unfurled toward her.

Rovender splashed into the water, shouting, “Eva, I don’t think . . .” He paused when he reached her, looking at the giant flower. “You are right,” he murmured. “It is a lovely, magnificent blossom.”

The uncoiling filaments unrolled toward the mesmerized pair, and the powdery anthers neared them. Eva let out a deep sigh as the fuzzy end brushed against her face.

“It’s . . . wonderful . . . ,” she said, breathless.

“So . . . sublime . . . ,” Rovender said, and wheezed.

As she watched from the shore, Muthr called out to them, “Eva! Mr. Kitt! I would recommend you back away immediately from this unknown plant species.”

Otto hooted loudly and shifted back and forth in the damp sand on his many legs.

“Stay here, Otto, dear.” Muthr wheeled over to the hovercraft and snatched up the Omnipod. “I am not sure what this monstrous bloom is doing, but it appears to have them in some sort of a hypnotic state.”

The robot rolled out into the water toward an unmoving Eva. “Eva Nine, can you hear me?” Muthr shouted. “I need you to—oh, my!”

Eva’s skin was tinted blue, and her eyes fluttered. She exhaled in a long gagging yawn as the air was sucked from her lungs through her open mouth.

“Oxygen levels in this area are critically low for human respiration,” the Omnipod chirped. “Please avoid immediate area at all costs without proper breathing aids, or hypoxia may occur.”

Muthr picked Eva up and turned back to shore. As she carried the added weight, the robot’s single wheel dug into the sediment below. Otto bounded toward the pool.

“No, Otto! Stay!” Muthr commanded as she sank farther into the pool’s muddy bottom. “This plant is bad!” She glanced over at Rovender, who stood motionless while the flower sucked the air from his lungs. She was now up to her waist in water, her single wheel digging her deeper and deeper into the muck.

“Remote ignition of hovercraft S-five-thirty-one, please,” Muthr commanded the Omnipod as she kept Eva’s unconscious face above water. The disturbed silt revealed a murky bed—not of rocks and sticks but of bones and skulls.

“Ignition of hovercraft commencing,” the Omnipod chirped. “Hold for one moment, please.”