“Many gratitudes to you,” Rovender purred. “These look ripe too.” He was now sitting on his bedroll, patting an additional roll he had laid out for Eva. She sat down and dropped the armload of fruit into his lap.

“These are voxfruit,” he said, grabbing one and ripping the rind off. “They are not often found but are very tasty. I will have to remember this place.” The inside of the fruit was full of bright green berries, which the creature devoured with relish. Rovender handed the other half of the fruit to Eva.

She studied the berries. “I don’t know, Rovee. . . . I could get sick.”

“Yes. You could get sick,” Muthr echoed, her gaze still on the Omnipod.

“Do I look sick?” Rovender asked through a mouthful of fruit.

Eva pulled open the lid on her drink container and took a sip.

“I am curious,” Rovender said as he peeled another voxfruit, “what is it that you are drinking?”

“Pow-R-drink?” Eva replied. “It’s, you know . . . like juice.”

“It is a pH-balanced vitamin-enriched water solution,” Muthr answered.

“With gum flavoring,” Eva added as she translated to Rovender. “And look!” She stuck out her blue-stained tongue.

Eva’s lanky companion drew back, unsure of how to react.

“Here. You wanna try some?” She passed the bottle to Rovender. Muthr paused from studying the Omnipod to watch the interaction.

Rovender sniffed the contents of the bottle. He then gulped some down, made a sour face, and spat the liquid out over his shoulder. “Bluh! It tastes like chemicals.”

Eva heard Muthr chuckle. Rovender glared at the robot.

“If you are thirsty, you should have this instead.” Rovender swallowed down the water he had collected.

“Um, yeah, thanks anyway, but I don’t want to puke,” Eva said, taking another sip of her drink.

Muthr added, “Eva, please remind Mr. Kitt that his water is not purified. It is likely filled with all sorts of bacteria. You could become quite ill from it.”

Rovender narrowed his eyes at Muthr. “This water has been filtered through the soil of Orbona, Eva Nine. It tastes of the sky and the land it originated from. The land you both are now a part of.”

Eva pondered this for a moment while she picked at her fingernail.

“Eva, you have your hydration kit,” Muthr said. For a moment it appeared as if she understood Rovender’s statement as she returned the Omnipod to Eva. “And I have packed a quantity of purification tablets, should you need to drink the natural water here. However, I do not believe it will come to that. We shall rendezvous with inhabitants of our neighboring underground facilities soon enough.”

“What about your robot mother?” Rovender pointed at Muthr with a voxfruit rind. “What food and water does she drink?”

“Muthr doesn’t eat,” Eva answered. “She’s just a robot.”