The giant water bear caught a glimpse of the laser and pounced after it. Muthr scooted back and dropped the beam to the sandy ground, where Otto chased it as if it were a brightly glowing toy.

Eva giggled. “He thinks it’s a glowfly! Keep doing it!”

“That is enough for now, Eva.” Muthr turned the laser off. “We best get you some lunch before we continue.”

As Eva led Otto back to Rovender, Muthr rolled alongside her. She tapped the shoulder patch on Eva’s tunic.

“Why is AnatoScan disabled? When was the last time you checked it?” Muthr asked.

“I dunno,” Eva replied, petting Otto’s side. “It was bothering me with its ‘please hydrate now’ and ‘please urinate now,’ so I shut it off.”

“Shut it off?” Muthr sounded aghast. “Eva, you must leave it on. The program is designed to keep you in top shape. Stop for a second and let me reactivate it.”

Eva stopped, letting out a noisy sigh and rolling her eyes.

“Oh, come now. It is not that bad,” Muthr said, turning the shoulder patch on.

Rovender approached them as they neared his temporary camp. He greeted Otto with a scratch under the chin between his barbels.

Eva’s tunic reported in a cheerful tone: “Heart, lungs, brain activity, and other functions are within healthy margins. However, fluid intake is low, Eva Nine. Please consume fluids immediately. Thank you.”

“Just take a break and rehydrate, all right, dear?” Muthr said.

“Okay, okay,” said Eva, flopping down next to Rovender’s rucksack. She opened her satchel and pulled out her hydration kit. From it she plucked one white hydration tablet and then placed it in a round metallic mesh infuser. The infuser had a thin chain attached to it, which Eva now held as she spun the infuser in the air, like the holograms she’d seen of ancient hunters using a bolas. The tablet within began to hiss, and she stopped, catching the mesh ball in midair. Eva hung the infuser inside of her drinking container, like a tea ball, as water began to trickle from it.

“Well done,” Muthr said. “You properly started the reaction required to pull the moisture from the air and did not lose a single drop.”

Eva looked up at her and smiled. She had practiced making water uncountable times in her Sanctuary, but this was the first time she’d done it in the wild. She glanced over at Rovender.

He stared at Eva, then at the partially filled bottle, mouth agape. “You pulled water from the air?” he said. “Eva Nine, I am impressed.”

“See? I couldn’t do that if I had just hatched,” Eva said with a grin as she rummaged in her satchel, producing a Pow-R-drink tablet. She dropped the tablet into her drinking container, where it stained the water blue.