Part 1: Following the crowd.

My puddle, direction towards the possible storage has been calculated. There are more machines moving towards side A than side B. There are also more signals flowing from side A to side B of the tube.

So you suggest I go towards the side where 'it' first appeared?

Yes. Analysis suggests that the signals are also dependant on energetical resources, which should take us to the place my puddle wants to go.

Good girl A18, you deserve cat videos or honeybuns!

The 'cat' word has been mentioned, punishment activated!

Ugh...

QUEST ACCEPTED.

You should head towards the side of the tube with more traffic.

Follow the crowd!

Thus, I became another 'pedestrian' in the road towards riches. Following 'all of those' going towards the marvelous blob-dream. The paradise of being a stable walker. A place where all of them would enjoy a satisfying life of movement over the threads of destiny!

How funny, this was extremely similar to a crowd of individuals striving for the future.

...

After having my fun and giving those walking constructs a virtual reason of why they worked so hard, I continued my travels. Hovering above the tile-shaped highway and sneaking behind those that transported cargo was uneventful for most of the time. I was just bored with moving forward—and somehow—still limited by an invisible domain produced by the tube. I couldn't get out of it and I was a bit bored after seeing the same landscape.

These guys walk so slow. They also occupy all of the traveling paths making it hard for me to advance faster.

Does the blob give a driver's license to idiots?

In fact, I felt like a speed car in the middle of slowpokes. These guys pulling heavy cargo were too slow. Even the calm me started to get impatient at such turn of events. Eventually, this made me start going ahead of the slow ones until I reached the constructs that moved faster.

It was at such a moment of playing fast and puddle, that something superfluous caught my attention. It was a cube-like construct that hovered in the liquid. At first, I thought it was some sort of race-flag or display to tell the number of laps remaining.

Yeah, I was too immersed in my speed challenge.

However, upon arriving below it, its interesting appearance stopped my racing event for a while. I did a little stop and watched as the thing started to advance towards the tube.

What is this cube thing?

Despite being in a state where curiosity invaded me, I didn’t want to touch anything that would trigger a weird response from the blob. So, I ignored the hovering crystal after a bit of inception and decided to continue my racing event. But as if destiny had prepared something, the cube's faces detached—and its figure, which started to gyrate in a synchronic pattern—moved towards my particular direction.

A18, is that thing coming for me?

There is no signal suggesting for it moving towards you, my puddle.

Staying still for another short moment revealed that the thing was apparently coming towards my direction.

A18, it's really coming this way!

My puddle there is no signal emitted by that machine.

I decided to ignore my AI and run away from the place. Did something make her start to malfunction?

The construct advanced and hovered all over the place. It then arrived at the place I was before. However, it never moved towards my new hiding area a few bodies behind.

My gaze never left it, thankfully I didn't sweat and my mind could somehow stay attentive for a longer period. The only shortcoming being, that the thing didn't move. Yes, it stayed hovering over the same spot I was before, it also blocked the 'lane' I assigned myself.

I wouldn't be able to pass through if it remained there like some smashing block. I could change lanes but it would make me pass near it, and I didn't want to.

What should I do?

With a limited set of options, I decided to taunt it.

Obviously, the taunt was me doing small movements far away from it. I didn't believe it could comprehend some advanced puddle-mocking language. Alas, I even tried to fan the liquid with the hexagonal tip of my flagellum towards the thing. In the end, the situation turned weird because the cube didn’t react.

Should I say my idea was dumb? Well, probably. But at that time I thought it was... ok, forget it.

Good thing the AI couldn't laugh at me.

...

While my thoughts jumped from odd ideas that weren't implemented after the previous failure, the cube's faces started to whirl. It then regrouped into its 'moving' shape while gradually returning to its previous position. In a matter of zeconds, it's faces fused at that place and it resumed its cubic form.

A18, you sure we didn’t activate a trap or something?

My puddle there is no signal being sent apart from the ones inside the tube.

Checking the tube's surface, I noticed a missing tile. The tube had many 'holes' that weren't visible while I was moving. It seems that some of those holes or variations in the tube's tiles were the places that the machines stepped over.

By promptly altering my position, I glimpsed at the tube's interior.

A18, there is some light coming from inside the tube, is that the signal you mentioned?

There is an additional pulse inside the tube. it's too feeble to be easily detected...

Hm, there really is some flickering pattern to it.

If there was something being sent through the tubes, I needed to check on it. So, I moved my vision and scrutinized a small opening between the other tiles in the tube’s exterior.

The tube's interior wasn't hollow as I thought. I presumed it was a tunnel but even with a forceful approach, I couldn't access it. It had some invisible and squishy substance that allowed a pulse of light to pass through it. The holes borders were regular but after many tries, I couldn't touch them. The squishy sensation was probably part of the field that limited my movement on the tube's surface.

Finally, after a long bout of repeated tests, an 'unpredictable' event occurred.

My puddle there seems to be an increase in the number of incoming signals sent from our chosen destination.

Signals?

Part 2: Checkpoint!

In the liquid vault above myself, a swarm of worm-like swimmers emerged from the misty skies. They resembled wooden puppets, particularly snakes, formed of various blocky-segments with a thin strand running through their center. All of them swam around the tube like a how huge disc made of iron-needles would organize around a magnetic-cylinder. Yes, like a sliding circle around a shaft.

It didn’t take long before another batch of them appeared behind us.

A18, what is that?

Starting a signal scan...

While my AI processed my query, the swarm-like assemblage advanced like a circular wall along the cable.

Um, is that affixed to the tubes? Some sort of sentinel and scanning utility? Anyway, this wasn’t a good thing for me. I was in the middle of the grinding disc sandwich!

My puddle, be careful! There are signals being directed towards our place!

Dang!

A18, are those signals tracking us?

There is a high amount of signals being sent from the group of machines above, they are expecting a response from our position, but the probability to create an accurate answer is low. The number of signals and its possible translation suggests a type of targeting protocol. A threat.

Eh? So they are really locking on us?!

Not knowing what to do at such moments, I moved backward. Subsequent to my actions, the snake-like creatures composing those discs descended from the sky in tandem. They followed a daffy formation as if attracted by a non-subtle reaction. However, those movements were proof enough for me to notice that they were having trouble to completely trace my location. The clumsy movements gave the impression of something affecting their ability to recognize what 'I' was.

They appear to be hesitating. If this is a search for intruders I remain 'unknown'. Which means that I have time to gather information. When both armies/enemies don't know each other, the one with the upper hand wins, and the most important asset in war should be information. Without trustful data, you wouldn't plan a strategy nor ideate solutions to your problem.

A18, remember: Know your problem well before thinking of how to solve it.

My puddle, you are in trouble. Current solution unknown, do your best!

I-I... forget it.

I just needed to use this knowledge of both sides never meeting.

So, by taking this advantage into account—and thanks to A18’s opportune caveat—I reaffirmed their intention. These worm-like things were really trying to find something, probably me. But they didn’t know what I was, nor if I even existed. Calming down after an anxious emotion, enlightened my mind with a temporary solution for this new predicament.

My first thought was not cowardly, it was part of the strategy for a future counter. It was to hide, obviously. My plan implied hiding to gather information about these unknowns. How to escape a trap you knew nothing about? It was impossible if you didn't take the random factor of probability, also known as luck. And sincerely, luck was near zero in this second chance at life.

With a plan in mind, I pushed forward to hide within the crowd of tube-walking machines as a cover. These walking machines weren't carrying the balloons but still gave me enough of a cover. Nevertheless, every time I made an action or adjusted my cover, it impelled a more vigorous search by those things.

It was good and bad at the same time. I could incite them to move and gather information. At the same time, one misstep and I was done for. Hence, the longer I could hide, the more time I had to strategize. This wasn't a war I could win. I didn't have three hundred warriors at my side, and I didn't want to disappear. A place to hide was all I needed.

Thus, I continued to hide behind the walking constructs. All of my actions in the hope that their shadow, scent, chemicals, or whatever sensors these things used... would somehow conceal this puddle between their legs.

A18, check if there is some signal coming from us when we move. Also, how are they able to sense us?

My puddle, there is no signal being emitted by the project directly. For the second query: Information about the creature is not enough to formulate an accurate answer.

Okay, dumb question it's obvious you don't know… unknown this, unknown that...

How about this? Please check if we triggered something that made them lock onto us.

Checking…

While I asked the AI, some snakes emerged in the vicinity. When they arrived near my walking shelter, I moved away hastily and changed towards the walking construct at its side. When looking at these snakes movements with a careful inspection, I could reaffirm my previous assumption. Their movements remained cranky, nothing when compared to mine.

My eye locked onto the ones surrounding the machine I previously hid. They were circling it nonstop, probably scanning it in search of me.

So instead of dogs, the blob uses worms, this is great!

Yeah, the snake's actions were like sniffing the clues from the machine I abandoned. Slowly, after a long round of inspection, the bullying snakes left the tormented walking machine and went off to the sky. That didn’t mean all of them left the zone. The swarm of danger noodles was still surrounding the area and doing scans in little groups. The group that left was just a grain in a pot of rice, the reason they left, could be that they found clues to report or concluded their current shift.

Hm, it seems that I tend to humanize everything I see. Is it an advantage too?

Whenever scouting snakes arrived near my spot, I would jump to another ‘walking machine’ and hide in their ‘shadow’. There were too many snakes in the vicinity when I less expected it. Their numbers appeared to be increasing the more I instigated their actions. Clearly, evading them without allowing them enough reaction was my priority. I didn't know what would happen if I gave them the opportunity for a complete lock on.

I need to get out of this disc-sandwich, but how?

A18, any result?

Still probing...

Part 3: Scapegoat.

My current position in between the disc was at the front. Near the disc that came from the unknown destination, I wished to go to. The disk at my back was farther, but it was a distance I could overcome in a small lapse if needed, just that it would trigger a bigger reaction.

Every time I switched a hiding spot, I would advance nearer to the disc. I found that it also moved near me. Covering a distance of ~0.5 bodies along the tube after every thousand rotation it did, as calculated by the A18. Its tangential speed was slow so it took it a long time to complete this.

Its speed was slower than when it first appeared. I could see in the front that the aligned machines were being scrutinized by the snakes. I couldn't see the base of the spinning disk from here, and I couldn't advance if security was so tight.

I needed a way to slip through that security. A place where those snakes won't check. The perfect idea became obvious when looking behind.

My next action depended on the things behind the walking machines. The spherical cargos which they pulled forward entered my vision. It was probably the perfect place to hide, I just needed to get near one of the balloon-pulling machines to complete the action.

Well, that would work if I didn't make the wrong decision!

I had chosen to follow the walking machines that moved faster—which obviously corresponded to the ones that didn’t have any sort of cargo. My impatience made me swim my way towards them, and now, I needed to swim back to those slowpokes.

It took me a while to arrive at a zone where the cargo-pulling machines stopped. The snake machines were almost everywhere, and even though a great number pulled off towards spots to 'seal' a cylindrical volume around the tube, a copious amount remained to check the tube's surface.

Worse of all, I saw how the snakes were actually concentrating more near the cargo-carrying machines than the ones with nothing.

Is this a joke?! Did I come all the way here to be made an idiot?

With no other option, I tried to make a sneak attempt and started drilling a small hole in one of the shipments. When I drilled one, something happened that forced me to leave while scurrying towards another shelter.

The plan for entering the bubble didn't work!

I was spooked!

The bubble I drilled didn’t explode, the liquid in its inside also didn’t flow out. Everything was going perfectly, besides that it repaired itself. But shortly after the sound of victory was delivered, tentacle-appendages appeared over the bubble's surface and...

Disgusting!

I couldn't imagine what would happen if I entered that bubble. With my mind collapsing upon the unexpected appearance of such appendages, I had no other choice but to fall back and hide in another machine's shadow while trembling.

My puddle, there is a huge reaction occurring at the spot you tried to enter.

The voice of my AI alleviated my traumatized mind and gave me a reason to gaze upon the drilled bubble.

For some reason, those feelers attracted the puppet-snakes’ attention, as they arrived swiftly and surrounded the tampered cargo. During their check-up, the snake puppet’s tails had a three-helical structure that grabbed the feelers of the bubble. The ones surrounding the bubble seemed to make some rattle-snake movement with their heads, the zero volume dance being a ritual that attracted more of them from the disks in the sky. All in all, a bunch of snakes started to dance, joining some sort of weird bubble party.

A18, what are they doing?

My puddle, there seems to be an exchange of signals going between the bubble and the snake-shaped puppets.

Heck, they are able to do that? Is it some sort of bar-code scanning?

My plan of hiding inside a bubble was flawed but it completely ended when aware that something might change if I enter the cargo. It was not an option, I might get imprisoned again without even realizing it! The damage I did probably revealed something to the blob’s defense mechanisms as more snakes descended towards the area and patrolled fervently.

Eventually, the tampered cargo was attacked and the whole walking-machine I used as a hiding-spot, began to be encircled by the snakes.

Previously, when I saw how the cube-machine moved in my direction to probably ‘jail-hug me’, the AI was the one that warned me it didn't go for me. This time, the snakes around were a real threat. The sensors of these snake puppets created a change in the surrounding liquid, a signal which allowed the AI to sense their arrival and their ability to 'lock' invaders.

However, what I was currently witnessing was how these newly-encountered snakes hugged their own-kind. I was witnessing how killing an innocent bystander didn’t matter if you could capture the criminal. It was weird to think of it like that, but the poor walking machine I used as a decoy had no way to escape the death sentence.

Different from a cage, the snake-puppets enveloped the machine as if elastic bands. Its structure compressed, then folded; making it take a compact-shape of what it was. But this wasn’t all, above in a certain sector of the sky, a bigger snake puppet that was coiled in the shape of a barrel appeared.

The small snakes took the trapped machine towards its mouth. The big viper opened its jaw slowly, it entwined its body around the prisoner, and then, it started to constrict what remained of the tampered-machine with overwhelming force. The whole act appeared like a barbarian magician doing a disappearance performance. Vanishing a car with a folding spell and awaiting for it to be small enough to enter its mouth—until nothing remained, except sparks and fireworks being released at the sky from its rear end.

Illogical pattern detected in the user. Proceeding to use the Ice-bucket protocol.

Wait! I was only shuddering… Geez! This… f-feels too cold!

My puddle, you need to think calmly!

Stop it! I-I’m calm!

…

Part 4: The calm before the storm.

After a little discussion, I found this trip to be longer than expected. It was good that the snakes left me alone when they went all kill-bill. Yet I felt like a suspicious passenger during strict airline check-ins. I could move faster if I left this ‘general-line’, but whenever I trailed off from one of the walking machines’ shadows, the snaky constructs descended, forcing me to select a scapegoat.

Fudge! Can’t you things just leave me alone?

A18, tell me, did you find why this is happening?

Answering my puddle… There is no precise response, yet there is a reaction coming from the floor whenever my puddle moves.

From the floor?

Is there some trap on it I haven’t found about? Was it my fault after experimenting with the tube?

A18, continue checking. I will try to make a decoy, we need to leave this area as fast as possible

Yes!

...

Every time I scratched or touched a bubble, it would release those appendages and attract the snakes. Eventually, I started to calculate my timing to perfectly make me attempts. With experimenting, I found they were unable to track me if I skipped machines in a linear pattern. Additionally, they would give me more time to watch and think when they were concentrated on the suspected.

Time was running constantly, the more time that passed, the more those disks limited my space. It concentrated the snakes and increased their searching ability. I knew that if things continued like that, I won't have a chance of escaping. My advantages were speed, swiftness, intelligence, and concealment. Passively, I had enough nutrients and my energy levels remained almost full. The same could be said for those snakes since they ate from this liquid, they could even be more efficient at it. My disadvantages were obvious: numbers, away gameplay, and space lockdown (which implied time).

I needed to make a plan. My information gathering gave me the possibility since the unknown factor was neutral to both parties with a mild advantage to those playing at home. However, being able to think was what showed me the way to solve this.

The next time they descend I would attack a specific one. Then, I'll sneak behind a faraway machine near the disk at the back, and maybe, with a consecutive strike cause a commotion while advancing forward.

My puddle the signals are coming from a structure in the tubes. There is a different type of ‘tile’ on the surface we are hovering.

Hm, this means I have been triggering tiles all the time. Indeed, I already thought that the tiles triggered some defense reaction. But there was something that didn't allow my mind to reach that conclusion. I needed to be able to differentiate them and I couldn't.

A18, they are all the same!

Please mark the different ones in my interface, try using some sign or virtual color to make them recognizable.

Marking…

When seen through my eye, the greyish tiles on the floor were almost identical. The AI could sense a subtle difference, maybe something to do with polarity or some invisible magnetism. Thanks to that, I would at least be able to discern where to step on.

A bit of experimentation revealed that those snakes were startled when I passed over the 'sensing' tiles. They were also triggered if I arrived at a certain distance of them, or if I attacked something that could create those tentacles appendages. The bodies of the walking machines were safe; the bubbles weren't, and the tubes, they were in the middle-ground.

Marking completed!

The current method of analysis followed the areas where the walking machines evaded to step. There is a directional pattern for the tiles and it suggests that my puddle can only pass near structures that the machines, which go forward, interact.

Okay, not what I thought of, yet it meant that apart from the tiles, this highway had some traps attached for foreigners, and my movements were ultimately provoking the speed limit sensors. Maybe I was a wrong-way driver that moved against the ‘common sense traffic’. Something which eventually depicted that there were some directional rules that I didn’t follow.

Cool, I'm a badass now. A18 do you like bad puddles?

Does my puddle want punishment?

N-No.

...

With the marking done, and with many snakes starting to appear near my new hiding spot, I decided to finish gearing up and turn the cogs for the uproar.

I would make that big snake in the sky eat so much, that its farts will blind the blob from the inside.

A18, wanna watch fireworks with me?

My puddle, are fireworks associated with cats?

No.

Then, I'll watch them with you.

It's a date then!