The shrubbery started to get denser, larger, and healthier as the ground continued to level out.  The loose shale gave way to large chucks of rocks and boulders that had long since rolled down the mountainside, forcing me to climb over or pick my way around clusters of them.  I was hoping to reach the jungle with another hour of hard walking, but my legs were ready to give out and I needed a break.  I found a particularly large, spherical boulder covered with moss next to a tall bush, hoping to rest in the overlapping shade.  I propped Zoe next to me and took off my shoes, rubbing my feet and the back of my legs.

"Walking parts hurt?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah."  

After a few minutes nursing my woes, I fished out the water bottle from my luggage and leaned against the boulder to drink.  I happened to notice a small blinking device similar to what was on my chest attached to the surface of the boulder.  Strange.  Why would a robot tag a rock?  There was a stiff breeze blowing up the slope carrying the lush scent of the jungle and a fine mist of what appeared to be swirling pollen.  Above me the leaves of the bush fluttered, rustling softly in the wind.  The plant life of this place was unlike what I was used to, and the bush was one of the more unusual ones I had seen. It had a thick gray and brown striped trunk that corkscrewed up to numerous branches.   The long, feathery leaves were deep purple, and stood splayed out against the wind.  One of the leaves withdrew into the branch, disappearing for a moment before slowly emerging again.  Then several other leaves did the same.  It wasn't a plant at all, but some type of animal.  What I thought was a trunk was actually the shell of a creature embedded in the ground, the long feathers extended up through tubes to filter feed on what was blowing in the wind.  Since it hadn't objected to my presence, or was incapable of doing so, I guessed that it wasn't dangerous.  At least I hoped it wasn't.

"It sure is hot, Master," Zoe noted.  

"Sure is."  I wiped my face on my sleeve.  A thought occurred to me. I had assumed as an inanimate object she didn't require anything from me, but I didn't actually know that for a fact.  If she was uncomfortable was there something I should be doing to alleviate that?  After all, she couldn't do anything for herself.  I sloshed the remainder of what was in the bottle.

"Zoe, do you want any water?"  

"What?  Ha, ha!  No! I don't drink."  

I immediately felt silly for asking. "I thought if you were hot you might need me to pour a bit on you and cool you down."

"Oh... Uh, thank you, but... no.  It has to be way hotter than this to bother me anyway.  Like don't stick me in a fire or anything, but this is fine.  I was just trying to make... um... you know?"  

"Conversation?"  

"Yeah, that."  

I finished off the water, grateful to have it all to myself.  I almost tossed the bottle away, but thought better of it.  Since I was officially in a survival situation, it might be something that could prove useful so I stuffed it back in my luggage.

I caught some movement next to one of my shoes.  A small flat stone about the size of a quarter lifted itself up and an insect peeked out from under.  Antenna tapped around before it crawled out from the hole the stone was hiding.  No bigger than a cockroach, the bug had eight legs, walking on the rear four and holding the front four like arms.  In one of its tiny hands I could see a long, narrow thorn that it carried like a spear.  It cautiously approached the shoe that had appeared on its doorstep, poking at it with the thorn.  Three more of the bugs—one of them wearing a tiny red cape—emerged from the hole to examine the discovery. It grabbed the shoelace and pulled on it.  Finding it attached, the bug started to cut at the lace with a chip of sharp rock in its hand.  

"Hey! Hey!"  I shooed at the insects and they scattered around in panic before retreating back in the hole.  The one with the spear stood its ground against me, jabbing threateningly with its weapon to protect the others.  When the rest were safely in their home, the soldier pointed the thorn at me, making a series of angry clicks before scurrying in and slamming the door shut.  I set my shoe on top to keep them under there.  

"Would you have given me your water if I did need it?" Zoe suddenly asked.

I rearranged my bag to have something soft to lean against.  "Sure."  

"But... what if you need it more?"  

"I would share it."  

"Really?  Wow."  She fell silent.

My eyelids were getting heavy.  I couldn't fight it so I shut them.  "Zoe, I might fall asleep.  If I do, don't let me sleep too long, okay?  If anything that looks dangerous or has a probe shows up let me know."  

The sword hummed.  "Master... can I ask you something?"

I guess I wasn't going to get any rest yet.  "Is it personal?"

"Um... I don't think so?  Maybe?"

"Go ahead."  I couldn't imagine I had anything left to hide from her anyway.

She paused.  "No.  I'm sorry, master.  It's kinda stupid."  

"Just ask me, Zoe."  

"Do you like me?"

I opened my eyes but was not sure how to answer.  

She gave a heavy sigh.  "I knew it was stupid."  

"No, that's not a stupid question."  I wondered where to look when regarding her.  Where exactly was her face?  I knew it was rude to stare at her pommel, so that probably wasn't it.  I suppose the cross-guard was good enough.  "It's only that I'm not sure how you mean that."  

"I–I don't mean like like," she clarified.  "It's just... even after what that box thing did and everything you went through, you asked me if I was hurt, when, y'know, you shouldn't have cared. Then you wanted to give me your water.  Yeah, I don't need it, but you do and you would have given it up if I did.  I don't understand."  

"I was concerned for you."  

"Why?  We barely even know each other.  None of my masters were ever concerned about me and I was with some of them for their whole lives.  They didn't care, they just used me when they needed to.  A lot of them wouldn't even talk to me and just left me in my scabbard."

"I seem to remember you were frightened for me back there and wanted to defend me."   

"Well, yeah, but that's my job.  I'm your sword and you're my master so I have to protect you.  But you want to protect me?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

I thought for a moment.  "You have feelings, don't you?"

"Sure.  Lot's of them."  

"That means you are a person, and I can have empathy for another person.  I wouldn't want to see you hurt."  

"I'm... a person?"  Apparently that concept never occurred to her before.  "I thought I was a weapon or a tool."  

I smirked.  "You are a bit of a tool, but I still like you."  

Zoe was silent for a moment, then burst into a giddy laugh.  "Wow!  I'm going to miss you!"  

"Huh?"  I furrowed my brow.  "Are you leaving?"  

"No," she assured me, still snickering.  "Well, not yet at least.  It's just that I've been around for as long as I can remember and my masters don't last.  They get killed or get old and die or whatever and then I go to a new master.  When they're gone I don't have to worry about them anymore, but you're different so I'll think about you when you're gone."  

I frowned.  The last thing I needed was a reminder of my own mortality.  Especially in the situation I found myself in. "Don't go burying me yet."

"I'm sorry, Master Jack.  It's not like I want you to die or anything.  It's just that you will."  

I shook my head at her lack of tact.  "At least now you're getting my name right."  

"I have to remember," she told me confidently.  "Master Jack, the one that tried to give me water."  

I chuckled.  "You're a flaky sword, Zoe."  

"You're a strange master, Master, but I like you too."  She giggled like a schoolgirl.  "Oh, hey!  Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."  

"See that rock there?  The one with the flat side?"  

I looked around.  There were lots of rocks and it wasn't like I could follow her gaze.  "This one here?"

"No, no.  To the left."  

I moved my hand left.

"The other left, I mean.  The grayish one."  

I moved my hand to the right.  "They're all grayish."  

"That one right there!"  

I picked up a palm-sized rock that did seem a little different.  Smoother and lighter colored than the rest.  

"Yeah!  That's a good sharpening stone.  Like the best I've seen here so far."  

"You want me to sharpen you?"  

"Yes, please!" she begged.  "I mean, you don't have to do it now, just when you have time.  I want to be with you as long as possible and when I'm sharp I'm more useful."  

I slipped the rock into my luggage.  "I certainly wouldn't mind if you were useful." 

"Master Jack!  Wake up!"  

I grumbled and tried to roll over, falling off the luggage.  "Son of a bitch!" I muttered as I bumped my head on the boulder.  Cripes, I was sore!  My legs felt like rubber and my back was stiff as a board.  I rubbed my head as I glanced around.  Why was it getting dark?

"Damn it, Zoe!  You let me sleep too long."  

"I didn't!" she defended.  "It just started getting dark for some reason."  

"That's what happens when the sun goes down!"  

"It's not going down!  It's up!"  

I got up and groaned with a hand on my back.  I cautiously stepped out of the shadow of the boulder, wincing as stones bit into my feet.  Sure enough, the sun wasn't going down, at least not on the world I was standing on.  The red star was slipping behind the largest planet in the sky.  The planet's ring momentarily sparkled brilliantly as the star passed into the planet's shadow.  The sky shifted from blue to purple and a dark hue covered the landscape, but not in the same way as night.  Everything remained visible, just darker.

And the world around me turned into a rave party.

The pollen in the sky exploded into multicolored luminescent swirls dancing in the breeze.  It wasn't just dust caught in the wind, there was a purpose to the movement.  Like colors staying together and chasing or being chased by other colors.  Some of it passed close and I reached up into it.  Effervescent glowing specks collected on my fingers, allowing me a closer look.  It wasn't pollen at all, but massive clouds of pinhead-sized creatures using the air currents to drift through the sky.  The sky plankton wiggled on my skin before finding new currents and taking back to the air.  Some of them were captured by the skylicker bush as they blew through its feathery leaves.  The leaves had become radiant streamers of violet that shimmered hypnotically above a spiral shell/trunk of iridescent orange and yellow stripes.  Below me the canopy of the forest shimmered the entire spectrum of colors as the wind blew across it in waves.  Lighted creatures flew in groups over the treetops, appearing and disappearing into the forest.   The rocks around me came alive with moving lights as creatures emerged from hiding places.  Small crablike creatures dragging two flattened tails behind them scurried out from under rocks, displaying vivid blue shells with pink stripes.  They dispersed and started hunting small lights that wandered about.  At my feet a trail of thousands of small marching insects that flashed in sequence picked their way through the rocks.  Even some of the stones and boulders had sparkles, spots, swirls and zigzag patterns that gave off an eerie light.  

"It's beautiful!" Zoe gasped. "Pick me up!  I want to see better!"  

I picked up the sword, holding her aloft to find that she too had become luminous.  Her blade casting and reflecting purple.  In the sky the black sun shone down on us dimly.   

"That sun must be ultraviolet, so it's like a black light," I reasoned.  

"It makes everything so pretty!"  She giggled.  "Even you!"  

The bleached white shirt was garishly lavender under the black sun's glow.  "This is probably giving me so much cancer."  

"Everything else seems to like it."  

A slender, snakelike creature with fur that glistened like a ringed coat of emeralds slithered by.  It reared up, regarding me with large, curious eyes that flashed brilliantly.  It was like a long tail with a face on it.  On the side of its neck a tag device blinked.  Its stubby ears flattened back and it gave a squeak before slipping away.  It made sense that things were starting to move around.  The black sun was far less oppressive than the red one and the temperature was starting to wane.  The wind picked up a brisk dampness, carrying a heavier scent of the forest up to me.  

There was a chittering noise and the ground trembled as the large boulder I had slept next to started to move.  Startled, I stepped back from it, wincing as the jagged stones on the ground bit into my feet.   I raised Zoe in front of me defensively.  The boulder's rocky surface—yellow speckled with powder pink moss—split open at the bottom where a hundred tiny legs emerged.  It unrolled like a pill-bug the size of a rhino and numerous spindly golden antenna sprouted out.  One of them stretched out at me, gently prodding.  Perhaps curious who it was that had been keeping it company.  I froze in place, trying not to alarm the huge creature.

"Whoa!  You think it's dangerous?" Zoe wondered as the bug brushed its feelers on her blade.

I turned my face from the soft plying of the antenna.  If it was dangerous, it was too big to do anything about it.

The boulder-bug chattered.  "Food?"

I shook my head.  Did I imagine that?

"Food!" the bug demanded as more antennae touched me.

"Uh... no.  I'm Jack, not food."  

"Jack, not food," it echoed.  "Want food.  Hungry."  

"I'm sorry, I don't have any."  

"Hungry."  

The creature's curiosity about me seemed satisfied, although disappointed that I wasn't edible.  It turned away, the many tiny legs moving in rhythmic waves to carry the armored beast smoothly across the ground with the long antennae tapping blindly in front of it.  On its side the tag blinked and I felt empathy for it.  Even it had been manhandled by the robots.  The blue crab creatures fled from the monstrosity as it approached, using their twin tails to quickly hop backwards and find hiding places. 

"Food, come back!" the boulder-bug cried.

"That was weird," Zoe understated.  

More boulders unrolled and started to wander.  Most smaller than the one who had provided me with shade.  Some as small as lapdogs.  

"This is crazy."  I sat down on my luggage and exhaled with relief.  I set Zoe aside and put on a shoe.  When I went to slip on the second one I found that the shoelace had been torn to shreds.  There were fragments of it littered about, and a trail of lace bits led to a small, suspicious flat stone.  The stone flipped up and an insect with pink glowing highlights and carrying a spear rushed out to collect some string before darting back under.  

"Aw, you little bastards!"  

I pulled my remaining lace off, sawed it in half with Zoe's dull edge, then used both halves to tie my shoes through the top two holes.  Not great, but good enough.  

"Hungry.  Hungry.  Hungry."  The boulder bug muttered as it wandered past me searching for food.  Strangely—or not so strangely—it appeared to be the only one of them that could talk.  The rest chittered and clicked as they hunted, making no discernible words.  

I stretched my back and my legs to try and loosen up. "Let's get moving again."  I picked up Zoe and my luggage.  "He's not the only one that's hungry."  

"She."  

"What?"

"That's a female."  

"Zoe, I don't think it cares if I misgender it," I sighed.  "How can you tell anyway?"

"A girl knows."  

The boulder-bug made her way down the slope to find new hunting grounds.  Since she was going my way, I followed behind.  Glowing creatures parted before the giant, allowing a wide berth.  Occasionally she would stop, having managed to capture something, quickly gobble it up and continue on, leaving behind bits of crab legs or other indeterminable animal parts that were descended on by tiny scavengers.  The creatures gave me somewhat less respect, but small boulder bugs curled up defensively, hop-crabs skittered away, and immature skylicker bushes would pull their leaves in if I stepped too close.  

"We should give her a name," Zoe suggested.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

That seemed like a solid enough argument to me.  "Sure. What can it hurt?"  

"Hmm..."  Zoe pondered for a moment.  "I want to call her... Rockie."  

That's original.  "Okay.  Rockie it is."  

Suddenly the ground burst up around Rockie.  

"Aiiiiiee!  Not food!" she screamed and rolled up into a protective ball.  From out of the ground massive, writhing tentacles with bright red markings sprang up and wrapped around the spherical beast.  

"No eat!  No eat!" her muffled voice begged as the tentacles wrestled with her weight.  More came out and grabbed her, pulling her downward and forcing her bodily into the ground.  After a few seconds Rockie was gone and all that remained was broken earth.  

"Nooo!  Rockie!" Zoe cried out.

I stood stunned at what had just occurred.  "Let's... Let's not go that way."