The next morning, the four Stitchpunks woke up bright and early. As they did not require much sleep, they wanted to resume their journey as quickly as possible.
After packing up their supplies, they set off again.
The terrain started to become much more rough and uneven as they continued their trek. After about three miles of barren savannah, they came to a forest of tall, dead trees.
Even though it was still morning at that point, the forest was very dark. 9 needed to bring out his lightstaff shortly after they entered. But the lightstaff only provided minimal light for them.
3 and 4 hid behind 7 and 9; as both of them were afraid of the dark, but only in unfamiliar places. In fact, 9 had come to the conclusion that the two of them responded to the unknown in two fundamental ways: by fear, or by curiosity. The latter seemed to be the more common reaction.
7 was not taking any chances; she had her skull helmet drawn over her eyes and she gripped her spear in both hands.
9 led them on through the woods with his lightstaff raised in the air. As he walked, he walked through clusters of delicate of brown objects. He easily crushed them with his metallic feet.
"If I remember correctly," he announced to the others, "These tall, wooden objects are known as 'trees,' and the fragile paper-like objects that litter the ground around them are known as 'leaves.'"
"That is correct," 7 nodded, "You should have seen trees before the war between humans and machines began. They were covered in leaves that were red, yellow, or green, depending on the time of the year. Now they're all brown and lifeless."
3 and 4 got a bit bolder and they went to catalog some of the different types of leaves that covered the ground.
Unbeknownst to any of the Stitchpunks, about fifty feet in the air, a very loose branch was dangling from a tree.
"I wonder how long this forest goes on," said 7.
"Probably a few miles," 9 theorized, "At any rate, we should soon be reaching the halfway point."
"That would certainly provide some relief," 7 remarked, "Who knows? Tomorrow, we might reach Haven."
"I'm sure we will reach it, 7," said 9, "Let's just hope that everything goes smoothly."
At that moment, 3 happened to look up. He saw the dangling branch. Within ten seconds, 7 and 9 would be walking right under it. Even from that distance, 3 could tell that the branch was going to fall at approximately that same time.
Quickly, 3 pointed the branch out to 4. When she saw it, she placed her hands over her mouth in worry. The twins zipped in front of 7 and 9 and held their hands out, as if to say "Stop!"
"3, 4, what's wrong?" asked 7, "Is something bothering you?"
Unfortunately, all of them were standing directly under the dangling branch. It soon broke off.
3 and 4 pointed directly above them to warn 7 and 9. They all looked up and them saw the branch falling towards them.
3 and 4 reacted by pushing 7 and 9 away from danger. But they themselves did not move away in time. The branch fell on top of them, and the twins disappeared underneath it.
7 and 9 had fallen over when the twins pushed them away. But they swiftly got back onto their feet and stared in horror at the fallen branch.
"3! 4!" shouted 9, "Are you alright?"
He got no response. He and 7 ran over to the branch and started breaking parts of it off. They worked quickly so that they could extricate 3 and 4.
After about twenty seconds of digging, they found 3. He looked up at them and held out his hand. 7 and 9 extracted him from the branch and got him back onto his feet.
The three of them turned back to the branch and continued digging for 4. After forty-five more seconds, they still had not found her. But they were all determined to find her, especially 3.
Finally, they located her under a few sharp twigs. To their horror, one of them had impaled her just below the spot where "4" had been written in ink. Her optics were closed and she was not moving.
"Oh, no…" 9 whispered under his breath.
When they got 4 out from under the branch, her hood slid off. 9 saw all of her head for the first time. She looked much like 7, except she had a few visible stitches on her forehead.
3 kneeled next to his twin and took her in his arms. He looked down at her with a look of unprecedented sadness in his optics. 9 knew that Stitchpunks could not cry, but if they could, he was sure that 3's optics would soon become rusty.
3 then pulled off his hood, matching 4 in appearance once again. 9 saw that 3's head was identical to 4's in every way; even the stitches in their foreheads were the same.
After 3 pulled off his hood, he looked down at 4 in sorrow for a few more seconds. Then he brought the side of his head down to her chest and listened. Soon, his expression became a little less gloomy and he smiled up at 7 and 9.
"She's alive?" assumed 9.
3 nodded merrily.
9 breathed a sigh of relief and 7 looked up to the sky, saying "Thank goodness."
9 turned his attention to the twig that protruded from 4's chest. He reached for it and grabbed firmly onto it. He was about to pull the twig out of her chest, but 3 stopped him.
"What?" 9 asked nervously. "What's wrong, 3? I'm just trying to remove the twig."
"It's not that simple," 7 explained to him, "Each of us has a critical internal gear at that spot in our bodies. If we just pull the twig out, we'll kill 4."
"Well, there has to be something we can do," said 9 hopefully, "We should at least cut off enough of the twig for us to be able to bandage her wound."
3 and 7 found this to be a reasonable arrangement. 7 took her spear and placed it about three millimeters above 4's chest and directly perpendicular to the twig. She slowly but steadily began cutting through the twig.
After about twenty seconds, most of the external part of the twig had been removed. Only about three millimeters remained, but it was enough to be properly covered up. 9 got out a small needle, some thread, and a piece of material that was composed of the same substance used to create 5's eye patch. While 3 and 7 held the patch in place, 9 expertly sewed it down over the wound. As he worked, he told the others "Let's hope the people at Haven know how to repair us better than we do."
"Well, it looks like we'll definitely find that out for ourselves now," remarked 7.
"What do you mean?" inquired 9.
"4's injury is far beyond our own medical knowledge," 7 clarified, "Our only hope now is to get her to Haven."
"Why is it so important?" asked 9.
"Because if she doesn't get treatment for this injury within a week," 7 paused for a moment, and finished with "she'll die."
9 gasped in shock; 3 took his twin in his arms again and held her closer than before. 9 looked at him, undergoing a feeling of guilt that he had felt since 2's death. Then he placed his hand on 3's shoulder and said "I won't allow her to die, 3. We'll get her help."
3 turned to 9 and smiled up at him. However, 9 thought that he saw another emotion hidden underneath that smile. But he decided not to address it.
3 drew his hood back over his head, and he pulled 4's back up for her. He threw his right arm over his shoulders and gave her a helping hand up. 7 got her spear and 9 got his lightstaff. The two of them rose to their feet and prepared to continue their journey. 9 got out the compass and found the northwestern direction once more. Once he had found it, the group went on.
9 still walked at the front with 7 behind him. 3 was helping 4 a little further back.
Every now and then, somebody looked up to search for more loose branches. They did not want to take any more chances after what had almost happened to 4.
Fortunately, about four miles later, they came to the edge of the forest. When they got there, they discovered that several trees were no longer dead. Some of them had started growing leaves again.
Discovering this brought a few moments of happiness to the Stitchpunks. But once they stepped out of the forest, they were confronted once again with dry, flat wasteland.
9 got out the map and found the edge of the forest on it. He next located the spot where the rendezvous point had been selected. He announced to the others "We're making great progress! We only have twelve miles left to go!"
7 grinned and patted him on the back. She asked 9 "How many more would you like to get in today?"
"How about three more?" suggested 9. "That way, we'll only have nine miles to travel tomorrow."
"That's fine by me," 7 nodded in agreement.
9 turned to look at 3. He gave no indication of being fatigued at all, even though he had been giving 4 a helping hand for hours, and she had not stirred a bit in that time.
"Is that alright?" asked 9.
3 nodded his head vigorously. 9 moved over to him and said "Here, let me help you with her…"
3 shook his head this time and walked past 9, leaving the latter very confused.
"Is he feeling alright?" 9 whispered to 7 as they continued walking, this time with 3 walking ahead of them with 4's arm over his shoulder.
"He feels obligated to help 4 all on his own," she enlightened him.
"Why's that?" he asked.
"Well, he's taken on that responsibility as the elder one ever since she was created," 7 elucidated, "In fact, based on what 1 and 2 told me, 3 felt somewhat incomplete after the Scientist created him. He could not speak like them; he could only communicate using those flashing lights in his eyes. 1 and 2 had gone to explore the outside world within a couple days after the Scientist created them. But 3 remained much longer and he just explored the workshop. In fact, now that I think about it, that may be the very reason why the Scientist created 4 the way she is."
"Well, based on what you just told me, I would not be surprised," said 9, "But that almost sounds like what 6's initial reaction to life would be."
"I understand what you mean," said 7, "He always seemed somewhat alienated from the rest of us, even though we accepted him for who and what he was."
"Well, if the Scientist created 4 to go with 3 for those same reasons," 9 noted, "Then why didn't he do the same thing for 6? Why didn't he create YOU in 6's image so that he would have someone to understand him better?"
"I'm sure the Scientist had his reasons," 7 answered him, "But, between you and me, I can do without having black stripes all over my body, pen dubs for fingers, and saying 'source' all the time."
9 scoffed at 7's last remark. Then he said "Yeah, that's not exactly the most attractive thing in the world."
7 turned to him and said "What did you say?"
9 nervously looked at her and said "I, uh… uh… I said that you acting like 6 would not exactly be the most… attractive thing in the world."
7 pulled up her skull helmet and asked "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, uh…" 9 nervously began his explanation, "This goes back to my research on human love. I looked up a few methods of how they would verbally express it to each other. One way was to tell somebody that they were 'attractive," or in other words, 'sensually impressive,' to them."
7 patted 9 on the back and told him "9, when we make camp, I want to teach you more about how humans would express their love to each other."
"I'd be happy to learn about that," said 9, "But we should probably remain focused on getting today's last three miles done."
"Agreed."
The four Stitchpunks walked across what had once been lush grassland for a long time. Then, just when they finished the third mile, they came to the center of a vast body of water.
Like the canyon, the water seemed to travel in either direction for miles. Going around it would just add on to their journey.
"I don't suppose you have anything that can get us across this, do you?" 7 said to 9.
"No, not on me," he answered, "But maybe there's something close by that we can use."
"Like what?" said 7.
9 turned her around and pointed out a small cluster of trees. He told her "The bark on those trees looks like it is loose enough to be cut or pried off, but sturdy enough to support all of us if we get on top of it. I think that in the right amount, it would make a great raft."
7 rubbed her chin to think about this idea, and then she said "9, that is brilliant."
"Thank you," he smiled back at her.
While 3 set up camp a few meters away from the water, 7 and 9 went to the trees. 9 inspected all of them, and after determining which tree had the strongest bark, 7 cut off a piece that was two feet long and one foot wide. The bark was a little curved, but neither 7 nor 9 minded that.
They also found some small sticks that could be used as oars.
After hauling the makeshift boating equipment to their campsite, 7 and 9 started to get settled.
For a long time, 3 remained sitting upright against his backpack. He had 4's head in his lap, and he stroked her forehead gently.
3 then looked over at 7 and flashed his eyes a few times. After getting his message, she grinned at him.
"What did he tell you?" inquired 9.
"He said that 4 should regain consciousness by morning," 7 replied, "He also said that he'll tell her everything that's happened since the… accident."
"Well, I hope she won't take it too badly," said 9.
"If I know 4, she'll be very frightened at first, but she'll quickly calm down after that," 7 told him.
The two of them turned back to 3 and saw him hold 4's head close to his own.
9 leaned over to 7 and said to her "7, can I ask you something about 3 and 4?"
"Of course," she nodded, "What is it?"
"Well…" he began, "Have you… ever wondered about their relationship with each other?"
"How so?"
"Up until this point, I've always thought of them as being in a sibling-like relationship with each other," 9 explicated his thoughts to her, "But now that I see them like this, I'm more inclined to believe that…"
"That what?"
"That they are… mates." 9 finished.
7 seemed to be very interested in 9's speculation. "Really?"
"Yes," he nodded slowly, "In fact, THAT may very well be why the Scientist created 4 to look and act exactly like 3. They would literally be made for each other."
"That would seem like a reasonable assumption," 7 admitted, "I would suggest asking 3 and 4 themselves, but they never speak of their relationship."
"Well, if they want to keep it private, I understand completely," said 9, "In fact, maybe they just pretended to be disinterested in studying love because they did not want me to know about their relationship. That would certainly clarify a few things."
7 and 9 quickly decided to drop this subject; they did not like talking so much about their friends in this manner. They almost felt as though they were gossiping.
A short while later, 3 decided to get some rest. Both 7 and 9 decided to go the same soon.
They lay down next to each other on the ground and looked up at the sky.
"This looks familiar," 9 commented.
"Indeed it does," 7 concurred, "I believe we were lying on the ground like this the same time as yesterday."
9 turned to 7 and said "7, could you teach me more about the ways humans would express love?"
"It would be my pleasure," she said, slowly looking towards his face and sitting up. Once this was done, she told 9 "Humans would frequently demonstrate affection towards each other by physical means."
"How was this accomplished?" inquired 9.
"There were many different methods," 7 told him, "A common one was known as a 'kiss.'"
"What is a kiss?" he curiously wondered aloud.
7 smiled widely and said "I think I'll just show you."
7 took off her helmet and placed it to the side. Then she took 9 by his collar and pulled his face right up to hers. In the end, both of them were lying on the ground with their mouths directly touching each other. 9 was a little startled at first, but he quickly got the hang of this sensation. He noticed that 7 had shut her optics, so he did the same with his. He found that this 'kiss' was even more enjoyable that way.
When they finally come apart, all 9 could say was "Incredible."
"Humans had larger lips, so it may have been a little more enjoyable for them," 7 informed him.
"I don't care about that," 9 said honestly, "I REALLY enjoyed that, 7. Thank you for 'showing me.'"
"Like I said, it's my pleasure," she smiled at him.
The two of them discussed various topics regarding human love for over an hour before they finally decided to get some rest.
Using their backpacks as pillows, they laid down on the ground next to each other. 9 said to 7 "I hope that we can discuss more about love tomorrow."
"Sure, I would be glad to," she smirked.
9 smirked in return and pulled her closer. Like the previous night, the two of them fell asleep in each other's arms. Only this time, their feelings for each other were even stronger than they were in the previous night.