Well That Ended Well

Wobble swam her way through the large tunnel, Wibble just a little ahead of her as the two of them navigated through the maze that was the underwater cave system they'd discovered.

They'd originally been collecting some scrap metal to smelt down for a personal project when Wibble had pointed out the weird moss climbing across the walls of the cave they'd swam into while trailing after a collection of rogue fishing nets and plastic wrap. The moss was glowing in the darkness, with small grassy tendrils swaying in the water.

Bioluminescence was relatively rare, especially in an area that didn't look to be radioactive. In fact, it seemed surprisingly healthy.

"Oh! Oh! It goes further!"

Wobble turned away from where she was staring at the moss, looking towards where Wibble was excitedly pointing their finger. There was indeed an opening in the back of the cave that led further in, somewhat obscured from view by the dark blue vines hanging in front of the tunnel entrance. Before Wobble could suggest going back and getting proper equipment since going into random cave systems unprepared is dangerous, Wibble was already yelling for her to follow them as they sped past the vines and into what Wobble now heavily hoped was a simple, one-way tunnel with a sturdy foundation that wouldn’t cause boulders to drop from the ceiling, because unfortunately she cares too much about Wibble to just leave.

Quickly stuffing together the plastic wrap that had led them into this cave in the first place and securely tying it into a ball containing a couple screws with the fishing net as an outer casing to make sure it doesn’t leave her bag, she made her own way past the vines to catch up to her reckless sibling. She was pleased to find that the walls indeed seemed stable, as she could see metal supports that seemed to be in good condition. The overall tunnels looked to have been naturally formed though, the aquatic flora creeping across the walls being sparse enough to see the abrasions in the rock formation. Clearly someone had gone through and secured already existing tunnels, rather than making their own. Curious.

Finally spotting her sibling, Wobble continued forward to stop next to them, noticing why they had stopped. There was a fork in the road- tunnel? There were two paths. Somehow, the two paths were actually incredibly distinct- with each having a completely different kind of plant growing within it. One had large red flowers that stood out starkly against the blue-green hue the grey rock had started taking on, the other having bundles of little white blooms on black stems that sprouted out from the dark vines Wobble had seen growing all the way from the entrance.

It was a beautiful site, if a puzzling one. Wobble felt her sibling grip her hand, slowly making their way towards the red flowers. She didn’t protest, being just as curious. Wobble wished she had a camera that worked this deep in the ocean, the pictures would be wonderful.

…

So. Wobble wasn’t sure how long had passed, and neither was Wibble when she thought to ask her sibling as they were making their way through a tunnel covered in glowing moss, but she wouldn’t be surprised to hear they had spent at least a day down in the stupid maze, the constant crossroads and winding tunnels making it impossible to tell where they were. It’s all well and good for the plants to be distinct, but after a while the flora had started becoming inconsistent, the whole ecosystem having Wobble overheating through the overuse of her thought network. It made absolutely zero sense! She couldn’t tell if the tunnels lately only having green-blue glowing moss was a good thing or not, but Wibble seemed more confident, so she just let them pull her along. They’d always been better at navigating new areas than she was.

It took some time to notice that they actually hadn’t come across any more choices in direction, the current passage being just a slanted path upwards. The twins continued through it, finally breaching the surface of a pool, and Wobble stopped short at the site around them.

It was a tremendous cavern, bathed in light from glowing flora all across the ceiling, twinkling lights like stars hanging onto mossy stalactites. Thick stone pillars supported the opening, spiral patterns that somehow seemed natural curling through the smooth rock, swirled stalagmites sticking up from the cave floor, surrounding various pools of glistening water that were giving moisture to deep soil.

Wobble slowly pulled herself out from the water, finally letting go of Wibble’s hand to wander and explore, running a hand across the giant pillars and wishing again that she had a camera with her. Even just a pen and paper to document the bright caverns would have worked. Wobble isn’t an artist, but such a muse would surely produce at least a decent piece of artwork from even the most unpracticed of hands. The entire space was fascinating, the bright glow produced from the flora alone having Wobble entranced, then gawking when she spotted what seemed to be a sapling growing from one of the patches of dirt within the cave. Did just everything down here give off light? Maybe Wobble should actually check the place for radioactivity at some point, there’s no way this could be natural.

Making her way back to the pool that led to the tunnel system they had taken, Wobble found her twin taking a bite out of a glowing fruit, the juice all over their faceplate and hands. It definitely looked delicious, with a fuzzy pink exterior and perfect leaves. Deciding that she didn’t have the energy to question anything more today with how overworked her logical processors were, she simply sat down by her sibling and gestured for them to share.

The fruit was delicious. She should find out if any other bots know of this place- surely they do, such a large cave system can’t have gone unnoticed for so long, and tell her the name of this thing and how to grow them so she can get more.