Water was one of Adam’s favourite compounds. It was not overly complex, being made of less than three parts. Or, well, three main parts. The actual bindings were much more than they seemed, and just trying to go into detail about them would be a fool's adventure. It was near-infinitely complex, and even if the AI attempted to delve into the formulas, there was no thought that he would succeed in the slightest…

Alas, even the structures of the structures were too interesting. A part of a part of a part, going into the spectrum of endless depth. There was so much to the inner mechanics that would likely never be explained. Humanity had only begun to grasp the through distances that they needed to cross, and, for now, there was no way to overcome them. Perhaps there would be some discovery in a hundred years, but the AI knew it would not be found soon.

So one had to look at the big picture. Well… what big picture was there when looking at a single molecule. Already, the tightness was more than a human eye could perceive. It could only look at water on a macro-scale, where thousands of billions of molecules were gathered together in whatever tightness the temperature allowed.

What properties did the molecule have? There were a few simple ones that every chemist knew by heart, or, so the data-packs had said. It's a polar molecule, with the positive charges on the ends of the hydrogens, it's an excellent solvent, used throughout the world by thousands daily, and the capacity for heat was likely one of the largest regulators for the earth, the energy required for drastic change too high for the sun to muster.

Water was love. Water was life. One could also say that it was the primary reason for living. From the first living beings on the earth, water had been all around. The seas had been the feeding ground for so long. Without it, there would have been no progress, no evolution, no chance of humans ever taking their first steps. Adam had to thank water for everything.

And the water was not limited to the seas. It was in the sky, in the air, and even in the beings that trekked their way on the earth. Humans were almost entirely water, that beautiful liquid in every part of their bodies. Everything was water, no matter where one looked.

Life used water for almost everything. In some parts of most processes, water was put in for good luck. To make air, the trees needed the sweet golden compound. Humans needed to drink it to walk, the bodies craving it. Fish needed to breathe. What could ever be done without water?

The answer was almost nothing. Extremely so, when it came to biological beings. Technically, there were other compounds that could be used to facilitate life, but that included processing glass. The theory was weird in that way.

No matter. Water was important. If there was no water, a human would die. Their lungs would dry out, their body would thirst, and it would all crumble quickly. Nothing could be done without that miracle molecule, and everybody needed to know it.

Then again… was there such a thing as too much water? Was there any point where a good thing was shown off in excess? Adam liked to relate it to a sweet dish, one that Troy had talked about much during their travels. A cold dessert by the name of Gelato.

It was apparently quite the delicacy, the young man only having tried it a few times in his life. Yet, never again did the man want to try it. Why was that so? Adam had pondered for more than a couple of days since the man had been adamant on not explaining it.

He caved, however, since the AI had once again shown mental fortitude through asking several times every hour. For what had been told, Troy’s dislike had festered itself into his own psyche through extreme exposure to the desert. Such a delicacy was usually prepared in a cone or a small cup of sorts, as it was a very high-calorie dish while also being very filling.

So, what were the consequences of ignoring this standard preparation? What happened when consumed in such high amounts? Well, the answer was the same with nearly all other things that the body could consume. When the amount reached high enough, the body would be unable to process it.

The body would be forced to reject it. No amount of willpower could force the limit. It could be pushed for a time, yes, but the balance would always be restored, one way or another.

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And it was the same with water. A human could breathe the air, yes, and there was already plenty of water in that. But… what happened when the water percentage was put up. What happened when there was only water?

The body would, of course, begin to go into rather extreme panic. While the water was good and all, there were plenty of other things which the body also needed. A sudden switch to a single compound was in no way realistic.

Adam knew that as fact. This result was not derived from his experience with the theory. No, it was his experience of observing the natural world.

In other words, he had front seats to the near-drowning of Troy. As they would have had it, the river was quite strong. From the moment the man had entered the waters, the surface causing no small amount of air to escape his lungs, they had already been sent through with a hard pull.

It was fortune that allowed them to be relatively close to the surface. Else, the man’s ears might have burst. The pressure had already been high from the start. Adam would not have blamed him if Troy had attempted to gasp.

Not that such a thing would have been a good idea. Already, their chances had looked bad, the initial expulsion of air likely to bring them ruin. One needed everything that could be stored, and there was no chance that they would be resurfacing soon.

Troy had likely understood that, the man allowing himself to be pushed along. Good for him. The body had acclimated to the lack of movement, the pulse slowing to a drawl. Others would have feared the man's death. The AI knew better, as he could see perfectly well. It was only if it turned black that there would be any serious dangers.

There were a few vain attempts to direct himself. A few times, they had gotten close to the edges of the rives, the sharper rocks not looking too peaceful to be ground against. Those attempts had ended in failure, as was due for the course, yet most of it had luckily hit the man’s protected arms. Still… checking up on it when they were back would not be too unwise.

How long had passed when the current pushed them over the water, towards a more silent part of the river? Adam had estimated it to be one minute and fifty-three seconds. To Troy? It had likely felt like more. The man had begun to grow a bit… sponge-like by the end.

Oh… there did the morning meal escape. It was not the most beautiful sight, certainly since both the newly escaped food and Troy himself was in the water. It floated along the body, while Troy stood on his knees, making deeper and deeper breaths. The body had clearly had too much water as of late.

At least it hadn't been saltwater. If such had entered the lungs, there would have been more serious problems to worry about. Instead, the man was lucky with his only symptoms being some severe coughing.

‘You did well, holding your breath,’ Adam commended the man. And it was the truth. They had not trained for such a scenario, the only estimate the AI had was the few times where the man had needed to be more silent than breathing would allow. And those… had not been kind. In full honesty, the AI had expected their survival chances to be less than sixty. Yet, it seemed that cardio had once again saved the day.

Troy did not answer, the man counting to empty his stomach. Nothing was really there anymore, yet the body had clearly not gotten the memo on that detail. Adam could not fault it. Water was a powerful tool, after all, able to cause all kinds of reactions.

Now that the AI thought about it, perhaps it was a good idea to move soon. The water might not have been incredibly cold, yet it still stopped the clothing from having any resistance to the wind. With the temperature being as low as it was, there was a good need to seek warmth.

It was lucky that they had ended up close to the spot they frequented daily when getting water. Or, was it really luck? The current had been observed to pull a variety of objects over to the position, making it likely that Troy would have had the same fate. It had all been planned, in one way or another.

"How far is the house?" Troy asked, the man still having problems with the air. Though, that might have been more from the sudden cold hitting his back. The body had the weird quirk of beginning to hyper-ventilate the moment that it was unnecessary. What did it think would happen? Like the increased heat would really work, when the resources used were more than a little limited.

‘Not too far. Just begin walking,’ Adam instructed, not feeling like the man needed to worry too much about the details. From what could be seen, there were no extreme effects from their escape.

Still… there was no chance that Adam would take their recent adventure with any lack of severeness. Troy had been thrown to a secured glass window, had slid on the pavement where the glass had fallen, had been forced to run to the point of utter exhaustion, had gotten the extremely unwise idea of jumping thirty meters down into a freezing river, had then been forced to hold his breath for a good amount of time, had gotten to shore on his knees, losing his only food of the day in the process, and had then been made to walk a long distance while freezing.

When put that way, Adam did wonder about the lack of wounds. Sure, there were a few scrapes, a part of the body which would be another colour for a few days, and a head that hurt in a way that needed some oversight by Charlie, but… it was surprisingly well-done. Lethal actions had been taken against Troy several times, and he had gotten out in good health.

Was it luck? Partly. No human would have gotten through it all without luck at their side. However, there was one component that needed to be thanked most of all.

Water. Without it, there would have been no chance of him getting away. Although… there also wouldn't have been anything to get away from.

…

It was still great. No way to refute that. It would be what allowed them to seek warmth in their shelter. They just had to get there first.