A Psalm for the Wild-Built

The water tank on Dex’s wagon is punctured on a rough stretch of road. Once they repair the puncture, Mosscap disconnects it and lifts it, suggesting that it can take it to the nearby creek and refill it. Dex is reluctant to let Mosscap do this, but Mosscap points out that friends help each other. Dex is distressed at the idea of walking through the forest; humans have strict codes about not leaving roads and paths unless absolutely necessary, so as not to destroy wildlife. Mosscap convinces Dex that their impact on the environment will be minimal.

Dex wonders at the beauty of the forest, and feels fearful at the mention of spiders. They reach the creek. Dex admits that they are fearful of collecting drinking water from the creek, as there is algae and mud in it, even though they understand that their water always comes from these sources.

Mosscap understands completely and takes Dex to the nearby overgrown ruin of a Factory Age warehouse to illustrate its point. Mosscap explains that it has a remnant, a tiny bit of memory passed down from one of the robots’ parts of which it is composed of (the robots rebuild new robots from the parts of those which have broken down), which leads it to feel wary of the human structure.