Jabe's Jumbles of Junk

Lunacy (a short story)

CW: possibly disturbing imagery, dismemberment, object gore?? (not blood and stuff but objects getting violently hurt)

There's something on the moon.

~~~~~

Beep! Donut's shiny new camera made a small noise as a connection was established. Finally, he thought, clearing his throat and getting ready to speak. Who knew trying to get a signal to the moon would be so hard?

The picture on the screen cleared away the last of its fuzziness, and Donut took a deep breath. "A Better Name Than That!" he began, making sure to enunciate his words as to make sure the microphone picked them up clearly. "You guys are trapped on the moon, so I have to communicate with you through TV!"

It was only then he realized how small his audience was, consisting of less than three viewers. As a matter of fact, the only member of ABNTT he could see was Grassy, accompanied only by Lollipop. "Erm." He blinked. "TV, Grassy -- where's the rest of your team?"

"Exploring!" cheered Grassy.

"Ok, but... where?"

"The moon!"

"I can guess that!! But where on the moon?"

Lollipop gave a nonchalant shrug. "We don't have any more of a clue than you do, Bagel Brain. But I do hope they return soon. I've had to babysit this one for the past few days-" She jerked a thumb towards Grassy without looking at him. "-and TV doesn't exactly provide stimulating conversation." An annoyed buzz emitted from the mechanical mind's speakers, making Donut's camera vibrate slightly.

"A few days?" The excitement of doing another Cake At Stake ceremony was beginning to ebb away, gradually being replaced by mild concern. "Don't you think they should've been back by now?"

"Perhaps they got lost."

Donut squinted at her. "I'm not on the moon, yet even I can see for miles through TV's screen. I don't think they could've gotten lost."

"Grassy thinks they're just having fun!" offered the young plant. But Donut had a feeling it wasn't that simple.

"Suggestion," TV spoke up. "All mechanical minds have a unique ident signal which other mechanical minds are able to pick up. I can still sense Robot Flower's. It is far away, but we could follow it."

"Good idea," agreed Lollipop, moving into a standing position and stretching. "Anything that involves me not sitting in one spot for hours on end is something I'll gladly go along with."

Donut nodded as well. "Righteo then. TV, take it away!"

~~~~~

The group's hour-long silence was suddenly broken by Grassy. "This walk is boring," he stated, jumping off of TV's head. "Grassy's gonna go look for cool rocks!"

"Don't wander too far!" TV called out.

Donut chuckled slightly as Grassy began to run about and inspect the ground. "Funny. I thought Lollipop would be the first to complain about the long walk."

A snort from Lollipop. "I don't complain, Bagel Brain, I criticize."

"Sure, sure."

Another few moments passed in relative quiet. "So," Donut finally began, "how, um... when exactly did the others disappear?"