Status Update: 2
From inside your biological processing facility, the rain is muted, but even here, faintly, you can hear it hammering down on the metal. The room is, thankfully, not flooding. You're sitting as far away from the pile of refuse as you can; you may not be able to smell, but the sight of it is still unpleasant.
You pull out two of the mushrooms from your small pack, holding it up to your neurons. They're a little squished, but you really don't have room to complain or be picky. Your neurons diligently start siphoning nutrients from the fungi. (-2 mushroom)
You're lucky to have gotten through the area without sustaining damage this time, but with Miros quail somewhere in this facility, you can't guarantee that will last.
[3 actions left.]
>See if we can figure out what to do with the firecracker plant without blowing ourselves up
You pull out the cherrybombs from your pack and study them, turning the seed pods over in your hands. You've seen the scant scavenger population on your grounds use these; they somehow refine the seeds inside to produce true explosives. You're generally aware of how they work: cherrybombs evolved a chemical compound that would react when its seed pods are disturbed. Specifically, when shaken while exposed to air, the chemicals in the seeds react in a way that makes them expand rapidly, producing heat and popping the seed pods open. The popping sound is enough to deter most creatures, but close proximity to the heat and the popping can potentially deal damage, especially if enough seed pods are activated at once. You're fairly confident it won't damage your puppet much, though wires might burn if it explodes too close to them.
You will need to study the seed pods more to be confident about producing an explosive yourself; your spear will be a decent candidate for a test. You could try making some explosives now, but there is a risk you detonate the seed pods instead. (Calculated chance of success: 50%.)
[2 actions left.]
>Make another neuron (success)
You reach up for another neuron, careful to avoid the smaller one you made last cycle. It's a lot easier to make an incision with your spear, and without fuss, the neuron starts budding off as well. You let go of it so it can continue siphoning nutrients from the mushroom. (+1 neuron)
[1 action left.]
>Study firecracker seed pods closer
You carefully carve along the edge of one of the seed pods and peel it open, peering down at the seeds inside. Immediately you notice there are two types; some of them look lumpier, while the rest have a tougher shell. The inside of the seed pod is also lumpy. Touching the surface allows you to identify that it too has the explosive chemical.
You extract a single lumpy seed from the seed pod, turning it over in your hands. On the outer surface alone, the concentration of the chemical isn't very high; the explosion must come from all of the seeds rubbing against each other. You flick the seed at the pile of refuse experimentally, watching as it fizzles through the air, then lands in the refuse with barely a pop. It's a good thing you got three stalks of the cherrybombs then.
Ideally, you'd want to extract the chemical and smear it on a weapon. That would make it the most potent, potentially even poisoning whatever it touches. You don't have the means to do that right now though, and trying to crush the seeds is dangerous. It's a better idea to simply pack the seeds around your weapon with... something. You sideeye the pile of refuse.
If you try making some explosives now, you're more confident about how to go about it, but you're still not fully sure of the best methods. (Calculated chance of success: 75%.)
For now, though, you should conserve your energy. You settle back against the hard metal wall as best as you can, folding your arms across your chest as you start to power down. Your waste department isn't the best area to be in, but you're certain you'll find extra supplies here.
Dimly, you hear water sloshing around just outside the door, but you remain blissfully dry as the bulk of your mental faculties turn off.