[He thinks the water would just evaporate, but...]

Wooww... [9S crouches down to get a better look at all those tiny, white roots.] I've never seen a plant uprooted like this before. I guess what you see on the surface is only half the organism.

[He reaches out to lightly tug at one root that's gotten tangled with another.]

But if they have so many roots, wouldn't one or two tangling be inconsequential?