by Peter Brown
CHAPTER 71
THE OBSERVATIONS
Sunlight sparkled off the skyline.
New buildings were constructed.
Old buildings were taken down.
Cargo ships docked in the harbor.
Delivery trucks unloaded crates.
Bright signs flickered with advertisements.
Robots worked behind the scenes.
Children played in parks.
Adults ate and drank at outdoor cafes.
The city pulsed with energy.
A wild robot observed it all.
CHAPTER 72
THE POLICE
A pair of police robots stood on the sidewalk, while foot traffic glided past them. Their heads swiveled back and forth as they scanned the crowd with their glowing eyes. The police looked menacing, but they sounded friendly. Whenever a human walked by they’d say, “Have a nice day!” in a perky voice. There were a lot of humans walking by, so the police kept repeating their words.
“Have a nice day! Have a nice day! Have a nice day!”
Our robot was not having a nice day. She was alone in the city, she was worried about her son, and she wanted nothing to do with the police. But she couldn’t avoid them. If she turned suddenly, she might draw their attention. So she kept her eyes forward and calmly marched along with the other robots on the street.
Roz may have looked calm on the outside, but on the inside her thoughts were scrambled.
Were the police dangerous?
Did they work with the RECOs?
Was she about to be caught?
It seemed as if the police were watching Roz. Their eyes lingered on her for a second, two seconds, three seconds, and then they continued scanning the crowd.
Our robot felt something like relief when she made it past without incident. She went on her way, just another robot on the street, and those perky voices gradually faded behind her.
“Have a nice day! Have a nice day! Have a nice day!”
CHAPTER 73
THE PIGEONS
In the very heart of the city was a great swath of greenery. The old park. It had rolling lawns and flower gardens and dense wooded areas. It had lakes and ponds and fountains. It had playgrounds and benches and miles of cobblestone pathways.
It also had pigeons.
Thousands and thousands of pigeons.
The city pigeons witnessed things you wouldn’t believe. Nothing shocked them. They certainly weren’t shocked by robots. So when Roz marched into the middle of the park, the pigeons there weren’t troubled in the least. She approached a flock that was about a hundred birds strong, all cooing and strutting across the cobblestones as if they owned the place. But as Roz stomped closer and closer, the pigeons scuttled out of the way to let her pass by.
However, Roz didn’t pass by. She stopped and glanced around, and when she saw that she was alone with the pigeons, she started speaking to them in the language of the animals.
“Hello, pigeons, my name is Roz.”
The pigeons cocked their heads, which meant, “Is this robot actually speaking to us?”
“Yes, I am actually speaking to you,” continued Roz. “I am searching for my son. He is a goose named Brightbill. Have you seen him?”
For the first time in a long time, the pigeons were shocked. Several of them fluttered away from the talking robot, but most were too curious to leave. One pigeon was so curious that she strutted out from the flock and right up to the robot.
“Let me get this straight,” said the curious pigeon. “Your name’s Roz, and you’ve got a son named Brightbill, who’s a goose?”
“That is correct.”
“I can’t believe it!” The pigeon flapped her wings and turned to the others. “You guys, this is Roz! From Graybeak’s stories! Remember?”
The flock began cooing excitedly.
“You have heard of Graybeak?” said Roz.
“Everyone’s heard of Graybeak!” said the pigeon. “A while back she started telling stories about a goose whose mother was some kind of wild robot. We all thought she was joking, but I guess not!”
“She was not joking,” said Roz. “But I have lost my son, and I do not know how to find him. Perhaps Graybeak could help. Do you know where she is?”
“I hate to tell you this, Roz, but Graybeak is dead.” The birds all lowered their heads. “Ya know, life ain’t easy for us pigeons. We only live a few years out here, if we’re lucky. But we were especially sad when we lost Graybeak. She was one of the best.” The others cooed in agreement.
“I am sorry for your loss,” said Roz. “I wish I had gotten to meet Graybeak. My son was very fond of her.”
The pigeon gazed up at the robot with a steely look in her eye. “Any friend of Graybeak is a friend of ours. If Brightbill is lost, we’re gonna find him.” She turned to the others. “You heard me, flock! Hit the skies! And tell every pigeon you see to start searching for a goose named Brightbill!” At those words the flock erupted into flight. Only the robot and the curious pigeon remained.
“By the way, they call me Strutter,” said the pigeon, fluffing out her chest feathers.
“It is very nice to meet you, Strutter,” said the robot. “Thank you for searching for Brightbill. What can I do to help?”
“You can help by staying put! I want you in this park when we return with your son. Don’t hide or wander off and make us go searching for you too!
“Oh, and another thing,” Strutter added. “Stay away from the park ranger robot. He spends most of his time taking care of the grounds, but he’s always on the lookout for troublemakers.”
The pigeon gave a quick salute to the robot. Then she joined the search for Brightbill.
CHAPTER 74
THE SKY
Hours passed, and the sun set in the west. More hours passed, and the eastern sky began to glow. Roz spent that whole night in the park, waiting for Strutter to return with Brightbill, but there was no sign of them. In fact, there weren’t any birds in the park at all.
Roz couldn’t let those thoughts distract her. She needed to stay alert. The park ranger robot had seen her once or twice already, and now she heard his footsteps wherever she went.
Was the park ranger following Roz?
Had he noticed our robot’s unit number?
Would he report her to the RECOs?
Roz took a pathway into the woods, trying to escape the ranger’s view. And that’s when she heard familiar voices calling from the sky.
“Where are you, Ma?” said Brightbill.
“Come on out, Roz!” said Strutter.
Roz turned toward the voices but saw only leaves and branches. Brightbill and Strutter were flying somewhere above the woods. She wanted to call back to them, but the park ranger was still trailing her. Instead, she followed the sounds of their voices as they glided over the treetops.
But then there came a new sound. A buzzing sound. It grew louder and closer. Air started blasting down from the sky. And when Roz looked up, she saw a white triangular airship floating above her.
CHAPTER 75
THE RECOS
Three robots zipped down from the airship on cables. The ground shook as their heavy feet slammed against the cobblestones. Then they stood side by side, forming a wall, with their eyes locked on Roz. They were RECO 4, RECO 5, and RECO 6.
“Hello, ROZZUM unit 7134, we are the RECOs. Please come with us.”
The robotic voice belonged to RECO 4. He and his partners waited for their target to come forward. But Roz didn’t move. She knew how dangerous the RECOs could be. And so did her son. From somewhere in the sky Brightbill’s frightened voice cried out.
“Run, Mama, run!”
So Roz ran. She dashed up the pathway and leaped into the woods. Without crunching a weed, without rustling a leaf, the robot vanished into the thick foliage. The RECOs weren’t concerned. They had other ways of tracking her, or so they thought. Their blocky heads swiveled from side to side, scanning the woods for Roz’s elec
tronic signal. They scanned and scanned and scanned, but they found no trace of their target.
CHAPTER 76
THE MORNING
A steady stream of foot traffic was flowing past the park that morning. Several pairs of eyes noticed a ROZZUM robot running out from the trees. They watched as she looked around and then started marching along the sidewalk with the rest of the crowd.
Roz had lost the RECOs back in the woods, but she knew they wouldn’t stop searching for her. She needed to blend in with the normal robots on the street. So when she came upon a work crew marching toward a construction site, she tried to join the end of the line. But the crew immediately halted and turned to face her.
Our robot stepped backward, away from the crew, and bumped into a young woman. “I am sorry!” said Roz, gently grasping the woman’s shoulder.
“Get your hands off me! Whose robot is this? There’s something wrong with her!”
Everyone stopped and stared. Humans pointed. Automobiles slowed. There were whispers about a defective robot on the loose. And then the white triangular airship appeared. It floated out from between tall buildings and headed for our robot. Roz lurched forward and backward, again and again, trying to think of a plan, until a voice suddenly squawked behind her.
“Follow us, Mama!”
Brightbill and Strutter swooped past, and the robot went racing after them. She wove through the crowd, sprinted down streets, leaped across intersections. Horns blared and humans screamed and robots shuffled out of the way.
The birds made one last turn and fluttered into a narrow side street. A group of tomcats were there, lurking in the shadows. They crouched and licked their lips and dreamed of feasting on the goose and the pigeon. Then the robot came stomping up, and the cats hissed and scattered in every direction.
Strutter pointed to a heavy circular panel set in the pavement and said, “Lift that up.” Roz lifted the panel. Beneath it was a ladder that descended into a deep, dark hole.
“Climb down there,” said Strutter. “A friend of mine is expecting you.”
The robot looked from the pigeon to the goose.
“Do what she says, Ma!” cried Brightbill. “There’s no time to waste!”
“But how will I find you again?” said Roz.
“Just go!”
CHAPTER 77
THE UNDERGROUND
Our robot was standing in a long, shadowy tunnel. Murky water trickled along the floor, and sour smells filled the air. Roz was belowground, in the city sewers.
There was a squeak, and the robot’s headlights flashed onto a crack in the wall. A rat’s pointy face poked out. “You must be Roz,” said the rat, wiggling his nose. “I hear you’re in trouble.”
“That is correct,” said the robot. “I need to get as far from here as possible.”
“I know where to take you,” said the rat, and he started scampering down the tunnel.
The rat knew the sewers better than anyone, but his short legs couldn’t carry him very fast. So Roz carried him. She scooped him up, plopped him on her shoulder, and said, “Tell me where to run.”
With the rat squeaking directions in her ear, Roz stomped deeper into the underground. She splashed down side tunnels, crawled through narrow passageways, carefully crossed subway tracks. Occasionally, they came upon cavernous chambers. Most of the chambers were empty, but some contained jumbles of pipes. The rat would scurry across the damp, dirty floor while the robot climbed the pipes as if they were trees.
Mechanical sounds echoed out from some of the tunnels. Robot crews were hard at work. They spent their lives laboring below the city. Many would never even see the light of day. Roz was curious, of course, but she dared not spy on them. Those workers had no idea that a fellow robot was sneaking through their underground home.
After traveling through miles of tunnels, the rat and the robot came to a dead end. A ladder was bolted to the wall and disappeared into a hole in the ceiling.
“I don’t know what you’ll find up there,” squeaked the rat. “But good luck.”
“It cannot be any worse than where I was,” said Roz, placing him on the ground. “Thank you for your help.”
The robot gave the rat a quick scratch behind his ears, and then she climbed up to the street.
CHAPTER 78
THE CHASE
The street was empty. No people walking, no robots working, no automobiles driving. Roz looked to the sky, hoping to see Brightbill or Strutter. But what she saw was a fleet of white triangular airships. They were floating over the city, searching for the runaway robot, and they had just spotted her.
“ROZZUM unit 7134, do not move!”
Three robots zipped down from a ship on cables. They were RECOs 10, 11, and 12. Each held a rifle at his side, but they didn’t fire their weapons, not yet. Their orders were to retrieve the target unharmed, if possible.
Our robot’s Survival Instincts blared like sirens in her head, and she burst away from the RECOs. She sprinted down the empty street and turned onto another empty street. All the streets seemed to be empty, but they wouldn’t be empty for long. More and more big, bulky robots came zipping down to join the chase.
The RECOs moved like machines. Their target moved like an animal. The wild robot stayed low, gliding across the streets, darting around buildings, vanishing into the shadows. Her computer brain thought back to those games of hide-and-seek she had played on the farm. But this was no game.
Roz never should have gone into that alley. She was halfway through it when RECOs appeared at both ends. There was only one direction to go.
Using all the strength in her legs, our robot launched herself high into the air and she clamped onto the side of a building. Frightened faces peered out from a window. But Roz didn’t want to frighten anyone! She just wanted to go home! The robot launched herself up and across the alley and clamped onto the opposite building. Back and forth she went, leaping between the buildings, climbing higher and higher, until she landed on a flat, lofty rooftop.
The sky was filled with white airships. All at once, the ships turned toward Roz. Their engines buzzed as they closed in on our robot. But then came a strange swishing noise. Pigeons! Hundreds of them! Thousands of them! Wave upon wave of pigeons streamed up from the streets and swarmed around the airships. Strutter had rallied her friends from every corner of the city. They had always hated airships, buzzing loudly, crowding the skies, forcing the birds to fly low. And now a city’s worth of pigeons were finally unleashing their anger.
As you’d expect, the airships fought back. Blazing beams of light flickered across the skyline and left charred feathers floating on the breeze. But the pigeons didn’t retreat—they tightened around the ships, distracting them, confusing them. There was a deafening screech, little bodies fell, and a ship spiraled out of sight, leaving a trail of smoke behind it. Roz watched in horror as more pigeons and ships went down. She hollered for the birds to fly away, but they were lost in a fighting frenzy.
Heavy feet thumped onto the roof. “ROZZUM unit 7134, do not move!” Roz didn’t look. She just ran from the voice, leaped to the next rooftop, and kept on running. Our robot leaped up to a higher rooftop and then down to a lower one. Up and down she went, leaping from building to building, footsteps thundering behind her. But still, the RECOs did not fire their rifles.
“Mama, I’m here!” Brightbill swooped alongside his mother as she ran. “What should we do?”
“Brightbill, you must fly to safety!” hollered Roz. “It is too dangerous up here!” And then in a softer voice the robot said, “I cannot escape.”
“No! Mama! You’ve come so far, don’t give up now!”
But Roz was finished running. She slowed and stopped at the edge of the rooftop. The goose fluttered into her arms, and our friends held each other close.
“You have been such a good son,” said Roz. “You have saved my life so many times. But now you must save yourself and go on without me.”
“Will I see you
again?” said Brightbill, wiping his eyes.
“I do not think so,” said Roz.
They still had so much to say to each other. There simply wasn’t any more time. So they said the only words that really mattered.
“I love you, Mama.”
“I love you, son.”
Airships circled above.
RECOs dropped onto rooftops.
Rifles pointed at our robot.
A voice boomed, “ROZZUM unit 7134, do not move!” But Roz did move. She heaved her son toward the sky so that he could fly to safety, and in that instant a trigger was pulled. A blazing beam of light flashed onto our robot’s leg. Damage Sensors flared as the leg turned bright orange and melted away. Poor Roz tried to keep her balance, but she was already toppling backward, off the roof. She seemed to hang in the air, sparkling in the sunlight, and then she fell
down
down
down
to the street below.
As Roz was falling, she took one last look at Brightbill, soaring in the sky above. She watched him get smaller and smaller. Then everything suddenly went dark.
CHAPTER 79
THE DESIGNER
Roz awoke slowly. She was surprised to be waking up at all. The fall from that building should have destroyed her, and yet here she was.
But where was she?
Everything was dark and silent.
Was this where robots go when they die?
No, as her systems activated, the real world came into focus. She saw white walls and floors, and she heard the hum of machinery in the background. Roz was somewhere inside the robot factory where she had been made.
A pile of robot parts lay on the floor. The parts were smashed and mangled. It took a moment for Roz to realize she was looking down at her own broken body. It took another moment for her to realize she was now nothing more than a robotic head.