A storm was approaching, and it wasn’t just any storm. It was as fierce as the one that had sent the cargo ship to the ocean floor. The wind picked up, and the first drops of rain tapped against the robot. It was time to go. Roz unclamped her hands and began sliding down the peak. Hot sparks flew from where her body scraped against the leaning slab of stone. As soon as her feet hit soil, she was off and running.
The rain fell harder.
The wind blew faster.
The lightning flashed brighter.
The thunder cracked louder.
So much rainwater was falling that rushing rivers of runoff started springing up everywhere. Roz splashed down the mountain, searching through the gloom for any kind of shelter. But she should have watched where she was going. Her heavy feet slipped and tripped, and she tumbled right into a mudslide.
Our robot was helpless. The river of mud whisked her downhill, slamming her into rocks and dragging her through bushes and sweeping her straight toward a cliff! Mud was pouring off the cliff like a waterfall! Roz frantically clawed at the ground, grasping for anything she could hold on to, but the flow only carried her faster toward the edge. And just as she was about to plunge over the side, she came to a hard, sudden stop.
Mud surged around her, spraying into her face and pinning her against some solid thing. She blindly felt with her hands and recognized the thick roots and trunk of a pine tree. In an instant she was pulling herself up into the branches. The wind whipped across the mountainside and Roz heard the familiar thunk! of pinecones pelting her body. But she didn’t mind them. She was just happy to be safe from the mudflow. The robot locked her arms and legs around the tree and waited for the storm to blow over.
CHAPTER 13 THE AFTERMATH
Daybreak, and the storm had passed, but the sounds of water were everywhere. The air was filled with the dripping sounds of mountain runoff and the sloshing sounds of flooded streams. And then came a very different sound. It was the clanging sound made when a robot slips on a wet rock. There were quite a few clangs that morning.
As Roz worked her way downhill, she scanned the aftermath of the storm. Giant mounds of mud and debris had formed below the cliffs. The island’s central river had crested its banks and spilled into the nearby fields and forests. Some trees had been uprooted. Others were submerged, their upper branches barely poking above the floodwaters, their lower branches swarming with fish instead of birds.
After such a storm, you might expect to see animal corpses scattered among all the devastation. But the animals seemed to have survived just fine. Somehow, they had known the storm was coming, and they had found shelter long before it rolled in. Lowland creatures, who had sought refuge on higher ground, were waiting patiently for the water to recede. Deer were wading through the flooded fields. Beavers were busily collecting a trove of fallen branches. Geese honked in the sky before splashing down into a watery section of the forest.
Clearly, the animals were experts at survival.
Clearly, the robot was not.
Roz was crusted with mud and grit, so she gave herself another good cleaning, but that only revealed her dents and scratches. They were really starting to add up. She hardly resembled the perfect robot who had appeared on the shore just a week earlier.
The wilderness was taking a toll on poor Roz. So she felt something like relief when she spotted the quiet hole in the side of the mountain. It looked like a safe place for a robot. She stomped across the hillside and up to the cave, but never stopped to wonder what might be lurking within.
CHAPTER 14 THE BEARS
Roz stomped into the cave. And then she stomped right back out.
“Please stay away!” said the robot to the two bears who were now nipping at her heels. You see, when Roz stomped into the cave, she accidentally woke a brother and sister bear from their morning nap, which is never a good idea. And to make matters worse, bears have an instinct that drives them to attack when a creature runs away, especially if the creature running away is a mysterious, sparkling monster. So as the startled bears watched Roz stomping out of their cave, they really had no choice at all. They simply had to take up the chase.
Roz tried her best to outrun the bears. She leaped over rocks and wove through trees and stomped across the mountainside at full speed. But the bears were young and strong and fast, and the robot still had so much to learn about moving through the wilderness. She never even saw the tree root. One moment she was stomping along, and the next moment she was flying through the air and thumping down onto a rotten log. Clumps of soft wood stuck to her side as she stood and faced her attackers.
Wouldn’t you be afraid if two bears were charging toward you? Of course you would! Everyone would! Even the robot felt something like fear. Roz was programmed to take care of herself. She was programmed to stay alive. And as the robot watched those bears charging toward her, she knew her life was in serious danger.
The bears slammed into Roz, knocking her against the trunk of a towering tree. Then one bear dove at her legs, and the other clawed at her chest. If only the robot had swung her fists or kicked her feet, she could have scared them off. One good bop in the nose would have sent them running. But the robot’s programming would not allow her to be violent. Clearly, Roz was not designed to fight bears.
Powerful jaws chomped her arms. Sharp claws slashed her face. A massive head rammed her chest.
“Please stay away!” said the robot.
“Roarrrr!” said the sister bear.
“Grrrrrr!” said the brother bear.
And then the bears went in for the kill.
But the robot had vanished.
CHAPTER 15 THE ESCAPE
Using all the strength in her legs, Roz jumped straight up, high into the air, and landed on a tree branch overhead. The tree shook with the sudden weight of the robot, and then—thunk thunk!—two pinecones bounced off Roz, and a moment later—thunk thunk!—the same pinecones bounced off the bears below. The bears grunted with annoyance. This gave Roz an idea.
The robot’s programming stopped her from being violent, but nothing stopped her from being annoying. So Roz plucked pinecones from the nearby branches and lobbed them down at the bears.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
Each pinecone bounced off its target with annoying accuracy and whipped the young bears into a frenzy.
“Roarrrr!” said the sister bear.
“Grrrrrr!” said the brother bear.
“I do not understand you, bears,” said the robot.
Roz was about to unload a whole armful of annoying pinecones when a distant roar echoed through the forest. Back at the cave, the mother bear was calling for these two, and she did not sound happy. The young bears looked at each other. They knew they were in trouble. But before lumbering home, they glared up at Roz and snorted one last time. More than anything, they wanted to kill the robot.
CHAPTER 16 THE PINE TREE
Roz was in no hurry to leave the tree. She stayed on her branch long after the bears had gone, enjoying some peace and looking herself over.
In addition to bite marks and claw marks, the robot was also covered in dirt, which, of course, meant it was time for another cleaning. She was making good progress when she felt something sticky on her arm. The problem with sitting in a pine tree is that, eventually, the tree’s sticky resin will find you. It always does. And it found Roz. The robot scrubbed and scraped at the resin, and soon her fingers were completely coated in the sticky stuff. Then it was all over her arms and her legs and her torso. And things were about to get even messier.