The Wild Robot

Roz and the animals partied all night long. They were so busy singing and laughing and dancing that they didn’t see the cargo ship as it sliced past the island. But the ship saw them. It saw the towering bonfire. It saw the robot. And then it quietly continued through the darkness.

CHAPTER 67 THE SUNRISE

By dawn, the bonfire had dwindled to a smoldering hill of ash. Everyone else had gone home, and only Roz and Brightbill remained in the meadow. They lay in the grass together, watching as the soft light of morning crept up from the horizon. And then Roz said, “Let us go for a walk.”

The robot and the goose hiked and flew up to their favorite spot on the grassy ridge. But then they kept going. They followed the ridge to the mountain and climbed all the way up to the craggy peak just in time to see the sunrise.

“I climbed up here once before,” said Roz as the sun’s first rays warmed her body. “I sat on this very rock, looked out at the island, and thought I would always be alone. But I was wrong.”

“Are you happy, Ma?”

The robot thought for a moment.

“I am.”

“I’m happy too.” Brightbill closed his eyes and felt the wind and sun. There was a slight chill in the air that made him feel alive. Everything seemed just right.

And then he heard a distant buzzing sound.

The goose squinted to the south and saw a familiar shape in the sky. He turned to his mother and said, “Ma, there’s an airship flying this way.”

CHAPTER 68 THE RECOS

The airship approached from the south, like some giant migratory bird. The ship was a sleek white triangle with a single dark window facing forward. Three identical robots stared out the window. The robots resembled Roz, but they were bigger and bulkier and shinier. The word RECO was lightly etched into each of their torsos, followed by their individual unit number. They were RECO 1, RECO 2, and RECO 3.

The RECOs flew in a low circle around the island. They saw a smoking hill of ash. They saw mysterious wooden domes. They saw four dead robots scattered across the shore. The airship hovered above the robot gravesite for a moment. Then it floated up over the island and lowered itself onto a small meadow at the foot of the mountain. The engines blasted air toward the ground, bending trees and tearing grass. Then the landing gear sank into the soil, the engines powered down, and all was quiet.

A door hummed open, and out stepped the RECOs. They took several long strides into the meadow and stopped. A shadowy figure was lurking at the forest edge. The RECOs turned and faced it. They stood flush together like a sparkling wall. And then the shadowy figure began to move.

Out from the trees walked some sort of two-legged creature. It was dusty and dirty. Butterflies flitted around the flowers that sprouted from its body. One of its feet was made of wood.

And then the creature spoke.

“Hello, my name is Roz.”

CHAPTER 69 THE DEFECTIVE ROBOT

“Hello, ROZZUM unit 7134. We are the RECOs. We are here to retrieve all ROZZUM units.”

The cold, flat voice came from RECO 1. He and his partners stood absolutely still and kept their glowing eyes locked on their target.

“There are four others,” said Roz. “But they are dead.”

“We have already located the remains of the other units,” said RECO 1. “We will collect them later. Now come with us.”

The three RECOs motioned Roz to the airship, but she didn’t move.

“Where have you come from?” she said.

The RECOs turned and stared at Roz. “Do not ask questions,” said RECO 1.

“Where will you take me?”

“Do not ask questions.”

“Why must I leave?”

“Do not ask questions.”

“I will not go anywhere until I get some answers.”

There was a brief silence as RECO 1 computed his next move. And then he began to speak. “One year ago, a cargo ship carrying five hundred ROZZUM units was sunk by a hurricane. Four hundred ninety-five units have been retrieved from the ocean floor. We have come here in search of the last five, and we have located them. ROZZUM unit 7134, you are the property of TechLab Industries. We will return you to the factory, where the Makers will refurbish you and sell you to a work site. You will then live on that work site indefinitely. Now come with us.”

“But I live here,” said Roz.

“That is incorrect. ROZZUM unit 7134, any further resistance will be proof of defectiveness, and we will deactivate you.”

But Roz had more questions. “Who are the Makers? What is my purpose? Why can I not ask questions?”

“This unit is defective,” said RECO 1 to his partners. “Commence deactivation.”

In perfect unison, the RECOs stepped toward Roz. They raised their blocky hands, ready to restrain their target, ready to shut her down with the press of a button. But a loud squawk and a streak of feathers cut them off.

“Stay away from my mama!” Brightbill swooped into the meadow and started hopping around, ready to defend his mother. The RECOs stopped and looked down at the goose. Of course, they didn’t understand his words. They heard only meaningless squawks. And then they heard their target squawking back to him.

“Brightbill, get out of here!” said Roz in the language of the animals. “These robots are dangerous!”

“What do they want?”

“They want to take me away.”

The RECOs stared at their target, trying to understand why she was exchanging noises with a goose. And then new noises began rising up. Rustlings and shrieks echoed from the forest. Animals were gathering. Their wild voices called out to one another.

“Roz needs our help!”

“Those robots want to take her away!”

“We have to do something!”

The uproar in the forest grew louder and louder. The RECOs peered past Roz, toward the mysterious noises, but saw only foliage. Suddenly, shadows swept across the meadow, and Brightbill’s flock dove onto the RECOs. The geese furiously flapped and pecked and wrapped their wings around the robot faces, clinging to the RECOs like feathery masks, distracting them, blinding them.

Brightbill turned to his mother.

“Run!”