13 THE AFTERMATH

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,

天亮了，暴风雨过去了，但到处都是水声。 空气中充满了山间雨水滴落的声音和泛滥的河水哗哗的声音。 然后传来一个非常不同的声音。 这是机器人在湿岩石上滑倒时发出的铿锵声。 那天早上有好几声叮当声。 罗兹一边下山，一边扫视着风暴过后的景象。 悬崖下面形成了巨大的土堆和瓦砾。 岛上的中央河流已经淹没了河岸，流入附近的田野和森林。 一些树被连根拔起。 还有一些树被淹没了，上面的树枝勉强露出水面，下面的树枝上爬满了鱼，而不是鸟。 在这样的风暴过后，你可能会看到动物尸体散落在所有的废墟中。 但这些动物似乎活得很好。 不知怎么的,

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.

他们早就知道暴风雨要来了，早在暴风雨来临之前就找到了避风的地方。 在高地上避难的低地动物正耐心地等待着洪水退去。 鹿在淹水的田地里涉水而过。 海狸们正忙着收集一堆掉落的树枝。 鹅在天空鸣叫，然后溅落到森林的一片水域。 显然，这些动物是生存的专家。 显然，机器人不是。 罗兹浑身都是泥和沙砾，所以她又给自己好好清洗了一下，但只露出了她的凹痕和划痕。 它们真的开始累积起来了。 她几乎不像一个星期前出现在岸边的那个完美的机器人。 荒野对可怜的罗兹造成了伤害。 所以，当她看到山边那个安静的洞时，她感到有点宽慰。 看起来对机器人来说是个安全的地方。 她迈着沉重的步子跨过山坡，向山洞走去，但从来没有停下来想过里面可能潜伏着什么。