43 THE OPERATION

CHAPTER 43 THE OPERATION Midnight, and the children were wide-awake in their beds. Jaya and Jad were waiting for their father to fall asleep. Once he was snoring deeply, they tiptoed past his bedroom, down the stairs, and out the back door. They crept across the farm to a cluster of trees, and there was the old barn, looming above the undergrowth like a mountain. Its door was open a crack, and a wedge of light spilled outside. The children closed the door behind them, and walked past wooden railings and stairways and up a ramp to a platform in the back corner of the barn. Lanterns hung from the walls and cast their soft light upon a large table. Standing behind the table was the robot. "Hello, children," said Roz. "How do you like our operating room?" "It's a little dark," said Jaya. "But it'll work." Jad pulled his computer from his pocket. As he brought up the diagram of Roz's body, his face

第四十三章手术夜深了，孩子们在床上完全醒了。 Jaya和Jad在等他们的父亲入睡。 当他鼾声大作时，他们蹑手蹑脚地走过他的卧室，走下楼梯，从后门出去。 他们蹑手蹑脚地穿过农场，来到一片树林前，那里有一座旧谷仓，像一座山一样耸立在矮树丛上。 它的门开了一条缝，一道光线射了出来。 孩子们关上了身后的门，走过木栏杆和楼梯，走上斜坡，来到谷仓后角的一个平台。 墙上挂着灯笼，柔和的灯光照在一张大桌子上。 站在桌子后面的是机器人。 “你们好，孩子们，”罗兹说。 “你觉得我们的手术室怎么样？”“有点暗，”贾亚说。 “但它会起作用的。”杰德从口袋里掏出电脑。 当他拿出罗兹的身体图时，他的脸

tightened with worry. "We've never done anything like this before." "Just do your best," said Roz, patting him on the back. "That is all I can ask of you." The robot unfastened her tool belt and draped it over a railing. Then she lay flat on the table. It was time to begin. Jaya looked down at Roz. "All set?" Roz looked up at Jaya. "All set." The girl felt under the robot's head, found the button with her fingers, and pressed it. Click. Roz's body relaxed. Her quiet whirring slowly stopped. Her eyes faded to black. Jad took a deep breath. Then he grasped the robot's head in his hands and twisted until—thwip—it popped off. In the smooth socket where the head had just been was another button. Jaya pressed it and the robot's chest opened up. They peered into the hollow chest cavity and saw a tangle of tubes connected to a grid of boxes: these were the robot's electronic organs. "That's the Transmitter," said Jad, pointing. The

担心得绷紧了。“我们以前从未做过这样的事情。” “尽你所能，”罗兹拍拍他的背说。 “我对你的要求就这些了。” 机器人解开她的工具带，把它搭在栏杆上。 然后她平躺在桌子上。 是时候开始了。贾雅低头看着罗兹。 “都准备好了吗?”罗兹抬头看着贾亚。 “都准备好了。”女孩摸了摸机器人的头，用手指找到了按钮，按了下去。 点击。罗兹的身体放松了。 她安静的嗡嗡声慢慢停止了。 她的眼睛渐渐变黑了。杰德深吸了一口气。 然后他用双手抓住机器人的头，扭动着，直到它啪的一声掉了下来。 在刚刚放置头部的光滑凹槽里，还有一颗纽扣。 Jaya按了一下，机器人的胸部打开了。 他们朝中空的胸腔里看了看，看到一堆乱七八糟的管子连着一排盒子：这些是机器人的电子器官。 “那是发射机，”杰德指着说。 的

children reached into the robot's chest, carefully removed a box and a tube, and set them on the table. "That was easy!" said Jaya, smiling. "Actually, I think this is the Transmitter over here," said Jad, and he removed another box. Then Jaya removed another tube. The boy checked his computer and said, "I might have this backward." A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he removed another box. "Wait, I think we should start over." Jaya nudged her brother out of the way and started plugging parts back into the robot's chest. "You're doing it wrong." Jad nudged his sister out of the way and started removing parts again. I don't know about you, reader, but I'm a little confused. So were the children. Pretty soon Roz's internal parts were strewn across the table, and nobody knew where anything was supposed to go.

孩子们把手伸进机器人的胸膛，小心翼翼地取出一个盒子和一根管子，放在桌子上。 “太简单了！”贾亚笑着说。 “实际上，我认为这是发射器，”贾德说，他移开了另一个盒子。 然后Jaya取出另一根管子。 男孩检查了一下电脑，说：“我可能把这个写反了。” 当他移开另一个盒子时，一颗汗珠从他的额头滚落下来。 “等等，我觉得我们应该重新开始。” Jaya把她的哥哥推到一边，开始把零件插回机器人的胸膛。 “你做错了。”杰德把妹妹推开，又开始拆零件。 我不知道你怎么想，读者，但我有点困惑。 孩子们也一样。很快，罗兹的内部零件就散落在桌子上，没有人知道这些东西应该放在哪里。

"Why did you remove so many boxes?" yelled Jaya. "Why did you remove so many tubes?" yelled Jad. The siblings argued for a while. Then they sat quietly for a while. The children were tired and cranky and afraid that they'd never get Roz working again. Jaya slumped against the table and looked up at the ceiling. Then her eyes drifted to the lanterns dimly glowing above. And then she had an idea. She climbed onto a wooden railing, grabbed one of the lanterns from its hook, and climbed back down. When she held the lantern close to Roz's body, Jad noticed that there were different numbers lightly etched onto each of the internal parts. Now things were starting to make sense. The children quickly removed the correct box and tube, they put the robot back together, and they turned her on. Click. Roz's body tensed. Her quiet whirring slowly started. Her eyes began to glow. But she didn't say a word. "Are you okay?" said Jad.

“你为什么搬走这么多盒子？” “你为什么要拔掉这么多管子？”杰德喊道。 姐弟俩吵了一会儿。 然后他们安静地坐了一会儿。 孩子们又累又暴躁，担心他们再也不能让罗兹工作了。 贾雅瘫倒在桌子上，抬头看着天花板。 然后，她的目光转向了上面那些朦胧发光的灯笼。 然后她有了一个主意。她爬上一根木栏杆，从挂钩上抓起其中一盏灯笼，又爬了下来。 当她把灯笼靠近罗兹的身体时，贾德注意到每个内部部件上都轻轻地蚀刻着不同的数字。 现在事情开始变得有意义了。 孩子们很快取下了正确的盒子和管子，他们把机器人重新组装起来，然后打开了她。 点击。罗兹的身体绷紧了。她安静的嗡嗡声慢慢响起。 她的眼睛开始发光。但她一句话也没说。 “你还好吗？”杰德说。

Roz pointed to her mouth. "Can you speak?" said Jaya. Roz shook her head. "She can't speak!" cried the boy. "We must have put something back in the wrong place!" Click. The children opened up Roz's body, rearranged some of her internal parts, and put her back together again. Click. Roz powered up and said, "Children, I can now speak, but I cannot move." Click. After hours of trial and error, and with morning light seeping into the barn, the operation was a success. Roz stood up, scanned her internal parts, and said, "Children, you did it! You removed my Transmitter! Thank you so much for your help." "You're very welcome," said Jaya, yawning. Jad checked his computer. "I can still see your signal on the map," he said. "Your Transmitter is still working, so keep it close until you leave the farm." And then he stuffed the little electronic device into the robot's tool belt.

罗兹指着她的嘴。“你会说话吗？” 罗兹摇了摇头。“她不会说话！”男孩叫道。 “我们一定是把什么东西放错地方了！”点击。 孩子们打开了罗兹的身体，重新排列了她的一些内部部件，并将她重新组合在一起。 点击。罗兹站起来说：“孩子们，我现在能说话了，但我不能移动。” 点击。经过几个小时的反复试验，随着晨光洒进谷仓，这次行动取得了成功。 罗兹站起来，扫描了一下自己的内脏，说：“孩子们，你们做到了！你拿走了我的发射器！非常感谢你的帮助。” “不客气。”贾雅打着哈欠说。 杰德检查了他的电脑。“我还能在地图上看到你的信号，”他说。 “你的发射机还在工作，所以在你离开农场之前，把它放在身边。” 然后他把这个小电子设备塞进机器人的工具带。