59 THE STRANGE WILDERNESS

CHAPTER 59 THE STRANGE WILDERNESS Another gloomy day had settled over the mountains. Here and there, the sun broke through the clouds and bright streaks came shining down like spotlights. One of those bright streaks swept over a rugged mountainside and found our friends. For a moment, the robot and the goose basked in warm sunlight. Then the patch of light moved on and rolled into the next valley, where it sparkled across a strange industrial site. A patchwork of large, boxy structures was nestled among the trees. Broken walkways clung to the walls. Ramps and pipes slanted up from holes in the ground. The robot's computer brain identified the site. It was a deserted coal mine.

This was a strange kind of wilderness. Scattered throughout that mountain range were ghosts of human activity. Overgrown railways. Rusted

automobiles. Spindly towers perched on mountaintops. Faded signs with messages like No Trespassing and No Hunting. It seemed humans had once lived and worked in this wilderness, only to leave it all behind. In places, though, there was still activity. Robot activity. Armies of robot workers methodically dug new tunnels and built new dams and worked in new mining operations. They took down abandoned buildings and hauled away truckloads of litter. Our friends were curious about these working robots, but they kept a safe distance, and went on their way.