70 THE MARCH THROUGH THE CITY

CHAPTER 70 THE MARCH THROUGH THE CITY The main hall of Center City Station was enormous. Wide columns stretched up to an arched ceiling. A huge electronic screen flickered with train schedules. The whole place was bustling with humans and robots, and everyone seemed to know exactly where they were going. Everyone except Roz. There was our robot, standing still in the station while commuters hurried past. She was trying to calculate her next move, and she had to think quickly. You see, a normal robot would never loiter there for long. Roz needed to do something, anything, and when a crew of ROZZUM robots marched past in single file, she could think of no better plan than to join the end of the line and pretend to be one of them. She followed the crew through a set of doors, and suddenly they were outside. The city was a blur of activity. Automobiles hummed down the streets. Robots marched along the sidewalks. Humans talked

and laughed and shouted. Buildings towered overhead, and above them, airships buzzed across the sky. Airships. For a moment, Roz was dreaming again about how easily she could get home with an airship. But reality came crashing back when a white triangular ship darted over. It was gone in an instant, disappearing behind the rooftops, but that was all it took for the robot's Survival Instincts to flare. Were the RECOs searching for Roz, or going about some other business? Roz tried to focus on her immediate surroundings.

She was still marching behind that crew of robots. With each step, she grew more nervous that they'd notice her tagging along. She wanted to break away. And as they started weaving and shuffling through a crowd of tourists, Roz slowed and stopped, and the robot crew continued on without her. Now Roz was on her own, but she didn't know what to do or where to go. When in doubt, Brightbill had always guided her north. So our robot set off through the city in that direction. While marching northward, Roz passed beautiful boulevards and architecture and gardens and art. And yet she had to ignore it all. She had to act like a normal robot, and a normal robot would never wander the city admiring beautiful things. Wherever Roz looked she saw normal robots concentrating on their tasks and on nothing else. They ran errands, delivered food, swept sidewalks, cleaned windows, fixed machines, built glorious structures, and did more jobs than you can possibly imagine. Most walked on two legs, but some rolled on wheels, or slid up and down the sides of buildings on tracks. The city was a glittering modern metropolis, where humans lived in luxury, all thanks to the tireless work

of robots. Roz was marching when the sunlight faded and the city lights brightened. She was marching when the humans went in for the night and the robots continued to work. She was marching when the sun came up and the humans filtered out of their buildings. A new day began in the city, and there was Roz, marching north, blending in, anxiously hoping her son would appear.