17 THE ROBOTIC BODY

CHAPTER 17 THE ROBOTIC BODY A crowd of creatures crammed into the robot's garden and listened as she described her plunge. "Down I went, tumbling end over end, sinking into the beaver pond," Roz began. "I grasped at the muddy ground, but the sides were steep and slippery, and I just kept sinking. I could not believe how deep it was. The otters and moose and turtles really did a terrific job of dredging the pond. "As I continued sinking, I expected my Survival Instincts to warn me of danger and for water to seep into my body and for everything to go dark. Instead, I came to a stop in the soft muck at the bottom. Dirt and leaves settled around me. And then I felt something squirm against my legs. It was a frog. She crawled out from under me, croaked a few angry words, and swam off. I noticed how the frog kicked her legs to move through the water. Mimicking the frog, I stood and kicked my legs, and suddenly I was swimming to the surface!" "I'm confused," said Brightbill. "I didn't think you

could survive in deep water." "That was true of my original body," Roz explained. "Back then, I was afraid of deep water, and so I tried to avoid it. I kept trying to avoid it even after my mind was transferred from that old body to this new one. I am now tougher and stronger and faster than before. And I have just learned that I am also waterproof." The animals quietly thought about Roz. They would never understand how her mind had passed from one body to another, or why there was so much she didn't know about herself. But all that really mattered was that their friend was alive and well.