26 THE ROAD

CHAPTER 26 THE ROAD At first, Roz thought she was looking at an undersea lava flow that had hardened into rock. Then she discovered the painted yellow lines. This wasn't old lava. It was an old road. The road made for easier walking, so Roz followed it through the undersea landscape. It curved around rugged reefs and rolled over sandy slopes. One slope climbed so high that she rose up from the ocean surface and continued on, wading through knee-deep water. Surrounding her were small islands, scattered with abandoned buildings. Those islands had been hills until the nearby lowlands flooded. The robot tried to imagine what this place was like before the floodwaters. Had there been a park where she was now walking? Athletic fields? Farms?

Suddenly, Roz was remembering her time on Hilltop Farm. She thought of the Shareef family and their herd of cows. She wondered if Jad and Jaya still thought about her. Without those children, our robot never would have made it home to the island. Roz waded through the mid-ocean shallows until the road sloped downward and she descended beneath the surface, where she found more signs of civilization. Old mailboxes, crusted with barnacles. An abandoned automobile, draped with seaweed. Metal fencing, spiked with urchins. The underwater road stretched far ahead, toward a jumble of murky shapes. With each step Roz took, the shapes became clearer, and she saw that the road was leading her to a town that had been completely submerged by the ocean.