41 THE TUNDRA

CHAPTER 41 THE TUNDRA From the shore, the land sloped up to a high plateau. The grassy slopes were crowded with seabirds, who stared and screeched and nervously fluttered their wings as the robot hiked by. When she reached the top, Roz saw flatlands sprawling out before her. Weeds and stones and tough little bushes blanketed the landscape, but there wasn't a tree in sight. Our robot had arrived at the tundra, where cold temperatures and short growing seasons made it impossible for trees to take root. Winding through the tundra was a stream. Kerplunk, the puffin, said it would lead to a glacier near the northern ocean. So Roz began marching, using the stream as her guide.

The tundra had once been covered in a permanent layer of hard frozen soil, called permafrost. These days, the soil would thaw by midsummer, and Roz left behind a trail of deep footprints in the spongy, soggy ground. She increased her speed from a march to a trot to a run. Rodents scattered as the robot thundered past. A fox watched as the mechanical creature galloped through his territory. Roz crested a small ridge and surprised a herd of musk oxen. They were burly beasts, with long fur and short tempers. Breath puffed from their mouths as they charged at the oncoming robot. Without breaking stride, Roz launched herself into the air and soared over the herd, shouting, "I apologize for startling you!" Then she landed and kept on running. She crossed windswept fields and leaped over thickets of shrubs and passed hot springs that sent

steam floating into the sky. But even in that remote wilderness, there were signs of human activity. A dirt road, cutting through the tangled brush. Stone walls, coated with moss. Rows of solar panels, forgotten and falling apart. Roz noticed movement in the distance. She stopped and adjusted her vision and saw a man walking along a path. He turned and faced Roz. At that long range, the robot must have looked like a fellow human, but if the man were to come closer, he would see who she really was. After a moment, he raised his arm and gave a friendly wave. Roz waved back. Then the man continued walking, and the robot continued running, but with more caution than before. Throughout summer, there had been constant daylight in the far north. But the seasons were changing, and while Roz ran across the tundra, the sun set and the stars came out. And then the aurora appeared. Curtains of colorful light shimmered and billowed through the night sky. Back on the island, Roz had seen the aurora on occasion, but never this clearly. She started searching for information about the wondrous sight, but then she shut off that part of her computer brain, and she simply enjoyed the spectacular northern light show. The night was short, and soon the sun was rising. Morning light slowly spread across the tundra, and it

glinted off something up ahead. A massive slab of ice and snow was nestled among the faraway hills.