42 THE GLACIER

CHAPTER 42 THE GLACIER Roz stood on a rocky outcrop and scanned the desolate landscape. There were cliffs and canyons and fields of boulders, and in the middle of it all was the glacier. It was like a gigantic frozen river twisting through the rugged terrain. Far off, at the other end of the glacier, a dark smudge stretched along the horizon. The northern ocean. Roz calculated that the fastest way there was to trek over the glacier. But the trek would be risky. The glacier was covered with slick ice and sweeping snowdrifts and deep crevasses. A single slip, and she might never be seen again. The sides of the glacier had crumbled into piles of icy chunks. Carefully placing her hands and feet, Roz climbed up the chunks, higher and higher, to the very top, and then she set out over the glacier.

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The robot started slowly through that wintry world, but as she found her footing, the sounds of her crunching steps grew quick and steady. There were other sounds, too. Wind whistled. Pieces of ice clattered down cliffsides. Streams of meltwater rushed through furrows in the surface. The loudest sounds came from the glacier itself. You see, that massive sheet of ice was gradually sliding into the ocean. And each time it shifted, it created powerful rumbling groans. As she hiked, the robot couldn't help staring at the bizarre frozen shapes around her. She was gazing at a great, glittering block of ice when she stumbled and fell, and suddenly her smooth body was sliding downhill. Faster and faster she went, scraping and gliding and spinning out of control. She was hurtling toward something wide and flat and blue, and a moment later, she splashed into water! A lake of meltwater had formed on top of the glacier, and there was Roz, sitting in the shallows. The water was clear and calm, so the robot kicked off and swam for the other side. The lake became deeper and bluer the farther she went. She was almost halfway across when another powerful groan rumbled through the glacier. Then, mysteriously, Roz began sinking. Actually, the whole lake began sinking. The glacier had shifted, just a little, but the movement had split the thick ice below. Now the lake was draining through a huge crack at the

bottom. The robot sank lower and lower, and the crack came into view. Water roared and gushed through the opening, and the flow carried Roz over the edge. Down she fell, deep inside the glacier, and she splashed into a frosty pool. The floodwaters immediately whisked her away. She slid along frozen chutes and slammed against icy walls and sloshed through a network of hollows. Finally, the flow of floodwater slowed, and when the robot skidded to a stop, she was in an ice cavern. The walls glowed with a blue light. Water was drip-drip-dripping everywhere. Hanging from the ceiling was a dazzling array of icicles. The longest icicles had descended to the floor and formed a forest of pillars. One wall of the cavern was crystal clear, and Roz noticed a lump in the ice. It was a mouse, frozen solid and perfectly preserved. It looked like the mice from back on the island, but this mouse must have been thousands of years old. Just then, the glacier rumbled, and Roz leaped away as enormous icicles crashed to the ground. If she wasn't careful, she might become trapped in the ice as well.

The robot hollered, "Hello?" The cavern echoed, "Hello? Hello?" "Can anyone hear me?" "Can anyone hear me… hear me?" "How do I get out of this glacier?" "How do I get out of this glacier… this glacier?" Nobody was around to answer her questions. Roz would have to find her own way out. She hiked on, through tunnels and caves. At one point, she came upon an open shaft rising up through the ice, and high overhead was a small patch of sky. She chopped her hand into the wall like an axe—hack!—and pulled herself up. Hack! Hack! Hack! The robot climbed higher, and the shaft grew narrower. Too narrow. So she climbed down and continued through the glacier on

foot. Days passed. Roz wondered if she'd ever get out of that frozen maze. Eventually, though, she detected the faint sound of ocean waves, and she caught a whiff of salty air, and then she turned a corner and stepped into bright daylight. Laid out before the robot was a glorious northern seascape. Icebergs of every shape and size floated across a bay and toward the open ocean. Seabirds soared by on outstretched wings. Waterfalls poured from wide holes in the ice. The front edge of the glacier was made up of frozen cliffs that towered above the waves, and high up, on one of those cliffs, was Roz. A lone dark shape against an immense wall of white. The glacier rumbled, and little avalanches of snow tumbled down the cliffside. Another rumble, and a large hunk of ice plunged into the water. It occurred to our robot that she was still in serious danger. She quickly tried to calculate the safest way down, but she wasn't quick enough. The glacier rumbled again, and then the entire cliffside started breaking loose. The cliff tipped forward, slowly at first, but gaining speed, until it crashed into the surf with a tremendous explosion of sea spray. Birds scrambled through the air. Icebergs smashed together. Waves rolled across the water and pounded the stony beaches. In time, the waves settled down, and calm returned to