52 THE ROOFTOP

CHAPTER 52 THE ROOFTOP Every evening, when the sun went down, the Juggernaut's exterior floodlights turned on. A bright glow of artificial light surrounded the station and faded into the night. However, the roof of the control tower had no floodlights at all. It was dark and quiet up there, which made it the perfect spot for Roz. The robot pulled herself up from the balcony and found a cluster of communication equipment mounted on the roof. There were tall pointy antennas, and wide round antennas, and electronics housed in metal boxes. She stood still within the cluster, and her mechanical body blended in with the equipment. Roz thought about the mining station manager. Akiko Fuji was responsible for the poison tide, and yet she didn't seem like a bad human. She was a long way from home, and she missed her family, and she was unhappy with her job. Akiko seemed reasonable. Surely she would understand the need to protect the ocean. These thoughts were broken up by a flurry of wingbeats, and a seagull landed on the roof. The gull

第五十二章天台每天晚上，当太阳落山时，巨神号外面的照明灯就会亮起来。 明亮的人造光环绕着车站，渐渐消失在夜色中。 然而，控制塔的屋顶根本没有泛光灯。 上面又黑又安静，对罗兹来说是个完美的地方。 机器人从阳台爬了上来，发现屋顶上安装了一组通信设备。 有又高又尖的天线，又宽又圆的天线，还有装在金属盒子里的电子设备。 她一动不动地站在树丛中，她那机械的身体与设备混在一起。 罗兹想起了矿站经理。 富士明子对毒潮负有责任，但她看起来并不像一个坏人。 她离家很远，她想念她的家人，她对她的工作不满意。 明子似乎很通情达理。她肯定会理解保护海洋的必要性。 这些想法被一阵拍打翅膀的声音打断了，一只海鸥落在屋顶上。 海鸥

had seen better days. One of his eyes was crusted shut, and a patch of feathers was missing from his neck. He was carrying a scrap of paper in his beak, and he tucked the scrap into his nest, which was made entirely of trash he'd found around the station. As he fixed up his nest, the gull sensed he wasn't alone. "Who's there?" he screeched, searching the rooftop with his good eye. Roz stepped into the moonlight and said, "I apologize for startling you." "I've seen plenty of robots around here," said the gull. "But I've never seen one who could talk like an animal!" "I am not like other robots," said Roz. "I live with animals on a wild island, and I have come here to stop the poison tide."

曾经有过好日子。他的一只眼睛被硬壳封住了，脖子上少了一块羽毛。 他嘴里叼着一张小纸片，把纸片塞进了他的窝里，窝里全是他在车站周围捡来的垃圾。 当他收拾他的巢时，海鸥感觉到他并不孤单。 “谁在那儿？”他尖叫着，用那只好眼睛搜索着屋顶。 罗兹走进月光下说：“我很抱歉吓到你了。” “我在这附近见过很多机器人，”海鸥说。 “但我从来没见过像动物一样说话的人！”“我和其他机器人不一样，”罗兹说。 “我和动物们住在一个荒岛上，我来这里是为了阻止毒潮。”

The gull studied Roz more carefully. "Hold on, I've heard of you! The other day a flock of terns was squawking about some wild robot who was on a mission to stop the poison tide. I didn't believe a word they said, but here you are!" "Here I am!" said Roz, in a friendly voice. "But why are you here?" said the gull, and he pointed south. "The poison tide starts a day's flight that way." "The poison tide actually starts directly beneath us," explained Roz. "This is a deep-sea mining operation. It is creating huge clouds of toxic dust that travel far through the ocean before rising to the surface." "Really?" said the gull. "Well, if you want my opinion, I think you should leave the poison tide alone. It's been great for me. I found a beach that's covered with dead crabs. I've never eaten so good in my life!" "You should not eat those crabs," said Roz. "They could be poisoned." "You know, the crabs do taste a little funny. And I haven't been feeling so good lately." The gull scratched at his bare patch of skin. His name was Nimbus. When the mining station had first arrived, gulls had crowded onto its rooftops and ledges. But then came rumors about the poison tide, and the other gulls started taking off, and soon only Nimbus was left.

海鸥更仔细地打量着罗兹。 “等等，我听说过你！”前几天，一群燕鸥在叽叽喳喳地说有个野机器人正在执行阻止毒潮的任务。 他们说的话我一个字也不相信，可是你来了！”“我在这里！”罗兹友好地说。 “但你为什么在这里？”海鸥说着，指着南方。 “毒潮就这样开始了一天的航程。” 罗兹解释说：“毒潮实际上是从我们正下方开始的。” “这是深海采矿作业。 它正在产生巨大的有毒尘埃云，这些尘埃云在上升到海面之前穿过海洋。” “真的吗？”海鸥说。“好吧，如果你想听我的意见，我认为你应该别管毒潮。 这对我来说太好了。我发现了一个满是死螃蟹的海滩。 我这辈子从来没吃过这么好吃的东西！”“你不应该吃那些螃蟹，”罗兹说。 “他们可能中毒了。”“你知道，螃蟹吃起来确实有点怪。 我最近感觉不太好。” 海鸥抓着他那块光秃秃的皮肤。 他的名字叫光轮。当采矿站第一次到达时，海鸥已经挤上了它的屋顶和壁架。 但后来传来了关于毒潮的谣言，其他海鸥开始飞走，很快就只剩下光轮了。

Roz and Nimbus chatted well into the night. But eventually, the gull yawned and said, "If I don't get enough rest tonight, I'll be a real grump tomorrow." Then he snuggled into his nest and fell asleep. Early in her life, Roz knew very little about the night sky, but now she looked up at a million points of light and recognized them all. Spaceships and space stations and satellites. Stars. Planets. Meteors. Galaxies. The moon and the aurora. Those glowing objects swirled overhead until the eastern sky started growing brighter. At daybreak, the humans stepped out from their living quarters and another workday began. Roz heard muffled voices in the control room below. Further down, on the main platform, two men disappeared into a stairwell that descended to the station's lower levels. On a walkway, a woman gave orders to a group of BOSUN robots who then marched off to complete their tasks. Six. That was the number of humans aboard the Juggernaut. It took only six humans to run that entire deep-sea mining operation. Together, they managed the station and the computers and the machinery and the robots and the drone. Reader, I'd like to turn your attention to that last piece of technology. A soft buzzing filled the air as the drone rose up from its platform. It floated over the station, inspecting equipment, communicating with

罗兹和光轮一直聊到深夜。 但最后，海鸥打了个哈欠，说：“如果我今晚不好好休息，明天我就会大发雷霆了。” 然后他依偎在自己的窝里睡着了。 小时候，罗兹对夜空所知甚少，但现在她抬头望着无数光点，都能认出来。 宇宙飞船、空间站和卫星。 星星。行星。流星。星系。 月亮和极光。那些发光的物体在头顶盘旋，直到东方的天空开始变得更亮。 黎明时分，人类走出他们的生活区，开始了另一个工作日。 罗兹听到楼下控制室里传来低沉的说话声。 再往下，在主站台上，两个人消失在通往车站下层的楼梯井里。 在一条人行道上，一名妇女向一群BOSUN机器人下达命令，这些机器人随后离开去完成它们的任务。 六。这是巨神号上的人类人数。 整个深海采矿作业只需要六个人。 他们一起管理着空间站、电脑、机器、机器人和无人机。 读者们，我想把你的注意力转向最后一项技术。 当无人机从平台上起飞时，空气中充满了轻柔的嗡嗡声。 它漂浮在空间站上空，检查设备，与

robots, and searching for anything out of the ordinary. It glided from machine to machine, from building to building, and then it headed for the control tower. Our robot was well hidden within the antennas, but the drone was designed to notice every little detail. And as it floated up over the tower, it came to a sudden stop above Roz.

机器人，寻找任何不寻常的东西。 它从一台机器滑到另一台机器，从一栋楼滑到另一栋楼，然后飞向控制塔。 我们的机器人很好地隐藏在天线中，但无人机被设计成能注意到每一个小细节。 当它在塔上漂浮时，突然在罗兹上空停了下来。