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

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."

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.

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

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.