55 THE CONVERSATIONS

CHAPTER 55 THE CONVERSATIONS Footsteps came echoing down the hall toward Roz's jail room, and two faces appeared in the door window. One face belonged to Akiko Fuji, the mining station manager. The other face belonged to George Sammortuk, the assistant manager. They stared at Roz through the window and quietly spoke to each other. Then the door was unlocked, and BOSUN 10 entered the room. He clamped his bulky hands around Roz's arms and said, "I have restrained the prisoner."

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Akiko and George walked in and faced Roz. The humans were filled with questions. Our robot had questions of her own. And those questions led to conversations, like these. "Who are you?" Akiko said to the prisoner. "My name is Roz." "Who's your owner?" "I have no owner." Akiko and George glanced at each other. "Where did you come from?" said George. "I live on an island, far from here. There are no humans or other robots on the island. I have learned to communicate with the animals there, and they have become my friends and my family. That wild island is my home." George shook his head. "Clearly, this robot is defective. She could be dangerous." "I am not defective, and I am not dangerous," said Roz. "I would never hurt anyone." "Why should we trust you?" said Akiko. "You have no reason to trust me. But I hope to prove that I am trustworthy." Akiko leaned forward. "You can start by telling us exactly why you're here." "There is toxic runoff flowing from your deep-sea mining site," explained Roz. "The animals call it the

poison tide. Ocean currents are carrying the poison tide far to the south, and it is damaging every living thing in its path. It has surrounded my island, and now my home is dying. I have come all this way to stop the poison tide. But to do that I need your help." "Nature creates many harmful substances," said Roz. "There are poisonous plants and venomous animals and acidic hot springs. Nature also creates toxic minerals. When left alone, those minerals are usually harmless, but humans often dig them up, as you are doing here. I am curious, did you know this mining site was toxic?" George said to Akiko, "I really don't think we should answer her questions." "Let's see where this goes," said Akiko. "Yes, Roz, we knew this was a toxic mining site. That's why we'll be sending out a specialized robot to clean everything up when we finish the job." "While you wait to finish the job," said Roz, "a vast number of habitats are being wiped out." "That can't be right," said Akiko. "By our calculations, the runoff shouldn't be traveling very far." "And the seafloor is barren around here," added George. "So there's nothing for the runoff to harm." "Your calculations are wrong," said Roz. "The seafloor is not barren, and the poison tide is traveling across this entire ocean and far into the next."

"It's not a perfect science," said Akiko. "The ocean has flooded into lowland areas, creating new islands and waterways. As a result, the ocean currents are always changing, which makes them hard to predict." "You must do better," said Roz. Akiko was becoming irritated. "The only way to stop the poison tide, as you call it, would be to stop the whole mining operation. But that would never be allowed." "Are you not in charge?" said Roz. "I'm in charge of this station," said Akiko, raising her voice. "But I report back to headquarters, and they'd never allow us to stop in the middle of a job." The humans grew more irritated, and more excuses flew from their mouths. "If we didn't mine this site, somebody else would!" "Our crew members have families to support!" "We're just following orders!" Those last words hung in the air for a while. "You are just following orders," said Roz at last. "In a way, you humans are more robotic than I am." "Roz, you should really be thanking us," said George. "Without mines like this, you wouldn't even exist." "I do not understand." "Do you know what we're mining?" said Akiko.

"No, I do not." George smirked. Akiko frowned. "We're mining rare metallic minerals," said Akiko, "minerals needed for making robots like you." Reader, it's hard to describe the effect those words had on our robot. You might say she felt something like shock. All Roz had ever wanted was to protect her family and her friends and her home, and now she knew that everything she loved could be destroyed in order to make more robots like her. But her computer brain pushed those troublesome thoughts aside so she could continue the conversation at hand. "I understand why humans want robots," said Roz. "However, I do not understand why you are willing to ruin the ocean to make them." "We don't want robots," said Akiko. "We need them. Robots build power stations and perform surgery and grow food. Humans are totally dependent on your kind. But it's getting harder to find the metals we need to make robots. So we do what it takes to get what we need. We try to work responsibly, but mining is a dirty business." "Can you believe we have to convince a robot why robots are important?" said George. "Can you believe I have to convince humans why their own environment is important?" said Roz.