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."

第五十五章谈话大厅里回荡着朝罗兹的囚室走去的脚步声，两张面孔出现在窗户里。 一张脸是矿场经理富士明子的。 另一张脸是经理助理乔治·萨摩图克的。 他们隔着窗户凝视着罗兹，悄悄地交谈着。 然后门被打开了，BOSUN 10进入了房间。 他用粗壮的双手紧紧抱住罗兹的手臂，说道：“我已经把犯人控制住了。”

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

明子和乔治走了进来，面对着罗兹。 人类心中充满了疑问。 我们的机器人也有自己的问题。 这些问题引发了像这样的对话。 “你是谁？”明子对囚犯说。 “我叫罗兹。”“你的主人是谁？”“我没有主人。” 明子和乔治互相看了一眼。 “你从哪儿来？”乔治问。 “我住在一个岛上，离这儿很远。 岛上没有人类或其他机器人。 我学会了和那里的动物交流，它们成了我的朋友和家人。 那个荒岛就是我的家。” 乔治摇了摇头。“很明显，这个机器人有缺陷。 她可能很危险。”“我没有缺陷，也不危险，”罗兹说。 “我绝不会伤害任何人。” “我们为什么要相信你？”明子说。 “你没有理由相信我。 但我希望证明我是值得信赖的。” 明子身体前倾。“你可以先告诉我们你来这里的确切原因。” 罗兹解释说：“从你的深海采矿场流出有毒的径流。 “动物们叫它

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."

毒药潮流。洋流将毒潮带到遥远的南方，它正在破坏沿途的所有生物。 它包围了我的岛，现在我的家快要死了。 我一路赶来是为了阻止毒潮。 但要做到这一点，我需要你的帮助。” “大自然创造了许多有害物质，”罗兹说。 “这里有有毒的植物和有毒的动物，还有酸性的温泉。 大自然也创造了有毒的矿物质。 这些矿物质通常是无害的，但人类经常会把它们挖出来，就像你在这里所做的那样。 我很好奇，你知道这个矿区有毒吗？”乔治对明子说：“我真的认为我们不应该回答她的问题。” “让我们看看结果如何，”明子说。 “是的，罗兹，我们知道这是一个有毒的矿区。 这就是为什么当我们完成这项工作后，我们会派出一个专门的机器人来清理一切。” “在你等待完成这项工作的同时，”罗兹说，“大量的栖息地正在被摧毁。” “这不可能，”明子说。 “根据我们的计算，决选应该不会走得太远。” “而且这里的海底是贫瘠的。”乔治补充说。 “所以决选不会造成任何伤害。” “你的计算错了，”罗兹说。 “海底并不是贫瘠的，毒潮正在穿越整个海洋，并蔓延到另一个海洋。”

"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.

“这不是一门完美的科学，”明子说。 “海洋已经涌入低地地区，创造了新的岛屿和水道。 因此，洋流总是在变化，这使得它们很难预测。” “你必须做得更好，”罗兹说。 明子开始生气了。 “正如你所说，阻止毒潮的唯一方法就是停止整个采矿作业。 但这是绝对不允许的。” “你不负责吗？”罗兹说。 “我是这个车站的负责人，”明子提高了嗓门说。 “但我要向总部汇报，他们从不允许我们在工作中途停下来。” 人类越来越生气，更多的借口从他们嘴里飞出来。 “如果我们不开采这个地方，别人也会的！”“我们的机组人员要养家糊口！”“我们只是奉命行事！”那最后几句话在空中悬了一会儿。 “你只是在服从命令，”罗兹最后说。 “在某种程度上，你们人类比我更机械。” “罗兹，你真的应该感谢我们。”乔治说。 “如果没有这样的矿井，你甚至不会存在。” “我不明白。”“你知道我们在开采什么吗？”明子说。

"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.

“不，我不知道。”乔治傻笑。 作者皱起了眉头。“我们正在开采稀有金属矿物，”明子说，“制造像你这样的机器人所需要的矿物。” 读者们，很难描述这些话对我们的机器人产生的影响。 你可能会说她感到有点震惊。 罗兹一直想要的只是保护她的家人、她的朋友和她的家，现在她知道，为了制造更多像她一样的机器人，她所爱的一切都可能被摧毁。 但她的电脑大脑把这些麻烦的想法放在一边，这样她就可以继续手边的谈话。 “我理解为什么人类想要机器人，”罗兹说。 “然而，我不明白你为什么愿意破坏海洋来制造它们。” “我们不想要机器人，”明子说。 “我们需要他们。机器人建造发电站、做手术、种植粮食。 人类完全依赖于你们的种族。 但制造机器人所需的金属越来越难找到。 所以我们不惜一切代价得到我们想要的。 我们试图负责任地工作，但采矿业是一个肮脏的行业。” “你能相信我们必须说服一个机器人为什么机器人很重要吗？”乔治说。 “你能相信我必须说服人类为什么他们自己的环境很重要吗？”罗兹说。