The Wild Robot

The gosling kept hopping onto the rock and kept riding the wind and kept tumbling into the grass, until he started to find his wings. With each attempt he floated a little higher and a little longer, and finally Brightbill really did soar. He lifted high into the air and hung there, floating. He turned his wings down and felt himself drop. He wiggled his tail feathers and felt himself veering back and forth.

“I’m a natural!” he squeaked.

“You are doing very well,” said Roz. “But you need to keep practicing.”

And so they spent the afternoon practicing up on the ridge. Once Brightbill was comfortable soaring, he tried flapping his wings. He flapped high into the air. He flapped in straight lines. He flapped around and around in circles. A big smile appeared on the gosling’s face. Clearly, Brightbill was designed to fly.

“I’m flying, Mama! I’m really flying!”

“You are flying!” said the robot. “Very good!”

Brightbill was now a real flier. But all that flying had worn him out. He lowered himself toward the ground and tumbled into the grass one last time. His landings still needed some work.

Roz placed Brightbill on her shoulder and headed back to the Nest.

“I can’t believe I can fly now, Mama,” said Brightbill in his sleepy voice. “I just wish… I just wish you could fly with me.”

And then the gosling’s words were replaced by his quiet, steady breathing.

CHAPTER 40 THE SHIP

Brightbill was a flying fanatic, and his favorite place to fly was up on the grassy ridge. The robot and the gosling liked to spend afternoons up there, working on the finer points of flying. And it was on one such afternoon that they noticed something mysterious far out at sea.

Brightbill spiraled down to his mother, flopped onto the grass, and pointed to the horizon. “Mama, what is that thing?”

Roz’s computer brain found the right word. “That is a ship.”

“What’s a ship?”

“A ship is a large vessel used for ocean transport.”

Brightbill’s face scrunched up with confusion. “Used by who?”

“I do not know.”

It was the first ship either of them had ever laid eyes on. From that distance, it looked as though it were moving slowly, but it was actually racing through the waves. From that distance, it looked as though it were small, but it was actually one of the largest ships ever built. The robot and the gosling watched it crawl across the ocean until it finally disappeared to the south.

Where had the ship come from? Where was it going? Who was on board? Roz and Brightbill had many questions but no answers.

CHAPTER 41 THE SUMMER

On clear summer days, Roz and Brightbill and Chitchat liked to go exploring. They investigated the island’s sandy southern point. They marveled at the rainbows that curved up from the waterfall. They surveyed the forest from the branches of tall trees. They met new friendly creatures, and sometimes they met new unfriendly creatures. But the only creatures they had to worry about were the bears.

One time, they came upon a bear fishing in the river, and Roz whispered, “You know what to do.” Brightbill flew up and away, Chitchat scurried home through the treetops, and Roz melted into the landscape as only she could. Later, they met back at the Nest and told the neighbors all about their brush with danger.

On dreary summer days, they would stay inside. Roz asked Brightbill and Chitchat about dreaming and about flying and about eating and about all the things they could do that she could not. But the youngsters had too much energy to sit still for very long. They spent one drizzly afternoon kicking acorns around the Nest. Chitchat piled them up, and then Brightbill swung his big foot and the acorns went flying. The little friends chased the acorns as they bounced and rolled and spun across the floor. Then they made a new pile and kicked them again. Sometimes an acorn would bounce off Roz’s body—clang!—and everyone would laugh and giggle together. Even Roz laughed. “Ha ha haaa!” said the robot, trying to act natural.

On clear summer evenings, they would sit outside and watch fireflies twinkling around the pond. Then they’d lie back and gaze up at the darkening sky.

“That big circle is the moon,” said Chitchat. “And those little lights are called stars and one time I tried to count them all but I can only count to ten so I just kept counting to ten over and over and I have no idea how many stars there are but I know it’s more than ten.”

“They are not all stars,” said Roz. “Some of them are planets.”

“What’s a planet?” said Chitchat.

“A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star.”

“What does ‘celestial’ mean?”

“Celestial means something that is in outer space.”

“What’s outer space?”

“Outer space is the universe outside the atmosphere of our planet.”

“What’s the universe?”

“The universe is everything and everywhere.”

“Oh, so the universe is our island?”