The Wild Robot

“I want to see them!”

“I do not think that is a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“You are still a gosling. You are too young to see dead robots. I will take you to see them when you are older.”

“Mama, I’m not a gosling anymore!” Brightbill puffed out his chest. “I’m already four months old!”

“I am sorry,” said Roz. “But you cannot go.”

Brightbill stomped around the garden and squawked, “This isn’t fair!”

“I promise I will take you to see them when you are older,” said the robot.

“But I want to go now!”

“Please calm down.”

“You can’t even fly! I could take off and you wouldn’t be able to stop me!”

Roz stood, and her long shadow fell across her son. The gosling could feel his emotions swinging wildly. And for a moment he was actually afraid of his own mother. Without thinking, he sprinted toward the pond, beat his wings, and flew away.

CHAPTER 44 THE RUNAWAY

“Your son will be fine,” said Loudwing. “You know how they are at this age.”

“I do not know,” said Roz. “Please tell me how they are at this age.”

“Oh, right. Well, Brightbill is growing up fast. It’s only natural for adolescent goslings to be a little… moody. He just needs to be alone for a while. You’ve raised a wonderful son. I know he’ll come home soon. Try not to worry.”

But Roz did worry. At least, she worried as much as a robot is capable of worrying. Brightbill had never run away—or flown away—and suddenly Roz was computing all the things that could go wrong. A violent storm. A broken wing. A predator. She had to find her son before something bad happened.

There was only one place Brightbill could have gone. The robot gravesite. So Roz galloped northward. She leaped over rocks and ducked under branches and charged through meadows without ever slowing her pace. She raced all the way across the island until she finally stepped onto the sea cliffs above the gravesite.

And there was Brightbill. Perched on the edge, looking at the robot parts scattered on the shore below. His eyes were wet.

“Don’t be angry!” he said as his mother walked over.

“I am not angry. But you should not have flown off like that. You could have gotten hurt, or worse. I was worried sick!”

“I’m sorry, Mama.”

“It is okay,” said Roz. “It is only natural for goslings your age to be a little… moody.”

“Mama, I need to understand what you are. And I think it might help to see those other robots.”

“You are right—it might help. Why are you not down there?”

“I was about to go,” said Brightbill, “but I got nervous. I want you to go with me.”

“Let us go down there,” said Roz. “Together.”

CHAPTER 45 THE DEAD ROBOTS

The gosling floated on the breeze beside his mother as she climbed down the cliffside. Down they went, past ledges and seagulls and tough little trees, until they were standing on the rocky shore with the cliffs looming behind them.

The gravesite had changed. Roz’s crate was gone, lost to weather or waves. Some of the robot parts were gone too. Other parts were gritty with sand, or were tangled in seaweed, or were inhabited by small, scuttling creatures. One smashed torso still had a head and legs attached. Roz and Brightbill huddled around the corpse and studied the mess of tubes spilling out.

“This thing used to look like you?” said Brightbill.

“Yes, we are the same type of robot,” said Roz.

“And now this robot is dead?”

“In a way.”

“Will you ever die, Mama?”

“I think so.”

“Will I die?”

“All living things die eventually.”

The gosling’s face scrunched with worry.

“Brightbill, you are going to live a long and happy life!” Roz laid a hand on her son’s back. “You should not worry about death.”

The gosling’s face relaxed. And then he pointed to a small, round shape on the back of the dead robot’s head.

“What’s that?” he said.

Roz leaned in closer. “That is a button, which is a knob on a piece of machinery that can be pressed to operate it.”

Brightbill began pressing the button.

Click, click, click.

“Nothing is happening,” he said. “Probably because this robot is dead.”

Click, click, click.

“Mama, do you have a button?”

Brightbill watched as his mother’s head turned all the way around and a small button came into view.

“You’ve got one!” he said. “I never noticed it before!”

“Neither did I,” said the robot.

The gosling giggled. “Oh, Mama, you have so much to learn about yourself.”

Roz reached for the button on her head, but her hand automatically stopped before she could touch it. She tried with her other hand, but it automatically stopped as well.

“It seems I cannot press the button,” she said. “Would you like to try?”

“What will happen?”

“I think that I will shut down. But I think you could simply press the button again to restart me.”

“You think?” squawked Brightbill. “What if you’re wrong? What if you wake up different? What if you never wake up? Mama, I don’t want to shut you down!”