Chapter Text
A couple of years had come and gone since the events of the poison tide.
It took time but eventually everything returned to normal on the island. The ocean fish returned and so the otters returned back to their home at the seashore. Members of flocks that had left reunited with those that had stayed. Everyone and everything had returned back to their homes.
As for Roz.
Well…
She could finally get to know her grandgoslings in full. Then the following grandgoslings that were born in the last couple of years she could actually watch grow and dote on like a grandmother should.
From 1 to 2 to 7 to now 15, her little strange family continued to grow and soon would be a big strange family if her first five grandgoslings happened find their own mates soon.
Admittedly, she was quite terrible at telling if two animals fancied each other. So terrible that more often than not someone had to tell her outright. Some animals would even giggle at how clueless she was. Like Fink, who cackled when she called two of the most in love pair of weasels 'very good friends'.
Yes, the whole island agreed, Roz was very quite clueless about all this.
But what she wasn't clueless about was playing with her grandgoslings.
A new set of four had hatched and were having a blast on the pond chasing Roz around as she poked her head up only to dive back down when the little giggling goslings came near. Here and there, she would let them catch her. Much like how she had let Jad and Jaya find her during their games of hide and seek. She wondered from time to time how they were doing.
But life as a grandmother kept her busy as one little gosling pecked the top of her head before she could dive down again.
"Got you!" She cheered as she swam excited circles around Roz. This one was called Fastpaddle and for good reason. Soon the other three - Rufflefeather, Sleekbeak, and Waddler - came to circle around her too.
Everything was good.
Until a group of geese flew down and landed on the pond tense and whispery about something.
They kept to themselves at first but then the eldest of the group began to swim towards every other goose on the pond. She cleared her throat and hollered at the top of her lungs.
"There's going to be an emergency meeting at the Great Meadow!" She called out.
Everyone stared for a moment before they all turned to each other. It was already noon, the dawn truce already come and gone for the day, so what was happening that called for another so soon?
"What's going on?" Brightbill was the first to speak up.
"Well, as it were, another robot has just shown up on the island!"
Gossip erupted amongst all the geese with questions and concerns flung about. Another robot? Was it another one like Roz? Or was it more like those awful RECOs? Or was it just passing through like those ones that had cleaned up the remnants of the poison tide? But most importantly, what was it doing here?
"Another robot?" Roz asked as she rose from the pond, bringing her grandgoslings to Glimmerwing in case things suddenly got intense or dangerous.
"Strange looking one." Loudwing said. "It's only got one big eye - maybe a smaller one near it? Bah I didn't get that good a look. Anyway, one big eye and it looks a bit like a squid! But it's only got five limbs. Also instead of swimming like a squid, it flies and floats around!"
"Have you ever seen a robot like that, ma?" Brightbill asked. He hadn't seen any that sounded like that nor did he and Roz encounter any like that after Roz escaped the farm. But maybe while she was on the farm she might've seen one like it?
"No, and I've seen quite a few robots. Do you know what they're doing?" Roz replied as she kept an eye and ear out for anything that was out of place.
"Not sure. They arrived alone on the beach, spoke in that language we can't understand, and went up and into the forest." Loudwing replied before ruffling her feathers. "Lost track of them myself, so they could be anywhere right now!"
Murmurs filled the air with concern but Roz stepped up to ease everyone.
"While we should exercise some caution, for all we know they could be a friendly robot, or maybe they're just lost." Roz said and the murmurs quieted down.
"Yes, so let's all meet up in the meadow like planned." Brightbill spoke up next. "some of my flock can keep an eye up in the air for them."
With that, everyone left the pond to head to the meadow. Roz moved most cautiously of all, donning some camouflage as she moved through the forest, and kept an ear and eye out for this mystery robot. She did not encounter them on the way to the meadow, yet once there she swapped out her forest camouflage for the grasses and flowers that now surrounded her.
If this was a robot more like a RECO, then it was best to remain hidden to make sure everyone else would be alright.
Once more this mystery robot was described, this time to the whole island, and animals started to talk about what they had observed.
"Got this small eye, turned red a second before this light beamed out, though not like the ones that come out of Roz's eyes." An owl said from where she was perched on Crownpoint's antlers.
"That's right! Wasn't a solid beam of light either, kind of looked like a very straightened out web, and they pointed it at a patch of clovers before turning it off and flying away."
"We saw them doing the same to our tree!" A pair of squirrels said and Chitchat nodded along with them.
"And to the creek!"
"Don't forget about that patch of dirt outside my den!"
"Oh yeah! They also did that to some mushrooms, too!"
And more and more was added as each animal listed off what they had all seen it do.
"It sounds like they are scanning things." Roz said after it was clear this robot was doing the same thing over and over. "Seems like they may be looking for something."
"But what are they looking for?" Pinktail questioned.
"Hopefully not Roz." Brightbill answered with nervous concern. What if after the events of the poison tide and the whole chaos that had happened on the rig that someone sent out a robot to investigate? What happens if they were here to take Roz away?
"Hopefully not indeed." Roz agreed, having the same worries as Brightbill, the same worries as the whole island really. "I will say, from the sound of things, they seemed more interested in the environment."
"That is true."
"Yeah I suppose they weren't using that light on any of us."
"Maybe they just really really like plants?"
As the whole forest mused away, none were paying attention to an odd noise drawing slowly closer and closer. Of quiet whooshing of air and a click-vrr-beep of a scanner repeating over and over. Not until it got to the edge of the meadow.
Then, and only then, did the forest realize that the new robot was right there.
Roz could only hope she had ducked down quickly enough to not get spotted.