So it was time for a our robot gig. We expected this to be a tricky one.
We landed in a space in the forest where fungus sprouted from the ground. The basket of our balloon rocked on the spongy surface. I heard if you cut the mushroom in certain places, they will be rainbows all the way through. Again, how did they think of vegetation like this in the first place?
The first problem was that most worked on patterns. Whether this is some remnant of their programming, or an actual choice by machines on legs that won’t get tired, I have no idea. Either way, the motored on without any reaction to our show. But a few stood still, possibly watching us. They didn’t reveal much without eyes. At least The Butter Mouse was back to her normal self. She hopped across my shoulders, trying to catch the attention of our mechanical audience.
Another problem was they cannot laugh. At our strongest points a few of them stopped, and even some few that were still moving took a moment to pause. But the only sound was constant clanking and whirring of their innards.
I mentioned on a different blog post about how a useful feature of our job is that we have an exact barometer of how a gig is going. You will be rewarded with laughter, or punished with silence. Silence like that which faced us. Even the other crew members aboard our balloon only smiled. They must have seen us do this show at least twenty times before
With about ten minutes to go, I had accepted this this was going to be a strange. dead giG we would have to plough through. But then through the ground came a rumbling sensation like a train passed underneath.
From out of the soil itself sprouted new rainbows of colours, long blocky shapes danced around the robots. And now the robots were bathed in light, they revealed a whole new side to themselves. Their bodies lit up in a multitude of colours. And though I had no proof, it felt like applause.
Wow, we are at the end of four hundred words already. In good news our cabin showed up. I’ll explain where next week.
The snow is already drawing in.
The ground covered in fungus. Photo by Nicola Guenigault.