It was the day of the hiking trip and Jacob was packing. He had everything he needed, a canteen, a tent, a sleeping bag, and, of course, his robot.
His robot was his favorite gift he had received on his 5th birthday from his grandmother. As he unwrapped it he had been delighted to see its new, shiny, red face looking up at him, as if it was as excited to see him as he was it.
He was now 8 years old and still didn’t leave the house without it. This hiking trip was also a birthday gift given to him by his father on his 8th birthday, which had been the previous day. It may seem like a strange gift for an 8 year old boy, but Jacob loved hiking. His grandfather used to take him on long trips up in the mountains where they would gaze at the stars and look for constellations. His grandfather had passed away when he was 6 and Jacob hadn’t been on a hiking trip since, until today.
After he had packed his backpack he ran downstairs, where his dad was already packed and was talking to his mother.
“-and stay safe.” She was saying.
“Don’t worry we will.” His father said.
His dad turned and saw Jacob, “Ready to go?” he asked with a smile.
“You bet.”
As they got into their car Jacob’s mom called, “Stay warm!”
All that week, at night, the temperatures had been freezing, which is why they had two blankets to go on top of each of their sleeping bags.
As he drove, Jacob’s dad went over some basic hiking rules with him.
“-never leave another behind. Stay together…”
Jacob nodded but he wasn’t really listening, as he was too caught up in the idea of finally going hiking again.
After an hour of driving, they finally reached their designated place to hike. As they started off Jacob’s dad reminded him, once again, to stay together at all costs and keep his eyes open for a good spot to camp out for the night. After 2 long hours of hiking, Jacob found a spot that he found suitable to camp out. He started toward it, ignoring his father’s repeated warnings to “stick together at all costs.” When he got to his spot he turned around to see his father continuing up the trail, not noticing his son’s absence. Jacob started back toward him but then paused. He heard something. Something that sounded like growling. He whirled around to find himself face-to-face with a bear! Without thinking he took off running.
After about 2 minutes of chasing Jacob, the bear must have lost interest because when he looked back it was gone. Nonetheless, he continued to run until he finally stopped. He was now panting, sweaty, and very scared. He had no idea where his dad was. He was lost. His only companion was his robot, which obviously, wasn’t very alive. So, he decided to begin to search for his dad. He searched for what seemed like forever, but didn’t find him. He decided to stay put and settle down for the night, but he couldn’t sleep. Instead, he began to talk to his robot. Surprisingly, the robot appeared to be listening to every word, but what really surprised Jacob was when the robot actually responded!
“Where do you think he is?” he had asked.
“I know the exact coordinates of his location.” It responded.
Jacob stared at it in awe.
“You-you can talk?”
“I can do many things.”
“You could help me find my dad?”
“Yes.”
It was then when Jacob got excited!
“Where is he now?” he asked quickly.
“He is near a body of water.”
“Can you lead me to him?”
“Yes. I know the exact coordinates of his location.”
Jacob assumed that his father had noticed his disappearance and would be searching for him since he had been gone for over 4 hours. Therefore, it would be harder to find him, even with a robot, since his dad would be moving around, but he didn’t have much choice but to follow his robot.
At one point in the search, they had some up to a large cliff that Jacob would’ve had to climb without equipment; that is if his robot hadn’t pulled a rope out of nowhere. As they journeyed, Jacob asked occasional questions and talked to the robot. From his questions, Jacob came to the conclusion that the robot’s “name” was 1337 R0807 and it was built in a factory for survival robots.
They traveled for 3 days, in which the robot taught Jacob what plants to eat and not to eat, survival skills, how to purify water using the natural elements, and many other things. On the third day Jacob asked the robot,
“Are we close to finding my father?”
“Yes,” the robot replied, “he is just up ahead.”
“Well then let’s hurry!”
Jacob began to run and the robot rolled along faster than Jacob so he wouldn’t get lost again. They burst into a clearing and Jacob’s dad whirled around.
“Dad!”
“Jacob!” his dad yelled as he rushed forward to give Jacob a hug.
“Where were you?!” his dad asked.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t listen! I got lost and my robot came to life and helped me find you and-“
“Your robot came to life?” his dad looked worried.
“Yes, his name is 1337 R0807 and he’s a survival robot.”
He told his dad the whole story. From how he got lost to when his robot came to life and how it lead him through the forest to find his dad.
After Jacob had finished his story his dad said, “We should probably get home, your mother is probably severely worried. After all we were supposed to be home two days ago.”
“Yea, let’s go home.”
After that long journey, Jacob couldn’t get his robot to speak again. However, he kept that robot forever and never forgot the time that his survival robot helped him find his father!