Epilogue Back to top

So there you have it. That’s what happened when I fixed Sugar the Robot. I must admit I’m not sure even I expected what actually happened but all in all it turned out pretty fantastic. I mean who wouldn’t want their very own colony of aliens living about a hundred metres from their back gate?

It only took the aliens about two weeks to dismantle their ship and rebuild it as an underground home. When they had finished, the manhole cover looked excellent. They even managed to make it look old and rusty as if it had been forgotten. We never did figure out what they did with all the earth they must have removed but inside that manhole cover was pretty much a whole town in miniature. They had lighting, heating, ventilation, buildings and walkways all sitting just under the trees in the field where the pylon stood.

True to their word they included space for Priya and me. It wasn’t as cramped as I expected but we did have to duck down a little. When you sat in it you felt like you were in a wondrous cavern filled with a futuristic model village.

Priya and I spent a lot of time teaching the aliens about the Earth. We even managed to teach them some English, although Sugar was still used for translation for some things. They taught me and Priya a lot about electronics but even though they had more to teach they only went so far. They kept saying that we were not yet ready for all their knowledge. We were just glad to know what they taught us and we knew in time they would let us know more.

Once they had landed here on Earth, they had no need for a probe and once they learned English they had even less need. They were planning to disassemble Sugar but I stepped in and said he was mine now and they had no right to take him apart.

They didn’t understand this. As far as they could see he had no purpose any longer and his parts could be used elsewhere. I had to explain to them that most of his parts were mine not theirs as their ones had malfunctioned. I also told them that Sugar was much more than just a probe now. He had told us he liked being Sugar not the probe and he wanted to remain as Sugar too.

Eventually, between me, Priya and Sugar himself we persuaded them to turn him over to me. They even helped me fix his broken eye and expand his vocabulary. They were going to replace his laser cannon with a real one but Sugar said not to as he didn’t want to have a weapon. So they replaced it with a grappling hook and some other cool gadgets.

So after all that I had achieved my dream. I had a robot of my own. A real robot, my dream robot. A good robot, not a slave.

He is my friend and his name is Sugar.

The End

What happens next?

If you would like to know what happens to the Roboteers next, check out the second - award-winning - book in the series Do Not Feed the Troll!. In it the gang meet a new friend who has a real problem - there is a troll living under a trapdoor in his back garden!

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