消失的蜘蛛机器人

THE VANISHING SPIDER-BOT

By Andrew K. Hoe Art by Oriol Vidal

伯夫正读着他最喜欢的漫画《神探奥兹特》，突然，母亲石田博士养蜘蛛的地方传来一声惊叫。伯夫赶忙过去查看，原来是石田博士一不留神把微型蜘蛛机器人的遥控器踩坏了，现在它和真正的蜘蛛混在一起。如何在这么多的蜘蛛中帮母亲找到蜘蛛机器人呢？伯夫通过仔细观察，发现了异样……

Hakuto was reading his favorite manga, Detective Whoozit, when he heard a shout from the Spider Room.

As he ran through the apartment, he noticed the view outside the windows. The streets of Kanazawa were drenched with rain, and the neon signs were hard to see in the grayness. Even the drones flying past looked as if they’d rather be inside.

The Spider Room was where Mom, also known as Dr. Ishida, kept hundreds of spiders in terrariums. It was like a zoo for spiders. Using the spiders as models, she’d spent the last year designing a tiny robot spider. It was supposed to help scientists study real-life spiders.

When Hakuto reached the Spider Room, Mom held up what looked like a broken remote. “I stepped on my control device!”

Hakuto had thought something had happened to the spiders, but the terrariums lining the walls looked safe. Lamps shone on the see-through plastic tanks. Inside, spiders crawled or just sat on sand, branches, and leafy plants. Big spiders. Small ones. Ones that grouped together, and spiders spinning webs alone.

“Without my control device,” Mom said, “I can’t call my spider-bot back!”

Hakuto looked at the terrariums. “Did your robot crawl in with the real spiders?”

Mom nodded. “I was teaching it to act like a proper spider by having it mingle with living ones. I let it wander different terrariums. Now it’ll be tricky to find. We’ll have to examine these spiders one by one.” She sighed.

A mystery! Like Detective Whoozit would solve! “Let me help,” Hakuto offered. Maybe someone would write a manga about him—Ishida Hakuto, child detective extraordinaire!

“The spider-bot looks like a wolf spider,” Mom said. “It’ll be furry, with brown-and-tan patterns. It has large front eyes above a row of smaller ones.” She held her thumb and index finger together to make a circle. “About this big.” She showed him the labels on the tanks.

Hakuto saw several terrariums labeled wolf spider. “We’re narrowing the suspect list! We have a description!”

Just then, Mom received a call from work. “I’m sorry, Hakuto. I have to take this.” She sat down at her desk.

“Can I keep looking?” asked Hakuto.

“Yes, but finding it could take hours.”

As he searched, Hakuto got confused squinting at so many spiders. He couldn’t keep straight which terrariums he’d already checked and which he hadn’t. He saw furry spiders walking along sand as if they were strolling miniature beaches. He saw them jump like tiny acrobats. He saw them climbing plants. When Hakuto put his face to the terrarium walls, it looked as if the climbers waved to him. He even saw one brown-and-tan spider lazing on a web, staring back at him.

Mom put herself on mute and said, “Hakuto, why don’t you go play? I’ll make korokke for dinner.” Korokke was his favorite deep-fried dish. Mom’s eyes worriedly scanned the terrariums as she continued her call.

“Mom? Ittekimasu.” The expression meant “I’m leaving the house, but I’ll be back.” It was a joke. He wasn’t leaving the apartment—it was pouring outside.

“Itterasshai,” Mom murmured, squinting at the spiders. Take care. She was really bothered about the spider-bot.

Hakuto slipped away to his computer. Detectives used their eyes, but they also used their minds. Detective Whoozit always collected as much information as possible before hitting the streets. That’s why he always solved his cases. Maybe Hakuto needed to collect information too.

He researched wolf spiders—how they weren’t social, how they liked being alone. How they climbed and sometimes lived on plants. They were furry, like Mom had mentioned. They traveled, like that spider strolling along the sand. Unlike other spiders, wolf spiders didn’t weave webs.

Hakuto gasped. He ran back to the Spider Room, to the terrarium with the spider he’d seen, still lazing on its web. But wolf spiders didn’t weave webs. This one hadn’t learned how to act like a proper wolf spider yet.

Time to reel in the suspect. Hakuto removed the terrarium’s lid.

Mom, now finished with her call, said, “Careful! Wolf spiders bite when startled! Their venom isn’t very dangerous, but . . .” Her eyes narrowed. “Is that . . . ?”

Hakuto reached his hand toward the web. Quietly, the spider walked onto his palm, its feet tickling him slightly. Now that he was able to look more closely, Hakuto saw that its legs were slightly shiny. The little strands of fur were finely woven plastic. Most remarkable of all, the spider-bot’s eyes glowed like tiny jewels.

“My spider-bot!” Mom clapped her hands. “You found it!”

Hakuto grinned. “Case closed.”

“Thank you, detective,” Mom said. “Now let’s go make that korokke.”

本文刊登在《英语沙龙》（原版阅读）

2023年2月刊

原标题：《消失的蜘蛛机器人》

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