All nine of them. Some are robots, some are people, and one of them never says a single word.
A small service robot with two blue eyes and a brass screw in his pocket. He can fix almost anything except the one thing he wants to fix most.
He is not the fastest, the strongest, or the newest. He simply never stops helping.
“I don't know. But we can try to fix it.”
A small electric service cart Hugh built together with his grandfather — their last big project before everything changed.
It never solves a problem by itself. It just gets Hugh, his tools and sometimes Max exactly where they need to be.
—
The old repairman of Maple Creek. He built Hugh, taught him to read, to think, and to never give up.
A patient man who believed every broken thing has a story, if you listen first.
“The most important part isn't made of metal. It's hidden right here.”
Fast, bright and impossible to slow down. Nella knows every shortcut in Lumina and every pothole on the way.
She talks about thirty percent faster than everyone else and apologizes for it constantly.
“I know the way! I always know the way.”
A robot dog with one broken ear and mismatched patches of paint from every stranger who ever repaired him.
Max never speaks. He does not need to.
—
Eight years old, one front tooth missing, and a notebook with two hundred and fourteen inventions in it.
She has built three of them. The rest are waiting until they are perfect.
“It's a silly idea. Don't say it out loud.”
Fifty years at the workbench. He does not give advice. He gives you a job and watches how you do it.
Gruff on the outside. Everyone in Lumina brings their broken things to him anyway.
“Don't touch it yet. Look at it first.”
He brings the worst news in the book, in a grey suit jacket that is always buttoned, holding a folder against his chest like a shield.
He is not a villain. He is a careful man who was once brave and got frightened.
“I'm afraid it doesn't work like that.”
Thirty-two years behind a library desk. She remembers everything, and she does not own a telephone.
When somebody claims something without checking it, she takes off her glasses and says nothing at all.
“Ask people, dear. Not that internet of yours.”
He complains about everything and means none of it. His robot lawn mower has opinions and he has never forgiven it.
He always turns up to help, usually while grumbling about having to.
“That blasted thing didn't cut again!”
