The Strawberry Heist
Jed stood at the edge of his property line, demarked by a rusted barbed wire that was more a formality than a barrier. He looked at the lush strawberry fields of his neighbor which were bathed in flashes of violet light by roaming autonomous robots. Meanwhile, his own fields were in disarray. The leaves of his strawberry plants were stained by the chemicals he had used to fight the blight passing through all the Pine Barrens farms. Well, almost all of them.
He watched the sleek bug-like machines that glided silently through the rows of crops. Their aluminum bodies reflected the eerie glow of the UV light they emitted, which would kill the fungal spores faster and more effectively than any sort of chemical treatment.
He felt his pocket buzz. He saw his Ryan’s name on the screen in-between the cracked lines of glass. He answered the call, his voice rough from shouting out curses at his outdated machinery.
“Hey there son,” he greeted, struggling to sound upbeat. While he did enjoy talking to his son, he felt an exhaustion deeper than just a regular day of work.
“I’m just checking in on the finances,” Ryan asked, getting right to business. “Did you get the transfer for the fertilizer bill?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t ask for it,” Jed looked down at the violet strobe lighting up his stained boots.
“Yes, but you needed it. Are you still using the same spray for the blight?” Ryan asked, his voice full of concern.
“Yes. That’s what the agricultural office recommends. Nothing else has even had a small impact on the blight.”
“The office is years behind the times, Dad.” Ryan spoke with a pity that Jed hated. “You should consider trying a UV light treatment instead. I got some berries from AgriNova the other day. The kids loved them. I do too. They’re plump and sweet.”
“But they don’t have the same sweat and blood of people like us who have been tending to crops for generations. They just use machines to do all their work,” Jed growled.
“People like that there are machines. The blight scared customers. They want to know their food is safe. I got another letter from them. AgriNova. The offer on the land is double what you could get from anyone else. Maybe you should consider spending more time with your grandchildren. They’d love to have you around here,” Ryan spoke in a patronizing tone.
“I am not selling, certainly not to a damned robot,” Jed snapped reaching down and stabbing the end call button with his finger. He could feel the shame rising up his throat, and he refused to let it out.
Jed looked at the robots again. If he had their light, their precision ultraviolet, he could save his crop. If he had just one of them, he could reverse engineer it and rig it to his old tractor. He just needed a sample. A temptation rose in his chest and he made a decision right then.
As soon as night fell, Jed grabbed a pair of wire cutters and a socket wrench from his shed. They were old tools, originally from his father, so he knew they would be sturdy enough for the job. The moon was obscured by heavy clouds that night, the perfect cover for his plan.
Jed stepped across the barbed wire, as it wasn’t tall enough to stop him, and stepped into the pristine fields of his rival. He had to admit it felt like the grass really was greener on the other side. Even the wind seemed to be milder.
Ahead, he could see the fleet of robots patrolling the fields with their glowing underbellies. He watched their movements, pausing every three meters and then moving further down the grid. He spotted one unit near the end of the sector which was moving slightly slower than its comrades. It gave him an opening.
He lunged.
His arms wrapped around the bot and he dug his boots into the ground. It didn’t have enough strength to throw him off, but it still hummed with a lot of power that made him move cautiously. He could see the UV array bolted to the chassis underneath with a few hex screws. He grabbed his wrench and jammed it into one of the bolts.
“Let’s see what you look like inside,” Jed muttered.
The bolt head was not a standard hex, but had a five-point star and a center pin as a security bit. It meant he couldn’t easily unscrew it. He decided to dig his nails into the seam of the lighting array and tried to pry it loose.
He could hear the metal housing groan as he applied more force, but it didn’t budge. And then, the cooling fans shut off and the violet glow turned off for good. Jed was plunged into a sudden darkness.
The central sensor head, a metallic black sphere rotated towards him and the camera’s optical lens whirred as it focused on his face.
Unauthorized entity spotted. it said in a robotic voice.
Jed’s heart pounded in his chest. He let the bot go and it fell onto its side in the field. Then, several floodlights lining the perimeter fence turned on. He shielded eyes against the intense brightness now filling his entire vision. His wrench fell out of his hand.
As his eyes began to adjust, he could see the sensory eyes of every robot now turn in his direction.
Please remain where you are. the injured robot said. You are trespassing on private property. Law enforcement has been notified.
Jed took a tentative step backwards as his mind raced. He didn’t want to get arrested. He looked down at his hands, caked in the mud of his failing farm. His body was shaking uncontrollably as he thought about how he had failed. His had focused so much on saving his farm he had justified doing anything.
He looked back and hopped over the perimeter fence again. He ran back to his property, realizing he had left his wrench as evidence on the other side. It didn’t matter though, not anymore. They had seen him. The future had seen him, and he didn’t think he had a place in it.