Page 65 of Chaos Theory

KOBI

Three months later

Last week, Matthew upgraded my tractor body with a special scoop-and-pinch function.

I have always been able to find caterpillars with ease.

But now, with the push of a few buttons, I can scoop and remove their eggs, ensuring that the lifecycle is interrupted.

Lizzie is now a little sad about the egg removal, but that is another day’s problem.

We must all adapt to our environment, I told her.

Yes, my new living arrangement has been an adjustment. But if I could adapt to life at Go Ireland, it gives me confidence that I can learn to thrive here too.

There are pros and cons to being a tractor.

The pros: robust body; large wheels suitable to all terrain; weather-proof; crop-maintenance functions; ability to be a pretend-play carriage for Lizzie.

The cons: I am a tractor.

1110

‘Hello, Kobi.’

Maeve enters the barn with Shane. They are holding hands.

For fun, I cycle through all my light settings, including a new laser-vision feature Matthew has been working on for me.

‘Cool,’ Shane says. ‘Did somebody get an upgrade?’

‘You’re looking great,’ Maeve says. ‘How are you doing?’

She puts her toolkit on the floor. I update her on the latest from the farm and the Farmer family.

‘You seem to be settling in well,’ she says.

I agree. I explain how I have set myself a new challenge: to learn to communicate with animals. Lizzie claims to be able to do this already, so I watch her closely and follow her lead.

Maeve laughs. ‘Well, you learned to understand humans. Animals are probably a whole lot easier.’

I request status updates from Maeve and Shane. Shane tells me that he has a new job in an event management company. He has discovered that he likes events.

‘You never know what’s going to happen,’ he says. ‘Keeps me on my toes.’

Maeve tells me that DC Jen has given birth to a beautiful baby girl, and that JP has been nominated for an award for innovation in the workplace by the Irish tourism board.

‘Between the trial of collaborative robotics and his proposal for a 4-day week, he’s suddenly up for Innovator of the Year. He’s thrilled with himself. ’

‘He changed his mind about the benefits of a shorter working week?’ I ask.

‘Yeah. Once he realised the 4-day week meant he’d have more time for golf, and more time to go on long weekends with Trish, he got on board pretty quick.’

‘I wonder if JP has seen Ron around the golf club lately,’ Shane says.

Maeve replies, ‘I asked him that actually, and he said he hadn’t. He thinks that Ron might be back in Silicon Valley.’

I ask for news of Josh. Maeve laughs. ‘Oh, wait til you hear this. Josh is apparently in Brussels. He’s taken some job at a non-profit that advocates for digital rights.’

Finally, but most importantly, I ask Maeve for news from her own life. She tells me she is trying to start a new business.

‘Freelance robot consultant,’ she says.

JP is helping her to make contacts, and she is building an impressive website with case studies from our time together at Go Ireland.

‘Check this out.’

She reaches into her pocket and shows me a small white business card.

I scan it. I read Maeve’s name and contact details. There is a drawing of a robot in the upper-right corner that resembles me in my previous form. She turns the card over so I can scan the text on the other side. There are 7 words:

Hello, how can I help you today?