“How did you do that?” she asked Koze when the pointed objects on each side of the car extended like wings and the car lifted several feet off the road.
“This vehicle is called an ABC, or air-boat-car.”
“It works like a boat, too?”
“Yes. It is perfectly safe in calm water but has not been tried in the ocean. Do you see the tall yellow building in the center of the field?”
“The one built on stilts? Is that why we are using the airplane to get there?”
“Airplane? Airplane is a good expression.”
He blinked and seemed to be accepting a new word in his vocabulary. “See the fields surrounding the building? They are planted in twelve triangles, with each tip pointing toward the facility, like a clock. You will notice each triangle is a different color. Each color ripens in sequence, so one o’clock is harvested in the first month, two o’clock in the second month, and so on. Each color is a different type of wishberry.”
“So, is this the farm?”
“This is both a farm and processing plant. The wish berries are planted, harvested, processed, and shipped in containers to our kitchens and shops from this location.”
Koze landed the ABC near the steps leading up to the second floor of the building. The first thing she noticed was the delicious butter-and-yeast smell. Robotic men wearing yellow overalls picked the berries, loaded them into baskets, and dumped them into bins on a conveyor belt. The bins traveled up the belt and onto a shaft attached to the building.
“Are they robots?” She pointed to one of the workers.
“Yes. They provide manual labor needed to operate the plant.”
“Are they as smart as you? Can they talk? Are you their boss?”
“Robots do not need to talk or have intelligence. The word boss does not appear in my vocabulary.”
“A boss tells people what to do and sees that they do it,”
“No. I do not boss. I do not think I would like to boss.” Koze swung his legs over the side of the ABC and nodded for Halo to follow him up the stairs.
“Where are we going now? Are you going to tell me how many bushels they harvest and all that stuff? Am I going to have a test on this?”
“There will be no test.”
“I think I’m saying the wrong thing. Please don’t be mad. I mean, please don’t be upset with me.”
“I am not up–set. My memory banks are functioning perfectly.”
“Well, I think you’re a nice guy anyway.”
“Nice guy.” His star-shaped pupils flashed, and she thought his lips curved into a little smile.
Koze continued with a tour of the plant, beginning with the berry crushers and juice machines, and ending with the packaging, bottling, and distribution centers. It was impressive, but it was also getting close to dinnertime. The suns were lower in the sky, and her stomach was growling again.