TRAVELING INTO THE FUTURE

A Chance Find

Cliona turned her head back and forth, using her headlamp to illuminate the racks, which were 30 meters high. “The drone could be up there somewhere,” she said. Xinyi groaned. “That’s enough for me. We’re not going to find it. I didn’t study warehouse technology so I could climb on shelves and do physical labor – I just wanted to work with data streams and supply-chain algorithms. Watch out – forklift.” Another vehicle hummed slowly past them, stopped in front of a rack, and then extended its mast upward, to a point beyond the reach of the two women’s headlamps. At that dizzying height, it removed a crate from the rack and slowly lowered it. The vehicle made a clattering noise as it set off toward the automatic conveyor belt. In the darkness, the shadowy silhouette of rotor blades rose up from the crate. “I think you’ve found your inventory drone, Xinyi,” Cliona said.

A half-hour later, the two women sat in front of the screen wall at the warehouse’s intra-logistics control center. Columns of numbers were flickering, dots were flashing, and symbols were moving across the screens. In the dark, a mass of self-managing high-rack industrial forklifts, transport vehicles, drones and mini-shuttles worked their way monotonously but precisely through the aisles, a symphony of independent helpers armed with swarm intelligence. The picking system and packaging robots take charge of the crates and pallets in one-second cycles. At her workplace, Xinyi checked to see whether customers would receive their deliveries at the specified instant – or whether she should expect complaints about delays. “Everything seems to be in order,” she finally said. “We didn’t make any of the vehicles in the warehouse take time-consuming detours. We were lucky again. In a half-hour, an important load of polymers is heading to Japan. It just came in from Spain yesterday.” Cliona’s work glasses sent her the latest international news: an election victory for the “party of the future” in Europe, police searching for artwork stolen in Madrid, an earthquake in San Francisco… She turned off the newsfeed. “I still don’t understand why the drone crashed on top of the rack,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be great if it could video while it worked?” “What good would that do? It is totally dark. Its infrared scanner records the labels. That’s all it needs to do. You read the history books: Lighting in warehouses and plants once led to all kinds of unnecessary energy costs.”

“I’m going back in.”

Cliona chewed on her lower lip. “The dent in the side looked as though someone shot it down” “Who of us is supposed to have done that? It would only lead to trouble.” “Not one of us. Somebody inside.” Cliona pointed at the warehouse wall. Xinyi rolled her eyes: “Cliona, there’s nobody there. It is a warehouse.” “I’m going back in.” The intra-logistics technician shook her head. “You’re going without me. We can stay in radio contact. I’ll make sure that the routes don’t get tangled up.” Soon Cliona was standing in front of the rack again and looking up. “Watch out – forklift.” Xinyi’s voice grated in her in ear, but Cliona had already seen the warning about an approaching vehicle in her glasses. She looked at the high-rack forklift as it moved into position in front of the rack, extended its mast and slowly raised its prongs. On the spur of the moment, Cliona jumped onto them, If the drone on the rack was brought down just beneath the ceiling, did that mean someone was hiding up there? A burglar? Even if it was unlikely that someone would want to steal a sack full of a polymer compound. Standing shakily on the prongs, she rose higher. It was a good thing that it was dark – she already seemed to be awfully high in the air. “Hello, Cliona,” the computerized voice of the avatar in her head said. “Your body sensors are telling me that you are standing unsteadily. You should check to see whether you wore the right shoes today.” That’s all I needed, Cliona thought. Then she saw a light down below. It looked as though it came from a headlamp.

The Leap

She pressed down hard with her left and jumped onto the racks. She landed with a clatter amid the crates and sacks, some of which plunged over the edge into the abyss. Her knee began to hurt. “Watch out!” her avatar said. “It looks like you fell. I will inform the nearest doctor in the area.&rdquo Cliona turned her head and let the beam of the headlamp move across the rack. A large, square object was sticking out of a crate a short distance from her. She scrambled towards it, pushing still other crates into the depths. If I don’t uncover a really important break-in, she thought, I can certainly kiss my job good-bye. Then she made it to the crate. The square object was very large and flat and seemed to be packed in paper. She ripped the package open. “Security is on the way,” Xinyi’s voice came through. “Where the heavens are you? What is going on?” Cliona took a deep breath: “Please call the police, too.” “Sorry, what was that?” “That art robbery the day before yesterday. In Madrid. I think someone smuggled the picture inside your shipment from Spain and wanted to recover it at our warehouse. And the inventory drone got in the way.” “Oh my God, Cliona! The guy is still in the warehouse? Hide before he finds you.” Cliona turned the headlamp off. “He can’t get to me where I am. Anyway, it’s dark in here.”