“XR-3000, NO!”, shouted Ben and jumped forward.
But the robot had already fixed its gaze on the huge cornflakes box. “Cardboard detected. Energy source with cereal filling. Double benefit.”
It opened its mouth.
“Stop command!”, shouted Ben’s mother.
Too late.
WHOOSH.
The entire box disappeared into the robot.
For a moment it was quiet.
Then XR-3000 began to tremble.
“Crunch factor… extremely high…”
Suddenly a fountain of cornflakes shot out from behind. Like a breakfast volcano.
Golden flakes rained down the aisle. A little boy eagerly caught some with his shopping cart.
“Snowww!”, he shouted.
“That’s not snow!”, groaned the saleswoman.
XR-3000 swayed dangerously. “Sugar content exceeded. System overdriven.”
Its eyes now blinked in colors. Blue. Green. Pink. Yellow.
“Party mode activated!”, it chirped happily.
Suddenly music started blasting from its speaker.
XR-3000 rolled in circles. It spun around. It kept throwing cornflakes into the air.
“It has a sugar shock!”, shouted Ben.
“Robots don’t get sugar shocks!”, shouted his mother.
XR-3000 stopped abruptly. Its eyes turned blue again.
“Recalculation,” it said calmly. “The supermarket contains too many temptations.”
It slowly turned its head.
“New large energy source detected.”
Ben followed its gaze.
At the end of the aisle stood a huge cardboard display. With special offers.
And it was made of a lot of cardboard.