New Holland: 3297 Error Code

She steered by memory. A dry creek bend here. A collapsed fence line there. She ignored the tractor’s dying protests, the way the steering wheel fought her, the way the engine coughed like an old man with emphysema.

Elara smiled for the first time in weeks. “So it’s not an error. It’s a permission slip.”

“Whoa, Bessie,” she muttered, yanking the manual override. The LCD blinked again. 3297.

She dropped the clutch. The tractor lurched forward, its big rear tires chewing into the dust. Behind her, the drone struggled to keep up. Ahead, the dry riverbed shimmered like a river of molten glass.