Why Angelica Didn’t Do It

They return home together, albert is quiet but Reef participates in the conversations with the others. Albert keeps looking at Reef every now and then, until their eyes meet and Reef smiles to him.

The next day. Angelica and Reef finish cleaning.

Angelica was the only one to clean with Reef today, since all units had to cover larger areas. A.I robots seem to have increased in numbers in their patrols.

-“Aaa, it’s exhausting to clean so meticulously...” Angelica says. “I think we are done here. Shall we head home?”

-“You go ahead, there’s something I wanted to do. See you tomorrow?” Reef asks.

-“Yea, sure! See you tomorrow!” She replies. They go separate ways. Angelica looks back, staring at him. She is a bit suspicious of what it is he wants to do. Angelica realized there’s something about Reef that has really changed lately.

The next day. Artisan. The students are sitting in class and the teacher enters.

-“Students. I regret to inform you that today’s classes have been canceled in order to push the cleaning of our streets to the next level.” The teacher explains.

-“No way!” -“What about our tuition? We can’t keep going with this...” Students start making noise.

In the meantime, Angelica looks at Reef as if being shy and careful, trying not to get noticed.

-“The vandalism has continued, and while the damage is not as bad and mostly consists of littering, the amounts require us to act. If any of you have any information that can be relevant about the vandalizers, please let me or the other teachers know.” She adds.

-“Oh man...” -“Now we have to clean the entire day!” The class keeps up with the noise.

Eventually, they calm down and go clean per the weekly plan, only today - with a devised prolonged one. Angelica and Reef head to the site and start cleaning.

-“What was it that u had to do yesterday?” She asks.

-“Nothing interesting, just a chore I was postponing for a while.” Reef answers, looking like he is into the cleaning, not changing the direction he is looking towards.

-“Will you walk me home today?” She asks with an inviting smile.

-“Yes. Of course.” He replies. “Why? Did something happen?”

-“Ohh, hmm, no. Not really. It’s just boring to go by myself and we always go together you know.” Angelica answers, a bit flustered and surprised by his answer.

-“Well, today you got me for the whole day so maybe walking home you’ll be bored of me, haha.” Reef jests.

They raise litter items off of the floor and put them in the trash can. Their actions become robotic quickly enough and Angelica slows down, holding a cup.

-“Can I talk to you... About Crysty?” Angelica asks, trying to be sensitive and considerate, but looking quite sensitive to the topic herself.

Reef stops moving for a moment. He then proceed with the cleaning, saying: ”Sure. You can always talk to me about her. About anything, really.”

-“Do you remember the day I got over my fear of robots?” Angelica asks, starting to remember the past.

10 years ago. Year: 2290. A year after Reef and Angelica joined “Artisan”. Angelica is in art class, sitting with the rest of the students.

The teacher enters. He seems gentle, sweet, and known by the students. “Good morning artists!” He says charismatically.

-“Good morning teacher!!!” The students answer in unison.

-“Today, I would like to introduce a new teacher in our school, and more specifically, in our art department: This is ABlue40.” He says as he looks towards the door.

Another man enters. He is well dressed, with a healthy stance and presence.

-“ABlue40...?” Angelica mumbles.

-“Hello young artists. As you heard, my name is ABlue40, and as some of you may have guessed... I’m an A.I robot. However, I can assure you I’m not different than the rest of you as much as you may think.” He explains. “I studied art for years, along with the history of it, and the physical motions of the craft, in order to replicate the human comprehension of it. I do not possess any special abilities or advantages over the rest of you as an artist, beside any possible advantages an older human artist may have.”

-“And so you have it!” The old teacher responds. “Please address him as ‘teacher’ like you would any other teacher. I’m sure you all heard about the A.I robots’ act of humane treatment by the F.I.R.E (Full Integration of Robots’ Equity) committee.”

Since the massive development of Crystalite technologies, the A.I industry skyrocketed as well. Nobody imagined the age of human robots would be so near, and so philosophical questions about what they feel or think about - have not been raised as a discussion topic. The F.I.R.E committee has been created within Crystalite Inc. who is holding a huge influence over governing Japan. Notions like that usually create no public discussions since Crystalite Inc. has a monopoly over the influence and information about technologies that are already integrated in society. It has had therefore been decided with close to zero clarity towards the public that certain A.I robots have achieved “Human” standard and they are, in fact, effectively human. How to establish who those are was never instructed. A.I robots are wildly seen by the public as “Humane if they look human.”

“Today, he will teach you instead of me. Be nice!” The old teacher says and leaves the class.

The students are working on their already existing exercise as the new teacher goes between them to see where he could help. He approaches Angelica. -“Hey, what is your name?” He asks.

-“Angelica.”

-“Angelica, I think you are really talented.” He says as he looks at her drawing. “I can see you want to make that area in the back fade into the sky. Want me to show you a technique I learned recently? Instead of holding your chalk softly and using it’s side, try holding it firmly and create a layer. Then, create a layer of a slightly lighter color below it so they are slightly touching.”

Angelica tries it. -“Like that...? Oh!” She presses the chalk too aggressively and it breaks, leading to a small shard flying into the teacher’s eye.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry!” She panics.

-“It’s alright. Remember? I don’t feel physical pain.”

Angelica notices the eye got a bit damaged. -“Will your eye be okay?”

-“Yes, don’t worry. And now... May I?” He asks as he takes her finger softly, and guides her to the paper, smoothing the aggressively drawn layers. He helps her press with her finger as a drawing tool.

-“Wow, with my finger?” Young Angelica feels inspired.

-“Yes. In fact, this is something that I can’t do, because...

🔩My skin is different than yours.”🔩

The A.I robot teacher answers while using his finger to point on the other finger of the opposite hand.

-“But you are the one who knew how to do it.” Angelica answers in support.

🫀-“Now you know how to do it too.”🫀