“You stay here,” Ben said sternly.
XR-3000 blinked. “Illogical decision. School is source of problem. Source of problem must be optimized.”
Ben put on his jacket. “Optimizing does not mean eating!”
The robot nodded slowly. “Eating is temporarily disabled.”
“Temporarily?!”
But XR-3000 was already rolling toward the door.
Five minutes later Ben stood in front of the school. Next to him: a shiny robot.
Everyone stared.
“Is that a vacuum cleaner?” Tom asked.
“No,” Ben said proudly. “That is XR-3000.”
“Sounds like a spaceship,” Lena said.
XR-3000 bowed slightly. “I am here for school optimization.”
“Oh oh,” Ben murmured.
In the classroom Ben sat down at his desk. XR-3000 parked next to him. Very upright. Very serious.
The teacher, Mrs. Meier, stopped abruptly.
“Ben… what is THAT?”
“My… learning assistant.”
XR-3000 politely raised its hand. “Good morning. I improve teaching efficiency.”
The class giggled.
Mrs. Meier sighed. “As long as he doesn’t break anything.”
Ben was sweating.
The lesson began.
“Today we are calculating fractions,” Mrs. Meier explained.
XR-3000’s eyes lit up. “Fractions detected. Problem structure analyzed.”
It suddenly stood up.
“Error in system detected,” it announced loudly. “Why calculate fractions when whole numbers are more efficient?”
The class stared at it.
“Please sit down,” Mrs. Meier said sternly.
XR-3000 sat down.
Then it whispered to Ben: “I have a better solution.”
“Which one?”
XR-3000 scanned the classroom.
Its gaze stopped at the large math book cabinet.
Very much paper.
Very many fractions.
Its eyes slowly began to glow orange.