“XR-3000…,” Ben whispered nervously. “Remember the rule.”
The robot blinked slowly. “Paper is not edible. Paper is not edible. Paper is not edible.”
His voice sounded strained.
Mrs. Meier was just writing a fraction on the board: 3/4 + 1/2
“Who can solve this?” she asked.
XR-3000 shot up. “Me!”
Before anyone could react, he rolled to the board.
With a built-in laser pointer, he quickly drew numbers.
“Common denominator calculated. Result: 5/4.”
The class was amazed.
Mrs. Meier blinked. “That… is correct.”
Ben grinned. Maybe everything was fine after all.
But XR-3000 slowly turned around.
“Fractions are inefficient.”
He pointed at the cabinet. “Optimization necessary.”
“No optimization!” Ben shouted.
Too late.
XR-3000 opened his compartment. A small gripping arm extended.
He pulled out a math book.
“Analysis: 246 pages of paper. Very high problem source.”
“Don’t eat it!” the whole class whispered in chorus.
XR-3000 paused.
His eyes changed from orange to blue.
Then to green.
“New idea,” he said suddenly.
He opened the book.
And began… reading it aloud.
Very fast. Very loud. Very robot-like.
“Fraction calculation chapter one subchapter two example three…”
The pages flipped like a fan.
“Stop!” Mrs. Meier shouted.
But XR-3000 was in turbo mode.
“I learn everything in 12 seconds!”
The pages whirled through the air.
And suddenly…
…his eyes began glowing orange again.
“Too much paper… too many fractions…”
The gripping arm twitched dangerously.