The doors opened slowly, and a full panorama of her floor filled Alice’s vision. Colours were everywhere, squiggled in strange shapes across the floor, covering the ceiling tiles in shifting patterns, and splattered across every single desk in the form of potted plants and mood-boards. Every hue known to man, she thought, must surely be on her floor.
Alice found her way to her workspace. It was colourful too, with drawings and sketches scattered so that only a few brief glimpses of desk could be made out. Cork boards were stood up all around, each holding hundreds of sticky notes and other small drawings, most of them just blobs of colour with words like “brand”, “technology” and “values” written across them. In the corner of the desk sat a stuffed bear and a framed photograph of an older woman.
She’d no sooner sat down (and begun gingerly shifting parts of the paper sea before her), than a man was standing in front of her. She pretended not to see him. He just stood there. She looked up. It was Bob. He still didn’t speak, just smiling at her.
“Can I help you?”, she said.
“Good morning Alice!”, said Bob, “how are you today?”
She sighed and returned to pushing sheets around into piles. “I’m doing just fine, Bob, just fine.”
“That’s great to hear Alice. I just wanted to let you know that Terry told me that there was a new opening for a Brand Coordinator role.”
“And why would you want to tell me that, Bob?”
“Because – and forgive me if I’m misremembering, Alice – you said two months ago that you would love to have a job in Coordinating, instead of Enacting.”
“Do you also remember, Bob”, and Alice smiled with teeth, “that the last time a role for this position opened, I applied?”
“I do, Alice”.
“And do you recall how I did not attain said position?”
“I do, Alice”
“So knowing both pieces of information”, and she stared right at him now, “would a person with any tact at all bring up the fact that the post is open again?”
“Alice, I merely wanted to inform you, it wasn’t my intention to-“
“I know Bob, but maybe since you weren’t created with a heart like the rest of us, you could avoid this happening altogether and simply refrain from speaking to me?”
“Geez Alice”. A woman was standing at the other corner of her workspace. “Would you stop being so harsh to the poor guy?”
Alice just stared at Bob.
“You know he didn’t mean anything by it.” Janette turned to Bob. “You can go, Bob”
Bob, who had stood there and watched the exchange, smiled and walked away.
“Why do you have so much of a problem with him? No-one else on our floor does.”
“Why doesn’t anyone else? And why do you say him?”
“Be reasonable, Alice. He walks and talks just like you and me. And he’s so helpful! Yesterday I just mentioned in passing that I was almost out of acrylics and he walked the whole way to Supplies to get me more.”
“That doesn’t change what he is, Janette…”
“And there’s only going to be more like him in the future Alice. Maybe you should make your peace with them now.”
Alice finished stacking the pages as Janette walked away. She looked up. She could see Bob walking around on the far side of the floor, chatting to people. They all smiled at him. And she could still make out the back of his shirt, where written in bold characters was:
“‘Bob’. Serial 14376. Assistance Android.”