Story Reader / Palette Clash / Travel with Lee / Story
Travel with Lee - 4
"Cannot understand." "Cannot explain." "Cannot agree."
As incomprehensible as the mechanoids may be, you can still tell that these are the words in their heads right now.
The bound mechanoids sit side by side, staring forward motionlessly as if out of power.
Before them is a canvas so large that you have to look up slightly to see the whole picture from where you are.
As for how you feel about the painting... you feel the same as the mechanoids who are "forced" to appreciate it: exhaustion overwhelms you just by looking at it.
But Lee is still explaining it tirelessly like a patient professor in a lecture hall.
Can you see it? What does this represent?
****! What do you represent?!
A mechanoid shouts, unable to stand it any longer.
The restraints on him start to crackle. Still, swimming pool mechanoids are not designed with combat in mind, so his struggles are inevitably futile.
Feel free to ask me if you don't understand it, leader of...
This is the leader of the Fantastical Mechanical Impressionists, Lee. He might be too prideful to admit he doesn't understand it.
Prideful my ***!
You feel like that mechanoid's head is steaming. The small monitor on his back displays jumbled letters as if he is too angry for his programs to work properly.
Do you have any idea what you drew?!
Lee stares at him questioningly...
My visual sensors are fine!
Lee turns toward Mark, but only then does he realize that Mark has been facing away from the canvas this whole time.
Lee is on his own.
Technically, I didn't draw this. A program I wrote did.
Don't blame the program! Even a picture of randomized pixels wouldn't look as hellish as this.
The laser from the mechanoid's rangefinder points to the top right corner of the canvas.
What is that being with the twisted wings and a blurred face?
It's Mark done in the way of Fantastical Mechanical Impressionism.
Mark keeps looking away, forcing himself not to turn around.
What about those three puppets that look infected?
That's me and two other mechanoids done in the way of Surrealist Mechanical Fauvism.
And those flesh cubes that got mashed together?
That is the commandant done in the way of Multidimensional Mechanical Cubism.
How can you mix them all together?!
...
I believe that if we were to win this "war" with art, we must deploy the styles from all Schools.
That is the only way all Schools can compete with each other. This is the only way we can ensure a dignified victory.
Excuse me.
Asks the mechanoid whose head display is showing white noise. He sits straight as if he has just finished taking deep breaths.
Designed for combat, he looks menacing even when tied up.
It seems to me that we may have found a reason why this painting looks like an empty shell. Could it be because this painting is created purely by a program?
That won't do.
No, it won't. We don't think that a soulless piece of art like this deserves victory.
...
Lee hesitates for a second before remembering something.
Isn't the artwork you created technically done by a program, too...?
...
...
I shouldn't have said that, should I?
Beep—beep—beep—
The head displays of the awakened machines shut down before turning on again, displaying a crying face.
The metallic bodies keep smacking the ground while the bound feet flop around like a fish out of water.
There are substances inside this body! Substances! Do you even know what the soul of an artist is?!
Aren't you humans just a mixture of water and proteins and stuff as well? Why would you say something so hurtful?!
Wait. I didn't mean that.
You must think this "war" is just a game, don't you?
Programs can also create something soulful, dammit.
We'll never let this kind of art win...
The mechanoids slam into each other in their strange, bound positions, causing a chaotic scene.
Aye-yi-yi-yi-yi! Why are the leaders fighting like children now?
Oh? The Fantastical Mechanical Impressionist is being suppressed! This can't go on!
Members of Neo-Multidimensional Mechanical Cubism immediately rush in, dragging the bound awakened machines away from the fight.
But that does not seem to put a stop to it.
Argh! Who kicked my antenna?!
Stop hitting my display, you ******!
This isn't how you win!
Understood. Shutting up now.
Right... Alright.
...
This riot within a riot does not stop until late at night.
Thanks to the stationed members from the other forces and the mechanoids who came to volunteer, you managed to salvage the situation before it was too late.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Mark has gotten a new arm to replace the one he lost in the chaos.
Spinning his arm, he curiously inspects the Babylonia-made product.
The Engineering Force has also begun repairing the damaged infrastructure of the city.
...
Lee hesitates to speak, his eyes avoiding yours.
Lee holds his ground briefly before sighing and answering you apologetically.
I'm sorry, Commandant. I screwed up.
I shouldn't have said something like that.
I was hoping to talk to them openly. I didn't expect it to end like that.
Commandant?
Are you trying to comfort me, Commandant...?
I'm not. If it weren't for your frankness, we wouldn't have known what the awakened machines were thinking.
The level of their obsession with art is way beyond what Babylonia imagined.
...
This human is right, Lee.
Mark has stopped toying around with his arm.
They disagreed with how you painted it...
But they didn't disagree with why you painted it.
Mark the Great thinks it is a brilliant idea to combine all Schools of art from Constellia into one painting.
So, what I have to do now is...
Let's paint a new one. This time, we'll do it with our hands.
I can feel your sincerity, Lee. That's why I've decided to leave my mark on your next painting.
At the same time, the members of Neo-Multidimensional Mechanical Cubism approach Lee with a rolled-up canvas.
Is that...
The first ever Neo-Multidimensional Mechanical Cubist painting. We saved it from the fight earlier.
We'll help, too. Don't worry, Boss.
Maybe it is the way Mark tooted his own horn or how the awakened machines are covered in paints. Lee reveals a rare smile.
You pat Lee's shoulder, showing your encouragement.
Of course you will, Commandant. You are the leader of Neo-Multidimensional Mechanical Cubism, after all.
You imagine yourself standing behind a podium and giving a lecture on art... and you do not find that interesting at all.
By the way...
There must be facilities for exhibitions in this city if you all care about art so much.
Do you mean our galleries?
Art exhibitions in Constellia are always open. Let me send you the coordinates.
Yes. I want to further understand the art of the awakened machines.
How do they view themselves? How do they view others?
What do humans mean to them? What does this city and this world mean to them?
There are many things I need to understand. Those artworks will provide me with some answers, I think.
Would you like to join me, Commandant?
I'm sure you'll offer a lot of valuable opinions if you're there.
Lee looks determined. He has realized that this "riot" cannot be stopped by force.
He will finish his painting and use it to deliver what he wants to say.
You take out your terminal and send WGAA a mail.
It is alright if you cannot understand each other for now.
If you keep engaging each other earnestly, you will eventually overcome the wall between you and touch each other's souls.
You just have to keep trying before that happens.
You have to send forth even the smallest flame.
Your thoughts will gather—they always do. Quietly, they will form a fire where all your paths cross.
Someone will be attracted by the light. They will pause and watch it glow.
They will sweep away the dust of the past and greet the familiar and strange faces.
