
The first step was a lopsided square.
The two programs fought. Photoshop blurred; Illustrator sharpened. The robot on Liam’s screen began to twist, half organic raster, half cold geometry.
In Photoshop, layers began to form by themselves. A rough sketch of a robot—blocky, sad, with a single glowing eye—appeared on Layer 1. Liam watched, transfixed. The sketch was better than anything he could do.