Chapter 95 - The test

Sweat trickled from my hairline. I finished hundreds of defective code in fifteen minutes. Still, I was too slow. Olga finished the new corrections and came to my rescue. I poured my heart into the job for Grant's sake. We couldn't fail. Not now.

"Hurry!" urged Dr. Churchhill when the countdown reached the last minute. I kept my eyes glued to the red text, fingers moving a fast as possible to select and paste the new one in place. Somehow as the clock ticked I felt no panic. I was serene. An alarm rang, the door opened. I hit the last one I was handling and turned to look at Olga, she nodded at me with a smile. We did it. I chuckled while wiping my face on my sleeves. Not at all lady-like.

"Congratulations," said Altas with a hint of disappointment. I jumped and cheered as I rounded the table.

"Can I switch him on?" I peeked at Olga. She was looked at the diagnostic then she turned to me.

"It's all green. His is good to go," I eagerly pressed the spot behind his ear and stepped back. He blinked a couple of times. His eyes fixed on the ceiling then he turned to me with a smile.

"Hello, Liliane, I knew you could make it," I threw my arms around him and kissed his face mindless of the audience. He sat up and placed his feet on the floor. I wouldn't let go of him. I was overjoyed to finally touch him again.

"How are you feeling?" I inquired. He took a couple of minutes.

"I feel fine," he assured me. He hopped off the table and smooth the wrinkles of his shirt. Dr. Churchhill studied him. Olga was the first to exit the white room carrying her designer bag, we followed her.

"You can now move to your lab. Aquarius was impressed by the unique way you wrote those codes, Dr. Churchhill," said Atlas. I gave a side-glance at Olga. Her face was as blank as a marble statue. Why wasn't she screaming that she was the one doing all the coding? Grant pulled me near him.

"Thank you," smiled the doctor. He took out a napkin from his pocket to wipe his forehead. The fat liar I can't believe he was just lying through his teeth. I hope he rolls over and crumbles under the weight of such a fraud.

-It's ok. Liliane. Olga wants us to keep it silent for now.

"Miss Kerry, I didn't know you had it in you?" laughed the old rat. "I'm happy to have you as a lab assistant. I thought you were dead-weight," somehow it didn't sound like a compliment.

The rest of the day went by without much happening. We were shown in our workplace. A huge warehouse with the latest machinery. Most of them I've never even seen. Atlas left us to get our footing after we've signed a lengthy contract. But we knew he was there, always keeping an eye on our every movement.

At lunch, we met Angus and Elija in the cafeteria. Both were working in labs next to ours. They never mentioned which one or what they were working on. It seemed like the human personals in the surrounding like to gather in this particular cafeteria at lunchtime. It might have something to do with their phenomenal variety of desserts or the fact the food was free. I ate to my heart's content.

By 7 pm we headed back to the coast. The sky was a blanket of stars. There were no lamps along the way but tiny dot shone at equal intervals on the black asphalt. I slept all the way home. Grant came to wake me up when we arrived. I was surprised we were already there.

"Come here, Princess," he reached for me to take me in his arms. I saw Olga peeked at us from the rearview mirror. I blinked my sleep away and gave Grant a nod.

"It's ok, you must also be tired," I wiped my face and got out. We waved her goodbye and moved to the path leading to our house. Demos was standing in front of the gate, waiting. I ran and threw myself in his open arms.

"Welcome home," I silenced him with a kiss. He pulled away and gazed at Grant.

"What happened, I couldn't connect with both of you most of the day. I was a little worried," his eyes darted from my tired face to Grant's.

"Let's get inside," said Grant with a sigh. "We have to talk," he added.

"Good, I've already prepared dinner," frankly I was full from the copious lunch I had earlier. Still, I wanted to taste what Demos prepared for me. We all headed home relief to be able to relax.