Chapter 4: Plan of action
Charlotte yawned as she closed her personal computer, she had been reading articles to get to know about the things she had done, not because she didn't know how to do these, but because she didn't know their names!
"It's such a hassle not knowing the name of things… I guess this is one of the downsides of not completing a degree uh."
Her eyes were red of reading so much at such a fast pace and doing plans for going to 3 different directions in the next investigations, all so she could be prepared.
"I'll need more, but for now, this is good enough."
<Oppsie, I really need to stop talking out loud…>
Getting ready to sleep, she saw in her phone a message.
"Jean:
Why did you cancel your interview today? D'=
I was hopping to work with you! I highly recommended you, you know!"
<Oh, right, it was because of him I got a chance to work at GameWorld… I should apologize.> GameWorld was one of the biggest gaming companies, they have launched 5 devices already, the last one being one with a helmet or something like that, Charlotte wasn't too interested in that type of thing, but it was good and easy to work in there, or so she had been told by him.
"Charly:
Im soso sorry! I was calld by another company to start working today
Id to go all afternoon and tomorrow
At least itll last 2 weeks and at most I duno…
Sorry and thanks! (・ω<) "
"Jean:
Oh, I see, don't worry. So? How was it?
Your first day or afternoon of work that is"
Exchanging some more messages, Charlotte suddenly had a brilliant idea. She smirked and wrote what she thought of.
"Charly:
Oh by the way
I was thinking on doin something for todays interview
But seeing that its not possible I wanted to tell you about it"
"Jean:
Oh? What's it? "
"Charly:
It's a game idea! I know you like it a lot so maybe it can inspire you
So! I want ur feedback! "
"Jean:
I'm listening"
"Charly:
It's a game about decieveng others and it all depends on what the machine choices at the start!
So you need to think about what could go wrong and how to change it! "
"Jean:
That's… Interesting, how will the machine choose? And how many branches will there be? "
"Charly:
Dunno? I wanted the feedback you know? That's why I told you （〃￣∇￣）"
"Jean:
Hmm I see, at minimum I believe there should be 10 routes, and maybe 4 to 5 branches for beginners and so on depending on the level of difficulty one can choose… I'm not too sure, I'll ask a script writer I know to see how it's best to do it"
"Charly:
NO! Wait no! Don't do it! "
"Jean:
Why? I believe having the help of a professional is better, no? "
"Charly:
Yes but I want to still try to do it! If you tell anyone they might stole my idea and I don't want it! "
Charlotte believed that if it went out, maybe people will see a connection with her and her current job, she couldn't risk it.
"Jean:
What about me then? "
"Charly:
I trust you enough to know you wont do it ＼_(･ω･*)з))"
"Jean:
Whatever. I won't tell anyone on the condition that you'll tell me when you start working seriously on it, okay? "
Charlotte laughed as she read this, thinking, <as always… You're so easy to see through. And to manipulate… But…> Shaking her head, she drove her thoughts away and replied.
"Charly:
Of course! But now I gotta sleep
Tomorrow I need to be there at 7! (つ﹏⊂)"
"Jean:
Oh damn, that's pretty early… Ok, I won't bother you more
Have good dreams, goodnight! "
"Charly:
Bye~! ヾ(^_^) "
<Ummm… 5 possible routes for each choice, uh… Charlotte thought as she only had done one for each possible scenario she could think of. Whatever, I'll do it tomorrow night. Now is to do other things. >
She went to the desktop, she hadn't used it that much these last two days, she didn't need to calculate anything, and trying to sort things wasn't meant for a machine but for a human. At least that way she'll remember each and every file while knowing where they were. It was close to midnight right now and she still needed to sleep or she'll be way too tired tomorrow.
<Let's finish it fast so I'll be able to start working on it.> After she made up her mind, she started her desktop and connected it to her laptop. Even if it was good at doing operations, its internal space was pretty limited, there was no way of getting more, and getting an external one was as slow as connecting it to another computer, be it personal or desktop, as long as one knew what they were doing.
Taking around 15 minutes to connect everything, she started to write a new script in her desktop. It was so she could search for the corresponding materials she needed to her first experiment.
Yes. What she made one of the best super-computer of the world do was just to compare the result of her research and the properties of the materials known and its diverse uses, adding it together, create more combinations from another script she had developed so she could have a great number of available materials, just so she could make her little experiment!
<Let's leave at it for now.>
Charlotte thought to herself as she felt satisfied with what she had done this last hour, she was going to put it in automatic until she left the next morning. What she worked on were only the conditions she could think of, like type of material, rarity and how well it behaved with the others were only the beginning.
She went to sleep only leaving her panties on and taking everything else out.
--
The next morning, her alarm was sounding as if the world was going to end, fortunately she squared the alarm first thing when she got home or else she knew she'd be late to her first normal day of job.
She got herself ready as fast as she could, her getup consisting of a long black skirt and plain white blouse, along with sandals she usually didn't wear. As she had short hair, only at shoulder length, she often let it go with the wind, not bothering to keep it restricted. The only other thing she had with herself was the satchel she carried to the interview, in there was only a sweater and an umbrella in case anything happened, though the forecast said it was improbable, it didn't mean there was no chance.
Before going out she ate a white bread with scrambled eggs, accompanied of black coffee without sugar, adding sugar only meant ruining the original flavor. <If one wanted a sweet they should get some carbonated soda or something like that.> Charlotte thought as she finished her coffee, not waiting for it to be cool enough to not get burned.
"Ugh fck it!" She ran as she was getting late, it was almost thirty for seven. She brushed her teeth and got going. The metro takes 10 minutes from the nearest stop of the house and she had to walk for around 5 minutes between the stop and the destination, not counting the time she needed to wait for the metro to arrive and any other situation that might present.
She arrived at the shared building with around 5 minutes to seven.
"Fui, on time." She smiled at the receptionist and made her entrance to the hall they were on yesterday. On there, one of the staff came near her and told her she needed to get the terminal they were lending her at the Treller's floor. She despaired as she heard it. She'll be indeed late for her first day of formal work…
Once she came back, her teammates were waiting for her patiently. They saw her arriving but she went out almost running after a staff member told her something. They could only guess as she was with a suitcase she hadn't have before. A few moments later Dunn was on the podium mic in hand.
"Hello everyone, now we'll be discussing our plan of action and how you're going to proceed, any and all suggestions are welcome, for now, let's start with…"
--
At noon, they were allowed to go to another place to continue their respective work. Charlotte was the only girl in her team. Heck, in all the hall there were only 4 other women.
"So, we'll need to get ourselves together so we can discuss how it's going, I'm planning on doing a draft of what each one is going to do. Please wait for a moment while I do it."
""Ok""
Everyone in the team agreed to him, he was Laurent Revilla. He was chosen as he had a doctorate in informatics, and everyone else agreed he was the most fitting to be the leader, all except Charlotte, she didn't care who it was as long as it was not her. She just didn't want to deal with more than the bare minimum, seeing as it could go forever like that if no one made a breakthrough in her modus operandi.
In the time they're waiting for Laurent to sort everyone's role according with what each had said about their capabilities before. Charlotte was asked multiple times from the other members what were her hobbies, what she liked and what series or games she was following. She was getting fed up with them.
<It's almost as if they haven't talked with a girl before… It can't be It, right?... Right?!>
When she was about to lash out Laurent finished his draft and said.
"Ok, I'm finished, please, look at it and if you're not satisfied with it please tell me so I can modify it."
He had a smile as if he had done a pretty good job.
Everyone went behind him and looked at his screen. Seeing it, Charlotte couldn't help but exclaim in her mind <Even him?!> She was astonished about what was written in there, specially in her part. She was assigned the least bit of work.
"Uhm, is this alright? I'm not doing much compared to the rest of you, no?"
"Oh, don't worry about it, from what I've understood about you, you don't even have a degree, much less experience in the field as this is your first job, right? So, just sit and watch the professionals work and learn as fast as you can so you can be helpful in the future."
As she heard him, she noticed he had a refreshed smile in his face.
<Even if that is true, I can't help but feel he's underestimating way too much… Even if that's great because I could do other things in the time they work on other things…Even if… Even if…>
Straining her face with a smile, she said.
"I understand, but I want to keep working here, I can't help but wonder if it'd be enough to not get fired in two weeks."
"You don't have to wonder, dear."
<Dear!?>
"If you do your things as well as you can, I'll vouch for you so you could continue working in here, after all, we can't have our ma- ahem- only female getting fired like that. Ain't that right, guys?"
He asked while looking at the other people around him. They all nodded in seriousness, not having even an inch of shame.
<Ma? What's a ma?! A mask? Martir? Mascot?... MASCOT?! AM I A PET NOW?!>
She was getting angry but had to do her very best so she wouldn't rant there and then.
<Yes, I'm on the short side, heck, I believe I'm the shorter one in all this hall, but I can still punch hard! Hum! Just you wait!>
"Uhm, if that's what you meant, Iguessit'sok…" At the end she agreed albeit with a vein popping in her head.
<It'll at least gimme sometime to do my things…> And so, she calmed down. Trying to justify it with her own goals and not caring what any of them thought of her, she let it go.
"So, we're going to need to group so we can progress faster and smoothly, any suggestions?"
Laurent looked at the other three members of his team. Waiting for them to say something. Seeing that there was nothing in their minds, he said.
"I know of a place, it's in the outskirts. It's from my family and we can use it however we want, has good space, enough to fit us five and has good connection, if everybody agrees we can go there."
As no one complained, he continued with a smile.
"It's near the highway to Guignon and there's a metro stop around 15 minutes of walking, I know it's a little far, but seeing that there's not objections I propose it. Afterwards we can see if it works and if it doesn't we can change it to a more central part. Now what do you guys say of going there now?"
Everyone agreed except for Charlotte.
"Why don't you want to go? Is it too far?"
"No, it's not that. Actually, I didn't bring my laptop, the one I have I borrowed from the company, so if we go, I won't have anywhere to work with."
"Oh, yes, you were late because of it… Don't worry, I can lend you a desktop my family has there."
"Hmm ok, I'll try to bring mine next week."
"Don't fret it. Shall we go? It's getting late and I want to progress as much as we can, even if it's only a little."
"Where are eating?"
One of the others said, his name was Dave Trishe, it was a good concern as they hadn't eaten yet and it was getting late, it was almost one now and at the time they get to their destination, it'll be at leat 2:30 pm, almost 3 if something unexpected happened in the metro.
"Oh that, don't worry, there's a good restaurant near it. We can eat there, don't worry, my treat."
Once it was all confirmed, they told one of the staff their plans and went out to take the metro.
Weekly Power Status
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