C5 Amanda’s Advice

It was worth it after all; the two weeks’ vacation gave Zane the time he needed to relax. He was back to work and was being able to work more efficiently. He knew for sure he had fallen in love, with Sangla. Although, he was scared to admit it to her. He was not sure that Sangla had also fallen in love with him. Currently, he was at his local café, working on programming his code and was hoping to double time it, so he can get his bonus before Friday. He finished his code an hour early and checked to see if it worked, then sent it to his employer.

He then got a call on his smartphone and picked it up. “Oh, hey Dallas!” said Zane. “Good to hear from you.” Dallas Perkins was his supervisor and founder of Perkins Software and Tech Systems. Dallas founded the company in 2022, in Houston, TX; and the company flourished over time, and opened new locations in Pal Alto, CA; New York, NY; and Miami, FL. “You too, man!” said Dallas. Dallas became one of the multi-millionaires in Houston, with a net worth of $712,000,000. “I’m glad you’re far ahead of schedule.” “Yeah, but the project is far from complete.” Zane said. “Did you get my email, regarding Z.E.R.O? Along with all my work done over the last three days?” “Yeah, as a matter of fact I did.” Dallas said. “Amazing! Why don’t you sell this? It’s an amazing app!” “The problem is Dallas; the world isn’t ready for that advanced of an artificial intelligence program.” Zane said. “The world wasn’t ready for C.O.R.A, either!” said Dallas. “You never know man, if you still have reservations, I can actually get an old friend of mine to consult your app.” Zane was intrigued. “Does the name Jonathan Montgomery ring a bell?” said Dallas. “It sure does!” said Zane. “Dude, that’s your wife’s friend, and my neighbor Amanda’s brother.” “Nowadays, he’s working as Project Manager for a cloud-based company in Houston.” Dallas explained. “If you have reservations on selling Z.E.R.O, you can talk to him, and he’ll show you what he did to help improve C.O.R.A. Kevin Cross, may have invented C.O.R.A, but he perfected it.” “Amazing!” said Zane. “Also, one more thing!” said Dallas. “I’m promoting you to Project Manager for the California branch! You’ll be working the same schedule, and only once a week in office; starting next Monday.” “I’ll talk to Jonathan one day.” Zane said. “Thanks, Dallas!” “No problem, man!” said Dallas. “See you next month, in Houston!” He hung up the call.

Zane then smiled and looked out the café window. About two dozen automated drones flew above the parking lot. A few delivery drones, some police drones, and some TV channel drones capturing footage of the city. He took out his phone and recorded a ten-second video clip. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” he said to himself. He then got another call, “Oh, hey Amanda!” said Zane. “What’s up?” “Kristen told Cassandra, you found a girlfriend?” said Amanda. “A girl you met at the mall?” “She’s just a friend!” said Zane. “But yeah, I like her and I’m too chicken shit to tell her.” “It’s alright, Jonathan; my brother also was chicken shit to propose to Gloria, LOL!” said Amanda. “LMAO!” said Jonathan. “We all have been there then.” “Hey, listen to me!” said Amanda. “If you don’t mind, me and Peter will come on over to your place tomorrow night at eight. Just to help you out there a little.” “Sure, why not?” said Zane. “After all, the weekend is around the corner. And I’ll also be done with my tasks, by five tomorrow evening.”

Zane then packed up and left the café. He decided to start on tomorrow’s tasks at home and finish it earlier than tomorrow evening. Dallas in a way did not care how his employees did their tasks, if they put in between thirty to thirty-six hours a week, between Monday to Thursday. Zane for one, preferred the latter over the former. He then got home and spent the next five hours working. Later, he ordered dinner and it was delivered to him, via a drone. He then got a text from Sangla around 9:30 PM.

Sangla: Hey, you free Friday? 😀😃

Zane: Yeah, 😎😉 I am!

Sangla: Gr8, me and a bunch of friends, wanted to invite you to a movie Saturday evening.

Zane: Sure thing! 😎😃

Sangla: Aight, see you then!😉

Zane: Bye!😃

He then went to sleep and got ready to finish the rest of his work tomorrow before noon. The next day, around 7:30 PM; Peter and Amanda arrived. Zane welcomed them and explained the situation to them. Amanda and Peter listened to him, then Zane concluded with the text message she sent him last night. “Now, I feel she may like me after all.” Zane said. “Then, you must be honest with her and tell her.” Amanda said. “Don’t hold back, or you’ll remain in mystery as to whether or not she likes you.” “I agree with Amanda!” said Peter. “Don’t miss this chance and take it while you got it!” “I will, after the movie on Saturday!” said Zane. “What if she doesn’t like me?” “Then, move on and remain only her friend.” Amanda said. “Telling Sangla may not change anything between y’all but at least it’ll give you closure and y’all can move on!” “Also, to add with Amanda’s statement, look into her eyes with confidence and tell her, maintain your posture and composure.” Peter explained. “Thank you, very much!” said Zane. “Don’t worry, I will do as you suggest.” He gave Peter a hug, along with Amanda.

Zane then thanked Amanda and Peter, as they got up to leave. But he was scared inside as well. He knew he did not want to disappoint his first love. He wanted things to get better in his life and be with someone at the end of the day. He then took out his virtual reality headset and decided to play some video games. First, he watched the news for a while, before joining his friends online to play the game. His friends and him played a co-op multiplayer, VR game; ten on ten. Kristen also joined the game with his friends. The game was called The Summit Beyond The Galaxy, a science-fiction, military space game. Set in the year 2376, a time where most of humanity evicted Earth and spent most of their times in other parts of the solar system, such as the Moon, Mars, the asteroid belt and even Jupiter. As the sun had enlarged about fifty percent more in size, making life on Earth, virtually impossible to tolerate. The game was released in 2031 and had extremely great computer graphics. Apparently, the video game industry had rapidly shifted away from single player games, with the industry focusing more on the online, multiplayer only front. Sixty percent of the video games were released as VR games annually. While virtual reality itself improved and added itself, in more other various areas, businesses and industries. While many other games also came in the form of holograms.

Zane finally resolved on selling his invention, but consulting with Amanda’s brother and hopefully being able to partner with someone to start his own business. He was fed up having to work for someone and wanted to work for himself. He wanted to marry his love interest, but only if he was able to sell his product and it sold millions of copies. He then sent an email to both Jonathan Montgomery and Kevin Cross, hoping to hear from them soon.