Page 55 of Last Resort

Chapter Ten

The air was heavy withthe scent of tea, and Estrya was with them, keeping her mouth shut as they walked up the fragrant hillside and to a large assembly of buildings at the top.

Breen had a hand at her back, and he pushed Poppy gently up the stairs.

Thera’s guys had the camera today, and as Estrya got into position, she said, “Well, Team Alpha, today is for some unusual challenges. You will have to choose who does which challenge among yourselves, and you will have six hours to complete it.”

Poppy said, “What are the challenges?”

Estrya grinned. “There are two of them. The first is troubleshooting and debugging a game sequence, and the second challenge is the tea harvesting.”

Poppy looked at the guys. “We need to confer for a minute.”

Breen smiled, and Myro shook his head. “We felt your excitement when she said debugging. You do what you are best at, and we will do the delicate labour of tea harvesting.”

She clapped her hands. “Yes!”

Estrya smirked. “All right. Way to go, Poppy. Violet will show you to the computer, and Monsieur Tenec will show Breen and Myro to the harvesting building and give them a rundown on what they are going to be doing today.”

Violet came out of the shadows. “Come along, Poppy. Wish your guys good luck because their harvests are going to be judged by the Tenec family for quality. Your work is going to be judged at the finals at the end of the competition.”

She waved at the guys as she was led away. She smiled at them and turned to Violet. “Lead the way.”

Violet grinned. “Enjoying a bit of distance?”

“Getting used to the closeness. It’s a lot.”

Violet chuckled. “Yeah, I understand. I really understand.”

“Is it recent for you?”

“Recent enough. I went from being gloriously by myself to having a scowling storm walking behind me, and the serene light tried to keep him under control. It was a rough start. He thought I was a gold digger.” She snorted. “Our third knew me on sight and gave him a helluva lecture. Then it was backpedalling for a while. We finally got together properly, or improperly, and now we are calming down.”

“That’s good.”

They walked inside a dim space, and Poppy felt the hum of an air conditioner somewhere close.

“I have provided you with the game code and will show you the desired result and the current situation. I need you to get the two to come together, closer to the desired result. You have six hours to get it as close as you can.”

“Not much time.”

“And we are taking it up while chatting. So, this shed is clean, has been covered with monitors, and you have a rig that is stellar if I do say so myself. Let’s get you seated, and let’s get you started.”

Poppy got seated, got the monitors up, and watched the gameplay comparisons. “Right. I can do this.”

She lined her fingers up on the keyboard, arranged her mouse, took a deep breath, and got to work.

Her hands were aching, and she was blinking to moisten her eyes when a hand touched her shoulder. “That’s enough, Poppy. Let’s see what you have.”

Poppy got up numbly, nodded, and stepped aside.

She watched Violet start the sequences and whistle softly. “Oh, very nice.”

Poppy slumped in exhaustion. “Can I go eat something now?”

“Oh, yes. There is a buffet out the door and to the right. Go, go.” Violet was looking at the corrections with a small smile.

“Okay.” She walked out of the shed and into the bright light. She shielded her eyes and felt Myro wrap his arm around her.

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