Short, quick update!
Dr Lotz had been in the lab since she returned from lunch, working on the one small glitch that was eluding her in the I.O.N.A. 1 CPU. The one glitch she couldn't seem to work out. For some reason, I.O.N.A. 1 wouldn't obey the order to pour alcoholic beverages. It would pour glasses of milk, or ice water, even cranberry juice. But for some reason there was a connection missing when a request for any alcoholic beverage was made. The preprogrammed safeties included all applicable laws, and the I.O.N.A. series wouldn't serve to someone not of legal age. But Lila was old enough, and had the ID to prove it. It was starting to get frustrating. For five months this glitch had been present. Prior to assembly, the programming and models all worked perfectly.
She slammed down the notes she was reviewing and rubbed her eyes, resting her head in her hands. At least she had tonight to look forward to; meeting up with Clark again. She never thought it would happen so soon, but she was developing a crush, and she was certain Clark felt the same. She smiled and looked up, only to be startled out of her reverie by Dr. Mason Hines, her lead programmer, and co-designer.
He was staring at her, like he always did. She hated to work alone with this guy. He creeped her out, he was short, balding, wore huge, thick glasses, and had a very nasally voice. Lila wasn't one to make judgments on appearance, but when she'd met Mason Hines she knew he had to be some sort of genius to be on this project. The guy just exuded weirdness.
"Dr. Hines, you startled me. I didn't know anyone else was still here," she started gathering up her things, and turned off her computer terminal. She was ready to make a break for the door.
"I just came back in to tidy up a few lose ends," he responded cryptically.
God, he is so weird, Lila thought.
"Well, I was just heading out, so have a good night," she picked up her bags and proceeded towards the door. She could feel his eyes on her as she walked across the lab. Lila scanned her Luthorcorp ID badge, and the safety door opened, letting her out of the main lab. As the door closed behind her, she glanced back and saw Mason head towards the case where I.O.N.A. 1 was contained.
"Maybe he can work out this bug in the system," she whispered, as she hoped that tomorrow she'd come in and the problem would be gone.
As Lila exited the elevator at the parking garage, she glanced over when she saw the neighboring elevator open.
"Mr. Luthor, I thought you had a private elevator to a private parking area?" Lila blurted out, surprised to have run into Lex in the parking garage.
Lex turned to look at Lila, and then glanced at his Napoleon franke watch, the gift from his mother.
"Dr. Lotz, you're here after hours, is there a problem with the project?"
"No, not a real problem. Just a small, miniscule, bug in the operating system," she tried to gloss over the situation. "It really isn't that bad, we just can't seem to get I.O.N.A. 1 to pour and serve alcohol."
"Interesting," Lex stared at her, "you never mentioned this in our briefing this morning," he looked Lila in the eyes, and she felt herself taking a small, unnoticeable step back.
Lex gave Lila no time to respond.
"Dr. Lotz, I have no doubts you will have this so called bug corrected before the specs are finalized and the I.O.N.A. series is presented to the stockholders next week," Lex said this, and there was no question. Dr. Lotz's entire future lay on making sure this problem was fixed.
"Of course," Lila assured him. "In fact Dr. Hines is downstairs now, working on the problem himself," Lila hoped this was in fact true. This was an uncomfortable situation. She wasn't used to dealing with Lex Luthor. Lionel had been harsh and demanding, but there had been other aspects to their relationship that had kept the veiled threats at bay.
"Good. Have a nice evening Dr. Lotz" Lex walked straight towards the first parking space, where a sleek, black Mercedes sat.
"Yes, good evening Mr. Luthor," Lila said to herself, under her breath. She wasn't fond of this Luthor. She wished Lionel were still here, and in charge.
In the lab, Dr. Hines was fiddling with a CPU.
"This should be the last adjustment," he murmured. He took the circuits and the board he was working on and placed them into the android.
Once they were in place, he looked into the eyes for the sign that things were running normally. Yes, there it was; a low, red glow. A few more adjustments and we'll be ready, he thought to himself, grinning.