-Good afternoon, Mr. Carson,- Alice said, looking particurly beautiful today. She had a hairpin in her hair, pulling it to one side, making her look especially charming. She wore a rge pink jacket that reached down to her hips and tight jeans.

  -You're the girl from the party, -- Richard Carson said, eyeing Alice from head to toe. -- e in, you've arrived just in time for lunch. Billy is helping Helehe table, - Richard added.

  Alice felt somewhat nervous uhe gaze of Mr. Thomas Carson. She entered and sat in the living room as discreetly as she could. Billy had mentiohat his family was quite traditional in many ways, so she decided to remain silently prudent, the minimalist decor of the house, with only a potted pnt ad one er.

  Thomas Carson tinued reading the neer, going through the eic se, the legal se, and the national news of the week, this Sunday. He read quietly, occasionally taking a sip of his beer, while his father i secretly swiped a few fries from Helen's pot.

  Billy appeared at the door and smiled at Alice. -Hello, - he said, looking at the young woman and hugging her.

  -Dad, you haven't met Alice yet, - Billy said, taking her by the waist.

  -I haven't had the pleasure of meeting this young dy, - Thomas Carson said, shaking hands with the meek Alice, who was fag Billy's imposing father.

  -It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Carson. I'm Alice Davis, sir, - Alice responded.

  -Well, e on, I'll take you upstairs; lunch is almost ready, - Billy said, leading Alice up the stairs to his room. Alice got a glimpse of the room and found Billy's Batman bed sheets quite cute.

  -Here, - Billy said, handing her a silver bracelet, bought at a store in San Francisco shortly after the trip to Pixar to keep track of budget bances.

  -Thank you, Billy, - Alice said, somewhat ented and moved by the thoughtful gesture. She put the bracelet on almost instinctively.

  -Well, that's not all. I bought you some ics to read during your free afternoons in Berkeley—The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Iron Giant, - Billy said, holding up the books on his desk, which secretly tained a few dedications on some pages.

  -Thank you, - Alice said, feeling even more overwhelmed this time. She hadn't brought anything, and now she felt terrible about it.

  -Let's go; my grandpa should be pining right about now about how his grandson has decided to ignore him, - Billy said.

  -Yeah, - Alice replied, following him from a distaill thinking about the details of Billy's gestures.

  Only Billy could think of such rewards for the pirl who insisted on ing to his house. Although Alice wouldn't be too far from San Jose, Berkeley was only two and a half hours away, very close to Pixar Studios. But it wasn't a short trip, so her parents had enced her to stay in the uy dormitory.

  -e this way, - Billy said.

  The table was set, and his grandmother was still doing the dishes. His father was already at the table, while his grandfather remained in total silence, ign Billy and Alice; eae was lost in their world.

  -Finally, you're here, my dear. We were waiting for you, - Helen said, eyeing Alice up and down with a furrowed brow. She didn't say anything, though.

  The meal was fortably quiet for all the Carsons except Alice, who came from a livelier household. She tried her best to follow all the manners she had been taught, but the sauce-covered meat ended up smearing her right cheek. In trast, Richard, who was eating with fervent hunger, hadn't gotten a speck of sau his face.

  Billy could only wipe her face, leaving Alice with rosy cheeks from embarrassment at the intimate gesture in front of his family. -- You have some sau your cheek, -- Billy said before returning to his meal. Alice's blood was boiling, but she simply nodded in respoo Billy's unusual attention.

  At one point, during the meal, his father received a phone call. He quickly picked up the phone, and upon hearing some words, he stood up urgently from the table, pushing his chair back with a forceful shove, leaving everyo the table.

  From his office, Thomas Carson received news about the game progress sent for distribution by the ID Software team. Together with Pixar, they mao plete the game in record time.

  -I'm gd to hear that, - Thomas said over the phone.

  -We've sent differe versions to the pahey will do the final testing before releasing the product. For now, only Sega has firmed, and of course, we'll hahe distribution of the game for puters, - said Brian Rilley, one of the four programmers oeam.

  -leasant news! Regarding the PC distribution, will it proceed? - Thomas asked.

  -Oh, John Romero expihat puter games have a limited niche, so we'll be selling through a small PC game distributor. The deal is already in pce, arust that they will fulfill their promise to distribute it far and wide across the try. While we don't expect high PC sales, we believe that the major sole panies will perform better, - Brian Rilley said.

  -Have you spoken with Anne? - Thomas inquired.

  -Yes, I have. She instructed me to deliver the o you, and with Sega's approval, the other sole panies will likely follow suit. The step is to establish ourselves as a brand, - Brian Rilley replied.

  -Well, Mr. Rilley, in five days, my son will be traveling to Texas to hand over the project. You start your vacations for now, but I reend improving the game engine in the meantime. My soiohat the game will be more plex, and we'll be hiring two or three people. If you have any reendations, feel free to share them, - Thomas stated.

  -Of course, Mr. Carson, I won't hesitate. I'll send a message to Romero and Carmack; they started their orematurely, - Brian Rilley said.

  -Have a great day, Mr. Rilley, - Thomas cluded, returning to his meal. He didn't receive any calls from Mr. Davis; it seemed that Joe Murrey couldn't attend the meeting.

  Meanwhile

  -Likewise, Mr. Carson, - Brian Rilley said from his chair. His wife, Alexa Rilley, had overheard the entire versation and fshed him a smile.

  -You heard it, dear. Start buying the tickets for Sunday. We're heading to the coast of Gree a few days, - Brian said.

  -Yes! - his wife excimed with joy. Sihey started w for this pany, all their problems have been resolved, from their weekly sary to their vacation time. The pahey used to work for were strid peted for short delivery deadlihat left them exhausted.

  -I'll be fog on improving the game ehere were a couple of things that we could implement for the characters. Billy entioned something about automating movements and optimizing code and resources, - Briaioned.

  Alexa leaned in to give him a farewell kiss.

  -Darling, I'll make sure to arrive and assist you. I'll do the shopping and buy the tickets freece, - Alexa said, bidding goodbye to Brian.

  Brian was a true methodist; his talent y iing tasks rather than iing things. He found iing to be quite challenging, but his methodical approach made him a genuine programmer. He could aplish anything given time and study. He was twice as dedicated as his wife, and, most importantly, he could identify errors in minutes.

  With his work clear and explicit, he refihe code for the products he wanted. Billy, with his various systems and ideas, such as the straightforward cept of online ectivity, presented revolutionary ideas. However, expressing these ideas was ohing; realizing them was not simple. Brian's talent y ihodically following each step to address all the errors, like a binary mae. He provided answers, although they weren't always correct. But by fixing the issues through sequence adjustments, only by correg them, could you reach the desired end goal.

  ...