Page 59 of Soul Mates: Hercules Valentine and I

“Take GIT’s Climate Condition for instance. We all need climatized shelter. When it’s hot, we want to be cooled. When it’s cold, we want to be…”

“I got that part,” Hercules finally chimes in rather briskly.

What’s wrong with him?

“I’m aware of GIT’s products,” Hercules continues. “What ideas do you have for us?”

He’s put me on the spot, and now I’m reeling with anxiety. Max has repeated many times that he wants me to remember that VTI is a competitor—although number nine is a long way from number one, which means they’re really not a threat.

“Lark, are you okay?” Mason looks worried.

No, I’m not.“Yes. I’m sorry.” I inhale deeply through my nose as I sit up straight. “Well, let’s look at VTI’s video sound compression chip. I’d like to put my team in a room and brainstorm ideas.”

“Brainstorm? I’m paying you to develop,” Hercules says.

“I understand, but one brain is never as good as five more. And maybe there’s nothing we can come up with as far as video and sound are concerned, but VTI’s compression technology might be something to study.”

Finally, Hercules grunts thoughtfully.

“She also mentioned scrapping whatever’s holding us down,” Mason says.

“Like?” Hercules blurts.

“Video games, Herc.”

“Video games are forty-three percent of our profits.”

“They don’t have to be.”

“Survival made us develop video games. If we stop, we’ll slip into oblivion.” Hercules didn’t sound so harsh when he said that.

Mason thrusts himself forward. “Do you see the size of our operation? We can’t sustain ourselves in this marketplace by developing and peddling video games. We have to think big.”

Hercules grunts facetiously. “We might as well start making flying cars if that’s the case.”

Mason smirks. “By the way, we ran into Orion in the elevator yesterday.”

Hercules pauses for a few uncomfortable seconds. “He was in the building yesterday?”

“Yeah.”

“What for? Do you know?”

Mason glances at me. “I do. We’ll talk after this.”

“All right. Miss Davenport, may I call you Lark?” Hercules asks.

I stretch my lips into a small smile. Now, that’s the Hercules I remember. “Yes, you may, Mr. Valentine.”

“Call me Hercules.”

“Yes, Hercules.”

“Good. Listen, I heard how you fixed our problems with Killer Firewall. Thank you for that. I like what you’ve said during our call. I want you to pitch some ideas to me on Friday.”

Friday. Aren’t you out of the country?

“Um, sure.”