Daniel walked to Alex' station as she cleared her station ready to go home. He put his arms on her divider looking down at her.
"What's up?" She asked casually as she fixed her desk.
"Would you mind joining me in my office?" Daniel asked looking at her.
"I'm ready to go home."
Alex informed him.
"We can finish it here." Daniel suggested. "If you like."
She looked at him, confused with his suggestion.
"Whatever do you mean, Dan?"
"I have to finish Kleia's game today." Daniel said watching her clear her things up. "I promise her I will give her the game tomorrow."
"It's Saturday tomorrow."
Alex spoke.
"Yes. I'm visiting Sebastian tomorrow and I promise Kleia I'm bringing the game to her." He explained. "I still have to finish it." He looked at her. "Would you please stay and help me finish it, Alex?"
"What do you need?"
She asked him.
"Just some finishing touches for the game. It would just take an hour to polish it."
He said.
"Okay. I'll help you out." Alex said agreeing. "We can do it here. In one of the stations."
Daniel occupied the PC beside him and opened the computer. He went to his files and opened it.
"I'm on the way to finish the game. I'm just doing some final touches. You check on the game story while I review the sequence."
Daniel told her.
Alex opened her PC and Daniel sent him the file.
Together they worked on the game for an hour.
They were almost finished when the power went off and went back on.
"Damn." Daniel muttered as the PC restarted.
"Don't worry, we'll finish once the computer gets back." Alex assured him.
"Yeah, let's wait." He agreed as they waited for the computer to get back on.
But the inevitable and unforeseen happened when Alex and Daniel went to return back to the program they were working on. The server crashed.
"Damn!" Alex exclaimed.
"Damn, damn, damn…" Daniel kept cursing.
"I don't believe this!" Alex shrieked as they looked at the frozen screen in front of them.
"Wait, I'll call Jack." Daniel said fishing his mobile from his side pocket.
He stood from the chair and dialed Jack's number.
Jackson Michael is the company IT.
"He's on the way." Daniel informed Alex.
"I can't believe this kind of misfortune has to happen just when we are about done," Alex confessed to him. "Are you that unlucky?"
"Maybe you are, Alex," he countered back.
"You're the unlucky one, Dan." Alex jabbed back at him.
"You two are so noisy." Jack said as he walked towards them. He was huge man wearing checkered black and white long sleeves shirt rolled along the arms and a pair of jeans. His hair was a wavy mess with some curls falling in front of his face. He wore a pair of black glasses.
Alex and Daniel turned towards him.
"Finally, you're here." Daniel said looking at Jack as he approached them.
He stopped in front of them.
"What happened?" He asked, hands on his hips.
"Alex and I were finishing the game we made for Kleia when the power went out."
Daniel explained.
"Ah, your niece." Jack said nodding at him. He went to sit on Alex' chair and open the program. "How old is your niece, Dan?"
"She's five years old."
"My eldest is six years old." Jack informed them. He waited for the program to open. "Wow. This is cute. My girl is going to love this."
Jack said looking at the main screen.
He tried to enter the game. The screen froze.
"And it's not working, Jack," Alex said looking at the screen.
"Don't you worry, fellas, I'll just go to the IT room to get this fix."
"Er…can't you fix it here?" asked Daniel looking at Jack. "We're running on schedule."
"I need to get the software program in my office to help you, kids." He rose from the chair. "Be right back."
And he was gone.
"I'm glad to hear Jack likes the design of this game." Alex told Daniel.
"I agree with you. We can launch this game during the Comic Expo for younger kids."
"That's a great idea, Dan." Alex agreed with him.
"But since we made this for Kleia, I'll have her test this game first and find how she will like it." Daniel said touching his chin as he looked at the frozen screen.
"She will love it." Alex affirmed. "Any girl would. The design is eye-catching."
"I didn't know you love to compliment your own work, Alex." Daniel said teasing her.
"Hey! I made quite an effort for your niece, St. Claire." Alex said right back to him. "Besides, Jack complimented my work first."
"Whatever you say, Alex." Daniel said shaking his head while looking at her. "If this game is successful, we can do a second version."
"Wow! Your jumping ahead of the gun."
"I always look forward to the future, Alex."
"I told my daughter, Eunice that she should look forward to a cute little game my boss is making in my office. She asked for the details."
Jack said as he walked back to the room.
"You told her?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah, called her while I returned to my office."
Jack went to sit back on Alex' chair and put the software disc in the hard drive. He proceeded to work while chatting with them.
"She's quite excited about this."
"I can give you a copy once we're done." Daniel offered.
Jack turned his head towards Daniel.
"That would be great man. Thanks." Jack said smiling widely at him. "It's her birthday tomorrow. And she's been clawing her hands on me to give her a birthday present."
"Sure, Jack. No problem."
Daniel said. He looked at Alex who looked back at him and gave him a knowing full smile.
"Give me five more minutes, Dan." Jack said as he worked on the program.
Alex and Daniel watched him in silence in the next five minutes.
"I updated the engine software." Jack said. "Give it a try, Alex."
Alex went to the PC. Jack moved the chair he was sitting on to the side.
She went to check the sounds. The background music and sound was there. But something was amiss.
"The dubbed voice is gone." Alex said as she went to the next page.
"No way!" Jack exclaimed.
"It is," Alex affirmed turning the volume. The game music could be heard and the clicking sound but when she clicked on the character, only the dialogue showed.
"Let me check." And he moved back his chair beside Alex.
After a minute, Jack echoed her words.
"Your right, Alex. The file was corrupted." He moved his cursor to the file and tried to recover. "Damn." He tried several times to retrieve it but wasn't able to retrieve the dubbed program.
He turned to Daniel and gravely looked at him.
"I can't retrieve it, Dan." He said shaking his head. "I can't get the dubbed file back."
"What do we do?" Alex asked, worried.
"This must be done tonight." Daniel said looking desperately at them. "I'm giving this game tomorrow to Kleia. I promised her." He looked at Jack. "And I told you I'm giving you a copy for your daughter's birthday tomorrow."
"It's a dubbed female," Alex told them.
"It's a female's voice, Dan." Jack said with a knowing look at Daniel.
Daniel looked at Alex. He looked at her quietly. Jack turned to look at her, too.
Alex looked back at them, getting the unspoken message.
"No way." She murmured.
"Yes, way, Al," Jack said sounding convinced. He was nodding his head.
Daniel nodded his head, too.
"You're not saying…" Alex said feeling helpless looking at them. "Oh no…me?" She asked uncertainly pointing herself.
The guys nodded profusely in unison.
"I've never done this before."
"I have to give this game to Kleia tomorrow, Alex." Daniel reminded her for the nth time.
"And I'm giving this game as a birthday present to Eunice, Alex." Jack added looking at her, very expectantly.
Their faces showing looks of desperation. Like lost for water in the wander and expecting her, Alex, to rise up as the heroine of the day.
She silently watched them.
They looked at her, gravely.
Talk about shoving guilt at the right place at the right time, Alex was backed in a corner with no place to escape. She was like a mouse caught by her preys.
Daniel and Jack were looking at her. With quite the desperation on their faces.
She raised her hands before them in defeat.
"Fine! Okay. I'm doing it." She announced.
"Yes!" Daniel jumped to his feet and hugged her. "Thanks, Alex."
He even kissed her on the mouth. Much to her surprise.
"Awkward guys." Jack murmured looking at them. "I'm still here, you know."
Daniel and Alex looked at him and laughed together showing half-embarrassed faces.
"Let's go to the studio." Daniel said at once as he walked ahead of them.
"How about the game?" Alex asked.
"The PC's on standby mode." Jack informed her. "It won't take that long to do voice acting for the game, Alex."
"I haven't done it yet, Jack." Alex told him as they went to the elevator. "I might messed up."
"Trust in yourself, Alex." Jack said consolingly to her.
"Your saving our asses, Alex so I'm sure you won't be messing this up." Daniel told her. "I trust you enough on this."
He said looking intensely at her.
"Er…thanks," Alex said awkwardly.
"Awkward," Jack said as the floor went up. "I'm still here you know." He said again as he looked at Daniel who didn't take his eyes off Alex.
Daniel turned to look at him and snipped him off.
"You've been saying that since earlier." He said looking at Jack.
The elevator opened with a ding.
"You should try to remember that I'm still here, Dan before you forget that it's only you and Alex." Jack said as they went out of the elevator.
The studio was three floors up above their floor. Voice acting, music and sounds are found on the 6th floor. The top and last floor is Daniel's office.
"I can pretend you're not here, Jack." Daniel said as they walked to the studio. "If you just kept quiet. You ruin my moments with her."
"Do I?" he asked, laughing.
"Be quiet." Daniel piped back. "Try to be invisible if you can so I can pretend that it's only me and Alex around."
"I'll try," he said. And turned quiet for a minute. But he couldn't kept his mouth shut and opened it after the next sixty seconds. "But you need my help to operate in the studio."
They reached the studio and Jack opened the door. He clicked on the light and bright light burst inside the room. He went to the other room and checked the equipment first. Then, went back to them.
"Read the script first to me, Alex."
Jack instructed her.
Alex followed and she read the script.
"Sound more lively as if you're talking to five-year-old kids."
Alex followed his instruction and repeated reading.
"Right, that's better." Jack said giving her the okay sign. "Now, let's go to work."
Alex entered the next door separated behind by a glass covered window where recording was done. She was asked to do a trial reading for the first page first before Jack allowed her to go on.
It took them four hours to record the script. And they ordered pizza for dinner.
Sitting comfortably in the lounge sofa located by the back corner of the room where the music recorder was placed, Alex, Daniel and Jack shared pizza as they munched their way to dinner.
"I thought your only working in the IT department, Jack," Alex said, chewing her pizza.
"I helped in the music and sound department." Jack further explained. "Where tech is needed, I'm there."
Jack looked at her.
"You've quite a talent for voice reading." He said sounding amazed at Alex. "You can be really quite good if you persist."
"We can use her," Daniel said agreeing with Jack while looking at him as he munched his pizza. "For our next projects."
Alex looked at them, shaking her head.
"You're just fooling me, guys," she said as she munched her pizza. "Pay me a compliment while you're that desperate."
The two men looked at each other in camaraderie.
"When the next project come." They said together.
"Let's cross that bridge when it comes," said Alex breezily as she rose from the chair and went to the next room. She went to the microphone. "Let's finish this, guys."
After the next two hours, which was at ten pm, they finished the reading and they returned to the production floor.
Jack went to the IT room as he waited for Alex and Daniel to finish the game.
They were done with the game by midnight. And before one the next day, everyone drove back home.
Kleia received the game the next day while Eunice received hers as birthday present. Both girls played the game and found it not only wonderfully entertaining but very educational as well. They never thought they could enjoy learning as much as having fun by simply playing a game.