The Next Step

After getting his company registered, Marcus did not return to his apartment. Instead, he availed a public transport bus and went towards the outskirts of the city.

Travelling in a public transportation was an entirely new feeling for Ethan of the previous world, and though he would not say that he enjoyed it, yes it was definitely a unique experience.

His destination was the headquarters of a start-up, AI Solutions. AI Solutions was a 4 year old start-up working in the field of as its name suggested- Artificial Intelligence.

AI Solutions had been hailed as one of the pioneers in Baharta province and though the Baharta province was one the more backward provinces of the Drusaa country, AI solutions had done considerably well.

But it seemed that, some unfortunate luck had struck AI Solutions and its performance had gone completely downhill in the past year. From an emerging leader in field of AIs, the start-up was now standing on verge of bankruptcy and dissolution.

After around an hour of journey, Marcus arrived at the headquarter of AI Solutions.

The main office of AI Solutions was a 4 storey building. As one would expect from a failing start-up, the building was almost deserted.

Not more than few dozen individuals were present on the ground floor and they were mostly working on final stages of dissolution of the company.

Marcus walked towards the reception table. A young woman of age around 22 dressed in crisp clothes was standing behind the table.

"Hello, Miss. Watson," Marcus greeted with a smile as he picked the receptionist's name from the name plate- Emily Watson.

"Hello…" She responded to which Marcus added, "Marcus Clifton."

"Mr. Clifton," the lady smiled and a small blush crept her face seeing the handsome face of Marcus. "What can I do for you?"

"I would like to meet the president of your company," Marcus revealed his purpose unhesitatingly.

The smile on the lady's face dimmed as she murmured, "Meet my president?"

Marcus nodded.

"I do not think that it would be poss.." the lady tried to deny the request but Marcus cut her across.

"You should contact her first," he said with a firm voice. "Tell her, that I have something that can bring this company… her start-up out of the crisis."

A confused expression on Emily's face but seeing Marcus confident face she relented.

"Ok," she said.

Marcus had expected her to use to the intercom to connect to the president but Emily pulled her mobile phone out and created some distance from him as she dialled the number.

It took her few seconds but she returned back with a beaming smile, "She has agreed."

"She is probably in good mood," she probably mumbled this to herself.

"Follow me," she said and walked towards the lift.

The duo of Marcus and Emily after few seconds in the lift arrived at the top floor of the building.

The entire floor was completely deserted. Emily brought Marcus to other end of the building and directed him towards a wooden door.

A name plate containing the word 'President' and below it 'Gloria Quint' was attached to the wooden door.

As a gentleman, Marcus knocked on the door which was immediately followed by a cold voice, "Come in."

With confident strides, Marcus pushed the door and walked straight in. The inside of the office was quite spacious but minimalistic.

Barring a wooden desk and a leather push back chair which was placed directly opposite to the entry door and two wooden shelves containing documents, the office had nothing in name of decoration.

The wall on the right side of the office had entirely been replaced by a floor to ceiling window through which large expanses of land of the outskirt of the city was visible.

But none of these things drew Marcus' attention as much as the person sitting on the chair behind the desk.

It was woman, in her late twenties. She would probably have a height of something around 5 feet 9 inches. She had dark black hair and equally dark and big round eyes.

She was a woman of aristocratic features and her presence commanded respect. And Marcus felt instantly drawn towards her.

Despite the icy cold expression on her face, Marcus' step did not falter and neither did the confidence or the smile from his face vanished.

He with steady steps walked towards her as he greeted her, "Miss Quint."

Marcus had no difficulty in deducing that the lady in front of him was not the one who would engage in useless handshakes, hence he did not offer his hands in greeting.

Despite her harsh demeanour, Gloria's words were polite.

"Mr. Clifton," she said. Clearly, Emily had made her boss aware of the visitor's identity.

Not willing to waste her time or beat around the bush, it was Gloria who came straight to the topic, "Mr. Clifton, I heard that you are here to offer a solution to bring my company out of this crisis. May I know what is it?"

"Straight to the topic," Marcus chuckled but Gloria remained unresponsive to this.

"Yes," Marcus continued. "I am here for the purpose that you have been told."

With this Marcus pulled two things out from his bag pack. First, was a hard disk. On the hard disk, written by a red marker were the words- 'AI EVOLUTION 1.0'.

The second thing was a stack of A4 sized papers which had been bind together. The same words- 'AI EVOULTION 1.0' was printed on the front cover of the stack of papers.

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[Thank you for reading. Give a review and leave your opinion. Comment your views. And send the Power Stones.]