"Mr. Donaldson, please don't worry. This isn't a difficult fix," Nelson said quickly. "It's just a minor bug. A few lines of code and it'll be sorted out."
Kate stepped in. "Mr. Donaldson, you've seen what Nelson is capable of. Every test before this one was a success. Running into small issues during R&D is perfectly normal. What matters is whether they can be resolved quickly. I'm confident he can handle it."
Her tone was absolute. Not a flicker of doubt in her eyes.
Nigel looked at Kate, then at Nelson. His expression softened slightly.
"All right. Let's see how it performs after the fix."
Nelson took the tablet and crouched off to the side to rework the code. Kate walked over and stood behind him, leaning down to watch the screen. The two of them were close. Her hand rested on the back of his chair.
From where I sat, it looked like she was half-holding him.
She said something, and Nelson turned to smile at her.
It wasn't the kind of smile a subordinate gives a boss. It was the kind that only exists between two people who share something private.
Kate didn't bother hiding it. She reached over and patted his shoulder, murmuring, "Focus."
The whole process took about twenty minutes.
Nelson stood up and announced the fix was done. His voice carried noticeably more than before, brimming with confidence.
"Mr. Donaldson, the issue has been resolved. I've recalibrated the parameters. There won't be any more recognition delays."
Before Nigel could respond, Nelson added, "To prove our system is safe and reliable, I'll personally take the field for the final test."
The room went quiet.
"Personally take the field?" Nigel blinked. "You mean stand on the test track?"
"Yes." Nelson nodded. "No mannequin. The car comes straight at me. I stand in the middle of the road and let it avoid me on its own."
One of the executives frowned. "Supervisor Gilbert, that's way too risky. What if something—"
"There is no 'what if.'" Nelson cut him off, his voice carrying absolute certainty. "Relax. I have complete confidence in my program."
As he spoke, his gaze flicked to Kate.
Kate hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "I trust Nelson's judgment."
The executive still wasn't satisfied. He turned to Kate. "Ms. Henson, shouldn't we at least run another assessment? This involves someone's physical safety—"