Jilted Ex-wife Billionaire Heiress novel Chapter 78

Chapter 78 Welcome To

The Future

‘I don’t want to eat with Chris,‘ Callan complained. ‘He yells at me if I have too many carbs.”

“Then shouldn’t you take advantage of his absence and order whatever you like?‘ Darya suggested.

‘You are right!‘ Callan’s eyes lit up.

He reached for his phone. ‘I’m dying to sink my teeth into a juicy steak burger, one with real meat, not the fake

soy stuff.‘

‘Then I’d recommend The Market Grill. Their grass–fed beef burger is to die for. Also, don’t forget to order the

house special pulled beef brisket.‘

‘I’m already drooling!‘

Darya left her brother to order a lunch loaded with grease and carbs.

She wondered if Chris would blow a casket when he saw his favourite singer wolf down a 1,000–calorie burger.

Forty–five minutes later, she pulled up outside a glass–and–chrome building.

Reece Cooke came out of the lobby to greet her. ‘Miss Miller, I’m glad you decided to come. Sorry about the

last–minute change in schedule.‘

‘It’s fine.‘ Darya shook hands with Solaro’s CEO.

She entered the lobby with soaring columns and gleaming floor tiles.

The futuristic décor reminded her of a sci–fi movie.

A human–like robot dressed in a light grey suit rolled forward. ‘Welcome to the Gerber Research Lab. How may I help you today?‘

Reece made the introductions. ‘This is Julia. She’s the…I guess her role is best described as a receptionist. Would you like her to bring you a cup of coffee?‘

‘No, thanks.‘ Darya admired the lifelike expression on Julia’s face as the robot smiled and returned to her station behind the desk.

She knew the Gerber Lab was funded by a consortium of individual investors and corporations.

Solaro had a stake in the lab, whose projects were kept tightly under wraps.

Without Reece here, Darya would not have been able to step foot inside the lobby.

“This way.‘ Reece guided her to a bank of lifts.

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Chapter 78 Welcome To The Fotore

He swiped a keycard, then pressed his thumb to a fingerprint reader.

He turned to Darya. “They are very security–conscious here. My access is restricted to the top two floors only.‘

Darya nodded.

The lift whisked them up to the eighteenth floor.

Darya stepped out of the lift and walked right into the set of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.‘

In front of her, a white tunnel stretched on, seemingly endless.

Ceiling lights and wall sconces were arranged in such a way as to make the tunnel appear octagonal.

Lab technicians and scientists clad in white overalls glided soundlessly into and out of rooms concealed behind white panels.

Bright red Djinn chairs were arrayed along both walls.

Darya half expected to see Dr David Bowman jump out and greet her.

‘One of the lab founders is a fan of Stanley Kubrick,‘ Reece said by way of explanation.

‘Nice.‘ Darya joked, ‘I hope they are not making a HAL 9000 here.‘

Reece chuckled. ‘No, just your regular supercomputer.”

He led the way down the tunnel, turned left, then right, and continued until he reached a hermetically sealed

double door.

He stepped up and pressed his face to a retina scanner.

The door hissed open.

‘Welcome to the future,‘ Reece announced with dramatic flair.

Darya was treated to the view of an all–white lab.

The floor, the ceiling, the walls, the desktops, the chairs, even the table lamps–everything was pure white.

Absently, she wondered if the people who worked here suffered from snow blindness.

Maybe that was why they were all wearing goggles.

‘Mr Cooke, I thought you’d left.‘ A man in a white lab coat stood up from his white chair,

He had a full head of white hair, but his face retained the vigour and vitality of a man in his prime.

There was a white pen clipped to his left breast pocket.

‘Welcome, you must be Miss Miller.‘ He extended a hand clad in a white glove.

Darya shook it. ‘Nice to meet you.‘

‘I’m Jett Code. They call me Dr Code.‘

Darya smiled, unsure if the man was cracking a joke.

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Chapter 78 Welcome To The Future

‘Dr Code is the chief engineer in charge of our robotics project,‘ Reece said to Darya. ‘He was part of the team that introduced the first commercially successful service robot in the country. His most recent work-‘

‘Hi there. I don’t think we’ve met.‘

Darya thought she heard a kid’s voice.

She looked down as she felt something touching her leg.

A fluffy little dog was wagging its tail at her.