The Asian consortium's new engineer, Ken Takahashi, caught up with the old gardener Niwashi at the Cyberpunk Garden. “Lili Ling said you'd encountered some technical problems here, and asked me to take a look. What issues have you found?” asked Ken. Niwashi pointed to several spots around the garden, then explained: “Well, the plants are fine...but some of the special lighting fixtures have begun to blink...and some of those portals along the garden wall seem to work erratically...one even sent me to the wrong destination.” Ken responded: “OK, let me troubleshoot them...if the problems aren't too serious, hopefully we can fix them this afternoon....”
Ken was true to his word, and by the end of the day, all the lighting and the portals were working perfectly again. Niwashi was quite surprised at how quickly Ken managed to diagnose and repair those annoying problems, and even smiled when they next met. Soon Hiwashi and Ken became good friends, and working together they made all the consortium sites hum along like well oiled machines.
The rapport between the engineer and the gardener did not go unnoticed, as Sara remarked: “Ken is amazing...he even fairly quickly gained the grudging acceptance of Niwashi...not an easy accomplishment!” Lili agreed: “Indeed so...for that matter, he's really impressed me too...my gynoid robot wasn't responding correctly during the latest client visit, but Ken diagnosed the problem within only a few minutes, quickly bringing her back to full operation.”
The more they discussed the new engineer, them more impressed they became. Sara tried to figure out why: “He's a remarkably efficient problem solver...as engineers are expected to be...but beyond that, his understated communications skills are amazing. He seems to convey empathy...very diplomatically...but not intrusively.” Lili chimed in: “Oh yes, he's very attentive...yet restrained...not particularly, well, social...but not a distant loner either...a really valuable addition to our team.”
As the weeks passed, Ken proved his mettle, impressing everyone within the consortium, not only as a very able technical problem solver, but also as a very effective communicator. Good thing too, as these skills would soon be sorely needed, when Hyde Rival stirred up more trouble.
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