Three months later, there was a creative state of emergency at the new headquarters of „Delta-Byte Designs“ in Nairobi. The studio – a perfectly converted, light-flooded warehouse – was a mix of African art gallery and futuristic tech lab. On the walls, huge screens pulsed with the live user numbers of the new streaming app, which since its launch in West and East Africa had broken all records.
Lukas stood at the large panoramic window, a cup of Kenyan coffee in hand, and looked smiling at the busy activity in the room. Two new local junior developers sat at the workstations optimizing lines of code, while Amina at the central table explained the nuances of fluid user interfaces to a group of design interns.
He had given up his apartment in Hamburg. It had been a huge step, but when he saw Amina briefly turn to him and blow him an air kiss, he knew it was the best decision of his life.
Of course, the animal founding team was also fully in action. Wurst floated majestically up and down, his casing now proudly bearing an engraved logo of the new company. He had appointed himself the official “Chief Security Officer” of the studio.
“System warning to all employees,” the dachshund cheerfully sounded through the room. “The server temperature in Block B is approaching the comfort limit. I have automatically adjusted the air conditioning. As a reward for the excellent performance of the last hour, I will now play a discreet sound intermezzo.”
From the studio speakers came a surprisingly casual, danceable remix: a perfect fusion of traditional Bavarian yodeling, fat Hamburg electro beats, and the driving rhythm of Kenyan drums.
Kiko materialized with an enthusiastic jump onto Wurst’s back. The holographic little monkey was now equipped with a small, virtual headset and began projecting colorful, dancing pixel figures onto the ceiling in time with the music. The employees in the studio laughed and bobbed along to the beat.
Amina came up to Lukas at the window and laid her head on his shoulder. “Would you have thought that a Bavarian parade march and a hacked design script would ever lead us here?”
Lukas put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Honestly? No. But it probably shows, once the algorithm is in chaos mode, life writes the best programs.”
Above them on the ceiling, Kiko and Wurst let the colorful pixel lights dance to the beat of the transcontinental music. Two AI pets had turned the net upside down – and brought together two people whose hearts now beat in exactly the same rhythm. Without any delay. Completely error-free.