Ambitious Pursuit

03

Chetty's voice sounded from the speakers as he appeared on the screen. "Good morning, interns. Today marks the first of several challenges through which your team will show their merits. While internally dogfooding a new product, a number of Googlers reported a bug that disabled their audio. All two million line of that code have been included in the source files. Your job? Find the bug."

Chetty disappeared from the screens and the team immediately got busy.

"Okay, we should check the user reports," Neha said.

"Scan the logs for any red flags," Yo-Yo added.

"See what exceptions were thrown," Stuart stated.

"For me personally, I like to start by drawing strategies to help me sift through the code. Pictures are easier to understand; mostly," Mariah said as she grabbed a marker and started drawing on the glass. While they were working, Nick and Billy watched.

"Code, right? Codes, right? Codes. So at the end of the day, we're kind of looking for a break in the password here, right?" Billy began. Mariah noticed that everyone was distracted. "Maybe the answer's in the bug. Maybe it's something to do with bug."

"Eureka," Nick said softly.

"Bug like fly. The fly. Is Chetty a cinephile?"

"Goldblum."

"Goldblum!"

Nick looked at his team members. "Boggles my mind that no one has a notebook out. You guys are focused on writing this gibberish. Maybe that's helpful, maybe it's not, but I guarantee what we're saying is helpful!"

"Hey guys?" Mariah said. "We're looking for a bug, not a password. Merriam Webster might be able to help."

"Keep going with that human connection. You had it," Nick encouraged Billy while they ignored Mariah. She swore under her breath before attempting to get back in focus.

"Oh, you know what?" Billy said with a groan.

"Stay positive. Stay positive. Go, go."

"We're gonna go on fly, cause that's where we're at. Fly. We're flying it. Fly, fly. I like that. Buzzz...L Y F." Billy began writing on the glass. "We scramble the letters it's life. For some reason, I can't get fly out of my mind. And now I'm getting loped. Jennifer Lopez. Is it a fly girl?"

"Super fly! Pop fly! Uh, excavation. Earthquake! California!"

"That's it! Write that down! Do it, do it, do it now!"

"Will you please stop!" Yo-Yo shouted.

"No, we're working!" Nick retorted.

"No, we're working."

"Yeah, and that's Sharpie by the way, genius," Stuart said as Billy looked at the marker in his hand.

"That's my fault,"  Billy replied as he licked his fingers and tried to wipe the marker off.

Mariah let out a frustrated sigh.

"Look guys, I'm sorry, but you're not helping. You're saying a lot of words really fast that mean absolutely nothing," Neha told the men.

Mariah clasped her hands together. "To find the bug, we need to scan the user logs, and review the code until we find the programmer's mistake. It's the only way." The others nodded in agreement.

"Except what if it's not the only way?" Billy asked, causing Mariah to let out a sigh.

"Go," Nick whispered as he pointed to his friend.

"Okay, you say someone programmed it. That means some person in this building wrote that code."

"A human being."