Page 129 of A Light in the Dark
My mother nodded. “We asked if he could be compensated. He’d tried so hard to save Zac.”
“He was compensated, and because it was a parental request, he’s received a small percentage of the funds. That’s in addition to what you were compensated. That’s standard for Mirage medical research.” Joel read through the documents a little longer, smiling every now and then. “It’s notquiteboilerplate, but you received a higher than normal percentage. There’s a note that indicates the higher percentage was due to the general importance of the discovery using Zac’s body and was changed per a different clause after you had signed. Mirage retains rights to adjust the contract to benefit the other party, and an increase in your percentage counts. According to an update in this document, which is issued every six months, this drug is actually being used around the entire universe; it’s viable for more than our planet’s specific breed of bacteria. That’s why you have so much money. Pharmaceutical companies around the universe are producing it.”
“Oh.” My mother stared at her phone. “How many lives do you think our baby has saved?”
“It’s in the millions,” Joel replied in a solemn tone. “You can use this money on whatever you want. You gave your child’s body to science, and the profit share money is how researchers thank grieving parents like yourself, who made a significant sacrifice for the sake of others.”
It came as zero surprise to me that my mother burst into tears. I wasn’t sure how to handle the situation other than hug my mother and marvel at the entirety of the situation.
It also brought forth an important bit of clarity to my situation.
My mother had sacrificed my brother’s body for the good of others. Zac hadn’t meant to sacrifice his life, but he would have loved knowing that his death had done so much good.
The former mayor had tried to kill me, leading to a different sort of sacrifice. I would ultimately give a slice of my life to my people, but I would find making the time and doing the work would be a little easier down the road, even if I ended up with the job permanently.
I could save lives, too—and I would.
FORTY
I’ll allow it.
It wasn’tuntil my mother showed me the contract and the account that I understood the importance of my brother’s death and the significance of the research done on his body.
Joel had mentioned millions of lives as having been saved, but the numbers didn’t lie.
My parents had over a billion dollars in their account, and they received several hundred million a year as their share of the medication’s profits. According to the statistics sheet the research hospital in Mirage had provided regarding my brother’s autopsy, Mirage had invested five hundred million into the new drug. As I questioned how five hundred a dose had translated to the twenty I’d paid, I did some more reading, realizing that my brother’s death had forced the pharmaceutical companies to limit the cost of the drugs.
Each company had been required to pay the full five hundred million back at the five hundred a dose rate, plus fifty dollars in profit, plus the ten dollar cut owed to myparents per dose. The excess money went to funding more research that companies could purchase. My parents’ rate would remain ten dollars a dose, and the pharmaceutical company was limited to charging no more than five dollars a dose thereafter.
The drug cost, on average, five dollars to produce.
Insurance covered everything except the pharmacy’s actual profits, resulting in most people paying five dollars a dose for the life-saving drug.
The economics behind it staggered me.
At current, there were sixty companies around the universe who had paid Mirage for the rights to produce the medication.
I chewed on the math while gnawing on the bone of my steak, marveling at the entirety of the situation.
“Are you mad at us?” my father asked.
“I’m not angry. This is incredible. Joel’s right. You should use this money. Buy a good property here, build your dream house, have Joel shore it, and do whatever makes you happy. If you really want to use the money in a way Zac would like, we can look into charities throughout the city-state, and you can help fund Mirage’s research efforts.”
“Mirage doesn’t need research funding,” Joel informed me, and he pointed at my mother’s phone. “They paid five hundred million for the research using Zac’s body, and they’ve received thirtybilliondollars from pharmaceutical companies to continue their research. If your parents want to use the funds for charity, they can, but Zac has already left a legacy, and it’s one that the entire universe will notice for decades to come.”
That would take a lot of getting used to. I considered myparents. “If you want to do something good with the money, buy up empty lots in Stonecreek, repair and shore them, and then sell them for a pittance to families in need of housing. You could buy up every property in the city-state, repair everything, and then set people up for a good lifestyle. You can take the pittance you make and invest it into buying more properties and helping more people. There are a lot you can do with the money that’ll help others.”
“And if you’re buying the properties and selling below value, you’ll bring the housing marketing hikes to a crashing halt, which benefits everybody. But perhaps ignore Valerie’s comments about shoring. I would benefit personally from such a scheme—and I’d benefit significantly.”
“That’s because you own and operate the premier shoring business in Stonecreek,” my father muttered.
“I do. And my work is the best in the city-state, and while it costs more, what I shore stays shored.”
“I’m still trying to figure out how you met him,” my mother admitted.
“He’s my neighbor. And then I decided I liked my neighbor before finding out what his job is. Once I decided I liked him, I settled in for a life of crime, opting for kidnapping and coercion as my first two offenses.”
“I’m not pressing charges for either, and I enjoy my status as kidnapped,” Joel informed my mother in a solemn tone. “We take turns holding the other hostage. When she dares to enter my domain, she becomes the hostage. I will be holding her hostage for a while after your visit is done—or if I feel she needs to recover and shouldn’t be working. I’ll fight the city-state for her, and I have zero intention of losing.”
