to do something it can’t.” He swallowed. “And it crashes.”
Jacob’s face darkened and he marched to one of the pods to begin working on it. He kept his back to the two of them.
Dr. DuBois looked puzzled. “Why is he angry?” he asked Amber and Nick as he pointed at the man.
“They’re talking about ways this could go wrong,” Jacob said without looking around.
“I thought we were talking about computers,” DuBois said vaguely. He shrugged after a moment. “So it goes wrong. What then?”
Jacob finally straightened. “Then we have a medical emergency,” he said slowly. “And a dead person.”
“That doesn’t necessarily follow.” The scientist raised an eyebrow. “You’re falling prey to a classic logical fallacy, young man.”
Amber thought their friend might have an aneurysm.
“What’s the fallacy?” he asked far too nicely.
“You put too much moral weight on doing something different,” DuBois told him. “You think if you put someone in this machine and they die, it will be your fault.”
“It will be our fault,” Amber said.
“People in comas die all the time,” the man countered. “Do they do that because they’re on a ventilator? Because they have surgery to stop internal bleeding? No. They die because they’re in bad condition. You say you have a good piece of equipment.” He waved his hand at the pods. “I agree. So if you have a good piece of equipment that can save people and you don’t use it… Well, that’s a choice, too, isn’t it?” He gave them all a somewhat challenging look. “I’m going to go get more popcorn,” he added before he disappeared.
A moment of absolute silence followed.
“I cannot figure that dude out,” Amber said finally.
“He has a good point,” Jacob replied. He looked at them. “There might be problems but there are problems with the way things are done now, too. We have to remember to not make it our fault if something goes wrong outside of our control.”
She was a little more worried about what the legal system would think of things.
Chapter Seven
In person, Dru Metcalfe was tall with brown skin and close-cropped, curly black hair. He shook Tad’s hand but his eyes were worried.
“Senator Williams, I hope you don’t think I was eavesdropping, but I caught the tail end of that discussion.” He folded his lanky form into one of the chairs and pressed his fingertips together. “I’m sorry they offered you something like that.”
The senator leaned back in his chair and resisted the urge to narrow his eyes. “Why so?” he asked as neutrally as he could. He’d poured them both cups of coffee when the man entered the room and sipped his slowly. It was almost strong enough to raise someone from the dead, which was what he needed right now.
“The technology is untested,” Metcalfe told him. “Who knows what problems might lurk down the road? This country has stringent testing protocols for a reason, Senator.”
He took another sip of his coffee. “I thought you recently told me the protocols were too stringent,” he said and he couldn’t keep the amusement from creeping into his voice.
“Senator Williams.” His visitor did not smile. “Politics aside, testing is important. Putting your son’s life in the hands of those…” He paused as he tried to choose the correct word.
“Engineers,” Tad supplied.
“Yes. They’re not doctors, you know.”
“They’re working with one. Mr. Metcalfe—”
“You can’t possibly be considering their offer.” The man seemed horrified. “Senator, you do not need to take desperate measures right now. Mr. White is happy to fund as much care as your son needs.”
“In return for my cooperation on the senate floor,” he said flatly.
Metcalfe smiled gently. “Senator, believe it or not, I do understand your worries.” He paused and deliberately let the moment hang. “We understand your fears that this might conflict with your morals. Trust me when I say this is as far from those concerns as it could be.”
Tad couldn’t help himself and raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you walk me through that one,” he suggested. “Because my guess is that favor won’t get called in until you need support for something I won’t give it to. So why don’t you tell me how there’s no conflict?”
“Senator, which treatments go to the FDA for testing and which are blocked is not a matter of lives being saved,” the man explained as if he were not at all fazed by this question. “It is a matter of politics. IterNext has strong competitors, each of them with their own lobbyists. Suppose all of them pursue the