The Price

The shop was not intended to be inviting or profitable, and its host was anything but welcoming. It was a ruse, an entrance, that a very select few even entered. The solemn man walked in the run-down coffee shop and nodded at the stocky barista behind the counter. The small dive at the bottom of a skyscraper had escaped the meteorite storm of several decades ago that rained absolute devastation upon the Earth. The oversized man behind the counter eyed him while reaching for something out of sight. He studied the visitor long enough to recognize him, and then he went back to thumbing through the well-worn booklet in front of him.

He waded through the five empty tables and headed down the hall under a sign for the bathrooms. Standing before the door reading “staff only”, he punched in his code. Securing the door behind him, he made his way to the back through another locked door leading to an elevator. He hit the maintenance button, followed by the buttons labeled 3 and 5, causing the cubical to move toward the fifteenth floor.

It was the only way to reach this floor which was unknown to all but a few. As far as most people knew it was a fourteen story building. He watched the lights blink through the levels as he rose closer to his destination. It would be another sobering meeting to discuss an unsolvable issue which would leave a mark on his soul forever. Who thought providing the world with a life saving formula would bring down all manor of evil upon him.

He was a scientist working on a new compound that would quickly dissolve pollutants and speed up the process of decomposition with the residual result of fuel. After every continent was pummeled by a seven day meteorite storm, this invention had the possibility to turn mounds of disease and vermin infested waste into useable fuel and turn the tide of the current oppressive turmoil. It could save a world where everything felt chaotic in humanities darkest times.

He and his wife, also a scientist, worked tirelessly, secretly in condemned buildings, with minuscule funding, and primitive equipment. Everyone was in desperate straights, well almost everyone. The United States government couldn’t manage the vast needs of the people. So they relinquished control of the country to the big businesses still functioning. The bill stated it was to be a temporary provision with a five year sunset clause. But the inertia of ambition was like a locomotive running full speed down a dreadful track. It didn’t take long for the once proud nation to devolve from fifty free states into hundreds of corporate fiefdoms. 

The couple had two daughters despite their best efforts to prevent bringing children into the hell that surviving required. When his two little girls were just five and three his wife was kidnapped. She drugged herself in order to protect the formula and the dispersal method they were beginning to work on. She left him in grave danger with two very young girls. Like many inventions, it had great potential be it for good or evil. And he was well aware that the one who held it, could use that power for personal gain. The only thing that stood in their way was finding him.

It was for his two girls that he contacted his old college friend Banner Vogel. He was a shipping and supply magnate, a corporate. Corporates were rarely synonymous with benevolence. At one time Banner had demonstrated a very strong moral code, but the troubled scientist didn’t know how much being a corporate had changed him. He decided to gamble and trust his friend. That and because it felt like his only option. He found Banner to be helpful and supportive. The first thing Banner did was get them all new identities.

He became Leland Delano, a high school history teacher, and his girls were now Ariel and Jillian Delano. As young as they were, they quickly adjusted to their names. As old as he was, he did not. Letting go of everything including mementos of his wife proved more difficult than he could have imagined.

Banner also set Leland, up in proper lab. Although that formula was brilliant, dispersing it evenly and safely was an issue. For ten more years he worked to perfect and complete the project.

One day, he stumbled upon an unexpected bonus. One of the the dispersal experiments caused a reaction creating a reagent that seemed to increase food production by ten fold. Banner was quietly incorporating these inventions on a small scale for his employees benefit when he could, being careful not to draw suspicion. 

Ariel and Jillian attended the school provided by the corporates in the territory. Not all children were given this opportunity. Many worked when they reached the age of twelve.

Most schools soon closed, so they were enrolled in a homeschool co-op in their neighborhood. The girls were unaware of their benefactor, Banner, or where their father really worked. They believed he was an out of work high school history teacher who now did handyman jobs across town. Banner was in no hurry for the finalization of Leland’s project, saying it wasn’t safe to reveal it. Banner was working on reestablishing some kind of government that represented the people better. But more often than not they planned away and did little. They had a routine and a quiet life for many years, but their identities were about to be exposed as the rumors of the powerful invention resurfaced.

Leland exited the elevator and entered the office as he had so many times before. A leak had been discovered, and it jeopardized their identities. Banner and Leland had knocked the problem around again and again, but the same unacceptable solution presented itself. They realized all the arguing could not change the reality, and no brilliant plan could solve it. The dilemma arose when a determined young man with brainless ambition, stumbled upon an old photograph which could expose the scientist and his daughters’ true identities. It set in motion an irreversible course of action. He threatened the plans of two very powerful men.

The question of murder was always fought on the battle ground between morality and survival. While morality was the endeavor of enlightenment and compassion; survival was the pursuit of knowledge and brutal perseverance, and science fueled the eternal battle between them.

“Okay, we’ve decided then.” Banner’s face was pained at the grim conclusion.

“All our work will be lost again for years, maybe a decade or more as well as the already dim future of humankind,” Leland sighed heavily at the thought of forsaking his life’s work and its lofty potential. By the time they deemed it safe to set it into motion, it might be too late. “These innovations and formulas could end our pollution, waste problems, provide endless energy, and increase food production ten-fold profoundly improving life on earth.”

“It will come around again Leland.” Banner wished he could retract the stupid comment as soon as he said it.

“And the boy, Ket. Can he be saved?” Leland pondered the irony of struggling to grab a mental image of his beloved wife, when this boy’s face was eternally burned in his psyche.

“We have to protect our families and our world. If you can find another way, I’m all ears.”

“I’ll never know what my daughter saw in Ket. He’s arrogant and self-indulgent. He is willing to exploit and endanger my daughter, his own girlfriend, to get a job with the oppressive corporate army! It’s indefensible. He’s an asshole, for sure, but he’s just a pawn. He has no idea what he’s turning over to the Neighwah authorities.” The only possible solution seemed more abhorrent every time they discussed it, but no amount of emotional anguish could ever pay the price for murder.

“He may be naïve in his intent, but he is destined to cause the deaths of millions. Why would anyone want to join the corporate goons morphed from a twisted version of the old Neighborhood Watch?”

“He wants the security of three meals and a bed, but how could he betray Ari?” Leland immediately considered the emotional price of ending this young man’s life. How was his choice any more ethical? He believed himself to be a man of high principles, but this test, he was duty bound to fail. They will be haunted with it forever, but another option eluded them. “If it must be done, it must be done by us. I will not assign this burden to another.”

“Agreed.” Banner held out his hand with grave remorse vowing to the final verdict.

Leland paused and stared at Banner’s outstretched hand. With a weary sigh, he grasped it, and a solemn shake sealed the fate of an essential discovery and an overzealous informer.