“Big Pharma is powerful because it has the mechanisms required to market to the masses. Sales representatives. Physician relationships. Advertising resources. But why should we market to the masses?”
The feet came down and Pierce leaned forward. “You want to limit sales to the elite?”
Lisa ignored his question. “Suppose we priced Eos at a million dollars. There are about forty million millionaires in the world, many of whom have many millions. Taking into account their families and friends, we could probably get a hundred million customers worth a million dollars each quite easily. That would gross the company one hundred thousand billion dollars. That’s a one followed by fourteen zeroes, and it’s more than the eight of us could spend in a million years.”
Lisa was certain that Pierce had done the personal wealth math. With just one billion dollars in the bank, a person could spend a thousand an hour for a hundred years and still have a fortune left over.
“Go on,” Pierce said. “Get me to your conclusion.”
“When the numbers are this big, seeking to maximize financial return is foolish. What would be the point when we could never spend the money?”
Pierce gave an honest answer. “The point would be having a hell of a time trying.”
Lisa closed the trap. “Not really. The minute word gets out that immortality is for sale, anyone who has it will become the target of extreme animus and prejudice from everyone who doesn’t. We’d eventually be lynched in a populist revolution during which the formula would be stolen. Ultimately everybody would gain immortality—”
“Plunging the planet into David’s dystopian scenario. I get it,” Pierce said. “And I see the allure of finding another option. One of the reasons I live in Montana is that with so few people polluting you can still see the stars. But what’s the alternative? Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can keep the discovery secret. That won’t work. People will talk.”
“You’re right. People will talk. Even if we priced it at $100 million and only approached customers we knew could afford it, the news would still leak. It’s just too juicy to contain. Then there would be an investigation, and eventually our ivory tower would come tumbling down.”
“So you want to walk away from the money? Be satisfied with immortality alone?”
Lisa rose, walked around the table and sat on the corner at Pierce’s side. “Would that be so bad?”
She waited in that cozy pose through a full sixty seconds of silence while the rest of the room barely breathed. It was uncomfortable, but it did the trick. Pierce was nothing if not quick witted. “In essence, my $28 million investment will have bought me immortality.”
“And the contentment that comes from being one of the only people to have it. Never in the history of the world has there been a special status so elite.”
Another breathless pause ensued while Pierce ruminated and Lisa returned to her end of the table. He’d been about to walk away—to write off his $28 million. Now he was being offered an incalculably high return on his investment, albeit a non-financial one. “I could live with that,” he said with a wink. “Is that your proposal?”
Lisa placed both hands on the back of her chair and leaned in. “No.”
The chairman’s face darkened even as his eyes grew brighter, but he bit his tongue. He knew the kicker was coming.
“There’s a way for us to have our cake and eat it too. For us to become rich and immortal without getting lynched or overcrowding the planet.”
Pierce smiled, as much from the realization that he’d been steered full circle as from the anticipation of another titillating revelation. “Now you’re talking my language. What way is that?”
“Instead of selling Eos to a billion people, or even a million, we sell it to just one.”
Pierce nodded slowly, then faster. “One extremely wealthy person. But at what price?”
“A price that puts all the Immortals on the same financial footing. We ask for an even division of the fortune—ten ways around.”
“You mean nine,” Pierce corrected, nodding toward the empty chair.
All eyes turned toward Lisa as her stomach fluttered. “Nine,” she confirmed.
“And I suppose you already have the lucky man in mind?” Pierce pressed, now unable to repress his excitement.
“Woman, actually. My Stanford roommate married Jacques Eiffel, the late oil magnate.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
You may find it helpful to note that Immortals have an “i” in their first names, while mortals do not.
3
The Fix Is In
Twenty years later
Seven Star Island, the Bahamas
ARIA EIFFEL experienced déjà vu as she entered her library to find eight attentive faces waiting. She shouldn’t have been surprised. The faces appeared exactly as they had twenty years earlier when the same crew had ambushed her in that very room.
The pitch that started their everlasting association had begun an hour before midnight on millennium eve. Perfect timing. Poetic even. The end of an old era and the start of a new age. Lisa had even timed her presentation to climax as the fireworks began bursting overhead. Immortality could be hers—if she shared her wealth.
Although today’s date was nothing special, Aria got the sudden sense that there might be fireworks ahead. The atmosphere felt different from the preceding Immortals meetings. She sensed an unusual energy in the room.
Back at that grand soirée on millennium eve, Lisa had been the only one of the eight on the guest list. She’d snuck the other seven onto Aria’s private island.
Today they were all invited, of course, as they were once a year, when it was Aria’s turn to host the Immortals’ semiannual meeting. The other times, Lisa hosted them in California.
Back then, the deal had been immortality—in exchange for equal slices of her fortune. Or as Lisa had pitched it, “With Eos, you can take it with you. At least, one-ninth of it.” Since that split still left Aria with more than a billion in the bank—plus the island, the plane, the yacht, et cetera—her decision had been a no-brainer.
What did her Stanford sorority sister have planned today? Aria could see a special glint in her eye. It was no less telling than a feather on a cat’s mouth. But what bird was she hunting?
Back on millennium eve, Aria had been unable to pull herself from the compelling presentation and extraordinary pitch that followed, despite having a hundred affluent guests waiting for her attention.
These days she rarely had guests.
That was the one big thing Aria hadn’t realized back then, standing on the same spot, surveying the same guests. The hidden cost of becoming one of only nine Immortals on the planet.
By making that enviable move, she had effectively forsaken her right to be a social butterfly. She had tethered herself to the only others whose lives had no horizon. Her secret accomplices. Her new forever family.
She studied the room, wondering what ambush they had planned. The Immortals were a mix of scientists and businesspeople, liberals and conservatives, but nonetheless they were tight. Kind of like cousins. They had to be. It was ultimately too uncomfortable to associate with anyone outside their circle. Any person still subject to the scythe of time.
Pierce immediately confirmed her intuition as he kicked off the Immortals’ fortieth semiannual meeting. “There’s a big decision before us today. Arguably the most difficult and consequential one we’ll ever have to make.”
Aria studied her friends’ faces as she wondered what the big decision was. She saw that most were similarly surprised. Only Lisa and Camilla appeared to know what was coming. Why was it that no matter how small the group, you always had factions?