CHAPTER 28
The Offer Table
NOLAN
Leila called Nolan before the VantageSky dinner.
“I am not asking you to influence Avery,” she said.
“Good.”
“I am asking what a pilot sees when a passenger is making a bad decision.”
“That is dangerously close to the first sentence.”
Leila sighed. “Fine. What do you see?”
Nolan watched Avery across camp, preparing questions for Gideon. “Someone who believes carrying the cost herself makes the choice cleaner.”
“And what do you do?”
“Nothing unless safety or team obligations are affected. It is her company.”
Leila was quiet.
“I dislike that answer,” she said.
“So do I.”
“That may mean it is correct.”
At dinner, Nolan sat two seats from Avery. Gideon spoke about scale, national adoption, and infrastructure. The offer was not empty. VantageSky had manufacturing partners, regulatory staff, cybersecurity teams, and distribution channels a small company could not build quickly.
Avery asked precise questions. What happened to clinic clients? Who controlled safety updates? Could the workshop retain fabrication rights? Would users see uncertainty or only recommended routes? Could employees own shares?
Gideon answered most of them honestly. The answer to ownership remained no.
Nolan understood why Avery was tempted. The table held not only money but relief from being the person responsible for every unsupported function.
Afterward, he told her, “Their infrastructure is real.”
She looked surprised. “You are not going to warn me?”
“Warnings are for hazards. This is a choice with advantages and costs.”
“That sounds like approval.”
“It is not.”
“What would you do?”
Nolan thought of his father’s store. “I would probably refuse too fast because ownership feels like control after losing control once.”
Avery studied him.
“That was not useful,” he said.
“It was honest.”
They walked back through camp without deciding anything.
For once, Nolan let uncertainty remain beside someone he wanted to protect.