Peyton tucked a few pillows between Desmond and the wall, cushioning him in case they hit more turbulence. Then she slid back into her own sleeping bag and pulled in close beside his, trapping the heat between them.
Slowly, she became more aware of her fever. Perhaps it was the chill in the cabin or the solitude, but the heat engulfed her face. Her head ached. Her chest felt heavy. She really hoped they found some clue on the island. For her sake, and many others.
Desmond mumbled, but Peyton couldn’t hear what he said over the roar of the engines.
She turned. His eyes were still closed. He spoke again.
She leaned in, her ear inches from his lips.
“I’ve figured it out.” He paused, then mumbled, “The X factor.”
Peyton remembered the memory. She had been there. And she knew what came next. She dreaded it for him.
She drew out the phone he had given her. A dialog read:
Download complete.
DAY 10
4,600,000,000 Infected
1,000,000 Dead
Chapter 72
By the time the Red Cross plane leveled out, sweat was pouring off of Desmond. Peyton had unzipped his sleeping bag, but it was little help.
Every few seconds, he tossed his head from side to side.
Peyton tried to wake him for five minutes straight, but it was no use. It was as if he were in a coma.
She heard footsteps behind her, turned, and found Avery towering above her, squinting at Desmond wincing on the floor.
The slender woman squatted, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and cupped his face in her hands. She leaned close, listening to the words he mumbled.
It struck Peyton as a lover’s embrace, not a clinical inspection. She wondered if it was an act—or something Avery had actually done before.
Without turning to Peyton, Avery said, “Should we land?”
“I don’t know. Where are we?”
“Over Ethiopia.”
“He’s stable for now. I favor waiting until we reach Europe.”
Avery left without another word. As soon as the door to the cockpit closed, Peyton wiped a new layer of sweat from Desmond’s face and placed her hands where Avery’s had been, feeling the stubble on his lean, glistening face.
All she could do now was wait.
Two days after Christmas, in Peyton’s apartment, Desmond presented his theory to her.
“I’ve figured it out.”
“What? The meaning of life?”
“Better. Why companies fail.”
“Oh.” She was reading People magazine and watching reruns of Friends.
“It’s the X factor.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Think about it. First the company has to address a large market opportunity.” He was pacing in the small apartment now, cutting off her view of Ross and Rachel. “xTV got that right. But success requires two components: operational proficiency and the X factor. For all these web startups, the operational part is actually the easiest. You make sure your code works and the product scales, you pay your rent, et cetera, et cetera. The X factor is the issue.
“For web companies, the X factor is consumer adoption. Every one of them is disrupting the world in some way—they’re trying to change customer behavior. Think about it. Amazon wants to change the way we buy books. Instead of walking into a Barnes and Noble, you order it online and it arrives at your door. Who knows, maybe they’ll deliver all kinds of stuff one day. Webvan wants to deliver groceries in the same way. No more driving to the store. WebCrawler wants to change the way we find information. Forget going to a library and looking it up—simply search for it on WebCrawler. Need to find a business? Don’t dial four-one-one, forget the yellow pages, just search for it on WebCrawler. They’re all trying to change the way we as consumers behave—and funnel attention and money to them.”
“Makes sense.”
“The mystery is how many consumers will change and when. That’s what xTV got wrong. They overestimated consumer adoption. They ran out of money before the consumers adopted their product.”
“Okay. I’ll buy that.” She was peeking around him. Monica had just inherited a dollhouse. How this show was so popular was a mystery to Desmond.
“It comes down to the founders,” he said. “Companies that succeed have a founder or a leadership team that fundamentally understands their customers, sometimes even better than customers know themselves. They imagine what the customer wants before they know they want it, and they package it in a way that is irresistible. And, they manage well. xTV had the vision, but not the discipline. They didn’t watch their bank account close enough.”
“Uh-huh. So what are you going to do about this grand revelation?”
“Tomorrow, I’m going for three job interviews.”
“Really?” She sat up, tossed the magazine aside. “Where?”
He told her, and she nodded.
“You going to wear the steel-toed boots?”
“Very funny. And yes. I am. Because I keep it real.”
On New Year’s Eve, he accepted a job offer. When he told Peyton which company, she looked surprised.
“SciNet?”
“SciNet.”
“I didn’t see that coming.”
The company was boring. It was early stage and developing an e-commerce platform to sell scientific equipment and products.
“It’s a home run,” Desmond said. “Low X factor. Very little waiting for consumer adoption. Their customers are scientists and office admins—very rational people, easy to target. Very easy to predict their behavior patterns.”
“Don’t be so sure. I was raised by a scientist.”
“Well, you know what I mean. They’ll hit it out of the park. Won’t be a multi-billion-dollar company, but it’ll succeed and do what I need it to do.”
“Which is?”
“Provide financial security. The job offer is solid. Tons of options and a good salary. I can start buying options in other companies again.”
“So you haven’t given up on that?”
“Not by a long shot.”
They went to a New Year’s Eve house party that night. It was like no New Year’s Desmond could remember. The whole world felt new again. He felt hopeful about everything: the new job, and his relationship with Peyton especially.