LifeShield

Press conference

Fiona presses a button from the podium and the camera light blinks red. The inset monitor overlays the green screen with the shimmering LifeShield logo, sharing space beside a blue on blue shield.

Her voice is firm, matching her stance as she stares down the camera. "I stand before you today a wounded soul, ashamed of what has been done with my LifeShield. But in reply I say, 'We are better than that.' So with the gracious support of our board and executive team, I am proud to announce the general availability of LifeShield to everyone who has pre-ordered. We'll go into full details of that in just a bit. But first, as a symbol of what LifeShield truly stands for, I'd like to introduce New York City's Police Commissioner, Oscar Matzke."

With greying hair and bright eyes, the man beams a confident smile out to the world as he steps up to the podium. But there's an edge of somberness in the way he grips the edges before speaking. "The NYPD's core mission is to protect the lives and property of our citizens. We use proven techniques on the street, but also evaluate new technologies constantly to give our officers every possible edge. I admit, some of those left us with egg on our faces. But not this one. LifeShield has offered us an amazing gift. For every person in New York getting a LifeShield, one police officer will receive one as well. Free of charge, no strings attached, with priority going to those actually patrolling our streets."

He takes a sip of water before continuing.

"I grieve for every officer who has given their life protecting our citizens. If this can save the life of even one officer, bravely performing his or her duty, then I will have truly served the officers in my care.

He turns to where Fiona stands to the side. "I would like to thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

As she returns, their hands clasp in a handshake, both of his covering her tiny one. She looks into his eyes, sees the hope radiating like the sun. All the fears, the struggles, drop away as she receives the one thing she truly craves. This is the entire reason she designed LifeShield. She knows she's on the right course.

"This is not just for New York, or even for the United States. This is for humanity. LifeShield is reaching out even now to local police forces in every city of every country, to offer the same deal. With only one single condition. Protect the citizens you serve."

Reaching her hand out the the side, she says, "Now, Zach Morgan will give you all the juicy details."

Zach saunters up to the podium. "For our initial launch, we placed 100 LifeShield makers in 100 cities around the world. We had just enough shield juice to make one LifeShield in each. As of last night, we've upgraded our capacity to supply those makers indefinitely. Each one can produce 48 LifeShields per day. As Fiona mentioned, that's 24 preorders and 24 police officers until one or the other is fulfilled. As our capacity increases, we'll add additional LifeShield makers to support demand."

Off to the side of the stage, Oskar and Fiona watch Zach expound on the details. Oskar asks her, "Now that I've played my part, I'm curious. How much of that was your truly wanting to help, and how much was political grandstanding."

Fiona's answer springs forth instantly. "It's one of the first things I wanted for LifeShield." She twirls a hand at the podium, "But Mr. Morgan and the board drooled at the thought of lucrative police deals. Sometimes it takes a crisis to do the right thing."

Zach chuckles, "That, it does. I've taken advantage of a few of those myself."