Page 61 of Dark Awakening: New World

Kalugal regarded him for a long moment, smoothing his fingers over his goatee. "What kind of content are you thinking of?"

"I'll start with influencers. Perhaps I'll use clan members for that. Good-looking people trend faster. I'll write the scripts for them and either film them myself or delegate this to Ella and Tessa. They are good at this. But I might also come up with some fresh ideas for different kinds of short-form content. Today's audience has the attention span of a gnat."

"I want to see each piece of content before you post it."

Brandon didn't look impressed by Kalugal's stubborn expression. "That might work in the beginning, but if it's effective, I plan to flood the platform with it, and it will not be practical in the long term. You will be spending your days looking at amateur-style videos."

"I'm great at delegating." Kalugal turned to Jacki and smiled. "Is that something you would be comfortable doing?"

"Sure. I would love to help turn the world into a better place. You were complaining about the hateful trash that people post on our platform."

"I was." Kalugal huffed out a breath. "InstaTock was supposed to be educational and motivational. But instead, it turned into a cesspool of depravity, and I'm not a prude. But some of that stuff is just wrong. I take down the worst offenders, but they find ways around the bots that look for trigger words. It's a never-ending pursuit."

"The answer is not to take them down but to make them less popular," Brandon said. "And also, to flood the platform with positive content, and I can help a lot with that."

"What about compensation?" Kalugal asked. "The platform makes me way more money than I have ever expected, and I don't want to lose the income."

"You won't," Brandon promised. "I have decades of experience producing content that consumers want to watch. Your ad income will grow, not shrink, and by a large margin."

"So, no payment for using my platform?"

Brandon laughed. "You should thank me for not charging you for all the content I'm going to provide you with that you can profit from."

"Tough negotiator." Kalugal shook his head, but it was more for show than real dismay.

Brandon was right, and the production costs of what he had in mind would have to be covered by the clan. If this was a deal between unrelated parties, Brandon could have charged a lot for the content.

"So?" Brandon arched a brow. "Do we have a deal?"

Kalugal nodded. "Six months trial. If we all get along and it works as well as you expect, we can negotiate a longer-term contract. If not, we part ways as friends."

"Deal." Brandon offered him his hand.

After shaking it, Kalugal turned to Kian. "Should we shake on it as well? After all, Brandon works for the clan."

"Sure." Kian shook his hand. 'Do you want to draw up the contract, or should we?"

"I'll do it. I want to spell out everything so there will be no misunderstandings."

39

SYSSI

Syssi walked into Amanda's office and pulled out a chair. "Cheryl Bastia called to cancel."

Amanda looked up. "That's the third one today. What's going on? Is there a football game everyone is watching, or is there a super sale somewhere?"

"I don't know." Syssi sat down. "People used to love volunteering for the testing. Everyone wanted to find out whether they had paranormal abilities. Nowadays, I have a difficult time getting anyone to come, even when we promise to pay them."

Their paranormal research used to draw in the most people, and it had been harder to get volunteers or even paid subjects for regular brain research. Now, it was the other way around. They had no trouble filling the two fMRI stations but couldn't get enough people for simple precognition and telepathy tests.

Even though the procedure was completely noninvasive, Syssi was surprised that people didn't mind a tech using a machine to peek inside their heads and watch how their brains worked in real-time.

Perhaps it was the allure of the sleek, cylindrical devices gleaming under the lab's fluorescent lights, or maybe the students were fascinated by the mysteries of the human brain. Or what was more likely was that they preferred to get paid for taking a long nap. Amanda was currently focusing her official neuroscience research on brain activity during different sleep states.

"Do you want to grab a coffee now that we have an unexpected break?" Amanda asked.

Syssi smiled. "I'd rather visit the girls."