Miriam had suggested that understanding the practical implications of the protected licenses would help Naomi make informed decisions concerning the trust.
The hospital was a regional medical center outside Allentown, Pennsylvania.
It served families from several surrounding counties and maintained a specialized pediatric unit.
Northstar's systems formed part of its broader electrical resilience infrastructure, alongside equipment and procedures supplied by other companies.
The hospital's technical director, Dr. Anika Morris, explained that the protected licensing terms helped smaller facilities obtain certain monitoring and support capabilities without the full cost normally associated with large commercial deployments.
Anika was forty-seven, a Black engineer with a doctorate in biomedical systems and nearly two decades of experience managing complex healthcare infrastructure.
She knew Samuel Brooks's work.
More importantly, she knew what his original licensing commitments meant to hospitals with limited budgets.
She welcomed Naomi into a small conference room overlooking the hospital's garden.
For a moment, she studied the young woman.
Then smiled.
“You have his eyes.”
Naomi laughed softly.
“People keep telling me that.”
Anika nodded.
“I met your father twice.”
Naomi looked surprised.
“Really?”
“Yes. He visited our facility during a system evaluation years ago.”
She smiled at the memory.
“He spent more time talking to our maintenance technicians than to the executives who arranged the visit.”
Naomi's expression softened.
“That sounds like him.”
Anika looked toward her.
“Did he teach you engineering?”
Naomi shook her head.
“No. He wasn't around enough.”
The room became quiet.
Then Anika nodded.
“I'm sorry.”
Naomi looked down.
For a moment, she seemed embarrassed by how quickly the truth had escaped.
Then the engineer continued.
“You don't have to turn him into a perfect father just because he did valuable work.”
Naomi looked up.
The statement surprised her.
Anika smiled sadly.
“People can contribute something important to the world and still fail the people closest to them.”
For several seconds, Naomi remained quiet.
Then whispered.
“I'm learning that.”
They began reviewing the licensing structure.
Anika explained the difference between ordinary commercial fees and the protected terms associated with certain public-benefit uses.
She emphasized that hospitals still paid for equipment, maintenance, staffing, and support.
Samuel hadn't created a world where sophisticated infrastructure cost nothing.
He'd established conditions intended to prevent specified essential technologies from becoming inaccessible merely because an institution lacked the purchasing power of a large urban medical network.
The proposed Westmere transfer threatened to complicate those commitments.