Playing A Losing Game

by MF Bishop

  Chapter Eighty Six

  Helen took her little gun everywhere. As Howard had promised, none of the government office building metal detectors spotted it. She hoped for another encounter with the Allbright woman, and sometimes played it out in her mind: she wouldn't say anything, just turn away, pull her gun, turn back and...sweet revenge. Helen would gladly have hunted the bitch down, but the Senator kept her too busy.

  Anyway, according to Howard the tall, wimpy guy was the dangerous one - he was the computer spy, the one that could possibly figure out the secret of Omniac. If she took anybody out, it should be him.

  But there was no time, and everything was going so well. More and more people wanted to hear the Senator speak. Her days stretched to twelve and then fourteen hours, but she was barely keeping up, especially as she was also acting as the Senator's chief of staff. When she raised the possibility of making it official, the Senator patted her hand and muttered "not yet, not yet". She was doing the work, though, and doing it well, and that was what counted.

  So, in addition to writing the speeches for appearances, she was organizing the appearances themselves, meeting with union leaders and the heads of veterans' groups, and the leaders of patriotic organizations. The fourteen hour days became sixteen hour days. For the first time in their married life, Alan was home and in bed before she staggered in, exhausted and exhilarated. A couple of times she tried to wake him, to tell him how wonderful it was and to work off some of her tension, but he was tired and grouchy, so she gave up. To hell with him.

  The money was the most amazing part. Chuck Halloran worked behind the scenes, talking, persuading, cajoling. And he was good: some donations were hundreds, but most were thousands and many were tens of thousands. Helen looked at the accounting reports and marveled. So many patriots, willing to risk their lives and their fortunes - well, maybe not their lives but part of their fortunes, anyway. It made her proud to be an American.

  Busy as she was in those weeks, she visited Howard and Gunnar every four or five days. She enjoyed Howard's courtly flattery and Gunnar was...interesting. Also, they were still investigating the ape and apette. Helen figured there was something going on between those two - why not? But apparently that wasn't so, since Gunnar had nosed around and picked up gossip that the ape - Britton - had the hots for one of his colleagues, another Army computer type named Mary Grier. Ape, apette, nerd, nerdette? Even Gunnar had smiled at that one.

  She admired their work so much - they even had this Mary Grier's address, and knew things about her, such as the fact that her sickly mother lived in Akron. They knew that Britton was from South Carolina and his parents were living in San Diego. They knew...well, they knew a lot about their enemies. And soon enough those enemies would pay for the trouble they were causing. Gunnar argued for moving against them right now, but Chuck Halloran (through Howard) wanted everything quiet for awhile.

  The high point for Helen came on the afternoon Senator Loughlin officially announced his candidacy for the office of President of the United States. Helen wrote his speech. The next President of the United States recited her words to dozens of newspeople and television cameras, and through them to millions of Americans all around the country.

  The Game was a key point. "Those in the highest office today," the Senator intoned, "have placed the fate of this country in the hands of video game players. What is the good of our military might, what is the good of our industrial strength, what is the good of our proud history of sacrifice in defense of our homes and freedoms...." Here, the Senator paused and looked directly into each of the cameras, and directly into the eyes of the front row of reporters. "What is the good, when today, thanks to the current President of the United States, our future - and our children's future - is being thrown away at the electronic gaming table."

  Helen was there for the whole thing, standing in the back of the room, almost bursting with pride. That night she watched the late news, sitting on her bed in the darkened house, with no light but the TV. WWDC aired the game statement on their segment about the Senator. Even the second time, hearing it gave her goosebumps. After the newscast, she lay back on the bed. They were going to pull it off. They were going to put a true patriot in the White House. And she was an important, even vital part of the effort. Without her, they might never have done whatever it was they did to Omniac. Without her, John Holtzman might have gone to the authorities. She didn't like to think about that one, but it was true. Without her, Terrell might have persuaded the Senator to drop out of the race. Helen rolled over and pulled her gun from her purse. She pointed it at the television screen and imagined she was pointing it at the Allbright woman. Bang! One in the stomach! Bang! She wouldn't be so big and tough then. Helen yawned. When Alan woke her a few hours later, she still had the gun in her hand. She told him being out so late made her nervous, and a friend had given her the gun. He nodded absently and got into bed.