Distraction - Bruce Sterling [79]
“But it’s not like his dirty proles can run a federal air base. His whole little state militia can’t run a federal air base.”
“That’s true, but now he has the data. Advanced avionics, chips, software, the orders of battle and such.… That’s a military asset of the first order. If the feds push him again, he can push back with whole new sets of options.”
“Oh. I see.”
“Believe me, he’s thought this all through. That’s the way he is.”
A roast beef sandwich arrived, with mustard, a garnish, and creamed potatoes. Lorena smiled politely as her aproned krewe girl retreated toward the kitchen. She picked off a plank of crustless rye bread, examined it, and set it back down, fingers trembling. “Alcott is going to hate this. We tried so hard to stop this from happening.”
“I know you did.”
“We just couldn’t make them pay enough attention. We pulled the biggest publicity stunt we could manage, short of rallying the party and besieging that place ourselves. Huey just moves too fast for us. Alcott’s not even sworn in yet! And even after his inauguration, we’ll still have the Emergency committees to deal with. Not to mention the partisan opposition. And besides, the federal government is just plain broke.… It’s bad, Oscar. It’s really bad.”
“I’ll be going up to Boston tomorrow. We’ll think of something new. The hunger strike’s over now, but I was never really pleased with that gambit. Don’t worry. Just concentrate on getting your strength back. This game isn’t over by a long chalk.”
She looked at him gratefully. He watched more coverage as she tore into the sandwich.
Finally she put the plate aside, and leaned back on the yellow couch, her eyes glistening. “How was your first committee meeting, Oscar? I never asked. Were you brilliant?”
“Oh, heavens no. They hate it when you’re brilliant. Brilliance only makes them mulish. I just recited my facts and figures until they got very bored and logged off. By then, my chairman had all their voting proxies. So I asked him for a mile, and he gave me a hundred yards. But a hundred yards was all that I wanted in the first place. So my meeting was really successful. I have a much freer hand now.”
She laughed. “You’re so bad!”
“It’s no use being brilliant, unless it improves the situation. The Senator pulled a very brilliant stunt with this hunger strike, but now, Alcott should learn to be dull. Romantic people are brilliant, artists are brilliant. Politicians know when it’s useful to be dull.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “I’m sure you’re right. You’ll be good with Alcott, won’t you? You understand him. You could always talk sense to him. You can cheer him up when he’s down.”
“You’re not down, are you, Lorena?”
“No, I’m not down, I’m coked to the gills on diet pills. But Alcott’s not like me. He’s very serious. He gets depressed. I can’t be with him right now. And he gets so silly about sex when he’s depressed.”
Oscar was silently attentive.
“Leon Sosik was silly to let Alcott talk him into a hunger strike. Alcott has a thousand ideas, but a better chief of staff would kill his silly ones. And, Oscar, if you take that little tart Moira back to Boston when I’m not around, you’ll be very silly, too.”
Oscar knew the city of Boston very well indeed, having meticulously canvassed every voting district for the city council races. Boston was sane, civilized, and commonsensical, compared to other American cities. Boston had so much to recommend it. A fully functional financial district. Green, quiet, showpiece parks. Real and serious museums, stocked and maintained by people with a sense of cultural continuity. Several centuries’ worth of attractive public statuary. Living, commercial