The virgin & the bad boy (Gravity)

Chapter 45/Fortune

Sun down came early on the north side of Trump's wall. In the gloom I followed Dante into the factory. Dante shook a lot of peoples hands the kind of people who are so down to earth you feel you need some antiseptic hand wipes afterwards. After a while we were let into a factory. We had to put my earrings and ring into a signal proof box. Dante did the same thing with his watch and hearing aid like device in his ear. Everybody else seemed to be doing the same. Then finally saw the hastily spray-painted sign. 'South west Glaking championship' . Glaking? Gward. This was the ugly darkside of Earth, underground bear knuckle quizshows. Like getting mugged it was the kind of thing you don't get on the 'visit your roots on earth' tourism posters.

Dante took me into the factory. We both had to be electronic swiped for more devices. Finally we were let in. Dante continued to shake a lot of hands, people knew him. There was a large open space on the dirt floor of the factory. Standing around it was a growing crowd of misfits. More stood above us there was an upper floor to the factory with metal staircases leading up to metal scaffolding. There was another tear of onlookers sitting with their feet dangling over the edge. It was quite possibly a robots worst safety nightmare, I liked it.

Dante went off and came back with a drink for me. Then some punks came in with a large wheel, covered in the nails and I realised what was going to happen. I thought Dante brought me along to some ugly bed knuckle boxing that this was far worse. 

"Welcome to Glaking?" said Dante. 

"Glaking?" I said looking at Dante. 

Dante looked over "Underground Wheel of Fortune. But for real money. Sometimes body parts. It's illegal obviously gambling at scale is practically work."

I looked over "and you needed cover to come here."  I said realising why the nice invitation.

Dante shrugged, "I'm not going to play. I'm just watching for old times sake." said smiling. "I thought this could be a view of what happens to mars in the future if you get the same deal. Think of this was a dark warning about the future but, you know,  with free pretzels." 

 They called for some players and I was pleased to see that Dante resisted temptation. We sat there as people answered questions and Dante would whisper the answers into my ears first. As the night drew on I could see he was getting more and more frustrated when people got the answers wrong or couldn't answer. 

Eventually the organiser called for new contestants. Two men step forward one was a biker in jeans so warn they were practically his skin. The second guy had such a face full of piercings he could fill in for a metal lifting magnet. They asked for the final contestant but it was high-stakes. Nothing happened. Suddenly Dante put his hand up. People cheered Dante went up.

"No don't" I said to Dante. 

"Welcome to Glaking" shouted the organiser in his leather suit. He introduced the contestants.

 I was sitting next to a tall long-haired biker with the beard, so long you could dry your hands on it. He seemed to have known Dante.

The organiser moved forwards "okay gentleman let me have your 50,000 Face coin steak"

"What are they doing ?" I asked.

"Each contestant put up a steak. It's 50,000 faced C coins minimum on this kind of match." Said the long hair.

"Dante you idiot if the police catch you doing this your so going back to jail." I said to my self

The first man just wrote something on a paper.

"How can you do that?" I asked.

"The first guy has just bet a kidney. If he comes last they will operate to take it out and use the money selling it on the blackmarket to pay for his steak"

Then Dante (the idiot) did the same thing. The third man just put stack of cash down on the table.

"I can't believe they're playing for body parts" I said.

Some slut better suited for a porno film pulled a cloth away from a screen. The screen was a large Display with a slight crack in the bottom left-hand corner. Behind it were some spaces for letters. I wasn't sure about the rules of Wheel of fortune, I knew less about the street rules, except no knives being thrown at the wheel ( the principle guy announced that).

Dante began doing badly. I had the feeling that he would be walking away from this with the big scar down his left side. High-stakes wheel of Fortune was a longer than normal match. And for the first 30 minutes Dante was doing badly. The guy who had put in the real money steak put in more cash to buy his way into getting more letters. They had started a new game and there was only one letter on the board , '**** *** *U** *** **U ******'

Long-haired biker hippy told me that Dante didn't have much money left if he hit zero he would be declared the loser and he could kiss goodbye to his kidney. If he played economically he might have a enough steak money to reach the end and if he got lucky you can come second.

Dante pressed the buzzer.'I would like to buy a go at the board' he said to general astonishment.

The principal quiz show master showed he is shock and surprise like everyone else.

'so for 3000 face coins you want to buy at chance at winning the board with the only one letter on it'

'that's right' so Dante. He handed over the cash. That was practically all of the cash he had left.

'Are you sure?' said the quiz show host. Straightening his Black leather coat and pushing back is unwashed long hair revealing the huge bald head.

Dante nodded.

'so Dante Smith for 40,000 face coins, what is the popular phrase or saying on the board ?'

'WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?' said Dante. Street Wheel of fortune had far to many rude words in their common phrases. 

The question host had developed a very flat expression between each get. 'okay Trixie can you tell us is it this is the correct answer?'

The porno girl went up to the screen swiped at it. It revealed that that was the correct statement.

'Yes it is bob' said Trixie smiling.

Everybody broke into a huge round of applause and wolf whistles Dante stabbed the air like an Olympic winner.

I've got the feeling that Dante was deliberately holding back until the guy with the money had fattened the pot. Six more times Dante had used his trick of getting the nearly empty Word board. He guessed 'MY HOVERCRAFT IS FULL OF EELS' , 'A SUITCASE FULL OF LARD' , 'DONT FUCK WITH MY ROBOT' ,'NO YOUR BOTTOM DOESN'T LOOK BIG IN THAT' , 'NOBODY SAID THAT SMILING WAS EASY' . On the category of films he had seen '*'* * *****'* ** and guessed , 'I'M A CYBORG'S PET' correctly. I got the impression that he had deliberately flunked the early questions to push the steaks and my heart rate up. Rough workout. 

It wasn't long before Dante had cleared up and had swung himself into the lead which he held until the end. I was kind of glad he was walking away with an intact nephritic system. 'What is Nephritic' was the answer to 'what relates to a description of the kidneys'. This is just left with the  problem of what to do with the money. It was going to be a substantial suitcase full of cash, and live slightly battered kidney with one careless owner. Dante gave the kidney looser his kidney back on the basis it was alone and if he needed a kidney for any reason he could call in his marker. This also meant that guy couldn't sell the kidney second time. Dante told the quizmaster who had been holding onto the stake money to give him his initial steak back and donate the rest anonymously to Io's upchuck charity.

We drove off in the dark, the smell of booze and poor hygiene clinging to our clothes. I was glad I wasn't coming back home on mars my mom would be sniffing going "what have you been up to bud" and I would have to say "I've been with a friend Glaking while he gambled his body parts away yakwim" she should probably say "Is that what the kids these days are calling it bud." 

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Three chapters this week not bad. Do we need to do the whole thanks for the votes thing? Like who needs to get nagged right? We just don't want to do the whole 'wow we are now like to important to acknowledge you or you votes any more thing'.  Join us next week for King maker or why is Earthling such a rubbish word. and Io's first TV talk show appearance