The virgin & the bad boy (Gravity)

Chapter 61/Election night

It was election night a couple of weeks later. I had gone with Dante and the others to Aunt Mallery's mansion which she got as assistant secretary to the UN for planetary affairs. Dante had been invited to be part of 'her family' who would be watching with her. The TV cameras were watching us.  It made her look more human which was not irrelevant. There was a large screen projecting some of the news coverage of the election. Aunt Mallory was in bed sleeping, she had been campaigning very hard over the last few days and this was the only point she could rest.

I sat on a sofa with Dante. Poll results had improved after Io's trial. It looked like that Aunt Mallery had solved a whole robot issue. Robots as a whole had gone back to work being OK about the whole Turin test business.

The huge television in the living room was playing back highlights of the campaigns. "It's about for filling Earth's Destiny" said Bentham.

I wondered if people really fell for vague statements like that.

I looked at Dante Bob Gronig talking to George.

"I see Bob Gronig has cornered George" I said.

"Yeah he's been working the family. He grabbed me when I arrived. Apparently post-trial his opinion of you has grown immensely. I think it's mostly because you have now had a lot of press coverage since the trial."

"So I'm not so much the Dead weight around your neck?" I said.

Dante grabbed me "No your facebook followers is massive . Actually he was asking me if you could be persuaded to have some kind of junior post and would I be okay about being the first lady or what is it, first spouse."

"oooo" I said "do you think he can get George to dress properly and get herself elected?" 

"It's turned out he has had a change of heart" 

"The wonders of organ surgery never stop amazingly me" I said noticing Casey Young with Io smooching in a corner.

"he's been talking to George trying to sell Leo on being the first Goth president of earth." said Dante eatting some nibbles from the coffeetable in front of us.

My eyes got bigger "A goth in the Whitehouse  what ever next. We are surely living in the age of revolutions."

Before we could get any further the first regions votes were coming in. Bentham's vote share had dropped after the trial. He was a good solid five points behind. The betting it was all on Aunt Mallery. Bob had asked if we could have a large wedding after the election to create something positive after the 'dirtiest election in UN's history'. Bob also liked the notion that Dante would be able to legitimately change his name for Tyrell to Banks. Dante was on the far edge of the Banks family. He had descended from Jenny Banks and Rockwood like we all had done but he had a stronger connection to the Kayla Brown side. Tryrell came from Joe Tyrell,  The Banks name would help Dante's election chances he had said. 

The TV set jumped into life. The robot announcing the results walked onto stage.

"the likes from region five come as follows. Mallory Banks 9,657,400 Rolands Bentham..." it began we all held our breath region five was normally the first to show and gave a good indication of The global pattern "9,657,200"

"A .0005 percent lead to Mallory" said to robots.

"What?" as the collective noise we all manage to make. No one had liked to assume the whole thing was in the bag but this was so completely unexpected. The swing to Mallory was tiny. 

Bob got a phone call he smiled and held it to his chest.

"It's from Bentham. He's phoning to congratulate Mallory on her win" he beamed walking out.

The television pundits immediately jumped in, the only explanation they had found was that the Bentham voters were far less likely to admit to voting for him than for Aunt Mallory. The bubbling crowd watching became quiet as region 12 repeated the same shift. This time it had come down to a couple hundred votes out of  20 million. Aunt Mallory lost region 7 but by a tiny margin. After the sixth region had announced against her, Aunt Mallory came in to see for herself. She watched the news in complete shock and disbelief. Region 19 which was expected to come behind Aunt Mallory switched to 100% Bentham and 0 votes for Aunt Mallory. This seems strange result but the robotic television pundits said that it was the kind of region where everybody got their robots to decide who they should vote for. The robots in turn had decided Bentham was the kind of person their owners would normally vote for.

Regardless of his claims not to be interested, Dante kept analyzing the results trying to understand what the people on the planet were saying. Between results, the TV showed more interviews with supporters on both sides. Bentham's supporters looked completely bewildered, like they too hadn't expected this result.

Bentham came on TV had held the camera in the view of a deep sea, sea bass out of water. He was being pressed on some his claims.

"Soon to be general secretary Bentham. You told the people of region 19 you would reduce spending on the military and people of region 22 you would increase it. What are you going to do?"

Bentham thought on his feet "We need to increase it for a specific purpose. Then after that purpose is over we will reduce it" he said.

"What purpose Bentham?" said the interview robot.

Bentham was on the spot now. He paused  " We need to take back Luna. We need to take back control of our space. ".

"Your suggesting we, the people of Earth invade The Moon?" said the clearly incredulous robot interviewer.

"I'm not saying that exactly. Huge numbers of people from Earth have retired to the moon. I'm sure you will find that the majority of people on the moon want to belong to Earth. It's about fulfilling our destiny."

"Typical Bentham" said Dante "he keeps making things up during interviews. I think he didn't think he would win so he just promises whatever he thinks people want to hear. He can lie and he didn't think he would have to deliver. 

It was getting close to Dawn. The awful news on the TV set had been muted. People had gone home and the general crowd felt totally despondent. Then there was a knock on the door. People started to get up and walk towards it somethings happening.

I follow Dante to The large hallway. Standing in the doorway it was an Earth land security robot. Mallory's personal protection detail were trooping out. 

"Mrs Malloy Kayla Banks" the robot began "you have been charged with high treason. By order of High-president Bentham you will be arrested until the trial can be arranged." 

"hi High-president don't you mean secretary general?" said Aunt Mallory. 

"High-president Bentham has changed the title. He is high-president for life or until this mess you have created has been sorted" said the robot. 

The last I saw of Aunt Mallory was being lead out of the House handcuffed.

*****

 END OF BOOK 1.

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