For a moment, nothing happened. Hundreds of faces stared at the mouse scampering around in his cage. From several tables down, Jason stood and clapped slowly. At another table, a woman who I remembered as Olivia stood and clapped as well. Nicole joined the clap, as did Marcus, Fiona, and Eliza. Soon the entire room was clapping. The floor rumbled with the stamping of their feet and cheers erupted. I said nothing further and hoisted Odysseus’s cage even higher with two arms. Only when the cheering had died down did I try to speak again.
“This is a fantastic leap forward, my friends, but this is not the last step! We will send another lab mouse outside tomorrow morning. This one will wear a small camera on his body and will bring us back still images of the environment. Given that Odysseus has passed through a rigorous quarantine, it is safe to expect that no lethal pathogens are present, but we will confirm this by another two-week quarantine of the second mouse. I will provide information to the rest of the shelter as I receive it.”
Another round of applause and I sat back down. For his part in the whole thing, Marcus broke off a part of his stuffing cube and pushed it through the grate of Odysseus’s cage. The mouse squeaked and grabbed it out of Marcus’s fingers. The rest of the shelter filed out of the mess hall. Everyone except George. I sighed and pushed Odysseus’s cage aside to let the gargantuan man take a seat.
“Jacob.”
“George.” I addressed him with as much calm civility as I could. Something told me that my parade was about to be rained on.
“Jacob, you promised me a free and fair election. It has been three weeks. I have been patient and cooperative. I have even been downright friendly and kept those who think like me from interfering with your efforts to resettle the surface. I’ve done you a favor. Now it is time for that favor to be returned.”
I pressed my lips together and took a deep breath. “Right on all counts, George. For your friendliness and cooperation, I am genuinely thankful. However, do you think right now is the best time to hold an election? Half of these people are barely reoriented to life out of the virtual world. You can hardly expect them to make an informed choice.”
The corner of his eye twitched. “Listen here, Jacob. I’m only telling you this out of courtesy. There are those here who wish you harm. I’ve convinced them to keep their hands to themselves. I would lie to you and say that I speak out of care for your wellbeing, but the truth is that I’m giving you a warning. If you choose to prevent the shelter from holding an election, I honestly cannot promise you that I can convince them to stay that way.”
I rolled my eyes. “The big bad wolf is coming to blow my house down? Come on, George. You’ve got to do a little better than that.”
“I’m serious. I’ve also noticed that you will not so much as go to the bathroom without an escort, so I suspect you know that I am, too. Don’t fuck with them, Jacob. Don’t fuck with me, either.”
“… an election. How would you suggest that we could conduct an unbiased election while I’m busy gathering supplies for an exploratory expedition, coordinating the production of medical supplies, and settling the multitude of pointless squabbles that come across my day?” He opened his mouth, but I held up my hand. “I’m not saying no, George, but you need to give me a little more time. Can your groupies hang on for another forty-eight hours? In forty-eight hours I will have a plan on how we can do this, all right?”
“Two days? And you’ll be willing to offer me a platform to make my case for my leadership?”
“Yes. Not out of respect for you, but out of respect for them. I never asked for this position, and I’m no politician. No matter how things go from here, they deserve the chance to determine their own fate.”
George sat with his arms crossed. As the seconds ticked by, the only sound in the mess was the scratching of Odysseus’s claws against the bottom of the cage. Then he reached out his hand, and I shook it.
“May the best man win,” he said.
“May the best man win.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. Between my announcement and my conversation with George had taken over an hour. Time for bed. On my way back to my quarters, I bumped into one of the exploration team, an older woman named Allison. She was our unofficial architect; I had set her on the task of designing several potential shelters that could be constructed quickly and securely. I wondered if she had been dealing with hecklers the same way I had been. Her face was pale, and she stared at the floor as she walked.
“Hey Allison, you okay?”
Her gaze shot up, and she jumped. I backed away and held my hands up. “Hey, Jacob.”
“Are you all right? You look exhausted.”
“Yeah, I’m doing all right. I guess I haven’t been sleeping too well the past few weeks, and it’s wearing me down. Nothing to worry about. I was just on my way to the infirmary to see if Shannon or one of the doctors had something to help me sleep.”
I peered at her for a couple of seconds. “… okay. Hey, would you mind if I accompanied you? I could use something to help me get some sleep myself.” I reached out to her
