Surviving Antarctica (31 page)

Steve tried, but he couldn’t imagine billions of silent televisions.

“Then the President intervened.”

“What do you mean?”

“The President put the Secretary of Entertainment on mandatory leave and obtained a copy of the
Antarctic Historical Survivor
script. The script showed that the Secretary had set up
a rival Amundsen expedition. The actor-Amundsen was waiting nearby. He was supposed to beat the kids to the Pole just as the real Amundsen had beaten Scott.

“The President declared the game over and sent the actor to Antarctica to rescue the kids. The kids’ parents met them in Tierra del Fuego. Doctors there gave them a clean bill of health. Polly, Andrew, and Billy are on their way home as we speak.” Chad beamed. “You stopped a
Historical Survivor
game.”

Just as he had feared, Steve had to be in a lot of trouble.

“But Robert and Grace decided to stay,” Chad added.

“What do you mean?”

“Robert wanted to be the first kid to reach the Pole, and Grace wants to stay just a little while longer. They’re halfway to the Pole now and doing fine.”

“And what’s going to happen to me?” Steve said.

“We haven’t been able to find you. We had no idea that you were locked up right here in the DOE. Jacob sent out an e-mail telling the public what you had done. When the Department took the MVP vote, the viewers wrote in your name.” He paused. “Or Birdie Bowers’s
name. It’s the same thing.”

“What?” Steve said.

“You’re MVP on
Historical Survivor,
entitled to the prize money.” Chad’s grin grew wider. “The President has almost started taking credit for your intervention. She’d like to talk to you. A little while ago one of the Secretary’s guards cracked, and we learned that you were hidden in the building all along. Lots of reporters want to interview you, but I came alone to get you. You’re a rich man.”

No goons were going to beat him up. He wasn’t going to be an old man at seventeen. No
Court TV
. He wasn’t going to get a public whipping. Steve felt so overwhelmed with happiness that he was afraid he might faint.

“There’s more, but I’ll have to tell you later,” Chad said. “Let’s go. After you’ve had a chance to rest and eat, the President wants to talk to you.”

Steve tried to walk, but his legs were too shaky. He stumbled.

“Come on,” Chad said kindly. “I’ll help you.” He gripped Steve’s arm.

Jacob and a policeman Steve didn’t recognize were waiting for them outside the room.

“Hi, Steve,” Jacob said.

Steve smiled weakly at Jacob.

The policeman nodded. “There’s a crowd up there, sir.”

Steve tensed. He wasn’t ready to face a crowd.

“The sooner we go, the sooner you’ll get home,” Chad reminded him.

“I’ll get his other arm,” Jacob said, moving next to Steve.

Together with Chad and Jacob, Steve followed the policeman down the long, dank hall. As they walked up the stairway, he heard a jumble of loud voices.

Several police officers were blocking a group of cameramen and reporters. When the news reporters saw Steve, they began yelling at him from the top of the stairwell.

“Mr. Michael, what will you do with your prize money?”

“Why did you choose the alias Birdie Bowers?”

“Those kids could have made it!” a man wearing a cowboy hat shouted at him. “Why did you stop the
Survivor
show?” He stuck a mike in Steve’s face.

Steve had been alone for so long that the stares of the journalists made him feel lightheaded. How should he answer the last reporter? He had to defend himself. Oddly
enough, a quote that he had heard in teleschool popped into his mind. He hoped Birdie Bowers had said it, but he couldn’t remember for sure. He cleared his throat.

“Survival is no child’s game,” Steve said.

Before he had time to say more, lights flashed, and Chad pulled him through the crowd.

“Mr. Michael will hold a press conference later,” Chad said over his shoulder. “But now he needs to get some food and rest.”

THE PRESIDENT SAT
behind her desk in the Oval Office. She wore a purple suit and purple lipstick. Steve knew that she was seventy years old, but her face looked younger. He had heard that she had paid outrageous fees to grow new skin.

Now that Steve had had a good night’s rest and was cleaned up, he felt as if he had brand-new skin, too.

An aide stood with him in the doorway, waiting for the President to acknowledge them.

Steve had great respect for the President, but he also knew that running a government crippled by deficits was next to impossible. Neither her courage nor her worries showed in her face. She
looked like an ordinary middle-aged woman.

The aide cleared his throat loudly.

“Ah, Mr. Michael,” the President said when she looked up. “Come in.”

The aide let go of his arm, and Steve walked into the room.

“I’m sorry that we didn’t find you sooner, but I’m glad to have the chance for a chat,” the President said.

Steve nodded. “Madame President.”

“Please sit down.”

Steve sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

The President stared into his eyes. “I’ll come right to the point.”

“Yes, ma’am.” It seemed incredible to him that the President was giving him even five minutes of her time.

“To reduce the crime rate and to distract ourselves from the pain of our poverty, we have become a nation of viewers.” She paused. “But not you. On behalf of all of America, I want to thank you for taking action.”

Steve didn’t know what to say. The President of the United States had just thanked him. He wished that his family were alive and could be with him now.

“Do you know how much the Secretary
spent on
Antarctic Historical Survivor?”

Steve shook his head.

“Over one hundred million dollars,” the President said. “Outrageous! I’m going to make it my business to see that we never waste so much on so little again.”

Steve’s anger at the Secretary helped him to overcome his shyness. “What’s going to happen to the Secretary?”

“I’ve disagreed with the Secretary on many issues for a long time. But you have to understand that there are limits even to a President’s power.” The President’s solemn face broke into a broad grin. “I’m pleased to report, however, that Congress has started an investigation.”

Steve had read about congressional investigations in the newspapers. Once, various members of Congress had asked a former CEO over 6,000,000 questions, and the same question 250,000 times. But in Steve’s opinion, being bored by Congress was not enough punishment for the Secretary. “What about the corneal implants? The kids didn’t know about those. Didn’t she break the law?”

“When they applied to be on
Historical Survivor
, the kids and their parents signed a release.”

“But how can that be fair?”

“The implants were legal,” the President said simply.

Steve felt his face fall. He was happy that the Secretary had lost her job and was under congressional investigation. She was a bad person. But eventually congressional investigations ended, and Steve guessed that the Secretary would talk her way into another job.

“We are taking some action, however,” the President said, as though she had sensed his disappointment. She paused. “I’ve asked your friend Chad to tell you about the Secretary’s other troubles. While you’ve been unavailable, I’ve met with him.”

Chad? What had Chad talked to the President about?

“We’ll talk some more later, but I wanted to ask you if you’d help me greet the kids and their parents.”

“Sure,” Steve said.

“They’re landing at the air force base this afternoon, at five o’clock. I’d like you to come with me.”

So much was happening so fast. “That would be great.”

“In that case”—the President signaled to one of her aides—“see that Steve gets a Presidential pass.”

“Thank you,” he said.

The President of the United States stood up and shook Steve’s hand. “I’ll see you in the helicopter.”

As Steve was escorted out the front door of the White House, he carefully put his pass in his shirt pocket. He was more excited than he used to be on Christmas mornings. In a short while, he would meet three of the kids!

Outside the gate, he found Chad and Pearl waiting for him. Pearl didn’t have her broom, and someone had styled her hair. As always, her eyes were downcast.

“The President mentioned—” Steve began.

“We have to talk,” Chad interrupted. “I didn’t have time to tell you everything yesterday.”

“When?” Steve asked.

“How about right now?” Chad said.

Steve sat across from Chad and Pearl at a coffee shop around the corner from the White House. He sipped his coffee and waited.

“When you learned Pearl’s story, you didn’t ask a key question,” Chad said.

What was Chad talking about?

“With all the blood and gore of
World War I Historical Survivor
, how did the Secretary ever
witness Pearl’s act of kindness?”

Chad was right. Steve hadn’t thought about that.

“Well, it’s simple, really.” Chad stirred his coffee. “I was the head of the day shift then. Pearl was my assistant. The Secretary had these digicameras that she wanted to try out. Pearl was a guinea pig for one of the earliest models.”

Steve looked at Pearl, stunned.

“The early models were crude. Incapable of picking up voices. The scenes they relayed were like silent movies.”

Looking at Pearl across the table, Steve realized that he had never seen her eyes.

“When that soldier crawled to her, Pearl probably forgot about the implant. All she saw was the suffering of another human being. But unwittingly she broadcast the entire scene to the editing room. The images weren’t as clear as the ones today, but I stood next to the Secretary as she watched the intervention on a monitor: Pearl leaning down to give the soldier a cup of water. The blood on the man’s forehead. His chapped lips moving to say ‘Thank you.’”

Chad’s voice rose. “And later I saw the Secretary shout at Pearl. Then two beefy goons appeared.

“I saw them pound Pearl.” Chad’s voice broke. “I waited as they held her in isolation and denied her food, day after day. I knew that I should try to help her. But I was a coward. I
am
a coward.” He grimaced, and Steve remembered Chad’s scared face in the editing room when he insisted that Steve go home and leave Andrew in the crevasse.

“I feared that they’d do the same thing to me—so I just waited.” Chad looked over at Pearl, who was staring down at the table. “I know she’s forgiven me for this, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me to live with myself.” He sighed.

“Of course, after it was too late, I rescued Pearl and took her to a hospital. Her appearance had changed so much that she didn’t need a disguise when I brought her back to work. I just told her to keep her eyes on her broom. Shortly after that, I was transferred to the night shift. That’s why the Secretary has left the night shift alone all these years. She knows that I have something on her, but because I’ve never spoken out, she’s assumed that we had a deal. I guess we did, of sorts.”

So that was why Chad had been able to get him transferred so easily, Steve thought.

“I never had the guts to stand up to the
Secretary, but to try to make it up to Pearl, the night crew and I engaged in minor acts of sabotage. That is, until you joined us, Steve.”

No one said anything for a minute, but Steve felt sure that Chad was trying to thank him.

“So what does this mean?” Steve said.

“I saved Pearl’s tape,” Chad said. “I have it all. I didn’t think that the day would ever come when I could use it. If I had given it to the police earlier, the Secretary would have talked her way out of the crime. You were a little boy when the Urban Trash Wars were raging, so you may not remember. When the Secretary took over the DOE and started better programming, the wars virtually came to an end. She was a national hero.

“But now …” Chad smiled. “Thanks to you, we’ve got her. Taking you on was the best decision that I’ve made in twenty years.”

Steve just nodded, but he felt proud. He had been scared, too, but he had acted anyway.

Chad patted Pearl’s arm. “You’ve waited a long time, Pearl, but justice is yours.” He faced Steve again. “I’ve discussed Pearl’s case with the President. She gave the tape to the police. They’re already prosecuting the Secretary for assault and battery. After all, the police have an open-and-shut case. It’s all on the Secretary’s own tape.” He
paused. “Show him your eye, Pearl.”

Pearl looked up at Steve. Her gray hair framed a sad face, but her eyes were the clearest blue. It was unmistakable. Right in the middle of her left pupil, a clear glass lens shone.

Steve had to look away. “Why didn’t you”—he searched for the right word—“remove that awful device?”

Chad shrugged. “The early models were tricky to implant and difficult to remove. Pearl had suffered so much …” He took a sip of coffee. “Are you going with the President to meet the kids’ plane?”

Steve nodded.

“So in just a little while you’ll get to see them?”

Steve nodded again. He couldn’t wait.

They grinned at each other across the table.

“Well, you proved it,” Chad said.

“Proved what?” Steve stirred his coffee.

Chad’s face was solemn. “That the time hasn’t passed.”

Without asking, Steve understood what time Chad was talking about. Steve knew that he had made a difference, and it was the best feeling in the world.

THE HELICOPTER THAT
was carrying Steve and the President was the length of five cars. It whizzed over the crowded city toward the air force base.

After greeting Steve, the President had begun talking on her cell phone. Steve caught an occasional phrase, such as “free trade” or “religious wars.” Mostly his attention was fixed on the people sitting in traffic below while two Secret Service men, on either side of the President, glared at him.

Finally the helicopter passed over the barbed-wire fence of the base. The parking lot was packed. Thousands of people were waiting outside the fence to see the kids land.