ALICE Ch 355

Alice is sweating even as she climbs into the car. By the time she’s watching the lights, she’s drenched. Dealing with heat and dehydration during this race is a problem that is well understood at this point, and she is as prepared as she will ever be. Everything on her wheel is working properly. The car felt good yesterday. Steam, fog, and condensation all threaten to make visibility worse than rain. She takes long, steady breaths, gently squeezing the wheel.

“How do you feel, Alice?” Glynda asks over the radio.

“Shouldn’t you be worried about things that actually matter? Like Vivian Corbin’s sex life?”

“Feeling good, then.”

“Vivian Corbin’s marriage,” Alice adds with a wince. “Wouldn’t want to be the wife.”

“Let’s be classy, Alice.”

“Classy? This is FUTA.”

There’s a pause. “Please watch the lights, Alice.”

“Please watch the lights Alice,” Alice echoes in an obnoxious voice.

FF1

Annette is conflicted in her box. She’s in total comfort with a magnificent view of the track, but she knows that Irina Orlova, her daughter Sasha, and god knows who else, are on the other side of the wall to her right.

She has seen exactly nothing. She knows only what Bea Ruiz has told her, and that’s an uncomfortable position to be in. The important people coming and going seem different now. The burly bodyguards surrounding Irina seem sinister. She doesn’t know what to think.

So, she pours herself more champagne and reminds herself that FUTA is doing well. Sex sells, and the various FUTA enterprises have done well in recognizing that short-form video is everything. Simple and attention-grabbing, FUTA action is irresistible, whether it’s FUTA soccer players in motion, FUTA tennis players flashing their underwear, or FUTA Formula One drivers shouting controversial things, FUTA content works. Formula One is only one piece of that. If all this goes bad, it won’t be the end of the world.

Well, not Annette’s world.

Glynda’s world? Glynda’s made her share of mistakes. She isn’t ready to run a Formula One team, that much is clear. But that can be said of half the managers on the grid. By some measures, Glynda has acquitted herself well.

Annette nervously checks her phone to see if there’s anything new from Bea. There’s nothing. Her glass is empty again. She pours more champagne and thinks about that night with Adella and Riley for the 1000th time.

Sudden noise startles her out of the fantasy. The race is starting.

She hops up and goes to the window, watching the cars take off, sounding like a swarm of angry hornets. Maybe this is fun to watch as a spectator, but there is absolutely no fun to be had for people involved with this miserable sport. Annette frowns. But she wouldn’t have had that reunion with Adella and Riley without Formula One, so who’s to say if it’s good or bad?