"I see", Valentine said. "Sounds like he's done".
"New Hampshire is next. Now she can talk".
"Has she ever been to New Hampshire?" Valentine asked.
"Of course not. Senators argue their elections in front of the Supreme Court, so you can be sure she represents their values. She's flinty, tough, practical".
"And married to the head of the Unified Journalism Network", the man from behind said.
"That's Senator Bey there, in the leather chair with the bull horns at the top".
Whatever remained of the miner in the graying body was in the set of the shoulders and head. Senator Bey leaned forward in his chair, chin up and out and fist set on his knee, as if ready to rush the podium and tackle the speaker.
Valentine tried to follow the debate. The "distinguished senator from New Hampshire" was defending the credentials of a new director for the Law College.
"There's a college here?"
"Of a sort. They feed the specialty schools: Military, Law, and Social Support or Revealed Religion, plus a special technical school for the people who keep the juice and water running. Most of the learning is computerized up until tenth grade. Then you get teachers, most of whom are studying at the college at the same time - it's how they pay their tuition. College is tough. I only barely made it. Try going four years on nothing but study naps".
Valentine waited through a vote - the new director was confirmed, and then the Senate ended session for the day with one of the most vaguely worded prayers Valentine had ever heard.
"Sorry it wasn't more interesting", Ducks whispered during the prayer. "Last week we had an impeachment trial. Those are always fun".
"Amen", the man behind said, though whether this was to cap the prayer or not Valentine never learned, for he left a moment later.
Ducks led Valentine through yet another Capitol Police checkpoint, this one with a bank of security camera monitors, but she seemed on friendly terms with all the men there and they made only a cursory check of his ID, and logged him in via computer.
These tunnels were wood paneled, with real door handles separating the garage-sized offices from the carpeted corridor. Soft music played through speakers hidden within the electrical and water conduits. She stopped at a door with a laminated plate that read "Senator John Bey, Senior Senator From Oklahoma", and knocked.
The door opened a crack, and Valentine saw a ferretlike man with a widow's peak. "Ducks".
"Visitor for the senator, Larry".
"Okay, but it has to be fast. He's got a party dinner to attend".
Valentine entered the office, lit by soft bulbs in tasteful lamps. The senator sat in a little chair by a porcelain sink, being shaved by an attendant while another staffer changed his shoes and socks. Valentine thought his face looked careworn.
A bodyguard with a holster bulging under his paper jacket stood in a corner with a good view of the whole room.
* * *
Ducks led him to the end of the room and Valentine checked himself in the mirror. "Senator, this is Major David Valentine, Pacific Command by way of Southern Command. Major, this of course is Senator Bey". She turned to the man with the widow's peak. "And this is Larry Decasse, the senator's chief of staff".
"Fourteen and counting", Decasse said. "I could use three more if we could just get the funding".
Valentine remembered hearing that Southern Command's commander in chief, General Phillips, ran his office with the help of two staffers and a communications officer, and had refused the protection of a bodyguard.
"I think I know your name, son. How can I help the Cause and the people I represent?"
"Sir", Valentine said, suddenly unsure about how one addressed a senator, "I've got two reports. One needs to be transmitted to Southern Command". Valentine laid the first document, his one-page report on finding Sir and relaying the message that Southern Command desperately needed Lifeweaver help, down on the desk.
"The second is more for your eyes, though I ask it to go to Southern Command as well. It concerns what can only be called war crimes carried out by Pacific Command".
"War crimes?" the senator asked, and Decasse hurried to the senator's side. "Who? What? We just voted a commendation for Adler for opening a new line to British Columbia".
Mr. A. "It's in the report. They slaughter Kurian populations. That's why Adler is so successful. He murders whole towns".
"It's not slaughter", Decasse said. "They're relocating populations. He's the most effective commander in the Resistance. Very popular on the Hill".