She stripped off the rest of her clothes, took a quick, hot shower, and put on one of her long sleep-tees. As she came out the bathroom door she heard an “Ahem” from the doorway.
Chiddy. He was holding out a small bottle. “Tonic,” he said. “To make you feel you have slept well and are unstressed and confident. We sent some home with Chad, as well.”
“Is it a drug?” she asked.
He frowned. “You mean, is it addictive? No. Unless you are addicted to staying up all night every night and being frightened out of your wits all the time. Then, I suppose, one might come to rely on it.”
She laughed, the laughter becoming almost hysterical, until she found herself sitting on the bed, Chiddy holding a cold washcloth to her head. “Did you think they would eat you?” he asked. . “Chiddy, they did eat me! Or, one of them did. I was inside a Wulivery. My legs, look at them, they’re all red and blistered and they burn like fury . . .”
He growled something and disappeared, returning in a moment with another bottle containing a lotion that he spread upon the reddened skin. The relief from pain was immediate. “Twice each day,” he muttered angrily, recapping the bottle and setting it beside her. “The Inkleozese didn’t tell me. How did you get out?”
“I killed it,” she said. “And two Xankatikitiki, as well.”
“You killed them! Three of them. Remarkable.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m a walking advertisement for the NRA. Where did the Inkleozese take Bert and the kids?”
He shrugged. “Somewhere nearby. They will not suffer, any of them, and Vess and I agree it is best for the cabal not to know what has happened. In a few hours, you must appear before Senator Morse’s committee.”
“That’s right,” she sighed.
He stared at her for a time, nodding. “Chad will come get you. Until near the time, perhaps you should sleep.”
“If I can, sure.”
“Drink the tonic,” he said. “You’ll find you can.”
Benita—MONDAY
By eight o’clock on Monday morning, Benita felt considerably better. Chiddy’s tonic had calmed her down, brightened her eyes, and allowed her to convince herself, as Chiddy suggested, that she was involved in an interesting episode in human history rather than the debacle of the millennium. Shortly after eight, Chad called to say she was To appear before Morse’s committee in closed session.
“I don’t like that closed session bit.”
“Neither do I. We’ll see what we can do when we get there.”
Chad drove her to the Capitol, where they went down a wide hallway without attracting the least attention. In the committee room, Senator Morse was already seated, glaring at the far end of the table with its empty chair, the one Benita was presumably to occupy. When he looked up and saw her, he started, very much as though her presence was unexpected.
Chad caught the reaction and pressed her arm. Benita murmured, “He thought I wouldn’t show up. Now isn’t that interesting.”
To either side of the table committee members fumbled papers and murmured to one another, glancing with equal curiosity first at Benita and Chad and then at Morse. Perhaps, Benita thought, they had assumed she would have two heads. Or tentacles. Perhaps they had assumed a pregnant Morse would not appear. Whatever their assumptions, here she was, and here he was, and the one thing that really bothered her was that there were no neutral outside observers in the room. She didn’t trust Morse and much preferred that he do nothing to her or with her in private.
“Who are you?” Morse demanded of Chad.
“I’m the intermediary’s bodyguard, Senator. I’m an FBI agent, and I’ll stay with her during the hearing.”
“You will not,” said Morse. ‘This is a private hearing.”
Benita felt herself flushing. It was all too, too reminiscent of a former occasion. “I agreed to speak to this committee voluntarily,” she said. “However, I will not do so unless Agent Riley is here.”
“My dear lady, you will be held in contempt of Congress if you do not do precisely what we order,” sneered Morse.
She started to speak, hushing when Chad put his hand on her arm. “Senator, the envoys are not delighted at your demanding the intermediary to be here, and though we do not know how they might react to such an action on your part, we have seen what actions they are capable of. Our agency, at least, feels it is wiser to be cautious.”