“Shit pickles. Yes, I know.” Penn smiled. “But this is not a day to enjoy the suffering of others.”

With the available time before his address to the joint session, Penn decided to return to his quarters in the dormitory wing. He wanted to brush his teeth and tame his hair before resetting the history of the United States of America.

The dormitory wing sat directly across the massive common office area from the House and Senate Chambers. Like every other wing of the Annex, the dorms were separated from the common area by latching double doors that were controlled by electronic locks. Wave the identification badge at the box on the wall, then the lock buzzed to let you in.

While Penn shared his room with only one other person, the majority leader of the Senate, rank-and-file members slept in stacked bunks, two to a stack, twenty members to a room. The bathroom and shower facilities had clearly been designed by the same team that created gang showers at boot camp. Senior status as a member of Congress did not grant him private facilities.

With his last-minute hygiene chores complete, Penn was exiting the bath facilities when a noise down the hall got his attention. The hospital wing was located down the same hallway, all the way at the end, the last room before a set of heavy metal double doors that were labeled, SOLARA STAFF ONLY.

A Solara staffer, whom Penn had not seen before, was wheeling a gurney out of the hospital wing. The gurney appeared to be transporting a person, but the cargo was completely covered. The employee—Penn thought of them all as soldiers—swiped his card on the reader next to the heavy metal doors, and when the lock buzzed, he turned around, pushed the doors open with his backside and pulled the gurney into the room.

“Excuse me!” Penn called. “You! Excuse me, please!”

The soldier looked startled and moved more quickly.

“Is that a person?” Penn asked.

The soldier disappeared and the door snapped shut behind him.

How odd.

After the members of the House and Senate arrived in the auditorium, exchanged pleasantries and took their seats, Randy Banks strode to the front and sat in the Speaker’s chair. A ripple of concern ran through Angela Fortnight’s side of the aisle as they anticipated what lay ahead.

From the rear, Parker Wortham, president pro tempore of the Senate, and now next in line to the presidency, announced, “Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States.”

Everyone rose to their feet as Penn made his way down the aisle toward the well, but the applause was sparse, uncomfortable. Senators from both parties ultimately came around and applauded, but Leader Fortnight sat in her seat, signaling for all others in her party to sit as well.