He pushed a basket of bread and an olive oil dip across to her. “Good to see you too, Lauren.”

A waitress placed a beer in front of Hutch and a glass of red wine in front of Lauren.

“I took the liberty of ordering for you.” Hutch took a sip of his beer. “So the polls are doing exactly what I expected. Relax. You’re not behind. It’s June. The election is more than four months out. Have you spoken with Jillian yet?”

“I did. She was lukewarm on the idea. Said the subcommittee members would be none too happy about holding even more hearings before the election.”

He popped a piece of oiled bread into his mouth. “She just doesn’t see the appeal this would have with voters. Not yet. I figured the members wouldn’t be thrilled. But she’s the chair. They’ll do as she says. The question is, will she do it?”

“I can get her to.”

“Good. Give her whatever you have to. Come January, you’ll be in the other chamber, anyway.”

“There’s one more problem. We’ve lost touch with Abby.”

He put his beer down. “Is she still in the country?”

“Sabin thinks so. At least she intended to be.”

“Then she’ll show up. Maybe I can put a tracer on her.”

Lauren leaned forward. “Hutch, I have to admit, I’m still not convinced about the idea. Americans couldn’t care less about a group of third-world aborigines.”

He nodded. “Of course. But what they do care about is solving the planet’s problems. Because the planet’s problems always become our problems. Energy shortages. Nukes. Pollution of the oceans. Availability of usable water. People have finally come to realize that rising standards of living don’t threaten the planet; they save it. It’s the most developed countries that can afford to stop polluting, stop overfishing, use energy efficient systems, desalinate water—and stop threatening others with nukes. It’s been fifty years, but people are still scared witless about nukes. Through universal dissemination of AI, the third world can close the gap within a generation. Humans can live peacefully and comfortably for the first time in several million years.

“That tribe of your cousin’s—they’ll be our poster children. You put her before the subcommittee and have her tell a sob story about their lives; she won’t even know she’s doing it. People will hear about their scarce food, lack of medicine, short life expectancy, infant mortality rate—I bet it’s sixty percent. It’ll show voters how desperate we are for someone to lead us into a brave new world. And who will do that? You and Nichols. The senator and the innovator/philanthropist, hand in hand. You champion this, and you are the future.”