Jin Im-Jin, Speaker of the Senate, took the dais now, her thin Korean eyes almost vanishing as she massaged her temples, overburdened by more than a full century’s wrinkles. The Speaker’s sash sat comfortably across her chest, gold-trimmed ocean blue fabric pledging that, despite the coded Brillist sweater underneath, today she served not Gordian but Earth. No, the feminine feels wrong here. Speaker Jin’s demeanor was unmistakably paternal, not a stern Father like the Emperor, but Grandpa, too friendly to be quite imperious as he presides over a gaggle of squabbling grandkids who each think the other’s slice of pudding is unjustly large. It took Jin Im-Jin seven cries of “Order” to achieve even a tolerable approximation of silence.

“I hereby call this, the Second Special Emergency Session of the Three-Hundred-and-Tenth Universal Free Senate to ord—”

Before the final syllable took wing, no fewer than five Senators leapt to their feet with the selfish urgency of game show contestants. “Motion to Bring to the Table a matter of…” The rest was muddle, one Senator shouting “Universal Emergency,” another “Imminent Global Disaster,” another the ever-primary “Urgent Defense of the First Law,” all those stock phrases which have the power to trump and hijack Senate procedure.

Speaker Jin Im-Jin took a deep breath as the ranks of Senators burst into hubbub. “Order! Order! This emergency session was convened to… Order! Order!” Grandpa’s face made plain the true complaint: Is anyone in this room not having a temper tantrum?

Seeing Grandpa’s exasperation, Grandma rose to her feet, Charlemagne Guildbreaker Sr., ever-smiling champion of order and courtesy, whose wooly beard, white against the dark warmth of Persian skin, has for decades been Romanova’s symbol for calm. Charlemagne was no longer Minister of Labor, nor even technically the leading Mason in the Senate, but had passed those honors on in order to graduate to the more essential office of assisting the Speaker as the Unofficial Nonpartisan Resolver of Unnecessary Bickering. When the children dropped the ball, Grandma passed it back to Grandpa to serve again. “Incidental Motion, Member Speaker.”

“The Chair recognizes Mason Guildbreaker Senior.”