These flushed and scheming Senators could not muster any unified voice, but they did at least manage unified silence.

“Good,” Grandpa Jin continued. “Now, everyone who’s introducing an urgent motion, pass your drafts to the clerks. Meanwhile, you each get twenty seconds to describe your business and why it matters. Everyone else, sit down!” His glare added: and shut up! “Are there motions both for both Senatorial Orders and Senatorial Consults?” he asked.

Diverse ‘Yes’es confirmed.

“We’ll hear Orders first, then Consults.”

Did you spot it, reader? Another old Imperial victory immortal in these neutral-seeming words? The Universal Senate may issue Orders to its many arms: to its court, the Sensayers’ Conclave, the Censor’s Office, Papadelias and his police, the Housing Board, the Archive, but the Hives are their own free beings, like children at a school, free at any time to ignore the teacher’s advice if they are prepared to accept the consequences. Since ancient days there has been a name for Senatorial recommendations that carry the force, not of law, but of the Will of the Leviathan, but the name is Latin, and we cannot say Senatus Consultum without implying that the Latin-speaking Masons somehow own this, much as we half believe they own all Romanova, built for us by MASONS past. So we instead say ‘Senatorial Consult,’ which translates to ‘Let’s pretend we aren’t thinking about Masons right now.’ Of course we are.

“First, the Chair recognizes Hiveless Fracciterne.”

“Thank you, Member Speaker.” The implausibly tall old Haitian bassoonist was accustomed to being recognized first, and accustomed too to serving as a neutral mouthpiece when multi-Hive coalitions cannot compromise on which should lead debate. “On behalf of thirty-two of my peers, and for the sake of ensuring the stability of global discourse, and to mitigate the current trend of innocently intended but nonetheless dangerous violations of the antiproselytory aspects of the First Law, I call for the urgent passage of a Senatorial Order to the Sensayers Conclave, commanding that they present, within forty-eight hours, a plan to facilitate safe global dialogue about the unavoidable theological questions involved in the supposed resurrection of J—” She caught herself. “Tribune Mason, focusing on—”

Jin Im-Jin’s mace slammed. “Twenty seconds up. Next, Mitsubishi Zhao.”

The young but dominant Senator from Wenshou was famous for modeling her vocateur tailor bash’mate Xiaodan Zhao’s lavish fabrics, and for the day’s gravity she had selected from her closet, not the traditional bright spring buds of March, but a nightscape with hints of blade-slim grass and fireflies that actually pulsed. “I call for the urgent passage of a Senatorial Order that Commissioner General Papadelias assemble a Special Task Force to investigate the so-called O.S. conspiracy, and report to the Senate before any trial is considered.”

“Thank you. Are there any more motions from Senators for Senatorial Orders? No? Motions for Senatorial Consults, then. Mitsubishi Mudali.”