Chapter 19

The formal announcement was made over the ship’s news network. At first, the news of the rodeo started slowly. Partly from a lack of understanding of what a rodeo was. The main reason for anyone’s interest was a lack of other news and boredom. Most of the announced news from the inner system was weeks, if not months, old, and that news was generally viewed as suspect and possibly manipulated by the various governments.

It was during that formal announcement that the judges of the rodeo were named. Captain Sullivan, Tom Olivet, and Cynthia Holt were named as the judges.

Generally, the selections were accepted. Both Captain Sullivan and Commander Olivet were obvious picks for the position. The only controversy was concerning Cynthia Holt. When the question was asked why Agnes Seward was not one of the judges, she had broadcast a ship-wide message from her bed. She explained that Doctor Holland had ordered her to bed and to avoid stress. She said that she had complete confidence in Cynthia’s abilities and that she would make a fine judge for the rodeo.

This did not sit well with some folks, including Bob Chambers. The day after Grandmother Seward’s message, he had appeared at her office, demanding a meeting with her. He was told by Elisabeth Palmer, Grandmother Seward’s secretary, that, on the doctor’s orders, she was unavailable for meetings. Chambers persisted, becoming irate. It was when the Chilkoot security guards stood that he changed his mind and stormed out of the office.

But that wasn’t the end of his anger. He went to the ship’s Congress and demanded time to address this slight to him.

“Mr. Speaker, why is this woman, with no experience, training, or status, being put into this position? She wasn’t even a crew member until she was brought up out of the slums of Mars station. And even then, only because her thug son was captured stealing water from us. Should she even be allowed to remain on board the ship?”

Aaron Griffeth, the speaker of the house, responded. “Mr. Chambers, why exactly have you brought this to our attention? Of what possible interest do we, as the Congress, have with whom judges this event?”

There were several voices of agreement from the house. Chamber’s face reddened both at the rebuke from the speaker and the lack of support from the other congress members.

Edgar Patterson stood and announced, “Mr. President, we are all well aware of the ambitions of Mr. Chambers. Many of us are also aware that if he doesn’t get his way, he will continue to harangue us with this. I propose a solution to this that, hopefully, will satisfy all of us, especially Mr. Chambers. I ask that Mr. Chambers motion be sent to a committee for review and consideration. I would expect that this committee will take several months to deliberate, and that after those deliberations and the various commentaries that will surely follow, we will have decided the matter long after the celebrations for the conclusion of the rodeo. Then there is also the possibility that the committee will table this frivolous motion and return to the more important functions of this body.”