"So what are you going to do?" Steve Ying, the chief of staff in question, asked her now as they sat in her office.
Barbara's office was somewhat nicer than Vic Cargill's, mostly because of the higher campaign contribution rate that she drew. She actually had something of a view from her window. She was at the edge of the developed area and could see the spaceport off to the left about twenty kilometers distant. As she considered her subordinate's question she watched an orbital craft, probably filled with agricultural products, lift into the sky, its hydrogen powered engine spewing white-hot flame as it ascended. "I was just sworn in for my second term yesterday," she said thoughtfully after the craft had disappeared beyond the horizon.
"Yes," Steve said. "That's one possible way to look at it. You have another eighteen months before you have to start worrying about re-election. No matter how much you piss off Agricorp and your other sponsors, you can't be drummed out until the end of your term, at least not unless they take an active role in getting rid of you."
Barbara knew well what that meant. An active role was a drastic action designed to get rid of a troublesome politician in a hurry. It was in fact what they were trying to do to Whiting. It meant that the corporations pulled out all of the stops and did everything in their power to discredit and smear the person and force public outrage upon them. "I don't think that they would go that far for little old me," she said. "If it was just me and me alone who voted no on the investigation, perhaps they would, but it isn't going to be just me, is it?"
He shook his head. "From what I hear, every representative is getting about the same volume of email from their constituents. Even Vic Cargill is being overwhelmed and you know what his district is like."
"Yes," she said, "Helvetia Heights. A most pleasant area of town. It's remarkable that the people in his district have embraced this cause as well. Truly remarkable."
Steve nodded. "My thoughts exactly," he said. "It goes to show just how deep this thing has become. We're truly in uncharted territory here."
"And the water is infested with sharks," she agreed. "What we do now is going to have some very long lasting implications."
"So it sounds like you're going to vote no on the investigation?" he asked her.
"I don't really see another option. I should be safe enough from any drastic repercussions. Agricorp will be mightily pissed off at me and it's possible they may be forced to withdraw their support for me in the next election, but..."
"But?"
"But if Laura Whiting succeeds in her plan, there will be no next election."
Steve looked at her as if she were mad. "You think there's a chance she'll gain independence for us?" he asked her.
"She has the support of the people," Barbara said. "And she has a gift for riling them up. As long as she is given Internet time to speak her views — and MarsGroup will undoubtedly grant her that — there's virtually no limit to what she can do."
"The corporations and the WestHem government will never allow it," Steve said. "The best that Whiting can hope for is to survive the impeachment attempt. She'll probably be able to do that but she'll still be gone within the month. They'll find some way to get rid of her, legal or not. I wouldn't even put arranging an assassination past them."
"Nor would I," Barbara told him. "But did you ever think for a minute that Whiting is smart enough to have taken that into consideration? She's been playing the political game perfectly for years, all the time planning to do what she did last night. Her goal is to make us independent. She has to know that those in power will do almost anything to get rid of her. And knowing that, she has to have taken precautions against it, just as she took precautions against impeachment. She's not naïve, Steve. I believe that she knows exactly what she is doing and I believe that she may even be ultimately successful."
Steve was having a hard time with this concept although her arguments did sound logical. "So what are you saying, Barb?" he asked.
"I'm saying that I'm going to support her."
"Support her?" he asked, wide-eyed. "Surely you don't mean what I think you mean."
"I do," she confirmed. "Start arranging a press conference for me tonight. I'm going to go live and denounce my sponsorship and announce my support for the new governor and for Martian independence."
Steve was appalled. "Barbara, that's madness," he told her. "Even if you think that Whiting has a small chance of succeeding, you must realize that in all likelihood she will not. If you just vote no on the impeachment because of public pressure, you might be able to survive politically. Agricorp will probably be able to forgive you for that since everyone else will be forced to do it as well. But if you actually announce that you support Whiting, you're dead, maybe even literally!"
Barbara shook her head at him sadly. "You don't understand, do you?" she asked him.
"Understand what?"
"Laura Whiting is right for what she's doing. This has gone beyond a political issue. When you have the vermin contacting politicians and threatening recall of them in the numbers that we've seen, you have an issue that they feel rather strongly about. The people want to be free of WestHem and it is our job as their elected representatives to do everything in our power to bring that about. I've done what my sponsors have wanted me to do my entire career, ever since I was voting for beverage contracts on the school board. I've never been able to do what the people who elected me wanted done. My soul aches because of that and it always has. I'm a Martian and its time to start balancing the scales a little bit. I'll probably go down in flames for this stand, but at least I'll go down a hero to the Martian people and not a corrupt politician."
"My God," Steve said frightfully. "You've gone ideological."
She laughed a little. "That I have. You're a very good chief of staff, Steve, but if you do not wish to be a part of what I'm going to be doing, I'll accept you resignation. You shouldn't have much trouble getting hired with someone else."
He thought about that for the briefest of moments. "I guess I'll stick with you," he told her fatalistically. "What the hell? I'm a Martian too, ain't I?"
"I guess you are," she said happily. "Now how about scheduling that press conference for me."
"I'll get right on it."
"And let my secretary know that I'm no longer taking calls from lobbyists."
"Right."
At 325 stories in height — nearly 1800 meters from base to roof — the Agricorp building was the tallest in the solar system. It stood sentinel over the downtown Eden area, towering more than 300 meters higher than any of its neighbors. More than three hundred thousand people worked in the building, most of them for the entity that had lent its name to the structure. Lobbyists, accountants, security consultants, management types, auditors, and hundreds of other job classifications all poured into the building each and every day and toiled there for eight to twelve hours or more — all of them working to keep the great empire's Martian operations running and profitable.
William Smith, as the CEO of Martian operations, naturally had his office on the very top of the building. The view was commanding. Looking southward from his huge picture window, he could see the thousands of other high rises that made up Eden and the stark border on the edge of the city where the wastelands began. The Sierra Madres Mountains could easily be seen as well, the peaks poking up over the horizon. It was a view that other men might have killed for in a city where all that could usually be seen out one's window was the bulk of another building. It was a view that Smith had long since ceased to even notice.
As the sun sank behind the horizon to the west, Smith was sitting at his large desk, his bottom planted in a genuine leather chair that had cost more than beginning apple pickers earned in a month. There were two Internet terminals on the desk before him and he was using one to hold a conference call while the other was tuned to a big three station.