Parliament reconvened two weeks after the Southsea test, though no one in Westminster pretended it was an ordinary session. Members of both Houses had returned early from their recesses, summoned by letters that hinted only at "urgent developments concerning national security and communication." By midmorning, the corridors outside the debating chamber were filled with aides carrying sheaves of documents, clerks preparing transcripts, and small knots of ministers speaking in hushed tones.
Phillip arrived quietly, stepping out of the carriage with Henry at his side. They crossed the plaza between the statues without ceremony. No crowd greeted them, but dozens of eyes followed their steps. Phillip felt the weight of it, though he did not slow. He had walked battlefields of machinery and accidents. Parliament was a different kind of battlefield, but a battlefield all the same.
