The air inside the Federal Grand Assembly had deteriorated into open pandemonium.
High above the tiered dark wood seating, the vast domed skylight was battered by sheets of dark Atlantic rain, lit up at ten-second intervals by the crimson sweep of emergency military gunships circling the outer edge of the Apex Spire. Inside the tiered arena, four hundred delegates were standing on their feet, their voices colliding in an ear-splitting roar of mutual recrimination, terror, and geopolitical fury. The decorative banners of the four land-wide alliances fluttered in the churning air currents pumped through the emergency air-flow dampers, their gold-trimmed fringes catching the harsh glare of the halogen warning beacons.
“Order! I demand immediate order in this assembly!” Chancellor Reginald Vance hammered the heavy ivory gavel against the sound block. The rapid cracks were echoing through the hall like pistol fire. “The lower transit concourse has suffered a total living holding failure! Mutagenic spore vectors are actively circulating in the town air-flow public works! Under Section Nine of the Federal Wartime Emergency Charter, the Chair calls for an immediate voice vote on Resolution 88! All civilian office oversight is hereby suspended! Full strategic command of all living assets, breeding reserves, and medical stockpiles is passed to the ApexBio Strategic Trade group!”
