VI. “…PRESIDENT CHARLES H. HUGGINS!”

Lothrop sifts through volumes of data collected by the Martians about the Pro Tem Government.  From a report filed in connection with a recovering Stennis, Lothrop learns that John is thought to be the leader of ARES.

A badly beaten Nonny is returned from interrogation, assigned an inmate number, and led to the prison camp barracks.

Brought by Japhet to safety among the Hunters, John recuperates in quarters supplied by Tia Marie.  The Huntress visits with John and explains the hierarchy of her religious cult.  She informs John that the Hunters are to host the country’s constitutional president, Charles Huggins.  John questions Huggins’ authority in light of the powers usurped by the Boyde administration.

Marie asks that John greet Huggins on his arrival to her compound and lead him to observe a Hunter ritual.  Although perplexed, John agrees.

After Marie departs, John ruminates on her domineering personality and the defects of Hunter orthodoxy.

Huggins arrives by limousine, and John escorts the president and his security detail into the inner sanctum of the Hunter complex.  There, Marie leads her followers in a frenzied call-and-response routine by firelight.  Huggins whispers to John, incredulous.  

In a flourish, Marie reveals a snarling lion.  The beast paces before the fire before disappearing into the air.  A bull materializes in the lion’s place and is cut down by Hunters wielding spears and knives.

Huggins flees from the commotion.  John is caught up in the tumult and stumbles into one of the president’s bodyguards, Anna.