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a royal flush. Her yellowed fingertips flicked at the corner, making an annoying repetitive scratch, as if savoring the anticipation.

Gabrielle knew it was just her own guilty conscience, but her first fears were that the envelope contained some kind of proof of her sexual indiscretion with the senator. Ridiculous, she thought. The encounter had occurred after hours in Sexton's locked senatorial office. Not to mention, if the White House actually had any evidence, they would have gone public with it already.

They may be suspicious, Gabrielle thought, but they don't have proof.

Tench crushed out her cigarette. "Ms. Ashe, whether or not you are aware, you are caught in the middle of a battle that has been raging behind the scenes in Washington since 1996."

This opening gambit was not at all what Gabrielle expected. "I beg your pardon?"

Tench lit another cigarette. Her spindly lips curled around it, and the tip glowed red. "What do you know about a bill called the Space Commercialization Promotions Act?"

Gabrielle had never heard of it. She shrugged, lost.

"Really?" Tench said. "That surprises me. Considering your candidate's platform. The Space Commercialization Promotions Act was proposed back in 1996 by Senator Walker. The bill, in essence, cites the failure of NASA to do anything worthwhile since putting a man on the moon. It calls for the privatization of NASA by immediately selling off NASA assets to private aerospace companies and allowing the free-market system to explore space more efficiently, thus relieving the burden NASA now places on taxpayers."

Gabrielle had heard NASA critics suggest privatization as a solution to NASA's woes, but she was not aware the idea had actually taken the form of an official bill.

"This commercialization bill," Tench said, "has been presented to Congress four times now. It is similar to bills that have successfully privatized government industries like uranium production. Congress has passed the space commercialization bill all four times it has seen it. Thankfully, the White House vetoed it on all occasions. Zachary Herney has had to veto it twice."

"Your point?"

"My point is that this bill is one Senator Sexton will certainly support if he becomes President. I have reason to believe Sexton will have no qualms about selling off NASA assets to commercial bidders the first chance he gets. In short, your candidate would support privatization over having American tax dollars fund space exploration."

"To my knowledge, the senator has never commented publicly about his stance on any Space Commercialization Promotions Act."

"True. And yet knowing his politics, I assume you would not be surprised if he supported it."

"Free-market systems tend to breed efficiency."

"I'll take that as a 'yes.'" Tench stared. "Sadly, privatizing NASA is an abominable idea, and there are countless reasons why every White House administration since the bill's inception has shot it down."

"I've heard the arguments against privatizing space," Gabrielle said, "and I understand your concerns."

"Do you?" Tench leaned toward her. "Which arguments have you heard?"

Gabrielle shifted uneasily. "Well, the standard academic fears mostly-the most common being that if we privatize NASA, our current pursuit of scientific space knowledge would be quickly abandoned in favor of profitable ventures."

"True. Space science would die in a heartbeat. Instead of spending money to study our universe, private space companies would strip-mine asteroids, build tourist hotels in space, offer commercial satellite launch services. Why would private companies bother studying the origins of our universe when it would cost them billions and show no financial return?"

"They wouldn't," Gabrielle countered. "But certainly a National Endowment for Space Science could be founded to fund academic missions."

"We already have that system in place. It's called NASA."

Gabrielle fell silent.

"The abandonment of science in favor of profits is a side issue," Tench said. "Hardly relevant compared to the utter chaos that would result by permitting the private sector to run free in space. We would have the wild west all over again. We would see pioneers staking claims on the moon and on asteroids and protecting those claims with force. I've heard petitions from companies who want to build neon billboards that blink advertisements in the nighttime sky. I've seen petitions from space hotels and tourist attractions whose proposed operations include ejecting their trash into the void of space and creating orbiting trash heaps. In fact, I just read a proposal yesterday from a company that wants to turn space into a mausoleum by launching the deceased into orbit. Can you imagine our telecommunications satellites colliding with dead bodies? Last week, I had a billionaire CEO in my office who was petitioning to launch