with mortals, all cool grace and extraordinary beauty, aloof and untouchable.
Eirtae and Rabe, the handmaidens who had accompanied her earlier, were present again, and they trailed the Queen in a silent glide, wrapped in their crimson hooded robes. Again Anakin looked for Padme and did not find her.
'Please lead the way,' Amidala requested of Pal patine, beckoning the boy, the Gungan, and Captain Panaka to accompany them.
They walked from Palpatine's quarters down a series of corridors that connected to other chambers and, eventually, to other buildings. The halls were empty of almost everyone, save for a scattering of Republic guards, and the company proceeded un challenged. Anakin glanced around in awe at the tall ceilings and high windows, at the forest of buildings visible without, imagining what it would be like to live in a place like Coruscant.
When they reached the Senate chamber, he had cause to wonder anew.
The chamber had the look of an arena, circular and massive, with doors opening off exterior rampways at various levels above the main floor. At the center of the chamber a tall, slender column supported the supreme chancellor's platform, a broad, semienclosed area that allowed Valorum, who was already present, to sit or stand as he chose in the company of his vice chair and staff. All around the smooth interior walls of the arena, Senate boxes jutted from hangar bays off entry doors, some fi. xed in place while their senators conferred with staff and visitors, others floating just off their moorings. When a senator requested permission to speak and was recognized by the chair, his box would float to the center of the arena, close to the supreme chancellor's podium, where it remained until the speech was concluded.
Anakin picked up on all this in a matter of seconds, trailing the Queen and Palpatine to the entry doors opening onto the Naboo Senate box, which sat waiting at its docking. Banners and curtains hung from the rounded ceiling in brilliant streamers, and indirect lighting glowed softly from every corner, brightening the rotunda's cavernous interior. Droids bustled along the exterior rampways, carrying messages from one delegation to the next, the movement of their metal bodies giving the chamber the look of a complex piece of machinery.
'If the Federation moves to defer the motion, Your Majesty,' Senator Palpatine was saying to the Queen, his head bent close, his voice low and insistent, 'I beg of you to ask for a resolution to end this session and call for the election of a new supreme chancellor. '
Amidala did not look at him, continuing to advance toward the Naboo box. 'I wish I had your confidence in this proposal, Senator,' she replied quietly.
'You must force a new election for supreme chancellor,' Palpatine pressed. 'I promise you there are many who will support us. It is our best chance.' He glanced toward the podium and Valorum. 'Our only chance.'
A murmur had risen from the assembled as they caught sight of Amidala standing at the entry to the Naboo box, robes of office flowing out behind her, head erect, face calm. If she heard the change in tenor of the level of conversation around her, she gave no sign. Her eyes shifted momentarily to Palpatine.
'You truly believe Chancellor Valorum will not bring our motion to a vote?' she asked quietly.
Palpatine shook his head, his high brow furrowing. 'He is distracted. He is afraid. He will be of no help.'
Rabe handed a small metal viewscreen to Anakin and Jar Jar and motioned for them to wait where they were. Stepping into the Senate box with Palpatine, Amidala was joined by her handmaidens and Panaka. Anakin was disappointed at not being included, but grateful when he discovered that the viewscreen Rabe had provided allowed him to see and hear what was happening in the Naboo box.
'She's going to ask the Senate for help, Jar Jar,' he whispered, leaning over excitedly. 'What do you think?'
The Gungan wrinkled up his billed mouth and shook his floppy-eared head. 'Me think dis bombad, Annie. Too many peoples to be agreeing on da one thing.'
The Naboo box detached from its docking and floated a short distance toward the supreme chancellor's podium, waiting for permission to advance all the way. Palpatine, Amidala, and the rest of the occupants were seated now, facing forward.
Valorum nodded his short-cropped white head in the direction of Palpatine. 'The chair recognizes the senator from the sovereign system ofNaboo.'
The Naboo box glided to the center of the arena, and Palpatine rose to his feet, taking in the assemblage with a slow sweeping gaze that drew all eyes toward his.
'Supreme Chancellor, delegates of the Senate,' his voice boomed, quieting the chamber. 'A tragedy has occurred on my homeworld ofNaboo. We have become caught up in a dispute, one of which you are all well aware. It began with a taxation of trade routes and has evolved into an oppressive and lawless occupation of a peaceful world. The Trade Federation bears responsibility for this injustice and must be made to answer...'
A second box was rushing forward by now, this one bearing the markings of the Trade Federation and occupied by the Federation's senator, Lott Dod, and a handful of trade barons in attendance.
'This is outrageous!' the Trade Federation senator thundered, gesturing toward the podium and Valorum. A lean, wizened Neimoidian, he loomed out of the low-railed box like a willowy tree. 'I object to Senator Palpatine's ridiculous assertions and ask that he be silenced at once!'
Valorum's white head swiveled briefly in Lott Dod's direction and one hand lifted. 'The chair does not recognize the senator from the Trade Federation at this time.' The supreme chancellor's voice was soft, but steady. 'Return to your station.'
Lott Dod looked as if he might say something more, but then he lowered himself back into his seat as his box slowly retreated.
'To state our allegations in full,' Palpatine continued, 'I present Queen Amidala, the recently elected ruler of the Naboo, to speak on our behalf.'
e stepped aside, and Amidala rose to a light scattering of applause. Moving to the front of the box, she faced Valorum. 'Honorable representatives of the Republic, distinguished delegates, and Supreme Chancellor Valorum. I come to you under the gravest of circumstances. In repudiation and violation of the laws of the Republic, the Naboo have been invaded and subjugated by force by droid armies of the Trade Federation-'
Lott Dod was on his feet again, voice raised angrily. 'I object! This is nonsense! Where is the proof?' He did not wait for recognition as he turned to the chamber at large. 'I recommend a commission be sent to Naboo to
