"Yes! War in which people will actually die!" As His Excellency paled at that grisly remark, the Old Woman spoke through her teeth at O'Rielly, Callahan and Trillium. "All right, come along!"
O'Rielly joined the death march gladly. He felt the way Callahan looked: ready to wrap his arms around Trillium's brave loveliness and protect it to his last breath of life.
Old Woman led the way to her office. Jabbed some buttons on her desk. Panels on opposite walls lit up.
"Presidents of Earth and Venus, please," the Old Woman stated evenly. "Interplanetary emergency."
Highly groomed flunkies appeared on the panels and were impersonally pleasant.
"Madame President's office. She is in a Cabinet meeting."
"Mr. President's office. He is in personal command of our glorious war efforts."
Old Woman sighed through her teeth. "Venus woman aboard this ship. Stowaway. Rattle that around your belfries."
The flunkies' faces went slack with shock, then were replaced by a blizzard of scrambled faces and torrents of incoherent voices.
Finally on the Earth panel appeared the famous classic features. "The facts, if you please, Captain Hatwoody."