Their talk shifted away from the real Army and on to the so-called Compensation Army. The rag-tag horde of beggars infesting the Federal District was not Army business, and was therefore something about which Tom could freely express his opinions. He did, and so did his grandfather. Tom was surprised to find his own attitude more harsh than the General’s with regard to the former servicemen involved in the protest. The general had some sympathy for them because of shared service in the Dissolution Campaigns, as the General referred to the military and paramilitary operations surrounding the break-up of the old United States. Tom still didn’t think the service of such veterans was a reason to dismiss their civil disobedience. The talk, drifting only occasionally into argument, went late into the night and on into the morning. They’d been apart so long that neither man seemed willing to pass up the chance to catch up. Tom had just noticed that they’d been hearing birdsong for some time, when the telecom’s beep joined the morning chorus.