Chapter Seventeen

All hell broke loose at midday. The chief of security rushed into Krogan's office. "We've got a problem."

Another one? They were still verifying that the rest of the stasis pods were in good working order. "What is it?"

"Protestors have blocked vaporators all over the city," Blakk said. "They won't let people board the transports. In some cases, they won't let people off. As of an hour ago, at least twenty-five sites were involved, mostly public areas, but some private buildings, too. We've been arresting them for disrupting public operations, but as soon as we leave, more protestors arrive and fill in."

Citizens had the legal right to voice their opinions and criticize government actions, but they were prohibited from infringing upon the rights of others by disrupting public operations, hindering access to public or private spaces, or preventing other citizens from going about their business.

He stifled a curse. "What are they protesting? What do they want?"

"They're demanding your resignation."

"That's not going to happen. You have vid?"

Blakk tapped his wrist. "Yes. As soon as we realized we weren't dealing with an isolated incident, I sent out surveillance drones."

Silent images beamed to a corner of the office. Arms locked, men formed a solid wall barring access to transports at the spaceport, hospitals, cozis, and the Stasis Pod Center.

"Is there sound? Turn it up."

Shouted chants filled the room.

"Krogan plays while women die! Krogan plays while women die!"

"Feel our pain! Feel our pain!"

He watched security clear the area and drag agitators away from a school. As soon as the security force vacated, new demonstrators rushed in. Images shifted to another site. Protestors surrounded a cloudtopper. He sprang out of his seat. "That's my building! "

Hope! No one could gain access inside, but there shouldn't have been anyone outside. The selection of his residence might have been a coincidence, but he doubted it. "My wife is home alone. Get those people out of there."

"Right away!" Blakk fired off an order to his team.

Krogan shot a message to Hope. "People are protesting outside. Stay in the apartment today. Don't go anywhere."

She would be safe inside his unit. No one could get in. Should the impossible occur, Don Juan would protect her. Besides cooking and cleaning, the android was programmed to protect the domicile and the persons in it. Confronted by Don Juan, the agitators would wish they'd been arrested instead. Most likely Hope was all right, but a sliver of possibility caused him to worry. "Please reply and let me know you're okay." All he could do now was wait for her answer. I'm sure she's fine.

Fizzak.

People were rightfully upset over the deaths. Nor could he fault them for holding him accountable. While he hadn't directly or indirectly caused the pod malfunctions any more than he'd caused the pandemic, the tragedies had occurred under his watch, and, as the one in charge, he accepted responsibility for fixing the situation.

But the protests had come together too fast and spread too quickly to be an organic response. "These protests were organized in advance," he said. "Let me guess. Stervak?"

His expression grim, Blakk nodded. "Yes. As I was leaving to talk to you, my lieutenant stopped me. Stervak has denounced you in a holovid beamed to every household this morning. I haven't seen it yet. My lieutenant was going to send it to me." He scrolled through a tech device. "Yes, here it is."

"Show me."

A hologram materialized of Stervak inside the Stasis Pod Center. Behind him were rows and rows of pods stacked ten high, each one containing a woman infected with the nano-virus.

Whether the hologram had been shot at the center or Stervak had been superimposed against the Stasis Pod Center background was anybody's guess, but it didn't matter. The point would be made. Krogan pressed his lips together. Whatever Stervak had to say wouldn't be good.

"My fellow Caradonians, my heart breaks for the losses you have suffered. I know your pain. My own wife is in stasis. For those of you whose family members perished in yesterday's pod malfunction, I am truly sorry. It is all the more tragic because it was preventable. It would not have happened if we'd had proper oversight and leadership.

"Governor-General Krogan is directly responsible for the tragedies that have befallen Caradonia. He doesn't care about you, your wives, your mothers, your daughters, your sisters. He promised to develop a cure for the nano-virus—he has not. Instead, he warehoused our women in substandard stasis pods."

The hologram camera pulled back and panned the stasis center to show seemingly endless rows. "He warehoused them—and forgot about them!" Stervak voiced over the images. "Out of sight, out of mind.

"Rather than cure our women, he abandoned them and brought in aliens!" The hologram switched to the spaceport where two dozen smiling, happy human women had bounded off the spaceship into the embrace of their Caradonian mates. He caught a glimpse of a forlorn Hope scanning the crowd. His chest tightened. He'd been late.

That Stervak had shot vid that day confirmed suspicions that his nemesis had been planning the demonstrations for a while but had waited for an opportune moment to strike.

"This looks bad." He rubbed his eyes.

"It's a blatant lie. Nobody will believe this crap," Blakk said.

"It doesn't need to be true. It only has to sound plausible. I don't have a cure for the nano-virus yet. People are worried, and I haven't been able to offer them anything concrete." Obviously, this video had spurred the protests.

The hologram shifted to the Cosmic Mates reception.

"Fizzak," he swore. He could guess what was coming. I should have thrown that bastard out as soon as he entered the room.

"Yesterday, fifty more women died. While you were grieving and worrying, the governor-general partied, celebrated with his alien wife." The hologram showed the entire room of people laughing, drinking, and eating, and then zoomed in on him and Hope. She was smiling; he was laughing. Then the holovid cut to the rows and rows of stasis pods, each one containing a gravely ill woman. The message was clear. While women were dying, he was partying.

"He's twisting the truth!" Blakk said .

"Unfortunately, he's doing it successfully."

"We worry. He parties. We grieve, he laughs. He doesn't care about our pain! He feels no pain. He has no idea what it's like to lose a loved one or to have her life hang in limbo while we wonder if each day will be her last. We don't need alien wives. We need a leader who cares about the women we do have and who will cure them."

The hologram switched again to him and Hope grinning at each other. His gut tightened. He didn't like this one bit. The focus on him and Hope spelled trouble.

"I would demand that the governor-general resign, but he won't because he doesn't care. He has what he wants—an alien wife. He assumes there is nothing you can do." The communique showed more holographic images of his wife. There were images of her at the cozi market and various historical sites.

He's been tracking her movements! Fists clenched, Krogan sprang out of his seat.

"If you wish to save your women, if you wish to avenge the ones you lost, you must make him care. Until the problem becomes personal to him, nothing will change. Bring the pain to him. Make him know your loss." Hope's image stayed up for several long seconds, and then the message winked out.

Blakk swore.

Krogan saw red. Stervak had threatened Hope's life. "Find Stervak—arrest him. Double the manpower and keep the agitators away from the vaporators. I'll get with Vorgol and have him send an alert to Cosmic Mates couples advising them to stay inside until the demonstrations blow over, until we have Stervak and all the agitators in custody." He wouldn't be easily apprehended. He could vap away in the blink of an eye. He'd have people protecting him. The agitators weren't there just to inconvenience people and disrupt operations; they were protecting Stervak.

"Got it. I'll also post round-the-clock guards at your building."

"I won't say no to that." Stervak had threatened his wife! His nemesis could denounce his handling of the pandemic, the failed attempts at finding a cure for the nano-virus, and his decision to bring in off-worlders to solve the population crisis. Stervak had the right of any citizen to speak his mind. Spinning half-truths to mislead the citizenry and turn them against him was unethical and dirty but still legal .

However, taking out his wrath on Hope and encouraging followers to harm her crossed the line. For that, Stervak would pay.

"Don't worry," Blakk said. "We'll get him."

But could they capture him soon enough before he or one of the crazies he'd motivated tried to hurt Hope?

Blakk left, and Krogan tried contacting her again. No answer. He told himself not to panic. Maybe she's in the kitchen cooking with Don Juan, not paying attention to the comm unit. Or she's having trouble accessing the comm unit. He'd shown her how, but maybe he hadn't explained it well enough.

He paced. If anything happened to her, he wouldn't be able to stand it. Stervak intended him to feel pain. He'd succeeded. Where was she? Why wasn't she checking in?

Vorgol popped into his office. "What's going on? I spotted Blakk charging down the hall like his pants were on fire."

"Stervak is trying to whip up sentiment against me."

"When is he not?"

"He threatened Hope. He's telling people I need to feel their pain," he said and laid out what Stervak had said. "He didn't threaten any of the other Cosmic Mates brides directly but contact the couples and have them remain inside until the situation is under control."

"Better safe than sorry," Vorgol agreed. "What should we do about the ship arriving with the second group of Cosmic Mates brides? There's a hundred this time."

"When does it land?" The arrival of more humans would further enflame Stervak.

"Tomorrow."

"Fizzak!" He paced. "I don't want to put these women in any jeopardy. Stervak didn't threaten anybody but me and Hope, but that doesn't mean one of his followers might not extend the threat," he said, thinking through the problem.

"If I turn the ship around, I'll be caving to extortion, which will increase the likelihood of future incidents. They'll pull this crap when the next ship comes. And it dashes the dreams of the men anxiously awaiting brides. Stervak has no right to interfere in their lives."

"It will impact recruitment, too," Vorgol said. "People will wonder if we'll follow through. They need to be able to rely on us. "

Krogan rubbed his chin. "Did you publicize the arrival date of the ship?"

"No."

"Reroute the ship to a spaceport outside the city. Contact the men and inform them of the change in venue and impress upon them the need for discretion and prudence. Have them retrieve their brides and lie low until we resolve this. Get Blakk to increase security at the spaceport."

"I'm on it!" Vorgol said.

Krogan messaged Hope again. Still no answer. She hadn't mentioned going anywhere—but they hadn't done much talking. What if she'd left the apartment, and one of Stervak's minions spotted her? Stervak had beamed his malicious message everywhere. Other than him, his human wife was probably the most recognizable person on all of Caradonia.

He wouldn't be able to concentrate until he reassured himself she was fine. He'd vap home to check on her and then return to work.