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"So what do we do about Yvernau's latest brainstorm?" Henri Krietzma
"Nothing," Joachim Alquezar replied with a nonchalance which had to be at least partly assumed, Krietzma
"He might actually get those stupid dinosaurs to stand up in front of the glacier with him, you know," the Dresdener pointed out.
"In which case they'll be found a thousand years later with buttercups frozen in their stomachs," Alquezar said scornfully. "That's the best they'll be able to hope for-to stay frozen exactly where they are while the rest of us sign up with Star Kingdom and leave them in our dust. But that's not what's going to happen."
"No?"
"No. I give it ten T-years, twenty-five at the outside, before they get themselves tossed out of office by a new crop of political leaders who'll come begging, hats in hand, to be allowed to join the Star Kingdom on our terms. I don't think any other result's possible, in the long term. Not when they see what membership in the Star Kingdom's going to do for our economies and our citizens."
"I think you may be being overly optimistic," Krietzma
"Perhaps they will," Alquezar conceded. "And if they do, I'll be very sorry for the rest of their population. But all we can do is the best we can. And, to be brutally frank, Henri, our fundamental responsibility's to our own star systems. We can't justify endangering our own people's future out of concern for the consequences of the actions of a handful of self-interested, self-absorbed, self-serving political parasites in other systems."
It was a beautiful late morning. She looked up at a blue sky, swept by orderly lines of blindingly white clouds and polished by a brisk easterly wind, and felt the sheer, vibrant energy of the day. It danced on her skin like some sort of elemental life force, and she leaned back in the chaise lounge on the townhouse roof, closed her eyes, and tilted her face up to the sun.
With her eyes closed, she could forget-temporarily, at least-the political crisis. Just as she could forget the extra guards, armed now with the latest in off-world weapons, either directly from Manticoran stores or from weapons captured from the FAK base camp, who stood watchfully at the corners of the rooftop terrace.
Nordbrandt was still out there, she thought. Rajkovic and his vulture allies were circling, ready to try their luck at a judicial coup d' tat , and the terrorists' "great leader" was still uncaught, unpunished. She was undoubtedly pla
A part of Aleksandra Tonkovic's brain was aware she was being unfair-where finishing off the FAK was concerned, at least. Rajkovic and his cronies knew Nordbrandt was still alive, still active. That was the reason the detachment of Manty Marines was still camped at the spaceport, providing surveillance and security. It was going to take more than simple pla
"Excuse me, Madam President." It was her butler, and she pried one eye open and looked up at him.
"Yes, Luka?"
"Secretary Kanjer is here, Madam President. He asks if it would be convenient for you to receive him?"
Both of Tonkovic's eyes popped open. Kanjer, here? Without a prior appointment? Her mouth felt unaccountably dry, but she swallowed to moisten it and sat upright on the lounge.
"Of course it will," she said calmly, reaching for a robe and shrugging into it. She belted the sash around her waist, and nodded. "Show him up, Luka."
"At once, Madam President."
The butler disappeared with the soundless, magical efficiency of his kind. He reappeared minutes later, with Mavro Kanjer in tow.
"Secretary Kanjer, Madam President," he murmured, and vanished again.
"Have a seat, Mavro," Tonkovic invited, pointing at the chairs around an umbrella-shaded table. The normally vocal Justice Secretary nodded jerkily and sat without a word. That was a bad sign, she thought, but she said nothing, only smiled and settled into a chair on the other side of the table.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked lightly, once she was seated.
"Mrsic is going to move for a formal impeachment tomorrow morning," Kanjer said bluntly.
Despite Zovan's warning, it hit her like a fist.
"That seems unlikely," she heard her own voice say, and Kanjer grimaced.
"Aleksandra, it's been coming for weeks," he said. "I admit, I didn't see it either-not until Parliament voted to call you home. And even then, I didn't think this would happen. But I was wrong. They have the votes on the Standing Committee to report out a bill of impeachment, and they're going to."
"That bastard !" she hissed as the cold hammer of reality began to shatter the armor of her detachment. "That miserable, traitorous son of a bitch ! He won't get away with it-he won't , I tell you!"
"Who won't?" Kanjer's expression was more than a little confused.
"That bastard Rajkovic, of course! He may think he can steal the presidency this way, but he's got another thought or two coming!"
" Rajkovic? " Kanjer stared at her. "Didn't you hear what I said? The motion's coming from Mrsic— Eldijana Mrsic."
"Mrsic?" Tonkovic blinked as the name finally registered. Eldijana Mrsic wasn't a Reconciliationist. She wasn't even a Social Moderate. She was the senior Democratic Centralist on Cuijeta Krizanic's Standing Committee.
"That's what I'm trying to tell you," Kanjer said. "It's coming from inside the Party, Aleksandra."
"But... but how did Rajkovic get to Mrsic?" Tonkovic asked in bewilderment.
"He didn't, Aleksandra," Kanjer said almost gently. "Alenka and I have been telling you all along that Rajkovic hasn't been in secret communication with Parliament. Hasn't been tapping your communications. Hasn't been using the KNP against you and your supporters. You just haven't been listening."
"But..." She stared at him, confused, and he shook his head.
"Vuk Rajkovic's no saint, Aleksandra. He's an experienced politician, and he can be just as sneaky and devious as any of the rest of us. But he didn't have to be this time. He didn't pressure Parliament into recalling you. All he did was pass on the information Medusa put into his possession through Van Dort. Parliament did the rest. And now Parliament is pushing the impeachment movement."
"But why? What about our majority?" she asked.
"We don't have one on this issue. Nordbrandt scared too many people, and the Manties got too much credit from those terrified people when they took out her base camp and all those weapons. And, to be perfectly blunt, Aleksandra, the threat that your policies in Spindle could get us blacklisted by the Star Kingdom frightened them even worse than Nordbrandt. That's why the Party's fracturing over the impeachment vote. Some of our deputies actually want you removed from office, because they're scared of exactly the same things and they blame you for it. But more of them are frightened of the consequences at the polls if you remain as Party leader. They want you out, Aleksandra. They believe you've become a dangerous political liability, and they won't support you. At best, they'll abstain when it comes down to the vote. And if they do, you'll lose."
"What are you saying? Are you saying the impeachment would succeed ?"
"Yes," he said, and there was a certain kindness in the brutally brief reply. She shook her head, dazed, almost bemused, and he reached across the table and took her lax right hand between both of his own.
"I know what you tried to do," he said. "And I believe the majority of the Party does. But it's not a big enough majority. Not with the Reconciliationist bloc in Parliament. If you're impeached, the impeachment will be sustained. Comfortably."
Tonkovic swallowed. This was a nightmare. It couldn't be -happening-not to her .
"What should I-? I mean, how-?"
"You have to resign," Kanjer told her gently. Her eyes flashed in instant rejection, and he tightened his clasp on her hand. "Listen to me, Aleksandra! You have to resign. If you don't, they'll hound you out of office, anyway. It's going to happen. The only choice you have is how you leave."
"And why should I make it easy for the traitorous bastards?" she snapped with a return of spirit. "If they want to be rats scurrying over the side before the ship sinks, why should I give a single solitary damn about what they want?"
"Because if you don't, it's the end of your political career."
"And how much 'political career' does a President who resigns in disgrace have? No Planetary President's ever resigned, and you know it!"
"This is a panic reaction," Kanjer said. "The people who ought to recognize what you're trying to do are too frightened to defend you at the moment. But that doesn't mean they won't eventually realize you were right. That by stampeding into the Manties' arms under Alquezar's terms they've thrown away their best-possibly their only-hope of preserving our way of life and, not to put too fine a point on it, their own positions.
"But when that day comes, they'll still be a political force. Not as strong a force as before they threw away all their advantages, but still a force. And the only force dedicated to protecting what's left of our society. When they finally wake up and recognize what they've done, how bad the situation is, they'll need a leader. One who didn't stampede right along with them.