Offspring by Steven Harper Page A

when . Or if .”
    “Let’s look there first, then.” Lucia rose. “Irfan willing, it’ll be a short hunt.”
    Lucia and Ben headed for the door. Kendi and Harenn followed. Lucia halted.
    “We don’t need all of you,” she said.
    “I’m not staying behind,” Kendi said. “I want to know now.”
    “As do I,” Harenn said.
    Lucia sighed. “Father Kendi, I can’t work with someone staring over my shoulder. I promise we’ll call the moment we learn something.”
    “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Lu—”
    The doorbell rang and the computer broke in. “Attention! Attention! Wanda Petrie requests entry. She claims she has urgent business with Father Kendi.”
    “We’ll just nip out the back,” Lucia said, and vanished with Ben before Kendi could react.
    “They settled that, didn’t they?” Harenn murmured.
    “Attention! Attention! Wanda—”
    “Irene,” Kendi interrupted, “tell Wanda Petrie she can come in. We’ll meet in her the living room.”
    Wanda Petrie burst into the living room with a thunderstorm on her face. Her hard shoes slammed the floor with every step, and her sharp eyes looked ready to strike Kendi down. He took an involuntary step backward. Harenn withdrew to a corner chair and sat.
    “Perhaps my instructions were not clear, Father Weaver,” Petrie snapped without preamble. “What the hell were you thinking?”
    “About what?” Kendi said.
    She whipped out a data pad and jabbed at it. A head-and-shoulders hologram of Kendi popped up. “You gave an unauthorized press conference this morning. You entered into a debate with Senator Mitchell Foxglove, and he made a right fool of you. We had to assign a team of five people to spin the damage.”
    “It wasn’t a debate,” Kendi said. “We just—”
    Petrie slapped the data pad on the coffee table with a crack . Kendi’s image bobbled. “Anytime you enter into a public conversation with a candidate, it becomes a debate. The fact that dozens of reporters witnessed the entire thing made it even worse.”
    “I didn’t say anything that—”
    “Three of the feeds caught and broadcast the phrase What kind of bullshit is that ,” Petrie said. “You also called Foxglove’s remarks, and I quote, bloody nonsense . Then you confronted Foxglove about the lack of Silent on his campaign team.”
    “The man is an asshole,” Kendi shot back. “He as much said that Silent weren’t human and that they should be shut away in their own little enclaves.”
    “Your opinion of Foxglove doesn’t matter,” Petrie growled. “What matters is that you called him names in public and made a fool of yourself in front a pack of reporters. Thank god we haven’t officially announced that you’re supporting Senator Reza’s campaign. As it is, we’ll have to delay everything to let the situation calm down.”
    “It can’t be that bad,” Kendi said.
    Petrie closed her eyes. Her lips were pressed so tightly together Kendi half expected to see blood. “It is , Father Kendi. Very bad indeed. We scheduled a press conference for Senator Reza—after inventing a reason that had nothing to do with you—and arranged for reporters who are friendly to our cause to ask questions about you so she can make light of what you said. It won’t be an easy conference because you can bet Foxglove will do his best to make sure a few hostile reporters attend. You’re making her sweat in front of a planet, Father Kendi, and if you can’t keep your mouth shut, I’ll have to recommend you be pulled from the campaign. Right now, you’re more liability than asset.”
    “My,” Harenn said from her chair.
    Kendi sat in a chair of his own, feeling abashed. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Grandma, and that’s exactly what he had done. “Is there any way I can help clean up?”
    “Not right now,” Petrie said, still on her feet. “It’s best if you stay out of the public eye for a few days. I’ve cancelled your first speaking engagement