Birling

Birling was a human colony planet governed by HomeWorld, a planet in the same star system.

A Lopo outbreak occurred on Birling after those in opposition to the Governor of the HomeWorld, specifically the Professor of Acupuncture and Astrology, convinced the public on the system's planets that the vaccines against this old disease stunted children's growth in an attempt to prevent them from voting, and therefore prevent them from voting for the Governor. This, plus the restriction on ships carrying the vaccine to the outer colony, caused Birling to go into quarantine while the Honorary Chair of MedAuth, Helen, who was also the Governor's wife, was visiting, thus trapping her there. This was the first stage of the Governor's downfall as he spent so much time communicating with his trapped wife that he neglected to focus as much as he should have on the upcoming election.

The disease soon mutated and affected even the adults who were vaccinated as children. Many people died, including Helen. The government was then blamed for not having supplied enough vaccines, despite much of the reason that people weren't being vaccinated was due to the propaganda of the opposition. This bad publicity made the Governor fear not being re-elected, causing his Chief Advisor, Marianne Globus, to perform a "slight statistical correction" of votes to make sure he still won. (PROSE: The Blood Cell)