Prax's ex-wife — Nicola Mulko — publicly and falsely accuses him of abusing and murdering Mei, turning the tide of opinion venomously against him.
Days after sending Prax a small, sad, sincere-seeming contribution, Nicola — giving her full name, Nicola Mulko — appears on the Earth newsfeed "The Raw Feed" and detonates a lie. Tearful but dead-eyed, she claims that Praxidike Meng is a violent, dangerous man who has emotionally, physically, and sexually abused their daughter Mei since Nicola left him, and that Mei's "alleged disappearance" in the Ganymede troubles is a cover for Prax finally killing her. She casts herself as the guilty mother who left without her child.
Whether she is a willing collaborator, coerced, or manipulated by the cabal seeking to discredit Prax's viral appeal, the effect is immediate and cruel: a torrent of hate and death threats floods Prax's inbox, poisoning the goodwill his broadcast had raised. Her earlier warmth and modest gift now look like a prelude — or a coerced feint — to this public betrayal.
A woman with a heart-shaped face, older, first gray at her temples; on camera she looks exhausted, tears running freely down her cheeks while her voice and eyes stay dead as last week's fish.
Mei's mother, who publicly smears Prax as an abuser and murderer, weaponizing grief against his search.