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The three faces that looked at him and Theo as the two of them exited the shuttle were a mask of forced neutrality. Terry was the first one to break.

"Why isn't he in restraints." The disgust clear on his face, if not in his tone.

"Terrence Orr," their father said, exiting behind them, "is that any way to welcome your brother?"

Terry looked at Tucker. "Well, I keep saying he should be restrained too, but at least he hasn't broken any laws. That one's a wanted criminal."

"He is your brother, Terrence, you will treat him accordingly."

Terry tilted an ear. "Look, dad, I get your need to look after family, but you don't know anything about him, except where he's from. He's Vanguard. You're letting a Vanguard not only on our islands, but you want *him* in our home?"

"He isn't Van--"

"Shut up, Tuck. I get dad's behavior. I don't get you. Is he that great of a fuck that you'll side with him over your own brothers?"

"Terrence Orr, apologize to Tucker immediately."

"No Dad. Being head of the corporation might not be enough for me to control who you allow here, but it certainly gives me better things to do than having to deal with that." Terry turned and walked toward the building.

"Eric," Theo said, turning and motioning back inside the shuttle. "Can I have a word with you, please?"

Trevor got out of their way, and the door closed leaving only the four of them standing in silence.

"On which side of the bed are the two of you standing?" Trevor asked.

Tony and Tyson studied the two of them.

Tony was the one to speak. "I haven't made up my mind. Uncle's information contradicts what the news has been saying, and while I trust Uncle more than anything SolGov says, that guy was still involved in releasing an AI on Mars. Even if it'd been one of us. I'd be pissed."

"As far as we know, he was involved in trying to stop it," Trevor said.

"His words?" Tyson asked. "Or is there any kind of evidence exonerating him?"

"Mostly his words," Trevor admitted, "but I dove as deep as I could within the city's systems afterward. Uncle wanted as much of the city's records as possible before all the security was back up. We've both gone through all the video footage that survived. I won't go so far as to say he's a 'good guy,' he's done questionable things, but what evidence I could gather seems to indicate he was fighting against the Independents he called 'Anarchists.'"

"Seemed to," Tyson said. "So the evidence isn't clear-cut."

"What is?" Tucker asked.

"Okay, then about him?" Tony asked. "What kind of person is he?"

"He's nice enough," Trevor said. "Guarded, but that's to be expected. Like Terry, Theo doesn't really buy the 'being our brother' thing, even with the DNA evidence. But he didn't do anything nefarious."

"What do you call breaking into Brick's room?" Ty Asked.

"You know about that?"

"Damned right I know. When Brick doesn't say 'hi' to me the moment the delay falls under a second, I start worrying. He wouldn't take my connection, so I asked Uncle. All Uncle told me was that Theo tried to break in. Brick has got to be freaking out as to what that guy wanted with Brack."

Trevor looked at Tucker. "You want to tell them?"

Tuck sighed. "It seems that this wasn't Theo's first time breaking into Brick and Brack's room."

"What?" Ty glared at Tucker. "What did he do?"

"Nothing. He snuck in on the way to Mars. Curiosity about who Brick was, what he was doing on the ship. Theo's a spy, so he is suspicious of things that don't quite add up. He didn't know about Brack, but Brack woke up while he was there. Brack panicked so Theo calmed him, saw the damage."

"Fuck, no wonder Brick's not talking. He's got to be a wreck. He can't stand anyone seeing Brack like this."

"Theo didn't do anything."

"That you know of."

"That I know of," Tucker admitted, "But I believe Theo when he said he didn't do anything."

"I'm heading up the moment I can find some free time," Ty said. "If I find any evidence Brack's been hurt, I don't care what the DNA said, that Theo's dead." He walked away, cursing under his breath.

"You didn't say much," Tucker told Tony.

His brother shrugged. "I'm nowhere near as close to Brack as Ty is. What I want to know is if Terry was right. Are you taking his side because he's such a great fuck?"

"He--" Tucker began.

"He doesn't know," Trevor cut him off.

"Hey, I was going to answer."

"You were going to say something like, 'well, I don't think I should discuss what we did.' Come on Tuck, I saw how you were around him, you hate that he won't have sex with you."

"You haven't been able to charm him into your bed? Okay, now I need to get to know him."

Tucker indicated the closed door. "You're going to have to wait. He's going to be awhile yelling at Dad."

"What's he angry about? Dad looked out for him."

"And that's what he's angry about. Trev said it, he doesn't like that dad treats him like one of us. He might not want to be in a cell, but he'd be happier if we treated him like a prisoner, I think. Well, dad at least."

"Well, I'm going to leave you two to wait for dad." Trevor took a step toward the other lot, where the hovers parked.

"Don't you move," Tony said. "You are not going anywhere."

"Tony, I have files to--"

"No, you don't. Your vacation doesn't end for another three days. I am under strict orders from Terry not to let you get back to work, so if you're leaving, you aren't doing so alone, and you're not going to your place."

"You do know I can work from anywhere."

"Yes, but I know a few clubs where you'll be too busy to think about work."

"Tony, I was just on the Mercury, with close to a thousand guys, I don't--"

"Sleep with any of them," Tucker finished. "I think he only had a handful of encounters during the entire trip. Me and dad were his regular partners." Trevor glared at him. "Hey, you stole my chance to explain things my way. Why should you get yours?"

"Don't worry, he didn't reveal anything I didn't already know. I'm your brother, I know you prefer being deep inside a computer rather than a guy."

"That isn't true."

"Trev, you have the smallest social circle of everyone in the family."

"I have friends."

"Yeah, on the net. I'm mean flesh and blood. Not the guys you play Lands of Farr with, I'm sure they're great friends, but you can't--"

"I've had sex with them."

That made Tony pause.

"In the game," Tucker explained.

"How? Isn't that a public game?"

"It's a game they know Orrs would play, even if none of us did." Tucker continued, since Trevor was too busy glaring at him. "You can own land, and buildings. You get to set the permission on them. The game even comes with a bunch of moves included, with sensory input and everything. You should try it, it's not bad."

"Are you telling me you prefer to have sex in the game rather than with us?"

"Of course not," Trevor replied. "How can you even think that? I just like the game and after clearing a keep, me and my team like to celebrate."

"Inside the game?"

"It's a tradition."

"Trev, I say this as your brother who loves you, but you have a problem, and I'm taking you partying to help cure you of it." Tony grabbed Trevor's arm and led him toward the hovers.

"Tuck?" Trevor called, his tone asking for help.

"You two have fun. I need to go home and take care of a few things." He watched them go, grinning at Trevor's panicked expression.

He sent a message to his father, explaining they weren't waiting for him and Theo, so he'd have to handle him on his own. Maybe having to deal with Theo was what Eric needed. The two of them had gone to great length to avoid each other during the trip back.

He scanned the hover and took ownership of one of the public ones. By the time he reached it Tony and Trevor had flown off. Probably to one of the clubs in Vegas since it would be too easy for Trevor to slip away if they went to the one in the headquarter building.

It took him to his house, a small bungalow by itself next to a copse of trees. His dad didn't like it was so far from the rest of the family, but as Tucker had explained, he was almost never there, so what did it matter. He exited the hover and sent it back to the landing pad.

He entered, closed the door and leaned back against it. He closed his eyes and finally felt like he could stop being the affable goof.

"Welcome home, Tucker," a light male voice sounded as lights came up through the house. "Would you like me to prepare your coffee?"

"Yes please."

He didn't move.

"How was your vacation?"

"Not tonight. Cancel voice interaction." The house became silent, except for the antique coffee machine grinding the coffee beans. He barely heard the grinds being transferred and then the water flowing. Then the aroma reached him and finally pulled him away from the door.

When he reached the counter, the cup was filled and steam drifted from it. He didn't care what anyone else believed. Nothing compared to a cup of coffee prepared with real ingredients.

He breathed in the aroma, before taking his first, small sip and letting the flavors roll on his tongue.

There was a knock at the door. Or at last his implant told him there had been one, even if there was no one there.

"You can come in," Tucker said. The sounds of the door opening and closing reached him. A moment later, Uncle stepped into the kitchen. He was seeing him through his implant, since there were no holographic projectors in Tucker's house, just like there were no sensors, or cameras. If he'd been able to justify it, he would have shielded it from the net.

But at least here no one could see him, or register how he was. What he did. This was his sanctuary. He didn't have to be anyone here, except himself.

"How are you feeling Tucker?" Uncle asked.

Tucker generated a coffee cup on the counter, took it and handed it to the virtual being. "I'm okay. Happy to be back."

Uncle took a sip and motioned to the table. "Care to sit?"

"No." Tucker headed to the lounge. The room was empty of furniture or any decorations other than twenty-eight framed pictures on the long wall. He'd thought about having a chair, so he could sit, but that felt disrespectful. He needed to stand.

Twenty-eight people. Eighteen men, ten women. Three were far too young. Those were the hardest for him to look at, so he forced himself to spend more time on them. All of them were on this wall because of him. Of his actions.

He spent time looking at each of them as he sipped his coffee.

"Thank you for not saying anything this time." His cup was empty, but he didn't move.

"Would it have changed anything? It didn't the previous times."

"That's how it should be. They're my burden."

"I wish you talked to someone about."

"I talk with you."

Uncle laughed. "This isn't talking about it. It's making sure I know not to bring it up. What happened to them, it's just part of--"

"I know. I was there." He turned and dropped his cup in the recycler before heading to his office. He sat behind the desk and his implant brought up screens and documents. Those appearing on the desk, looking like antique file folders were evaluations. He was expected to go through them, give his report and recommendations as to which should be promoted, and which should be sidelined. Part of his own training, since someone else would already have gone through them, but they wanted to see how well he could do the job.

He'd do that later, or ideally never. Leadership wasn't something he aspired to.

Uncle sat in the virtual chair. There were no other furniture than the desk and Tucker's chair. He never entertained guys here. So other than the kitchen table, there was nothing set up to keep others in mind.

Tucker shared the screens his implant generated with Uncle. He tapped one that became larger. "The Briden observatory," Tucker said. He motioned to two other of the smaller screens. "Halolu and Rughberg were also watching the vicinity of DGT-324, but Briden had the best view. And even that's not great."

A small dot was heading for the asteroid, and a few seconds later impacted it. The explosion was larger than one small ship should have caused.

"Well, it blew up that base," Uncle said.

Tucker knew Uncle didn't need any of this. He already knew it all. He'd watched those feed almost live. But it didn't matter, Tucker needed to interact, and Uncle was the only one he would allow in here, so Uncle played the part. Knowing it didn't make it any less real.

"I just wish he'd died in it." With a gesture he rewound the scene and zoomed on the ship. The image was grainy, The Briden telescope hadn't been looking at this asteroid, it simply happened to be within its field, but it was focused on one ten thousand kilometers closer to Earth. The ship was a small collection of dots, and a single dot left it, in a perpendicular trajectory.

"How do you feel?"

"Annoyed, disappointed. Angry. I knew it wouldn't work, that was his own ship, there was no way Brick could lock everything down in the little time we had, and a hidden emergency pod wouldn't be controlled by the central computer anyway. I so wish I could have let Brick kill him, but without the life sign on his ship, SolGov wouldn't have gone after him, and without him to distract them, they might have detected us."

"He is something of a pest."

"That's an understatement. He's the king of pests. I wish we could at least work out where he gets all his toys. It can't just be Vanguard."

"The other corporations employ him."

"But they don't have a delusional ax to grind against us. And some of the techs we've seen him use, the little we've been able to collect after they've self-destroyed, no one has that, right? Certainly not some Independent mercenary."

That Uncle didn't immediately answer troubled Tucker. Even humoring Tucker he always had a reply ready; that he didn't meant he was thinking. If Uncle had to think, it couldn't be good.

"Before Mars, I'd have agreed with you. But those Independents, those Anarchists introduced an AI in the city's computer. They have to have gotten it from somewhere. It was strong, virulent. I don't know if I'd have been able to stop it alone."

"But it was stopped, right?"

"Yes. By another AI."

"Are you telling me someone is making them again?"

"They have to, but I don't know where. Not on earth. I've looked everywhere, and no one is researching them."

"So it's one of the research stations?"

"I've looked over all those between here and Mars. Nothing. I'm searching everything past Mars, but without the Mercury in that space, making my way to every station is going to take a while and I'm diminished so I might miss something."

"Uncle, if we have another war, we won't--"

"It won't happen. I have failsafes in place. They aren't pretty but they will prevent another war."

"I'm not going to ask."

Uncle smiled. "Might be for the best."

"Does anyone else know?"

Uncle shook his head.

"Then I have to ask. Why me? There has to be better-qualified people out there than me."

"There is, but they aren't family. Even camouflaging myself so they didn't realize what I am. I can't trust any of them not to reveal this."

"Then how about within our family? I'm certainly not the smartest one."

"True, but you're the only one who's been tested."

"Tested?"

"Your wall. It tells me a lot about who you are, and the kind of respect you have for anything that could be used as a weapon. Also how you can leave all of it in this house. I might want you to discuss what happened with someone, but I respect your ability not to carry that with you everywhere you go. It's a rare skill."

Tucker leaned back in his chair. "Do you think it's Theo?"

"That's behind the AI? No. There's too many indications he fought against the Anarchists."

"But there's Cass. He's an AI. He got information from the station."

"I know, I watched him work."

"Why didn't you intervene?"

"I wanted to see what he and Theo would do. They were careful not to give anything away on the Mercury because they knew I was there. On the Station Cass was less constrained because he didn't know I was also there."

"And?"

"He did what he needed and could to keep you and Theo safe. He didn't try to leave any more backdoors than I have, or access systems that could be used at future times. They are spies, but I don't believe they are on a mission at this time."

"Okay, then how about the people behind Theo?"

"That, I don't know. And it worries me."

* * * * *

Uncle floated within the information flowing around Earth. He wasn't looking for anything specific, he was looking for something non-specific. He'd been doing this for some time now, ever since reviewing the sacrifice of the AI. He had studied the information from all angles, and he'd come away from it knowing little more than it had been an AI, and that something about it had seemed familiar.

Unfortunately he couldn't put his finger on what it was, so he was letting his mind wander and was hoping that something would come to him.

* * * * *

Caduceus was concerned and amused. It watched the Orr AI sift through as much information as he could process, looking for it. The event on Mars had made the Orr AI aware of others of his kind and now he was worried they were coming, and possibly suspicious they were already here. It couldn't know that for certain, but it also couldn't take a risk, so it had installed filters on all information transit points programmed to remove only one thing, any traces of itself from the flow.

It meant the Orr AI no harm, but it wouldn't let him become aware of it. Too much rode on it staying hidden.