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"Finally," Theo whispered when the city came into view, and Cass identified it as New Pitts. It had taken close to three hours to get there, and after the trip to Denveraura, watching the ground fly by wasn't quite as interesting.

"There is a reason most Orr citizens travel with other people," Cass said.

"I'll keep that in mind for the return trip."

"There's going to be a return trip?" Cass sounded mildly surprised.

"Of course there is. I'm not running, I just need space, after what the guy pulled."

"I thought that had been enough to push you to leave."

"Not with my parents on their way here. I don't think they'd be hurt if I ran, but I'm not risking it."

"Do you have any idea what you want to do while here in that case? All my projections were based on your planning to leave."

"You really thought that was what I wanted to do?"

"It's standard protocol, exit, reassess, rebuilt, restart. It's what we've done anytime a mission has gone wrong. New Pitts has an elevator, and embassies to the other Corporations, as well as three of the largest Independents group. It makes for a good destination if running is the plan."

Theo chuckled. "I didn't know that. It's just the furthest city away from the Orrs."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind for the next time. What do you want to do? Like in Denveraura, private vehicles are not permitted to fly freely through the city."

"I'm going to need food, lodging, a club and someplace quiet." Theo sighed. "Do we have even have money? Have we been locked out of the hidden funds? There has to be some, I know we're had agents operate on Earth."

"There are funds set up for operations here. I haven't been barred from them, but I expect that will happen the instant I access one of them, so I should set you up an account with--huh, that's interesting. You already have an account with this institution, with that one too, as with this one."

Theo straightened. "Anderson arranged for me to have funds?"

"No. This wasn't her. The accounts are in the name of Theodore Orr Paso. They link to a central account at Orr Corporate Headquarter."

"Eric," Theo grumbled. He was tempted to contact him and let him know what he thought of that. He wasn't an Orr, how could he go and just give him the fucking name. "What kind of funds do we have access to?"

"Let me put it this way. Don't try to buy your way into one of the other corporation's Board of Control. Anything else should be good."

"You're kidding."

"I wish I was. I'm trying to decide if I should be impressed they think this is the kind of money needed to buy your cooperation, or pissed they think you can be bought."

"Don't go for pissed just yet." Theo considered the implication. He hadn't thought they'd leave him moneyless, but he didn't think he'd be given access to that kind of money. Still, even if it had his name on it right now, it wasn't actually is.

"Please tell me you are not actually considering defecting. If you do, I am going to be really pissed."

"No, but this will make life easier, at least until they realize I'm not cooperating any more with the money than I was without it. Can you siphon off some to accounts they don't know about? It'll be good to have hidden funds for the moment they cut us off."

"It's... going to be difficult."

"How? You can do that stuff turned off."

"Yes, well, that's in places where Uncle isn't all over the systems."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Uncle is embedded in just about every system of importance here."

"That isn't possible, is it?" Theo cursed himself for not paying any more attention in his AI classes. "I mean, that's why we have Casanova, Angel, Mirror, and the others, because one AI can't handle everything, they're specialized."

"Well, Uncle definitely isn't like us. I can't see any significant loss of processes in any of his forks. They're not all like the Alpha, but it seems to be intentional, tailored to what they have to do, rather than because they are diminished. I mean just looking at New Pitts, there's three of him there I can't distinguish from the Alpha who has to reside at the corporate building."

"Okay, but there have to be places he isn't. He can't have an interest in all of them."

"You'd be surprised. Some of them are incorporated in the information kiosks at the base of the elevator."

"One of the Alpha-like version?"

"No, those are tailored down versions. Observe, record, report, as far as I can tell. An Epsilon fork, if I were doing it."

"Okay, but he can't be actively watching you. You're not that important. You should be able to just slip in and out of systems and hide some funds."

"I--"

"Cass?"

"I can do it. I've just never gone up against someone quite that pervasive. Every exercise I've run before becoming a detached Beta were against adversaries whose forks diminished. I'm going to have to come up with new ways of thinking to get around him."

"It can't be that difficult."

"Theo, let me put it this way. You remember that Christian engineer you slept with a few years ago? And how he tried to explain how it was that God watches everyone and kept a list of who was good or bad?"

Theo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I do. It was a good thing he liked to suck my cock because that was just about the only way to shut him up."

"Yes, well, I finally understand how he felt."

"Cass, you're not that important in the grand scheme of things. No one is."

"Theo, when someone has unlimited processing power, keeping an eye on little old me, or you for that matter, isn't a problem, no matter how insignificant we are."

"No one has that kind of processing power."

"I'd have agreed with you, until now. If Uncle has a limit, I'm not seeing it. I've peeked at Bursar and I thought his power was vast, even if he's kind of a slowpoke. I'm not sure he could do anything against Uncle if they were pitted against each other, system to system."

Theo tried to imagine what that meant. "Cass, I can't even imagine that. It just seems like it shouldn't be possible."

"I know. How do you think I feel?"

"But you can do it? If you can't it's fine, we'll come up with a different way to get funds when we need them. But you said we had stashes already there so someone managed it."

"Yes, now I wish they'd left the instruction manual on how they did it. Don't worry, I'll get it done. Unless you decide to leave tomorrow, you'll have access to funds they can't cut off."

"Just be careful. I don't think Uncle will do anything too bad to you if he catches you, but I'd rather not risk it."

"Don't worry. I have no intention of testing his temper. By the by, we're about to land."

Theo looked outside. The landing pad highlighted, as did a tower two blocks away with the name Hotel Howard beside it. As he looked around, clubs were highlighted, as well as restaurants and a large wilderness area.

"Can you remove anything that makes a point of being 'Orr centric?' I don't feel like dealing with reminders of them."

"I'm going to need your definition for 'Orr Centric.' This is their country. Pretty much everything is."

"Naked servers, orgy clubs, basically anything that puts sex high on their list of priority."

"You are going to have sex, right? This isn't going to turn into you abstaining because you don't want to be like them, right? It's bad enough when you feel you have to do it because you're working a mark, at least then I know there's an end in--"

"Calm down. I'm not going to deny myself sex. I just... I'd just prefer to be reminded of home for a bit, that's all." All but two clubs stopped flashing and only three restaurants were left.

"I can't do anything about the wilderness area. This is--"

"Their country, so people are going to have sex there. I know. I'll just have to watch where I step."

The hover landed, and the door opened. He stepped out and stretched. Yes, he was getting company for the trip back. "Highlight the way to the hotel. I'll check in and then figure out what I feel like doing."

"Food," Cass said, a line appearing on the ground. "You haven't eaten since getting up. You're brooding, so you won't feel how hungry you are, but you should eat."

"I am not brooding." Theo began walking, heading for the edge of the landing pad.

"No, of course not," Cass replied with a chuckle.

Theo found himself looking around the other hovers waiting there to be called away. Not nervous, but quite aware this was an ideal place for an ambush. Anyone could jump from behind one of them, grab him and throw him in a hover and fly away.

"Cass, how good is the heat sensor in this environment?"

"Not very good."

"Any cameras?"

"Not really. Why?"

"Paranoia. Any Implant hiding among the hovers?" As he spoke two men exited a hover ahead of him.

"No, nothing hiding."

"Really?" that hover had been there before he'd landed. There hadn't been any hovers ahead of him as far as he'd seen. So it had been here a while, with them in it. "How about those two?" one was a moose, the other a bear. Big men, with a serious expression that told him they weren't here to chat him up. Theo stopped and readied himself.

"They aren't hiding, they're walking toward you."

"Cass, there are days I think you try really hard to be literally minded." They weren't in the hover because they were fucking. It had been a small model and with the size of them they wouldn't have had much room to move, and in this country, it was simpler to just get out and fuck against the hover than in it.

"Well, Theo, to be honest, there are days you deserve it."

The two men stopped before him. Pure muscle the two of them, wearing pants and nothing else. The moose inclined his head. "Mister Paso." His voice was a deep rumble.

Theo narrowed his eyes. They knew him. Not a good sign. The balls. That was their only vulnerable spot, but he could only kick one of them before the other reacted.

"Theo," Cass said, "relax."

The bear eyed Theo, looked at the moose and deliberately took a relaxed step back. "Mister Paso," he said, his voice was deep, but not quite as deep as the moose. "We don't mean you any harm."

"Right, and I'm just supposed to believe you?"

"I'm Pete," the bear said. "Peter, that's Frank. We've been instructed to accompany you while you visit the city."

"Inst--? You guys are bodyguards?"

The two looked at one another.

"No," the moose said. "We're military, we got orders to come here and wait, in case you showed up, and if you do to--" he looked bashful. "Yeah, I guess that makes us bodyguards."

"I don't fucking believe this." Theo turned and the two walls of muscles took a step to follow him. "Don't move. I'm just calling someone. Cass, put me in touch with Eric."

"Just voice?"

"No, let him see what's around me."

The older tiger appeared in his field of vision. Mid chest and up. He had a slightly glazed look that told Theo he was having sex, or just had, Theo didn't care.

"Theodore, it's a pleasure to see you, how are you doing?"

Theo pointed to the two men. "What the fuck is that?"

Eric's eyes focused a little. He licked his lips. "That is two very delectable specimen of men. You are quite lucky to have found them."

"Fuck off with your 'lucky.' Don't even try to convince me you're not behind them."

Eric gave Theo a smile that made him realize what he'd just said and he scowled hard enough the other tiger didn't make the obvious comment. Instead he became serious.

"Theodore, I promise, I don't know what you are talking about."

"You expect me to believe that you, who goes bonkers anytime someone looks at me funny, didn't arrange to have people from your military to shadow me?"

"What?" Eric tapped someone just out of view before him. The top of a head passed the bottom of the field and the tiger straightened. "Where are you? Why didn't I know you'd left the island?"

The tiger's even tone made it impossible for Theo to tell how Eric felt, but 'concerned' appeared next to the man. Cass' evaluation. He really didn't know? Somehow he'd expected that man to have whatever security system in place keeping track of him.

If not him, then who had...?

"Eric, I'm sorry to have disturbed you. I need to talk to someone else."

"Wait, what are you doing in NP? Theo, please tell me you aren't arranging to leave."

Theo sighed. "No. I'm not leaving. I told the lot of you, my parents are on their way here, so I'm not going anywhere. I just need some time to myself."

"Why?"

"Talk to that son of yours running the place. I don't feel like going over it." He coded 'disconnect,' and Eric vanished. "Tucker," he said, his mood darkening. It was one thing for the man who thought himself his father to do this, but for--

"Hey Theo!" Tucker craned his neck and licked his lips in a way that was almost identical to his father. "We do have nice looking men, don't we?"

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm making sure you're safe," He smiled, "and that you are entertained too. They're both male compatible." He looked over Theo's shoulder again. "I may have to get them here so I can give them a try."

Theo was so glad the two of them couldn't hear Tucker. "How did you even know I'd land here?"

"I didn't. Cass filed a flight plan to New Pitts, so I had guys posted at every landing pad with your description and yes they're all as yummy as those two. Most of them are naturally that way, if you don't take into account all the exercise and combat training, but those who aren't can be retyped if they want to. And yes, everyone waiting for you is male compatible."

Theo had been trying to get his mouth working while the other tiger spoke. In the silence he finally found his voice. "You disrupted the whole of the army just to put people on me? Are you fucking insane?"

"Who's asking? My brother, or the spy? Come on Theo, who do you think I am?"

"I think you're some entitled rich kid too fucking used to getting things his way."

Tucker grinned. "Wow, you know me so well."

"Fine. I'm sending them back."

Tucker lost all his mirth. "No, you're not."

"I don't need any fucking bodyguards."

"Then don't fuck them."

"Tucker," Theo warned.

"Theo," Tucker replied in the same tone. "We were attacked, you were rendered unconscious, and it was mostly luck that they didn't manage to take you. I am not taking a chance with losing you."

"Damn it, I'm not your responsibility!"

"Theo. You are my brother."

"Are you telling me you pull this kind of stunts with everyone in your family?"

"Of course not. They'd kill me. But they also haven't been the target of kidnapping attempts. No one would dare, it would start a war. But you refuse to take our name, so you're at risk. If you don't believe me, ask Cass what those thugs said while you were unconscious."

Theo knew what he was referring to. Cass had already played it back to him. "You're not going to budge on this, are you?"

"On keeping you safe? No, I'm not. If you'd check in with me before running off like that, we could have discussed the kind of guys you wanted watching your ass, and your cock."

"I was in no mood to talk."

Tucker canted his head. "What happened?" he made out the concern under the casual tone.

"Ask Terry." Theo smiled. "Or better yet, stand back and watch the detonation when your father asks him. I don't think he's going to be happy with Terry's responses."

Tucker sighed. "What did Terry do this time?"

"I'm in no mood to tell you. I have two walls of muscle to deal with."

"Get them naked and hard before you dismiss them so casually, I think you'll be pl--" Cass disconnected on Theo's signal.

He spun to face his guards. "I am not fucking either one of you."

"Sir?" the moose asked, taking a step back.

"It's Theo. I don't do the sir crap. So get used to it."

"S--Theo, we're not here to have sex with you."

Theo snorted. "Right, like Tucker didn't tell you to get me in bed and fuck my brains out. That's all that bunch seems to think about."

The moose and bear exchanged a look. "Tucker Orr?" the bear asked.

"Of course, Tucker Orr. Who else do you think I was talking to?"

"You know Tucker Orr?" the bear asked in disbelief.

"You spoke to Tucker Orr in that tone?" asked the moose an edge of terror in his voice.

"Look. I didn't grow up with all the stories of how amazing and powerful they all are okay? As far as I'm concerned they're just a bunch of guys with too much power. I mean, come on, Tucker giving the army orders? What idiot lets that happen?"

"Err, he--" the moose began. But the bear raised a hand.

"Alright, I understand this isn't what you want, s--Theo, but we have our orders. We're to follow you and make sure nothing happens to you."

"Do you even know why?"

"Not something we need to know to do our job," the moose said.

Theo sighed. "I just wanted to be alone for a while."

"We can stay out of sight. No one will notice us."

Theo snickered. "Really? How? I'm not trying to be hurtful, but you two will be ogled by every male compatible person out there with even a hint of a thing for muscles. I know people with decades of training in making someone invisible, and they couldn't make it happen with you." He sighed again. "Come on. I want to check-in my hotel and have a meal. Do either have any training in how to keep someone safe?"

"I've had to escort officers a time or two through battlefields," the bear said.

"Peter, right?"

"Pete."

"Pete. How do you still have wars down here? I get some of the independents are militant and out to disrupt the system, but with all the tech you guys have, why aren't you just bombing them from orbit or something?"

"You weren't kidding when you said you didn't grow up here, were you?" Frank asked.

The section of the Cataclysmic Act relevant to Theo's question began scrolling, but he dismissed them with a flick of the fingers. He didn't want to read about them, he wanted to have someone living them explain.

"I grew up in space."

"But every citizen still gets instructed in--oh."

"Which corpo--?" Frank began.

"None of our business," Pete cut him off.

"Right. Sorry, S--Theo."

"Don't worry about it. Unless I'm supposed to have this big sign over my head that says 'not an Orr citizen,' you had no way of knowing."

"So about your questions," Pete said. "We're not allowed. It's one of the first Act the corporations agreed to after the Cataclysms; no weapon that can disrupt an ecosystem can be used during an altercation."

"Altercation?"

"It's the wording in the Act," Frank answered. "We're also not allowed to use any weapon at more than a hundred kilometer of range."

"They're talking of reducing that to fifty," Pete added.

"Why? What's the point?"

"They want wars to hurt."

Theo stopped and turned. "Excuse me?"

Frank sighed. "Tell me you know your history, Pete, because I never was good at that."

The bear shrugged. "What we know of before the cataclysm indicates that wars were basically fought at a distance, remote everything. So, if I went to war with Frank I didn't have to send anyone, just machines piloted remotely or with computers. I wouldn't feel the pain of inflicting him damage. A lot of historians agree that's one of the things that led to the cataclysm, all the wars. So after that, the corporation in their infinite wisdom," Pete said that with a hint of derision, "decided that if someone wanted to go to war, they were going to have to feel the pain of it. So now we have to send people there to get hurt and die."

"And to be fair," Frank said, "There haven't been many wars since the Act."

"But the Anarchists don't care about the pain, in fact, that's what they want, to inflict pain to the corporations, so isn't doing things that way playing into their hands?"

"I don't know who the Anarchists are," Pete said, "but we can't make exceptions. If we do, where does it stop? If it's okay to drop a rock from orbit on those guys, then how do we not do it when Ameritech pisses us off or something?"

"Who are the Anarchists?" Frank asked.

"It's my name for the Independent troublemakers."

"Ah," Frank replied.

"That makes a lot of sense," Pete said. "I don't know why no one did that before?"

Theo looked at the bear, but he was thoughtful, not mocking. Theo didn't reply. He'd already accidentally given enough away. He was supposed to be better than this.

They reached the hotel without anything more notable than the ogling Theo had said would happen. Even in a society where naked was normal, prime specimen of men attracted the attention. Maybe it was even because of it.

Theo modified his reservation for a suite, so his bodyguard could have a room with access to him. He might as well play the part and avoid getting Tucker showing up unexpectedly.

The attached suite only had one bed, but Pete and Frank said they were fine sharing it. Theo had a shower, then went down for food. The restaurant in the hotel was definitely Orr centric, so they walked to the one a few blocks away. There he had Pete and Frank sit with him. And made it clear he was paying, so they could get whatever they wanted.

As they ate, Theo found out Frank was from an Army family, going back six generations. His wife was a sergeant, handling logistics, and they had three kids, all of them in basic training.

Pete was a first-generation soldier and his husband was a sex instructor. They didn't have kids and weren't sure if they ever would. They both had difficult childhoods and were concerned they'd pass along the problems they'd acquired.

Theo found he liked them. Pete was serious, with an understated sense of humor, bright, but not forward with it. Frank wasn't as smart, but he had an easy smile and attentive expression and helped anyone he could. As demonstrated when he took the platter off a server's arm before she dropped it, and carried it for her.

After the meal they walked around the city, spending most of it following the path along the recreated Allegheny River, each listening to the history of the river and commenting on parts of interest to them.

Theo had been surprised to learn the river had run dry before the cataclysm. As with pretty much anything to go wrong on Earth, he'd thought that had been the cause, but as far as records showed, it predated it by almost a hundred years, running dry around the middle of the twenty-first century, and it was recreated after the cataclysm as part of rebuilding the city which had stood by it.

When evening came, Theo found a dance club, clothing mandatory, and they danced and drank for a few hours before heading back to the hotel.

He looked at the large bed for a moment. "Okay, if either of you are interested, you're welcome to share my bed."

"I thought you weren't having sex with us?" Pete asked.

"I wasn't going to have sex with the walls of muscles that had been forced on me. But I made the mistake of talking to both of you and you turn out to be pretty much nice guys. Nice guys I can have sex with. You're both married, so I will understand if you don't want to."

Franks snorted. "If you'd grown up here, you'd know that sex and marriage aren't linked." The moose rubbed Theo's shoulders. "I'll be more than happy to have sex with you. Pete?"

"I'm good." The bear was undressing. Tucker had been right, he was hung. Pete looked down at himself. "Had myself retyped as soon as I could afford it. I was nowhere near this big as a kid." The bear shrugged at Theo's tilted ear. "I was the runt of the family cock wise, and everyone made sure I knew it." He smiled. "I might have overcompensated slightly."

The moose looked him over. "I'm not going to complain."

"You two haven't had sex before?"

Frank shook his head, taking off his pants. "First time I worked with him. We've talked, but I usually go home every night unless I'm deployed."

"Don't you want to go home then?"

"Can't. This is a deployment. My wife knows."

"Natural?" Pete pointed to Frank's large cock.

"Yep."

The two of them turned their gaze on Theo.

"Seems to me," Pete said, "that you're a little overdressed."

Theo looked down at himself. "I suppose I am." He reached for the belt as the cloth melted away.

"Shit," Frank said. "I didn't know anyone outside them had one of those."

"You guys don't have access to them?" He unhooked it and hung it over the back of a chair.

"We're only allowed them when we go in combat," Pete answered. "I know one girl who snuck hers out after, to go to a party. She spent three months in the brig for it."

"That seems excessive."

"Those are corporate property. They are very serious about it. If you'd stolen that one, you wouldn't have made it to the landing pad."

Theo nodded. He'd known how serious the Orrs were about protecting them from outside acquisitions, but hadn't realized it was the same internally.

"Now," Theo said. "I'm fully versatile, I have a lot of endurance, but I could go for something nice and slow to start with. Does that work for both of you?"

"Versatile here," Frank said. "I'm good with just about anything, I got military nanites so I can repair pretty much anything you can inflict during sex."

"Vers here too," Pete said. "Same package, but I'm not keen on pain. So I'd rather nothing rough."

"Not a fan of pain, and in the army?" Theo asked.

"Military upgrade to our Implant include pain blocking, but it's more like full sensation blocking, so it isn't useful during sex."

Theo nodded. "Well, I don't have either of those, so we'll take it nice and easy to start with and get rougher as we go. You guys randomize for it, but one of you is going to fuck me now."