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The knock on the door came and went. Theo didn't look up from his work. If there was one thing these last few months had given him, it was time to practice his sculpting. He'd let that lapse over the last few years of near-constant work.

The knock came again.

"You going to let them in?" Theo asked.

"Do you want me to?" Cass replied.

"What do they want?"

"No idea."

Theo paused. "How do you not know?"

"They haven't contacted us."

The knock came again.

Theo raised his voice. "Come in, it's not locked." He'd stopped bothering since Tucker had the overrides.

Unsurprisingly, a tiger stepped into the kitchen, but not Tucker. Information appeared in his vision next to the man. Francis Orr, Eric's father. Other public details followed, which Theo ignored, except to notice the man had had a lot of careers.

"Hi," Francis said, "I'm Francis, I'm--"

"My grandfather," Theo said with a sigh. "I wish you'd all stop reminding me I'm related to you."

"I was going to say, Eric's father."

"Sorry. Tucker's over every few days to try to get me to 'join the family'. It get exhausting."

"My grandson can be persistent. Can I make myself something to drink?"

"Go ahead, and obsessive is a better way to describe him."

"Tucker likes to have fun and believes everyone else should too." Francis picked up the small figurine Theo had left on the counter once he was finished with it. "This is very good. Your work?"

"Yeah." Theo looked around; he'd left the results of his work all over the place. Counters, shelves, table.

"It's Doctor Long Dong, isn't?" Francis asked, sitting, cup in one hand, the figuring in the other. "The one from the third moving in the original Bondo series."

"You're a fan?"

"No, I ran a recognition algorithm. Your work is good enough it was the top result, with Hole Deep as a distant second. But you have him dressed, so I doubt you were basing him on the actors adult movie. I take it you are a fan?" Francis indicated the other figurings Theo sculpted. Too many of them were Bondo characters.

"Not particularly, but I had to familiarize myself with the franchise, so the characters are in my head these days."

"For your work?"

Theo sighed. "You know about that."

Francis smiled. "Very little of interest remains private without our family."

"Great," Theo said, dejected. "So you know what I did."

"You saved Mars, possibly the whole of the solar system, of course I know."

Theo studied the man. "I mean more what happened with Marcus. I expect Terrence made sure you all knew what I did to him."

"Ah, that. Yes, I know. I'm afraid Terry is rather dogmatic in his belief that our enemies can not be trusted. He's made sure everyone knows what he thinks of you. Out of curiosity, what do you intend to do about Marcus?"

"What the fuck am I supposed to do? Marry him? He was a job, I'm sorry for--" Francis raise a hand and Theo stopped.

"I'm not implying or judging. Unlike Terry, I have the luxury of never having had to run the corporation. So I'm less invested in any belief of who is right and who is wrong. And unlike him, I don't have a need to pretend we're devoid of bad decisions or difficult ones. Things were less difficult when I was your age, but we were still in a conflict with Vanguard, SolGov was also trying to find ways to pressure the corporations to bend to their will. There are a lot of things Uncle has done to keep us safe. Terry is simply unwilling to look at them. I wasn't. You were a spy, and spies have to make hard choices."

"I didn't expect you to be this understanding. The information I have on you says you're rather emotional."

Francis chuckled. "I had my breakdown over the grayness of the world in my forties, and a lot of years to come to terms with it. If you're interested, I'll show you my art from that era. It isn't particularly pretty, but as another artist, you might find it interesting."

"I'm not an artist."

Francis place Doctor Long Dong on the table. "This seems to claim that you are."

"It's just a hobby I picked up." Theo moved his artificial fingers. "I have tools and a lot of time on my hands between assignments."

"And I expect a need to keep the nerve connection to your arm active."

"You know about artificial limb conditioning?"

"When Eric studied medicine, I took a few courses with him, to help out where I could. I don't have the making of a doctor, that was clear when he had to spend more time helping me keep up with him, but I did read a fair bit on it. You don't have an implant to regulate it, or does Cass do that?"

"I keep a minimal functional level for it, yes," Cass answered.

"Hello Cass, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, Mister Orr."

"Francis, please. Mister Orr is Terry these days."

"Very well, Francis."

"Could you keep it fully functional?" Francis asked, "as an implant does for the rest of us?"

"I could, but..." Cass trailed off.

Theo picked up. "Our training discourages it. Because of the work we do, there will be situations where I'll have to operate without Cass."

"As happened on Mars."

"Yes. If my arm depended on Cass to function, it would have been useless. As it was, I barely noticed his absence when it came to using it."

"Forgive me if this is too intrusive, but doesn't it get tiresome to have someone constantly in your head that you can't get away from?"

"Doesn't it get tiresome having the whole world in yours?" Theo asked.

"I can shut it out, filter what part I let in. Cass is a full person, unless I misunderstood Uncle's report."

"I am," Cass said, "to the same effect that your sons and grandson are."

"But they aren't attached to my hip."

"But they can contact you at any time," Cass said. "They can intrude on your life as much as they want regardless of where they are."

"I can set up 'do not disturb' filters if I need privacy."

"Me and Cass can do the equivalent," Theo said. "He doesn't reside in my head. He can't access my mind, and I can't access his. For any communication purpose, it's the same as with you and your family, except that there's no way for an outside person to keep us from talking short of physically removing him. If one of us needs privacy, the other respects it."

Francis sipped his cup. "I hadn't thought about it that way. For me it's so natural to connect with the world that as Cass said, it's basically in my head. Under my control, but there."

"And that's what I couldn't deal with," Theo said. "What if someone uses that connection to get in your head? Infiltrates your implant, alters what you see. That's what the rogue AI on Mars did. Took over everyone with an implant, turned them into puppets."

Francis looked into his cup, uncomfortable. "That was a special circumstance. We have programs to prevent that from happening. The AI could bypass all of that because it's a program. People don't have those kinds of abilities."

Theo didn't push the issue. This wasn't about convincing Francis which of their ways was the better one. Which raised the question. What was this about?

"Did you visit just to meet me and discuss art and philosophy, or is there another reason?"

Francis snapped his finger. "Right, I came to pick you up, your parents are landing within the hour."

"They're here?" Theo stood and began making plans. He'd worked out a few escape routes that should work, if Cass could keep Uncle from interfering, but how large was the window?

"I have no information about their arrival," Cass told him. Which meant it had been kept from him specifically so he couldn't--

"Calm down Theo," Francis said. "I'm not sure what's got you panicking, but you're not in danger."

"Of course you'd say that. How come I wasn't informed they were this close? Cass hadn't gotten any information on their eta since I answered their message, back on the Mercury."

Francis frowned. "That would have been Uncle's doing. He's refusing to answer me, definitely his doing." He stood. "Come on, let's go welcome them and I'll try to get answers from Uncle on the way."

"I'm not reading any deception from him," Cass said privately.

"What if I want to go there on my own?" Theo challenged.

"Of course, you can," Francis said, "I just thought you'd want company. You look like you're about to pull a Tucker and do something not warranted."

"He means stupid," Cass said and Francis winced.

Theo tried to calm himself. He had meditation classes and breathing exercises to help, but all he could think about was that his family was about to be here, where Uncle could do anything he wanted to them. Where Vanguard could get to them.

Why hadn't they gone back home?

Arms enveloped him, and instead of bolting, Theo melted against the body.

"It's okay," Francis said. "They aren't in danger. I give you my word, no one will put them at risk."

"So you read minds too?" Theo said in the shirt.

"No, but being as emotional as I am, I've gotten to know what can make others lose it. There aren't a lot of possibilities here."

Theo nodded. "Can you really keep them safe?"

"You have my word."

Theo pulled out of the embrace, using all his training to hide how comfortable Francis had felt. "Okay, let's go."

* * * * *

Theo ran past Eric and Tucker the moment the fox stepped onto the ramp. "Dad!" He embraced his father.

"Theo. Dear God, are you okay?" His father said in his fur, holding him tightly.

"I told you to go home," Theo replied. "Why, why didn't you listen?"

"I couldn't leave you here, son. What kind of father would I be if I didn't do everything I could to bring you home?"

He took a step back to tell his father what he thought of that stupid idea, but saw his mother and he hugged her.

"Oh Theodore, I've missed you so much. When I saw that report about Mars and how they said you were involved I was terrified of what would happen to you, but then we--"

"It's okay mom. This isn't the place to talk about it." He wasn't sure there was such a place on this island.

"No, of course not." She pulled away, studying his face. "You look good, are--are they treating you well?"

"As well as can be expected, all things considered."

She looked around him and whispered. "I expected there to be more guards."

Theo smiled. "They own the entire northern continent, they don't need guards when they have an entire army they can call on."

Her nose paled.

"I'm joking, mom." He took her and his father's hand. "Come on, let's get this started so we can figure out how to get out of it."

She squeezed his hand. "Don't worry, Theo, we'll take care of that."

Theo didn't like the sound of that, but this was another thing they couldn't discuss here. He stopped before the others and sound he didn't know how to proceed.

"Hello," his father said, "I'm Darius..." he trailed off and bit his lower lip.

"Paso," Eric finished. "And this is your wife, Maria Paso. We know who you are. I'm Eric, this is Tucker, one of my sons, and Francis, my father. I figured a smaller welcoming comity would be more comfortable. Tucker is only here because he appointed himself Theo's guardian and there is no talking him out of idiotic ideas."

"Dad," Tucker whined. "Way to make an impression on them."

"The day you decide to be a reasonable adult, Tucker, I will introduce you as such."

Francis grinned between them, rolling his eyes.

"Since the introduction have been made," Theo's mother said, "I'd like to say that--"

"If you don't mind," Tucker said, more serious than Theo had ever seen him. "We should take this inside."

"I suppose we should," Eric said.

"Uncle wants in on this, I expect," Cass said privately.

The walk to the building was peppered by gasped from his parents, and quiet curses and 'how can they?' or 'that can't be legal'. Vanguard was nowhere near as free with nudity as the Orrs were, neither were the Colonies. Theo suspected nowhere in the universe could be as comfortable with people being nude as the Orrs. He'd become desensitized to it at this point.

Instead of taking a lift, Eric guided them through a door in the lobby, then one that opened onto a meeting room. The door closed and Uncle appeared.

"Oh," his mother said. "Hello."

"Mister and Misses Paso, welcome to the Orr corporate territory," Uncle said. "I want to assure you that your past association with Vanguard is being disregarded. Anything that happens here will be based solely on your being Theodore's parent. I will also not take into account whatever citizenship you currently hold, whoever has been hiding you since you fled Vanguard is--"

Theo's father snorted. "Like you'll ever find them."

"Excuse me?" Uncle asked.

"Dad," Theo warned, closing his eyes.

"Let me guess, you've scoured Earth and the Moon for us. Had any luck?"

"Dad," Theo warned again, his voice harder.

"Like we'd ever live anywhere this close to the people who'd harm my son. Go ahead, keep searching, go as far as Mars, hell, go as far as Titan. I'm not--"

Theo clamped his hand over his father's muzzle. "Stop."

His father looked hurt as he mumbles something through his closed muzzle. "What's wrong?" he said when Theo released him, "I was just--"

"Gloating," Theo scowled. "In the process you told him not to waste his time looking within the inner system."

"Oh," His father's ears folded back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"I know dad, but this is why you should have stayed home. I had to go through six years of training before I was allowed in the field. I can't believe you were allowed to come."

"If it helps appease your conscience," Uncle said. "I had no interest in looking for where your parents came from."

Theo rolled his eyes. "Of course, because you are so comfortable with a group of independents you know nothing about."

Uncle smiled and motioned to the table. "Shall we sit?

"Forgive me for being blunt," Theo's mother said, "but is there a reason you aren't here in person? It's not like you haven't known when we'll be arriving for weeks."

"Let's say that I'm currently indis--"

"He's an AI," Theo said.

"Theo," Uncle sounded indignant.

"You know about Cass, it's only fair they know about you."

"An AI?" his father asked. "How? No one but."

"Dad," Theo warned, and this time Darius stopped.

"Yes," Uncle said, "I expect that it is as surprising to you as it was to me, to find you are not the only ones having AIs."

Theo motioned his parents to one side of the table. Eric, Tucker and Francis sat opposing them with Uncle at the head. Theo wondered if the AI was sending a message about who was really in charge.

"Theo is my son," Eric stated.

Darius bristled.

"I know," His mother said. Theo stared at her. She patted his hand. "I'm a geneticist, dear. When the corporation hands me a baby to look after, I run my own checks."

"How did you trace Theo's DNA to Eric?" Uncle asked. "We do not allow that kind of information to be distributed."

"Vanguard has a copy on file. I didn't know, but Theo's check came with a classified parental link. I paid a childhood friend to get me the information."

"And it didn't occur to you to return him to his rightful father?" Eric asked. The warning light Cass kept next to Eric turned yellow.

"No, it didn't," She answered. "We were entrusted with him."

"You stole from--"

"Stop, Eric," Theo said, and the light turned orange. "My parents--" the light turned a darker orange. "--didn't steal me. Whatever Vanguard did to you, they were not involved."

"That is irrelevant. They became complicit when they--"

"Do you have any idea how impossible it is to qualify to have a child?" Darius spat. "Not one of those fertility clinic babies where Vanguard controls each and every aspect of who comes out. I mean a child of your own. Do you have any idea the kind of qualification you have to meet for them to say yes? I'm at the top of my field of micro-circuitry engineering. Maria was in the top point one percent of her graduating year in bio-genetics. We were turned down year after year, because we didn't meet the requirement."

"What made Theo different?" Uncle asked. "Why accept him when you refused the fertility clinics? For all you knew he came from there, he actually did, since there's no other way Vanguard could ensure he had the characteristic they wanted."

His mother squeezed Theo's hand. She squirmed in her seat, but she still spoke before his father. "We were promised a reconsideration. We were told that once we were done with Theo, they would make an exception for us, as repayment for our duty."

"But it barely took a week that we both fell in love with Theo," Darius said. "It probably makes me a hypocrite for all the railing I did against the clinics that I no longer care where he came from. He was my son. He is my son." The fox fixed his gaze on Eric and the light turned red.

Francis placed a hand on Eric's arm. "You need to calm down, son. What was done to you was unforgivable, and Vanguard will pay, but these people are innocent, and they did an amazing job raising Theo, keeping him safe. You know the danger in breaking with Vanguard, yet they did that for him. Theo is here now because they sacrificed for him."

The light's color turned orange and settled at almost yellow.

"My son is very guarded emotionally," Francis said, "And very protective of his children, even the one he was unaware he had."

"I don't--" Theo began.

"Should I remind you of the two kidnapping attempts?" Uncle said.

His mother squeezed his hand hard enough Theo winced.

"Did you have to bring that up?"

"It seemed relevant," Uncle answered.

"Then it's even more important that we take our son home," his mother said. "Where he'll be safe from Vanguard."

"He's safe here," Eric state.

"There were two attempts," his father said.

"The first one happened before anyone understood the length Vanguard would go to," Uncle said. "The second because Theo decided to ditch his protection detail."

"His guards, you mean," Darius spat.

Theo sighed. "No, they were just there for my protection. I let an argument get to me and made a stupid decision."

"Regardless," his mother said, "we're here to negotiate for our son's release."

"Mom," Theo sighed, "It's not like--"

"I understand you have something of a genetic crisis," she said.

"What is she talking about?" Eric asked.

Theo wondered the same thing, and Uncle's staring told him she was right.

"How do you know about that?" Uncle asked.

"I know my son's genetic code," she answered. "He came home twice with odd changes to his DNA, the first time I just fixed it, but when he returned with the same thing I looked into it and devised an immunity for him. Knowing his connection to your family, when I heard about the newest generation, I suspected Theo might not have caught a random virus, but might have been accidentally targeted because of your DNA. I am willing to give you the--"

"No," Theo said.

"Theo," she and Uncle said at the same time, dismay in her voice, anger in his.

"You are not going to hold a cure ransom for me. If they are afflicted with something and you have the cure, mom, you're going to give it to them."

"Theo, it's the only bargaining chip I have."

"And I'm telling you I will not let you bargain my freedom with it. Give it to them, Mom. Dad, how is your work on implants?"

"I--what? Theo, how is this relevant?"

"It is, trust me."

"Well, It's been years, but I have studied the full implant system, you know that, Theo. It was part of..." he looked around warily. "I'm not sure I should be saying more."

"Could you repair one?" Theo asked.

"I don't know. Theo, an implant isn't like most system. It grows with a child's brain. In the two years after it's implanted, it goes from this point barely three microns across to a mesh interweaved with the brain tissue. Because of that no two implant is the same."

"Are you willing to try?"

"Theo, implants don't get damaged in a way that requires someone to fix them. Not unless someone deliberately disrupts the weave, so it won't... what?"

The looks Tucker and Eric gave his father were what Theo aimed for, although the hope in Tucker's eyes out shined the, well, not-quite suspicion in Eric.

"Dad?" Tucker asked.

"Would you be willing to try?" Eric asked.

"Well, as I said, I can't promise what I would be able to do, but yes, I'd be willing to try in exchange--"

"Not in exchange for anything, Dad," Theo said.

Darius sighed. "Theo, are you looking to stay here? If you won't let us buy your freedom, what do you expect us to do?"

"I expect us all to do the right thing."