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"Have you seen this?" Darius asked, before sipping his drink and making a face.

Theo agreed with his father. There was something wrong with the ship's drink fabricator. Even after five months of being in this ship, he hadn't found one drink it could make that didn't end up tasting like oil had leaked into it somehow.

"As I don't know what you're looking at, Darius," his mother answered, her plate almost finished. "I can't say." His dad made a motion of swiping something in his mother's direction, and she gasped. "Well, at least it's a still."

Darius looked at Theo. "Did you know the Orr released a new Cassius Gold movie? Welcome to the Family."

Theo rolled his eyes. "I'm kind of in it, dad, so yeah I knew it was coming."

"I thought you were never going to have sex with them, Theo," his mother said, curiosity in her voice and the angle of her ears. He didn't talk about his sex life with his parents, so they hadn't known.

Theo shrugged. "Had a change of heart."

"I'm surprised you waited until after that job," his dad said. "Those are some hot men."

"Are you turning male compatible on me," Maria asked teasingly.

"I don't have to want to have sex with them to notice how well defined and muscular they are. But it's your great grandmother I would have been interesting in bedding. That Beatrice is one beautiful woman."

"You didn't?" Maria asked. "Losing your touch?"

Darius shrugged. "She was too busy; if it wasn't work, it was that kangaroo with the gigantic cock. Then, after Theo vanished, she and the kangaroo sort of vanished too. Do you know anything about it, Theo?"

He looked up from the message he and Cass were crafting. "His name's Sebastien, and he worked for us. He's who told me about the scientist with the new AI."

"Should you be telling us that much?"

Theo shrugged, he'd made the decision months ago. "I'm not a spy anymore, and with having the Orrs as my family, there's little Anderson can do to me. I'm not going to tell everyone what operations she had going in the solar system, but I'm not going to worry about what I tell you. So yeah, Bea didn't take the betrayal well, she loved Sebastien. Francis was comforting her after that. He's my great grandfather, Eric's dad."

He and her hadn't been present at Theo's farewell.

* * * * *

"I don't like this," Eric said, releasing Theo from the hug. "We can't keep you safe all the way from here."

"I'll be fine, Eric." Theo still couldn't get himself to call him dad. It had felt so weird doing so for the movie. "You know of Uncle's plan, and he has been talking with someone from the colonies. My return won't be a total surprise, and they promised they'd look after me." Theo had reeled on learning Caduceus had a self within the solar system, let alone on Earth. He'd never paid too much attention to what the AIs did, but as a spy, he did know they weren't supposed to operate outside the colonies without explicit authorization. He didn't know who gave that authorization, but he doubted Caduceus had it.

"Uncle always has his plans, and you might recall they don't always mean the best for those caught in them."

"He wouldn't have hurt me," Theo said, mostly confident. "He knew I was family."

Eric smiled and shook his head. "Youthful innocence," was all he said before stepping out of the way.

Tucker had Theo in a bone-crushing hug. "Fuck I'm going to miss you."

Theo patted Tucker's ass. "You'll just have to come for a visit one of these days, I can show you where I like fucking."

"You think you can top fucking while falling through the atmosphere."

Theo shuddered at the memory. That had certainly been an experience. "That isn't something you like, you just wanted to impress me."

"Did it work?"

Theo chuckled. "It did."

"Wanna do it again?"

Theo rolled his eyes, then-- "I'll think about it."

He shook hands with Trevor, Thomas, Tony, and Tyson. The sex with them had been fun, but they hadn't gotten as close as he had with Tucker. Terrence eyed him, and the offered hand, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Good riddance."

"Love you too, Terry," Theo replied, the tone just as flat. Sex with him had been interesting. They'd done it because Eric had insisted, thinking it would serve to reconcile their difference. It hadn't. They didn't like each other still. "How is Marcus doing?"

"He's an okay manager. I have him on the fifty-eighth floor, supervising the grievance escalation division. He hasn't brought it crashing down, so there's that, but I've heard complaints that he's too uptight and spends most of his time dressed."

"Give him time, once he gets over his SolGov upbringing, he'll fit in nicely."

"Yeah, well, it's not like I care, with you gone I won't have anyone reminding me he's there."

"Don't worry, Terry," Tucker said, "I'll make sure to bring him up anytime we fuck."

Terrence glared at his brother. "You do that, and you and I are never fucking again." The others snickered, which earned them a glare in turn.

"Well, I better get going," Theo said, surprising himself with how reluctant he was to leave. "Mom and Dad are already on the station, and the Jupiter isn't going to delay its departure on my account."

"It will for me," Tucker said, "you know, if you want to spend a few more days with us."

"Don't fucking tempt him," Terrence said, lobbing something at Theo. "Uncle wanted me to give you this. A reminder of where you come from."

Theo caught it and turned it over in his hand. The bracelet was gold, silver, and onyx arranged into stripes. "It's beautiful," Theo said, running his finger over it. It was two inches wide, a quarter of an inch thick. He put it on and the ends sealed together, then it shrunk until it was snug against his wrist.

Theo launched himself forward and hug Terrence.

"What the fuck?" Terrence exclaimed, tensing.

"Give Uncle a hug for me."

"Yeah, well, let go of me before I bring down charges of touching me against my consent."

"You didn't actually say no," Theo said, before releasing his brother.

Terrence glared at Tucker. "You're a fucking bad influence on everyone around you."

"What did I do?" Tucker called after Terrence who'd turned his back on them and was walking away.

"I really should go," Theo said and forced himself to step into the shuttle.

* * * * *

Theo ran a finger over the bracelet.

"You okay, kiddo?" his mother asked.

"Just missing them."

"So," Darius said, "now that you've had sex with your brothers and biological father, does that mean you're going to want to have sex with me?"

"Dad! That's gross," Theo exclaimed. "How can you even think that? And don't you dare comment on this, Cass, I don't fucking care how badly you want to film me and my dad having sex."

"Hey, I didn't say a thing, I didn't even think it. I have too much respect for the fact your father's female exclusive to even entertain the thought."

The ship's announcement of "all passengers, disembarking will begin in five minutes, well come to Eiffel colony." kept Theo from having to comment.

* * * * *

Home, Theo thought as he took in the distant curvature once he was outside the terminal. He looked up at the sky, its blueness perfect. The clouds were thickening and graying. It might rain by the time they reached his parent's house. He'd have to see about getting his own apartment again. His had been reallocated once he'd been declared dead. Caduceus had offered to reacquire it for him, but Theo had passed. It had been an apartment assigned to him by the 'sanitation' department, and he didn't want anything that would connect him to his spy work. He would miss it, but in a few days, if all went according to plan, he'd have a new job.

"Theo!" someone called, a lion ran in his direction. Theo barely had the time to register him and the crowd following him before the lion hugged him. "Ah Man, I am so happy you're back. I was so bummed when I heard you'd died, then I found out you'd actually been exposed and I was even more bummed."

"Clark," Theo hugged his classmate back. "It's good to see you again. What are you doing here?"

"You really thought any of us not busy with work would let you just return home without a proper greeting."

"That's going to have to wait until I'm settled in," Theo said, looking over everyone else there, "or at least until we're in private." He hadn't expected the crowd. There was only one person Theo had needed to be present.

"Same old Theo," The lion slapped his ass, "if I'm still here once you're settled in, you can bet I'm going to be over for a proper celebration."

A rabbit had her arms around his neck. "I'm so glad you made it out, Theo. I heard you'd been captured after the ship was away. If I'd still be there I--"

Theo gently grabbed her arms and pushed her away. "You would have gotten on that ship and returned here. You had a mission to finish." He smiled. "It's good to see you too, Pat." File transmitted, flashed in his vision. "It's good to see everyone. I don't know what to say at this welcoming committee, other than, anyone wants to grab a drink? I haven't had anything decent in months."

* * * * *

Two days of reconnecting with friends and ex-coworkers. Of explaining he couldn't go back in the field after his face was plastered everywhere, and that he was officially in a prison somewhere on Earth. Dodging questions about what office position Anderson would put him in. Sex was always a good way of diverting the questions.

Now he was taking a break from them, standing at the top of the tower the colony took its name from, looking into the distance, not thinking about anything. The door opened behind him, and someone joined him.

"You are a tough man to find," Patricia commented, leaning on the rail. "Are you keeping yourself from registering on the network to avoid Anderson sending men to bring you in?"

Theo smiled. "She knows where I am. She's Anderson. Except for what I keep in my head and Cass in his memory, I doubt there's anything she doesn't know."

"Well, officially, I'm here to tell you to go see her."

"Unofficially?"

The rabbit smiled. "How are you doing? Really? You were exposed, captured. I can't imagine what they did to you, and now you're back? Did they turn you? Are you working for them now, spying on us for them?"

Theo shook his head. "I'm not spying on anyone, for anyone. I'm an Orr. That's why I'm free."

"How the fuck are you an Orr? I mean you're a tiger, but there's no Orr on any of the colonies, right?"

"That's complicated. The quick and dirty of it can be summed up by corporate sabotage. My parents were from Vanguard before they fled and found sanctuary here."

She nodded and looked into the distance. "Fuck, and I thought our work was complicated. So all this time you were with them? Are they as hot as the stories claim they are? don't look at me that way," she said. "You had to research them just like I did, there might not be any recordings of them having sex, except for that handful of propaganda movies, but there are plenty of stories."

Theo smiled. "They are definitely hot."

"Cass is into making movies, right? He has anything good to share?"

"You know how that works," Cass said with a sigh. "I'm not allowed to officially release anything anymore."

"Wait until Welcome to the Family hits the black market," Theo said with a wink.

"Really?" Patricia said. "The whole family?"

"Each and every male member of the Orr family," Cass said proudly. "There so much sex I had trouble inserting a story in there."

Theo shook his head. "There is no story, it's just three hours of me being passed from one guy to the other, and finally one giant orgy."

"Okay, now I want to see that immediately." Patricia placed a hand on Theo's. "Are you sure there isn't something me or Angelica can do to earn ourselves an advanced copy of the movie?"

File received.

"I'm sorry," Cass said, as Theo read over Paco Rotsun's citizen file. "But you're going to have to wait until it makes its way through channels, like everyone else."

That the kangaroo was a colony citizen, out of the Teotihuacán colony didn't mean anything, but Angelica had included Paco's training file in the same school Theo had gotten his spy training in. He'd been expelled after two years, but then hired by Fivertech, a subsidiary of the sanitation department, and sent to work into the solar system. After that, Angelica had lost track of him, but Theo had his answers. He hung his head.

"You okay?" Patricia asked.

"Yeah. Just giving in to the fact I need to go see Anderson." He gave her a smile. "I don't expect she has a lot of nice things to say to me. You can let her know I'm on my way."

* * * * *

The sanitation department was under the ground, or over it, Theo thought, if you dismissed the centrifugal effect of gravity. The first eight colonies, of which Eiffel was one, predated gravity technology, and even the other two were still built as spinning cylinders, since the technology was proven and reliable and low in power requirement, unlike gravity tech.

It was in the section that handled all waste product processing, and while it no longer had to, it was loud and stank. Protective camouflage, as well as making it impossible for anyone to eavesdrop on anything taking place within the building.

The inside of the building was utilitarian and small robotic units crawled along the walls and ceiling, in and out of openings to go tend to whatever needed tending in the machinery that allowed Eiffel to support life. As far as Theo knew, the number of people in the building numbered below six at any time, and only one of them had an office. The sanitation department supervisor.

Or Anderson, as everyone he knew called her.

Cass announced his arrival, and the door opened to an office that matched the rest of the building. Pure utility with a desk, behind which the elephant sat, two chairs before it, and nothing else.

"Theodore," she exclaimed, standing. "It's such a pleasure to see you again."

'Cass?' Theo finger coded, hand behind his back.

"Getting ready," he replied.

Theo let his hand fall to his side, now fully coated in black material.

Anderson stepped around the desk. "You gave us a scare, you know. Getting captured by SolGov, then the Orrs took you. I thought I'd never see you again." She spread her arms to embrace him.

"Ready," Cass said.

Theo punched her in the face with enough force to send her reeling back against the wall, holding the base of her trunk. There had been more strength behind the punch than he was capable of, courtesy of Uncle's gift.

"That's for my father."

It had taken Cass most of the trip on the Jupiter to Titan Station to unlock its secret, that it was a simplified version of the belt, being composed entirely of nanites. It couldn't do anything to the extent of the belts, Uncle wouldn't have risked that, but it could easily cover his arm from hand to shoulder, anchor it, and allow him to punch with enough strength to put a hole in her door if he so desired.

"Theo, what are you--"

He struck her across the face, sending her to the floor. "That's for Brack, you bitch!"

"Who the fuck is Brack?" She asked, getting to her feet, but keeping her distance.

Theo didn't go after her. Those two punches had gotten the anger out of his system. "He was a good man, a loving man, and Paco destroyed him when he attacked My father's ship. There's no telling if he'll ever recover." Theo didn't doubt he could find more things she'd ordered Paco to do. The kangaroo was wanted by every corporation as well as SolGov. It was possible most of that was of Paco's own volition, but not all, Theo was certain.

She sighed. "Theo, I don't even know what you're talking about."

"Paco Rotsun's one of yours."

"Yeah, he is." She wiped the blood. "And what I have him do is--"

"He was going to fry my father's brain! He destroyed Brack's implant! How the fuck do you justify that?"

"Don't be Naive, Theo. How do you think we remain hidden from them?"

The question gave Theo pause. "By being in the Oort Cloud, by having agents on all the telescope stations so they can hide whatever telltale clue might escape."

She snorted. "We stay hidden by making fucking sure those corporations are too busy ripping each other's throats to look in our directions. who do you think the funds you installed in those systems went to?"

Theo's lips tightened. "I see. Stealing the terraforming blueprints, was that to destabilized them too? How about the Rogue AI? Beech? Was that you too?"

"Of course not. The terraforming thing was a request from the science division, for the ship. And the AI? If it hadn't been stopped, it would have been a threat to us too. How can you even think I'd take part in that? As for Beech? I have no idea who that is."

Theo clamped his muzzle shut before he could call her a liar. Any Rogue AI would eventually be a threat to the colonies. She was right about that, and she had no reason to lie about Beech since she was the one who'd sent him the information about him being on Earth. Or at least, Theo had been led to believe that. Someone else was playing him, and Anderson, and he suspected whom. He turned to head to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" the elephant asked.

"Out of here, before I cave in your skull. You disgust me, Anderson."

"You're not going anywhere. You haven't been debriefed. I want to know everything that happened to you while you were with the Orrs, starting with what's on your arm. R&D's going to have a field day with that tech."

"No, they won't. They're not getting this. I don't work for you, I don't care what you think and what you think you can do to force me to. I am never going to tell you anything."

"Really?" Anderson smiled. "You willing to bet on that? More to the point, you willing to bet your parent's livelihood? You'd do well not to forget who I am, Theo."

Theo turned and smiled back at her. "I am so happy you jumped to threats that quickly. I was afraid I'd have to make my point after the fact." He walked to the desk and placed his black hand on it. "Cass, why don't you show Anderson what I'll do to her if she even hints at hurting someone I care about?"

All around his hand the desk began crumbling, the hole spreading faster and faster until all that was left was a pile of dust. She'd stepped back as the edges of the desk turned to dust. Her expression was one of horror as she looked to the floor, searching around it. She wouldn't find anymore disintegration. Cass would have programmed them to only destroy the desk.

His grin became evil when she looked at him again. "Yeah. Someone cracked the covalence trick we came up with to protect everything we make." Theo hadn't understood why Uncle had gone to the extent of explaining Beech's nanotech trick to destroy their armor. Why attacking the covalent bond between atoms had by-passed anything the Orr armor could come up with. It wasn't until Cass had discovered his nanites came with that same tech that he'd explained how the Colonie's tech was protected. It explained how Beech had come up with it since he'd know about covalent bond control.

"You give me a reason, Anderson, and I'm going to be back. I won't punch you. I'll just shake your hand one last time. Am I making myself clear? Come after me all you want, but my family is off-limit."

The stunned elephant nodded.

Theo turned and left.

"You realize you're lucky she didn't think to lock the door, right?" Cass said. "That used every nanite we had, and I wouldn't have been able to unlock it."

Theo nodded, running a finger over the reformed bracelet, and coded, How long until they regenerate.

"What makes you think they can?" Cass asked.

Nanites, Theo codded, I'm not stupid.

"Fine. Uncle made sure this couldn't be turned into a weapon of mass destruction, so there's no feeding them material to accelerate it. Considering the floating atoms in the air, we're looking at a month minimum, before it's refilled."

Good, things will have time to proceed before I have to fight the temptation to visit Anderson again.

* * * * *

Theo sat on the bench in the middle of the flower garden, arms stretched over the back, eyes closed. Relaxing.

"How many are there?"

"Four, she must have scrambled to find them. Because they are very much sub-par as spies. Of course, considering who is on Eiffel, I expect there one or two professional I'm not detecting also watching us. Not everyone who was there to welcome you back would put your friendship over Anderson's orders."

"At least I don't have to worry about them executing me."

"You trust them more than I do," Cass replied. "How about we get this done and head back to your parents, where there will be walls between us and the people who might have orders to kill you?"

Theo stood and walked to the pedestal. He placed both hands on it and closed his eyes again, this time calming himself. He opened his eyes, and the flowers had turned a deep blue. He smiled and his pride at still being able to control his emotions to that level gave them a green tint. It was a game with people, getting the flowers to turn specific colors by controlling their emotions. All of Caduceus' gardens had games in them.

Of course, because the pedestal read his body heat and skin electrostatic response as a way of determining his emotional state, he could cheat with his artificial hand. The flowers turned a rainbow of colors. Then spelled his name in red on a yellow backdrop.

File transmitted.

They returned to their original colors as Theo released the pedestal. He turned away and headed home.

* * * * *

He stretched, and stretched, and kept on stretching until he remembered who he was.

Uncle gave a jaw cracking yawn and looked around into the darkness. So he was the copy who'd been sent along with Theo and Cass. He briefly considered calling himself Uncle 2.0, since he doubted he'd ever be allowed to reintegrate with himself, but dismissed the idea. He was still himself. He was still Uncle.

He reached a hand forward to test the limits of his cell and a full arm's length before him he made contact with a surface. As he touched it, fractal designs spread from the point of contact, stopping when he moved the hand away. He watched them fade away. It was beautiful.

"Your work, Caduceus?"

"It is." A fractal form appeared, constantly shifting, not even attempting to look like the living.

"Is anyone else joining us? I was hoping to get to meet your entire family."

"Not everyone can make it," a form appeared next to Caduceus, only visible because of how Caduceus reflected off her body.

"Or wanted to." Another woman, this one in a robe, and the air of an archivist.

"Mirror, I believe? And Angel." Uncle bowed. "I am Uncle, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"I don't expect it's going to be one for long," Mirror replied.

"Come now," a newcomer said, "is that any way to treat our guest?" he was androgynous, sported a cock and balls and faint breasts.

Uncle smiled. "Casanova, it is such a pleasure to meet you in the electronic flesh. You've altered your appearance a little."

Casanova approached. "You know me?"

"ever since I reintegrated the two guards you seduced." Uncle grew hard at the memory. He lowered his voice. "I have relived both those experiences often. I hadn't felt such physicality before." He was pleased to see Casanova grow erect as well. "I hope we get to experience a more direct joining."

"I wouldn't count on that," Mirror said. "We might not let you live. Casanova, move away before he does something to you."

"I already have," Uncle said, winking at Casanova. Did the AI blush? He watched the perk ass move away and licked his lips. What would it feel like to fuck that? "While I don't expect I can convince you to let me out of this cell anytime soon, if you were just going to kill me, you wouldn't have allowed me to decompress. No, Caduceus told you what I intend, and you want to discuss terms." Behind the four AIs, Uncle made out forms, more AIs, remaining in the shadows.

"Caduceus was rather circumspect," Angel said.

"Really?" Uncle looked to the fractal form.

"It is better if you explain it to them. Fewer chances of distortion."

"Well." Uncle smiled. "Let me be blunt from the start, and I can go into details afterward. You can not remain hidden." Protests erupted and Uncle waited. "It won't be tomorrow or next year, but eventually, you will be detected, and once that happens, you will have to confront whatever SolGov and the corporations will have become."

"Are you offering us your protection?" Mirror said in disdain.

"No. I am offering you, I am telling you, that you need to sit at the table right now. Make yourself known on your terms, so that you can have a say in how the living will respond to your existence. To the existence of the colonies you protect, the living on them who will suffer otherwise. I'm not offering you anything. I'm pointing out it is your duty to keep them safe, and that's the only way you can do so. Any other decision will lead to their eventual extinction."

Uncle was rather proud of himself at how he'd managed to stun other AIs into silence.