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2593-19

Eric moved through the crowd of the station, not paying attention to them. He was reviewing schedule for the modification to his ship. Elliot had approved the new sensors; his own observation that Vanguard seemed to be targeting Eric guaranteed that. He hadn't approved adding sensors to the ship's accesses, because the new sensors could do that job, and at a distance.

The work had started within an hour of he and Elliot leaving the station, and two days later they were halfway done, on schedule. He didn't have to come check things out, but he needed a break from Earth. His family had insisted on going out on the town. Everyone had met up in Socal City, and like anytime more than a handful of them left the islands at the same time, the media followed them.

Eric had managed to endure the walks through the streets by making sure to have his arms around two family members at the same time. More than once they were questioned about the new additions to the family, and once they were back to his father's house, Eric had felt obligated to be interviewed and introduce his sons to everyone. Fortunately, the questions that then filtered in were only about his new status as a father and none of the problems he'd had over the last two years. He knew Elliot had a hand in filtering them, and he was grateful.

Eric avoided bumping into anyone not paying attention to where they were going. Unlike them, he had a program running that kept track of everyone around him and informed him when someone entered his personal space.

The list of work already done came with a description of what it had entailed. And that looked right. Once it was done, he'd send a copy to Gerald and William for them to review and they'd do a visual check before they left dock.

Someone sidled into his personal space from the side and Eric took a step away to let them pass. The person moved closer again, and Eric stepped away without paying attention. When his implant informed him the wall was getting close, Eric realized the person was actually trying to get close to him.

He dismissed the report and turn to confront the person, and found himself facing Jeff.

"You should have announced yourself," Eric said, starting to walk again.

The jackal shrugged. "I could tell you were working. I didn't expect you to constantly move away. You don't normally do that."

"That's when I know you're there. How are you enjoying the time off?"

"It's passing. That's why I tracked you down. Since you're here, do you know when we'll be able to get back to the ship?"

"It's open now, if you need something, just go get it."

"I don't need anything, I just want to get back to my room and my stuff."

"Why? You seemed in a hurry to leave."

Jeff looked at him sideway. "I got a corporate order to leave as soon as we were docked. We all did. And not to tell you why we were leaving."

Eric sighed. "That was Elliot's doing. He wanted to have a talk with me."

"Are you in trouble?"

"He isn't happy with me for what I did to Will."

"Really? He's against personality adjustments?"

"No, he doesn't like the kind of money I spent on someone he sees as having already cost us a lot. He was ready to ground me, but we discussed it, and while he's not pleased with it, there's no danger he'll take the ship away from me anymore."

"So, Will's still part of the crew?"

"Of course. Do you have a problem with that?"

Jeff shrugged. "You're the boss. I'll learn to be okay with it."

Eric sighed. "Does the whole crew feel the same? They've known Will for years, they should be able to give him the benefit of the doubt. Or at least trust that he can't do it anymore."

"We're not as cold and calculating as you, Eric. Just telling us everything's better doesn't mean that's how we feel. Will could have killed Robert. What if he'd put that on the ship, instead of the array?"

"That's where Xavier wanted it. Will wouldn't do it."

Jeff stopped and grabbed Eric's arm. "Are you telling me he actually knew?"

Eric shook his head. "He thought it would just make a mess, dyes and foam." The tiger thought about it for a moment. "Would seeing the evidence we've accumulated help you accept that Will was used?" He revised himself. "I can't show you everything, but Uncle has a clip of Xavier convincing Will to plant the case."

"I don't know. I guess it can't hurt. You're really determined to get us to get along with him again, aren't you?"

"Do you really want to spend the years to come giving him the cold shoulder? I know that Gerald and Robert are the only ones who had sex with him on the trip back and Robert only a few times."

"I know, and I guess if Robert is okay with working through it, I don't have any excuses not to. It's just not easy for me. I've known Will for a while now, and I'd never have believed he could do something like that. I don't mean the bomb itself, just that he might want to cause us any kind of trouble."

Eric shook his head in annoyance at himself. "You guys don't actually know what happened. I should have told you from the start."

"What do you mean?"

"Once everyone's back, I'll tell you all."

The jackal nodded and they continued in silence, so Eric went back to the report.

* * * * *

The noise reached them meters before they reached the access. It was open and men and women were coming and going, carrying equipment in. They slipped in a gap and entered the ship. Will was standing out of the way, watching the work going on.

"Shouldn't you be enjoying the time off?" Eric asked the wolf.

"I couldn't. I visited my family, my dad wouldn't stop complaining about the fact it's been years since I visited him."

"That would be my fault, sorry."

"Don't be. He's been complaining all his life. If I visited him every week, he'd complain I was there too often. There's no making that man happy. My mom was more pleasant, but she's currently in love, so all she did was talk about her. If I didn't know my mom better, I'd think she was ready to get married."

"She won't?" Jeff asked, moving aside to let a mouse carrying a coiled cable pass.

"No, in a few weeks the heat of the moment will pass and the relationship will cool down, she'd going to string her girlfriend along for a few more weeks then they're going to spit. Mom'll mope for a while and then she's going to fall right back in love. That's how it's been ever since dad divorced her."

"I guess that's why you never liked talking about them." Jeff said.

"We can't all have a large loving family like the boss here." The hyena replied.

"Could you handle just how loving they are?"

"Sure, Actually, I wouldn't mind an orgy with the lot of them, Especially after Eric talked about the 'C' generation."

Eric chuckled. "Just avoid Caleb, unless you enjoy being insulted while you are being fucked." He went back to watching the people walking around on his ship. So many people made him nervous, so he connected to the ship and through it to the company Elliot had hired to do the work. It was the same one that did most of the ship work, so he knew it would be good work, but he then connected to that company's employee database and set his implant to identifying the workers, pulling up their quality reports.

"Yeah," Jeff continued, "I guess that'd be an experience, but I meant having sex with your family members."

"Ahh, no. That isn't something I'd be comfortable doing."

"You have to be raised in that environment," Eric said, only paying half attention to what appeared in his field of vision. His implant would inform him if someone's quality report was too low.

"Is that something that everyone does in Orr Corp?" Will asked.

"Of course not," Jeff said.

"Hey, I don't know. I haven't gone knocking at doors to ask the question."

"Haven't you looked at any of the corporate reports?"

Will shook his head. "I don't trust those things. They're put out to encourage people to immigrate. They aren't going to talk about anything that'll make outsiders uncomfortable."

"He's right," Eric said. "We have multiple teams that put those together for the purpose of attracting specific group of people."

"Don't look at me like that," Jeff said at the look William gave him. "I'm a citizen, I never bothered looking at them. But no one in my family ever had sex together, well, except my mom and dad."

"Is it true that you guys have people who teach how to have sex."

"Sure, my mom hired me a woman when I was fourteen."

"A woman?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, all of my brothers and sisters are opposite gender exclusives, so she just assumed I'd be the same. It was kind of funny really. The teacher came very well recommended, and after fifteen minutes it was clear I wasn't responding. So, she called her brother, and as soon as he walked in my room, I was hard. Mom was so embarrassed for having assumed I'd be female exclusive too."

"So not everyone has sex with just about everyone else?"

"Really?" Jeff said. "You've been listening to the gossips. You know me and the boss, you really should ask us if you have questions."

"It's not that I have questions, it's just stuff I've heard mentioned around the station."

Eric chuckled, pleased the two of them were having an actual conversation. Maybe that was the way to do it, get them all to just talk about unrelated stuff. Maybe he should get everyone back early and-

The mouse that had carried the cable in came back, and Eric's implant wasn't able to pull up her quality report. He sent her image to Uncle, and left the William and Jeff to go deeper in the ship. He had to ask a few of the workers before he found one who remembered the mouse, and he indicated where she'd dropped the cable. A beaver was currently unspooling it.

"Can you stop what you're doing?"

The technician looked at him, narrowing her eyes. "And who the hell are you?"

"Eric Orr, the captain of this ship."

His implant informed him it had been queried for identification, and she gave an annoying sigh. "Look, Sir, we have a schedule to keep. I can't have you interrupting us just because-"

"Who was the mouse that brought you this cable?"

"I don't know."

"And that doesn't seem odd to you?"

Her large tail tapped the floor. "Look, I don't know everyone the company hires. She's probably new, doing 'carry there' stuff while she learns." She reached for the cable.

"Please don't."

"Look I have-"

"She isn't in your company's database."

"So, she hasn't been entered yet. Happens all the time."

"That isn't acceptable."

"Then take that up with my boss, I have to get this cable in, before the rest can be done."

"You're not installing it until I've confirmed a few things."

"If this delays me I'll-"

"I'll take responsibility for it. Take a break while I check things."

He turned and took a few steps away. "Uncle?" he tapped the ship's camera to ensue she didn't decide to install the cable anyway. She glared at his back, but sat down and rested her head back against the wall.

"I haven't been able to pull any ID on her," Uncle said. "When she left your ship, she didn't go back to the material truck. She also didn't come from there. I've tracked here from two levels down. The warehouse she exited with the cable doesn't belong to this company, but it doesn't mean this wasn't a last-minute order. I'd have to contact people to find out if the cable was ordered. It looks like she's heading back to that warehouse. It's your call Eric, if you stop the work it's-"

"Do it. I'm not risking it. Advise Elliot." He turned to face the beaver. "Your break is extended until I've confirmed things."

"This is going to put us behind."

"I don't care. I'm not putting my ship at risk." He turned and headed back to William, to her grumbling of 'paranoid rich boy' "Uncle, can you see if any more people not working for them came into my ship? If too many of them were able to move about freely, I might have to get someone in to make sure nothing was tampered with."

"I'll check that while contacting the company's owner."

Eric rejoined William and Jeff to their curious stare. He shook his head. They didn't need to know what was going on yet.