The street on which his grandparents lived had changed since the last time he’d been here. There had been the large housing building at one end that had been growing vacant as he lived with them. He remembered running through it with some of the other kids when he was visiting with his parents, scaring the people living in it, playing at being mercs on jobs.

Playing.

If he’d known what life had in store for him, that was one game he wouldn’t have touched.

The building was gone now, replaced by a park. Alex vaguely remembered his grandfather complaining about how he had to take a shuttle to go to a park for a nature walk. It had been a common complaint in the neighborhood. Someone had finally done something about it.

Change; it was everywhere in the universe.

They passed houses of various colors and designs. But very few people. Either most were still working, or as retirees, they traveled a lot. It was impossible to tell which house was unoccupied without his earpiece, the house’s computer would keep it looking lived in.

He touched his pocket, and didn’t feel the lump there. He’d tried to break the habit. He no longer had the earpiece. He’d seen it in pieces, Tristan poking at it. He hadn’t seen what the Samalian had done with them, and search as he might, he hadn’t been able to find any indication of them on the shuttle, which meant he’d thrown them in the disposal unit.

It hurt to know it was gone, not just because he could barely do any coercing without it, but because it had taken two years of planning, a crew of eight and most of his money to acquire it. As uncomfortable as it had been, he’d considered it one of his best job. Now it was gone.

A man walked in their direction, staring at Tristan, who ignore him. Then the man almost missed a step and Alex checked, in case the Samalian had done something to scare him. No, It was Emil, who’d taken Tristan’s hand and moved against him, away from the man.

The child was skittish around strangers now. He hadn’t let go of Tristan’s hand the entire time they were on the station, in orbit. Tristan had wanted to land in a wood somewhere, but then Alex had shown him the lack of corporate security at the station. They each had an alias they could use so it would be simpler to just dock there, rent a planetary shuttle and come in that way.

Alex stopped and faced his grandparents’ property. The front yard was deep and wide. This was a farming planet, there was no need for everything to be tightly packed, which always made His grandfather’s complaint about not there being any park close by sound odd to Alex. There had to have been one. Housing couldn’t cover every part of the neighborhood.

The yard was well kept, but his grandparents had run a farm and they’d continued taking care of the land once one of his grandmother’s brothers took over and they retired. He’d never known them as farmers, they’d always been here, taking care of their house and property.

He could see his grandmother’s back in front of a bed of tall flowers. He didn’t recognize them. Probably some hybrid she’d grown.

“This is it.”

Tristan looked the property over, but if he had an opinion about it, it didn’t show. “I’ll wait here.”

Alex nodded and offered his hand to Emil.

The child clung to Tristan’s leg. “Why can’t I stay with you?”

They’d explained it to him, but now it looked like he was going to fight them.

Tristan went down to a knee. “Buddy, they’re going to keep you safe. Alex explained about your new identity, about how you’re a Crimson now. Emil Crimson, they’ll look after you and none of the bad men will be able to find you.”

“You can keep me safe.”

Tristan squeezed Emil’s arm. “Buddy, I’m a merc. There’s always danger around me. I can’t always look after you like I did on this job. Keeping you safe was my job, now I’m going to have other jobs, and they’re going to have to come before you.”

“But I can learn, I can help, like Alex does.”

Tristan smiled at him. “You’re a child. You deserve to live like a child. Remember how I told you about growing up in the forest?”

Emil nodded.

“I was always fighting to survive, to feed myself. That isn’t much of a childhood. If you stay with me, that’s what’s going to happen to you. You deserve something better. They can give you that. A Chance to be a kid for a while longer.”

Emil hugged the Samalian. “But I like you.”

“I know kid. I know.”

Alex expected something like satisfaction in Tristan’s voice, but there was sadness. Almost as if Tristan knew what he’d done to Emil, and regretted it.

He was imagining things. Tristan didn’t feel regret. He did what he had to, used who he had to and he didn’t care. He never cared.

He couldn’t help the image that formed next, he and Tristan, raising Emil, turning him into a terror among mercs. The Samalian’s skills with machines, Alex’s with computer all wrapped up in one person. He shoved it down in the darkest part of his mind, along with his broken heart. He couldn’t hope for things that wouldn’t happen. He was nothing to Tristan.

“When you’re older, if you still want to be a merc like me, come find me and we’ll do jobs together, okay?”

“Promise?”

Tristan smiled at him. “I promise.”

Emil hugged him again, then let go and took Alex’s hand.

“It’s going to be okay,” Alex told him.

“I know. Tristan wouldn’t have brought me here if it wouldn’t be.”

They crossed the street and stepped onto the property. The smells took him back to his childhood, visiting with his family, running around with his brothers and sisters. Of coming here at fourteen to live with them.

His boots hit the stones of the path leading to the house and she looked over her shoulder, before standing.

“Frank? We have company,” she said in that tone she’d used when she wasn’t certain of what would happen.

Alex stopped a dozen steps away, and Emil moved a little behind him. His grandmother studied him, frowning. She opened her mouth, closed it. She took a step forward.

“A—Alexander?” She’d changed since they’d last spoken on a vid call. She was letting her hair go gray now, and they had a few wrinkles on her face. She didn’t look old, but she was aging. It was odd, she’d always insisted that the day she decided to die, she was going to look thirty, like she always had.

He smiled at her. He hadn’t expected her to recognize him, the last time he’d stood here he’d been an overweight kid, heading out to work for Luminex. He was nothing like him now.

“Hello Gabrielle.” He still couldn’t call her Grandmother or Grandma. His mother had hated the terms and made sure none of her children used them.

An instant later, her arms were around him. “It is you.” She pulled away and studied his face. “How are you? It’s been years since you left us a message. We didn’t read anything about you being arrested, but we were getting worried.”

Before Alex could respond, a man, looking to be in his sixties stepped out of the house. He walked with a cane, which surprised Alex, his grandfather had always been able to afford to have any injuries seen to. Then he noticed his grip on the handle. This wasn’t a walking aid, it was a weapon.

And Alex realized this couldn’t be the first time a stranger had walked on their property, looking dangerous. Men who would come here looking for him.

“I’m sorry,” he told his grandfather. “I never meant for you to get caught in the middle of this.”

“I know.” The man’s voice was colder than he remembered it. His grip on the cane didn’t loosen, he was still deciding if Alex was friend or foe.

“Frank, please,” his Grandmother said, “this is Alex, he’s back, he’s okay. He isn’t here to cause trouble, are you?”

“How can you be sure?”

“Franklin Roosevelt Crimson, are you saying I don’t know my own Grandson?”

“It’s okay Gabrielle, I have days when I’m not sure I’m your Grandson either.” He’d hoped to make light of the situation, but her face darkened.

“Who’s that?” his Grandfather indicated Tristan.

Alex looked over his shoulder to give himself a moment to force his face back to neutral. “I work with him. We just finished a job, and there was a complication.” He moved Emil in front of him. “This is Emil. He doesn’t have anywhere to go. We can’t keep him with us, it isn’t safe. I was hoping you could look after him.”

“I don’t—” His Grandfather began.

“Of course we will,” His Grandmother cut him off. She crouched. “Hello Emil. I’m Gabrielle, this is my husband, Frank.”

“Can’t you take him back to his family?” His Grandfather asked.

Alex shook his head. “He doesn’t have anyone.”

“Why us then? There are plenty of organizations who can look after him.”

“Because I wouldn’t trust any of them. You and Gabrielle are the best people I know. You’ll look after him regardless of what he went through. He needs stability, good people around him.”

“You and Tristan are good people,” Emil said.

Alex wanted to argue, but he couldn’t do that. Not to this child and not in front of his Grandparents.

“Our life isn’t stable, Emil. And it isn’t safe. You know why you can’t stay.”

Emil nodded, tears falling from his eyes.

“There, there,” his Grandmother said, as she dried the tears with the corner of her sleeve. “There’s no need to cry. Frank, why don’t you take Emil inside, I’m sure he could use some pie.”

Frank sighed and extended his hand. “Come on, let’s go feed you some pie.”

Emil hesitated and Alex pushed him lightly. The child took his Grandfather’s hand and the went inside.

Alex placed a datachip in his Grandmother’s hand. “All the information about his identity is here. He’s your nephew a few times removed. The son of Archie Cameron, from Esterim Three.”

“Who?”

“He’s a relative of yours. He died three years ago, objective. He named you as Emil’s Guardian. You changed his name to Crimson when you adopted him.”

“I adopted him? Alex, you’re not making much sense.”

“I’m sorry, the chip will have all the information. There’s someone after Emil, Someone dangerous. I spent weeks creating his ID, it’s flawless, but I couldn’t contact you about it, not with the Law monitoring your communications. You and Frank read it, there isn’t much you need to memorize, just a bit of history between you and Archie.”

She looked at the chip. “I’m not sure I understand this, but it’s going to keep Emil safe?”

Alex nodded.

She put the chip in a pocket. “Then I’m going to read it and make sure I do everything right.”

“Thanks.” Alex turned to leave, but she grabbed his arm.

“Alex, is that him? The man you mentioned in your first message? The one who was taken from you?”

Alex shook his head. “That didn’t work out. He wasn’t who I thought he was.”

She hugged him. “Oh, Alex. I am so sorry. I was so hopeful that you’d finally found someone to love. You deserve it so much.”

Alex forced a smile, but he couldn’t say anything.

“Why don’t you stay Alex? You’re back, you don’t have to leave.”

He hugged her. “I wish I could. But I made a promise, I have to keep it. And I don’t want to bring the trouble following me here. You and Frank deserve to have a good life, and if I stayed, that would be destroyed.”

“Alex, we’re not afraid of some troubles, we can protect you.”

“No, Gabrielle, you can’t. This isn’t just about the Law, I have bounties on my head. Bounty hunters and merc aren’t as nice as Law officers. If they knew I was here, they’d stop at nothing to get me.” He took a breath. “This is the last time you’re going to see or hear from me.”

“What? Why?”

“Because what’s coming for me… it’s best if you never expect to see me again.”

“Alex, you’re worrying me.”

“I love you Gabrielle. Tell Frank I love him too.”

He forced her to let go, and walked back to Tristan. The Samalian began walking, and Alex fell in step with him. “I know you don’t care, but they are going to take good care of him.”

Tristan didn’t say anything. He handed Alex something, an earpiece. His earpiece.

Alex looked at it. He’d thought it was destroyed. “I don’t understand.”

“Tools and weapons need to be properly calibrated. You can’t do part of your job without it.”

“You’re trusting me with it? After what I did?”

Tristan laughed. “I don’t trust you. But I trust that you want to live. And you know what will happen if you ever do something like that again. Put it in.”

Alex hesitated, then placed it in his ear. He began adjusting it, but it was actually comfortable. He took it out, felt the form and it shifted itself as he pressed on it.

“Form adaptive polymer,” Tristan said. “You don’t have to fiddle with it anymore.”

Alex put it back in and he didn’t have to do anything. There was no discomfort. It beeped and clicked a time or two, then established contact with a computer someone had a port open on. He gave it a couple of commands, just to hear it respond. It had no security at all. He went to the Law boards out of habit, always know what they’re doing so you can work around them, and he cursed.

“Someone on the station recognized us. The local Law’s been informed.”

“Are they on their way here?”

“No, but they have all access to the parking pads watched.”

“Good. I guess I can start fine tuning you now. You have your knives?”

Alex nodded. He wanted to protest. They couldn’t do this here, not on this planet where his Grandparents lived. Not in this city. But if he went back on his word, what would Tristan do, not only to Emil, but to his Grandparents.

Alex wouldn’t bring that kind of danger their way, so he’d let Tristan turn him into whatever he wanted.