Theo waited patiently as the Gravitational Solutions shuttle touched down. Flanking him were six BSE honor guards in dress uniform. They carried ceremonial blades, with their hilts tied to the scabbards.

Alex told him it was ridiculous, and he was right, but Alex also wanted to be present to greet their guests. Theo overruled that option. He knew it often paid to present a bit of pomp and ceremony to those in power, even if it was all made up on the spot. It was also important to play to your role.

Chairman Rush may be the single richest and most powerful man within the STO, but Alex was a Jarl, and the ruler of an entire star system. By now, you might as well include all the systems from Unokane to Varlen as being under his domain, since there were BSE forces in each of those systems monitoring them.

So while Rush was powerful, he didn't compare to Alex's current stature, and that was something that Alex needed to figure out eventually. Until he did, Theo would make sure that the proper respect was given to both sides.

The shuttle ramp descended on the very bland-looking craft. As soon as it touched the tarmac, Rush made his way off the shuttle without a hint of hesitation. Nobody followed him off the vessel. Theo barely had time to process the fact that the man came without armed escort before Rush had crossed the distance at a near jog.

The man had a huge grin on his face, the clear mask doing nothing to hide his enthusiasm for being here.

"You must be Theodore Pembrooke," Rush said, reaching out and grabbing Theo's hand before giving it an energetic shake. "And my, what a lovely welcome." The man leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. "Normally, I arrive unannounced so I can avoid all the pageantry. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate it, though," he added with a wink.

Theo returned the handshake because he had no other option, but he now understood why Alex thought Rush might be a Loki.

Theo smiled in return. "We can hardly let such an esteemed person as yourself visit without paying some respect. That being said, I will make a note of your preferences for the next time you pay us a visit."

The man gave a deep belly laugh and clapped his hands together a single time. "Wonderful! I knew I liked you the first time we spoke, Theo. Can I call you Theo?"

Theo nodded.

"Excellent. So, when can I meet with Mr. Kane? I'm sure he's busy, which is why he isn't here, and not because this is some lame attempt at political jockeying," Rush winked in understanding.

Theo did a good job of keeping his composure at being called out so blatantly, but a trickle of sweat ran down his back at the fact that he had miscalculated. He had treated Rush like any other corporate bigwig. For them, this little display would have been expected, but Rush wasn't fooled.

It should have been obvious to Theo from the moment he spotted the shuttle or the man's very basic attire. Rush didn't care about all this bullshit. The man had probably been fed far finer welcomes by the corporations or the STO over the years, and yet GS maintained its neutrality through all of it.

There was still the possibility that his little faux pas had been forgiven. The man didn't seem upset, but that could be a mask. Theo had worked with plenty of people who could hide their emotions until it was convenient to strike.

He cleared his throat. "Ahem. Yes, with the war going on and preparations for the Shican, Mr. Kane is extremely busy." Which was true. "I have taken the liberty of scheduling time in his calendar for your visit, however. Is there anything you wish to do before your scheduled meeting? Perhaps you would like to speak with your people or select a site to construct your manufacturing center?"

"Well," the man paused in thought, his index finger and thumb rubbing at a beard. "I could do that, but matters of business can wait. You have such an amazing facility. Why not show me around?"

Theo nodded at the unexpected request and gestured for Rush to follow him.

Once inside, he dismissed the honor guard. If Rush had forgiven his foolish attempt at establishing a pecking order, there was no point in reminding him of it by keeping the guards around. It wasn't like Theo was in danger from the man once they were inside the facility.

The group stopped at the scanners, and Theo motioned for Rush to go first. "All guests get scanned."

Rush nodded, his big grin never wavering as he stepped into the scanner. If anything, the Chairman found the act amusing as he inspected the machine from the inside.

There was a beep as the device finished, and the gate opened, admitting Rush into the intake area.

Theo joined him a moment later, going through the same scanner. He could have gone through the security room, but he didn't want to abandon a VIP guest just to save a minute of his time.

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"Normally, we require new arrivals to wait a day before they are allowed into the facility, but Mr. Kane has authorized an expedited approval for you."

Rush shrugged. "I would have been fine waiting. What's one more day?"

Theo almost missed a step at the man's admission. Mostly because he couldn't imagine anyone with money or power, even the lowliest CEO, being happy about having to wait around an entire day. Rush really was an odd duck.

The pair took the tram, and Rush kept pressing down on the cushions of the seat and bouncing slightly, like he had never ridden a train before. Then again, maybe he hadn't.

They visited the park inside the main atrium first. As soon as they entered the space, Rush sat there, looking up at the colossal dome overhead for over a minute.

"It truly is fascinating what humans can build when they put their minds to it," he finally said.

"Indeed, it is," Theo replied, looking up at the dome himself. The forest and vegetation weren't as grand as something you might find on the core worlds. And you certainly couldn't harvest the trees for anything other than small knick-knacks because the trees were very young, and cutting them down for lumber would not go over well with the people who enjoyed the space. "I like the peace and quiet that nature provides," Theo admitted.

Rush nodded. "It is indeed a quiet and beautiful place to come and contemplate."

Their next stop was the memorial. A host of fresh names had been added to it recently. Theo didn't have to prompt Rush. They both stood silently, taking in the monument.

"Kane made this?" Rush asked after a bit.

"He did. How did you guess?"

"It seems like something he would do. I'm glad to see he honors those who gave their lives. It shows a man who cares."

Theo had no answer for that, nor did he think Rush was looking for one. The tour continued.

When Rush first declared that he wanted a tour, Theo planned on giving him the same tour he had given Willard, but when that was over, the man asked to see even more. And he was genuinely excited about everything they came across, so Theo obliged.

"This market probably isn't very impressive for someone who lived in Epsilon Indi, but we do have a tight-knit community here, and this is where people gather to buy or trade on a daily basis." The fact was, the market was rather small, even by Theo's standards, and he had been to many open markets when he traveled around with his parents. The thing that surprised Theo the most about Eden's End's market was the lack of petty theft.

There was still some, even before the refugees started arriving, but most of those people got caught pretty quickly, and very few were repeat offenders after speaking to the Head of Security. Theo knew Damien had a softer side because the man would go easy on those who stole out of hunger.

That didn't mean they weren't punished. Most of the time, they were forced to help the person they stole from. Theo knew about those issues because Damien brought problems like a lack of food to his attention. When possible, Theo spoke with the families himself to find out why they were not having their food needs met.

Most of the time, it turned out to be a misunderstanding from a new arrival. They assumed they had to purchase everything with credits, and some of the people who came to Eden's End were flat broke and still trying to find work. He would explain to them how the merit system worked and the jobs that were available there.

While Alex had moved most of his services over to payment through credit, he still kept the merit system in place for those who wanted to use it. The job availability wasn't the greatest, but when you were starting at the bottom, anything was better than nothing. And most of the folks who did the credit-based jobs quickly found roles that paid.

"Nonsense," Rush replied happily as he glanced around. "This is lovely in its own way. I'm sure some of the stations in Epsilon Indi had impressive markets, but those were cutthroat affairs frequented by the worst scum. I would never set foot in a place like that."

Theo glanced over at the man and gathered the nerve to ask a burning question. "If I may be so bold, Mr. Rush. Why did your company set up shop out there then?"

The chairman of Gravitational Solutions paused to ponder the question for a moment before responding. "The founders wanted to ensure no one entity ever had enough sway over us to dictate who we sold our products to."

Theo nodded, and the sightseeing trip continued to their last stop, the Lund Academy.

***

One admired the massive holo-theater dedicated to training. The human holo-tech was an interesting invention, but largely irrelevant for the Collective because they could simply create their own personal spaces. Still, it was impressive.

The entire academy was impressive, and it had One wondering why their creator had built it. Before leaving on his last fateful trip, which was meant to be an extended journey around the local stars scheduled to last nearly a decade, Kane had left instructions for them to avoid human contact if humanity had managed to discover FTL by that point and somehow reached them.

That had never happened, and Kane had never returned, but his aversion to interacting with humanity was still buried in the Collective's subconscious.

One and Two broke that rule and went to Earth in search of Kane after they had both awoken. They didn't find their creator, but they did wonder why he was so adamant that they avoid humans.

While they hadn't been detected, thanks to the stealth tech of their ships, fear kept the pair from doing anything but passively monitoring. Humanity hadn't figured out FTL travel by then. In fact, their technology was further behind than when Kane had left nearly fifty years before they arrived in the system.

No nuclear exchanges had taken place during the wars that set humanity back, but only because humanity had decided to completely disband its nuclear stockpiles. The humans could have easily rebuilt their arsenals as they still had the knowledge to do so, but they chose not to, and One and Two learned that anti-tech, specifically anti-AI, sentiment and fear had run rampant after the clash with their creator and the US military.

That reluctance lasted barely a generation before the wheels of progress ground on, finally forcing humanity to reach for the stars.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the curious Theodore Pembrooke.

"Mr. Rush, Mr. Kane is free to see you now."

One nodded and eagerly followed the man out of the holo-theater. He had so many questions he wanted to ask Kane. It was too bad the Collective had only approved the discussion of topics that weren't affiliated with their true nature or that could bring it to light.