Robert was explaining what had happened on the hill for the fourth time now, and he didn’t even try to make it sound like they were completely innocent anymore. Administrator Katz, who was the enforcer on duty today and also happened to be Ehud’s aunt-in-law, was listening with a deep frown. She tried asking Nikolai the same questions again and again but he stayed silent, and Robert kept answering in his place. The story he was telling now was pretty much all true, he only omitted the part where Pulp and his guys were high. Nobody needed enforcers raiding the hill again.

Nikolai was staring at his dangling feet as the chair was too tall. His right hand was in a corrective cast because he somehow managed to dislocate two fingers while stabbing Pulp. Robert was sure the guy was a bit out of it because of the pain blocker, even ignoring his tendency not to talk to anyone. Robert also had medipatches applied – two on his chin – and his face was itchy because of that.

The office’s door opened with a bang (a violent tremble ran through Nikolai’s body at this), and Rob’s mom rushed into the room. “What is the meaning of all this, Angelica? Why was I the last one to be informed?” She sat into the empty chair next to Robert and immediately turned to him, furious. “What have you done?!”

“Literally nothing!” He shouted back. The unfairness of this assumption sent blood to his face and his heart started banging loudly in his temples.

“Did you get into a fight?!”

“No! Pulp attacked me-”

“Pedro Herrera, he is from the North-Eastern suburbs. I don’t think you know his family.” Administrator Katz offered.

“Why is Nick wounded?!”

“-and I wanted to protect him from getting involved, but instead he tried to protect me.” Robert finished. He threw a short look at NIkolai, who raised his head a little bit. “And also he doesn’t like to be called Nick, he asks to call him Kolya.”

His mother stared for a long moment just taking it all in, then turned to the administrator. “Is my son in trouble or what?”

Angelica Katz rubbed the bridge of her nose and exhaled slowly. “Robert is not the one I have questions for, Golda. Nikolai put a multitool-“

“It was a soldering pen.” Robert grumbled.

“-through one of Herrera’s posterior thigh muscles. He had to be rushed into the surgery because there is a risk of permanent damage. Last I’ve heard, they called for a surgeon from the Home System to consult via comm.”

Golda looked baffled. She turned slowly and leaned forward to see Nikolai behind Robert. “Nick-... Kolya? Why did you do that?”

And like that, as if prompted by his real name, Nikolai looked up at her and said: “They were going to give Robert a poop shower.”

Rob winced, the expression causing him real pain because of the medipatch. These would forever be the first words this boy ever said to his mother. “Ugh, Pulp was just being a di- uh, being a moron. He is a bully, he thought he could bully me. Us.” He tried to smile to prove his point.

“He was choking Robert.” Nikolai added.

“Dude.” Robert rolled his eyes and sighed. “I almost broke free. You didn’t have to stab him.”

“Why did you stab him?” The administrator bored her eyes into the side of Nikolai’s face. He ignored her question.

“Kolya, why did you feel like you had to stab him?” Golda asked softly.

“He was too tall to punch him in the ear.” Nikolai offered. “And I am too weak to punch him anywhere else hard enough. And I saw Robert drop the soldering pen when he tried to fight back. So I used it.”

Both women turned to glare at Robert.

“No. No!” He raised his hands. “I didn’t intend to fight back with it!” Well, he did, and he would have probably aimed for the face, but now that he thought about that, maybe, it was a very stupid and dangerous idea. “I was holding the soldering pen because I was soldering earlier! For an engineering workshop project! Ask Gatien!”

His mom sighed heavily and looked at the administrator again. “What is this really about, Angie? Why didn’t you just send them home with a notice instead of pulling me out of the house on a Sixthday?”

Aunt Katz stayed silent for several moments, still glaring at Nikolai, and clearly pondering her reply. “Golda, you are on probation with this guardianship. It’s not even been a week-”

“Is there talk of revoking it already?!”

“No, we’ll have to wait for how Herrera’s surgery ends. And if his parents choose to bring charges against Nikolai.” The administrator turned to tap her stationary interface, opening some documents. “I didn’t want to worry you, but there has also been a declaration from the shipping company to sue the boy for unauthorised boarding and passage. Not from the crew!” She hurried to add as she noticed the change in Golda’s face. “But the owners of the cargo ship. Something about how his tiny weight affected the fuel consumption, and they intend to demand compensation from him or his family.”

“All while that family is still being looked for?!” Rob’s mother’s knuckles went white as she squeezed the straps of her bag on her lap. “We’ll never find anyone when there's a threat of an impossible fee!”

“I know, and it’s not a real charge yet, and I’ve asked Bernard to look into it. But it’s been less than a week, Golda.”

“What are you saying, Angie?”

“The same thing as on that first day.” The administrator sat up a little taller. “I think you are making a mistake.”

Robert’s mother straightened sharply, making him flinch away slightly. He hasn't seen her this angry before. When her anger was aimed at him, it felt different; it was hot and upset and full of hurt. Right now, she looked like a cold cast statue, and she was not going to back off.

“Robert?” She asked evenly. “Could you and Nikolai wait for me outside?”

Rob swallowed. He looked between her and the administrator, utterly confused, but didn’t find a proper question to ask. So, instead he slid off his chair and took Nikolai’s unhurt hand, mumbled “Okay” and left the office. Once outside, he immediately pressed himself back to the door near the slit between the pane and the jamb, straining to hear the rest of the conversation. Kolya didn’t show any interest in that and instead sat heavily on one of the coaches lining the wall of the corridor. There was nobody else present.

“... you will only bring trouble to your family…” Aunt Katz was saying, clearly trying to keep her voice low.

“Do you think I don’t realise where he is from?!” His mom didn’t care about being quiet. “That he is an escapee from one of those horrible facilities?”

“Oh, not again-”

“One of those stations they grow kids on?!”

“Golda, enough with this nonsense! Nobody is growing human children on stations for medical experiments!”

“And yet, here he is, in front of us! Do you not see that he had never stepped on a planet before? He is pinker than protein, he has been eating some kind of sludge his whole life, he struggles to adapt to the weather-”

“It just means he didn’t grow up planetside!” The administrator was properly frustrated now. “If, a big if!, there was some kind of secret SOI program of cloning humans, we would have special forces crawling all over this place already, trying to get their hands on the boy.”

“That’s what those charges are meant for! That’s what they will do if I let you send him to the Care Home!” Golda said triumphantly. “He will be locked in there until their agents can reach Mesa. Even they can’t fly faster than the rest of the ships!”

“You’re delusional! They want to send him to the Care Home because he needs to adjust to living planetside! He is not part of this community, he would be in danger. And, apparently, is a danger! Care system will teach him how to be a person.”

“Do not tell me what that horrible place does! You know nothing about it.”

“Golda, it’s been decades-”

“I’ve raised four perfectly fine sons, a full complement of limbs and a head on each. On my own, Angelica. I can raise one more. And if it means fighting every official, every clerk, every administrator – I will. With or without your help!”

Robert realised what the following silence meant almost too late and recoiled from the door right as his mother opened it and rushed through. She walked several steps down the corridor before stopping and turning around. She was breathing fast and her gaze was a bit wild, some of her hair pushing its way out from the low ponytail.

“Robert, Nikolai? We are going home.”

Nikolai slid from the couch but looked unsure how to proceed. Golda’s anger was clearly scaring him. 

Rob looked at the closing door of the administrator’s office. “Uhm… Shouldn’t we…like, sign something first?”

“If Administrator Katz requires anything from you, she knows where we live. Come.” She returned to take Nikolai by the hand and started marching out of the building. The boy followed her, stumbling, looking ready to cry again. He tripped properly on the heel of her shoe once they stepped outside and almost went flying off the porch.

“Akh, watch where you are going!” Robert’s mother exclaimed.

A tremble ran through Nikolai’s body and he started crying. Through the sobs, he repeated: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

Golda stopped and covered her face with one hand, a shiver of her own settled in her fingers. Robert stood awkwardly next to them, having no idea what to do. He still tried to wrap his mind around the conversation he overheard. Finally, his mom straightened, blinked her eyes fast and looked down at Nikolai. When she spoke, her voice was calm and soft.

“I am not angry with you, Kolya. I don’t blame you for what you’ve done. But please, next time, can you run and call for an adult before getting into a fight? Can you promise me that?”

Nikolai started calming down. He didn’t look up at her but the sobs became less frequent. “I’m sorry… I will be good…”

“You are already good.” Golda murmured. Sighed. “We should talk more about it at home, alright? Come on.” 

But Nikolai didn’t move when she tried to pull him along. Instead, he whimpered: “Can I hold Robert’s hand instead?”

They both turned to look at him. Robert cast his eyes to the sky and exhaled with a groan. He was confused and tired and he just needed to disassemble a piece of junk and not think about anything complicated like humans and court charges and space stations full of cloned children. Without saying anything, he extended his hand towards Nikolai and felt him squeeze it back immediately.

‘I should tell him,’ Robert thought on their way back. ‘No, I should ask mom about it first,’ he countered. ‘And then I should tell him.’ ‘No, mom would kill me if she finds out I was eavesdropping.’ He chewed on his lips, which made his chin flare with pain under the medipatches. ‘But you don’t really understand what she was talking about. And aunt Katz was saying it was nonsense and untrue. You have to ask mom before telling Nikolai anything.’ 

‘Or you can just shut up about it.‘