Above him, his guide arrow had brightened. Now it turned onto a side street and swooped to the third house on the right. Caray. He wanted to slow down, maybe walk around the block. I haven't even figured out how to talk to her parents. Chinese-American grownups were an odd lot, especially the ones who had been Detained. When they were released, some of them had left the USA, gone to Mexico or Canada or Europe. Most of the others just went back to their lives—even to government jobs—but with varying degrees of bitterness. And some had helped finish the war, and made the government look very foolish in the process.
He walked up the Gu's driveway, at the same time snooping one last time for information on Miri's family.... So, if William the Goofus wasn't really Miri's brother, who was he? William had never attracted that much attention; there were no ready-made rumors. And Fairmont's security on student records was pretty strong. Juan poked around, found some good public camera data. Given a few minutes he'd have William all figured out—
But now he was standing at the Gu's front door.
Miriam Gu was at the entrance. For a moment Juan thought she was going to complain that he was late, but she just waved him inwards.
Past the doorway, the street imagery cut off abruptly. They were standing in a narrow hallway with closed doors at both ends. Miri paused at the inner door, watching him.
There were little popping noises, and Juan felt something burn his ankle. "Hey, don't fry my gear!" He had other clothes, but the Orozco family wasn't rich enough to waste them.
Miri stared at him. "You didn't know?"
"Know what?"
"That's not your equipment I trashed; I was very careful. You were carrying hitchhikers." She opened the inner door and her gestures were suddenly polite and gracious. There must be grownups watching.
As he followed her down the hall, Juan rebooted his wearable. The walls became prettier, covered with silk hangings. He saw he had visitor privileges in the Gu's house system, but he couldn't find any other communications paths out of the building. All his equipment was working fine, including the little extras like 360 peripheral vision and good hearing. So what about those popping sounds, the heat? That was somebody else's equipment. Juan had been walking round like a fool with a KICK ME sign on his back. In fact, it was worse than that. He remembered assuring his mother that she would see any friends he brought to the house. Somebody had made that a lie. Fairmont had its share of unfunny jokesters, but this was gross. Who would do such a thing ... yeah, who indeed.
Juan stepped from the hallway into a high-ceilinged living room. Standing by a real fireplace was a chunky Asian with buzzcut hair. Juan recognized the face from one of the few pictures he had of the guy. This was William Gu: Miriam's father, not the Goofus. Apparently the two had the same first name.
Miriam danced ahead of him. She was smiling now. "Bill, I'd like you to meet Juan Orozco. Juan and I are doing the local project together. Juan, this is my father."
Bill? Juan couldn't imagine addressing his own Pa by his first name. These people were strange.
"Pleased to meet you, Juan." Gu's handshake was firm, his expression mild and unreadable. "Are you enjoying the final exams so far?"
Enjoying?? "Yes, sir."
Miri had already turned away. "Alice? Do you have a minute? I'd like you to meet—"
A woman's voice: "Yes, Dear. Just a moment." Not more than two seconds passed, and a lady with a pleasant round face stepped into the room. Juan recognized her, too ... except for the clothes: This evening, Alice Gu wore the uniform of a timeshare Lieutenant Colonel in the United State Marines. As Miri made the introductions, Juan noticed Mr. Gu's fingers tapping on his belt.
"Oops. Sorry!" Alice Gu's Marine Corps uniform was abruptly replaced by a business suit. "Oh, dear." And the business suit morphed into the matronly dress that Juan remembered from the photos. When she shook his hand, she looked entirely innocent and motherly. "I hear that you and Miriam have a very interesting local project."
"I hope so." Mainly I hope Miriam will get around to telling me what it is. But he no longer doubted that Miriam Gu had traction.
"We'd really like to know more about it."
Miri pulled a face. "Bill! You know we're not supposed to talk about it. Besides, if it goes right we'll be all done with it tonight."
Huh?
But Mr. Gu was looking at Juan. "I know the school rules. I wouldn't dream of breaking them." Almost a smile. "But I think as parents we should at least know where you plan to be physically. If I understand the local exam, you can't do it remotely."
"Yes, sir," said Juan. "That is true. We—"
Miriam picked up smoothly where Juan had run out of words. "We're just going down to Torrey Pines Park."
Col. Gu tapped at her belt, and was quiet for a moment: "Well, that looks safe."
Mr. Gu nodded. "But you're supposed to do the local project without outside connectivity—"
"Except if an emergency comes up."
Mr. Gu just tapped his fingers thoughtfully. Juan turned off all the house imagery, and zoomed in on Miriam's pa. The guy was dressed casually, but with better clothes sense than most grownups had. In the house enhancement, he looked soft and sort of heavy. In the plain view, he just looked hard and solid. Come to think of it, the edge of his hand had felt calloused, just like in the movies.
Col. Gu glanced at her husband, nodded slightly at him. She turned back to Juan and Miri. "I think it will be okay," she said. "But we do ask a couple things of you."
"Nothing against the exam rules," said Miri.
"I don't think so. First, since the park has no infrastructure and doesn't allow visitors to put up camping networks, please take some of the old standalone gear we have in the basement."
"Hey, that's great, Alice! I was going to ask you about that."
Juan could hear someone coming down the stairs behind him. He looked without turning, but there was no one visible yet, and his visitor's privilege did not allow him to see through walls.
"And second," Col. Gu continued, "we think William should go along with you."
Miri's father? No ... the Goofus. Ug.
This time, Miri Gu did not debate. She nodded, and said softly. "Well ... if you think that is best."
Juan spoke without thinking, "But ..." then more diffidently: "But wouldn't that violate the exam rules?"
The voice came from behind him. "No. Read the rules, Orozco." It was William.
Juan turned to acknowledge the other. "You mean, you won't be a team member?"
"Yeah, I'd just be your escort." The Goofus had the same broad features, the same coloring as the rest of the family. He was almost as tall as Bill Gu, but scrawny. His face had a sweaty sheen like maybe—Oh. Suddenly Juan realized that while Bill and William were father and son, it was not in the order he had thought.
"It's really your call, Dad," said Mr. Gu.
William nodded. "I don't mind." He smiled. "The munchkin has been telling me how strange things are in junior high school. Now I'll get to see what she means."
Miri Gu's smile was a little weak. "Well, we'd be happy to have you come along. Juan and I want to look at Alice's gear, but we should be ready in half an hour or so."