Theo Waitley has lived all her young life on Delgado, a Safe World that
is home to one of the galaxy's premier institutions of higher learning.
Both Theo's mother, Kamele, and Kamele's onagrata Jen Sar Kiladi, are
professors at the university, and they all live comfortably together,
just like they have for all of Theo's life, in Jen Sar's house at the
outskirts of town. Suddenly, though, Theo's life changes. Kamele leaves
Jen Sar and moves herself and Theo back into faculty housing, which is
not what Theo is used to.
Once settled back inside the Wall, Kamele becomes embroiled in faculty
politics, and is appointed sub-chair of her department. Meanwhile, Theo
who has a notation in her file indicating that she is "physically
challenged," has a series of misadventures, including pulling her best
friend down on the belt-ride to class, and hurting a teammate during a
savage game. With notes piling up in her file, Theo only wants to go
"home," to the house in the suburbs, and have everything just like it
used to be.
Then, Kamele uncovers evidence of possible dishonest scholarship inside
of her department. In order to clear the department, she and a team of
senior professors must go off-world to perform a forensic document
search. Theo hopes this will mean that she'll be left in the care of the
man she calls "Father," Professor Kiladi, and is horrified to learn that
Kamele means to bring Theo with her!
