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 team mate
during a scavage 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!
