P: Pre-loaded Suspicion

Brendan couldn't help the way he looked at Adrian when his friend's back was turned. Adrian's dark hair was tousled, but that was normal. Everything about him was just as it usually was.

His father's words were still stuck in his head. 'The real question is, what else have I missed? If it was only the approval for this race that was seemingly masked in routine, is it a distraction meant for me, or is it intended for someone else entirely? What do they gain from it? Or am I overthinking the entire situation, and it was actually merely a small coincidental error?'

He had assured the King of Eks Corp that the race had been entirely his idea. And he hated the part of him that insisted on questioning whether or not it was true afterward, because it was not his own experiences that prompted the suspicion, but his inherited memories. Unfortunately, once the question had been raised, he couldn't just dismiss it.

Adrian had been working with him on his miniature ship designs, which could hardly be used for anything practical aside from courier runs, for several PiYears. Brendan was normally fairly careful about storing and organizing data on things that seemed significant in his memory library. But even if Adrian had been the one who had originally brought up racing the little ships, Brendan suspected that he wouldn't have thought to make note of it, and his memories outside of that storage system were just as messy and unreliable as anyone else's.

On one hand, the idea that his friend would be tangled up in some long term plot that would hinge on Brendan being revealed as the Prince of Eks Corp, and then deciding to hold a race to determine his future bride, was so ridiculous that it could only come straight out of an old fashioned space opera. On the other hand, without knowing which details were significant, it was all too easy for Brendan to imagine dozens of plausible scenarios.

If he hadn't known Adrian so well, it would be easy to assume that he was a plant from an enemy faction. The odds of Brendan being declared Eks Corp's heir had been at least 1 in 3. Originals were rare, and people of Adrian's brilliance were even rarer, making it highly likely that Brendan would take an interest in Adrian without any additional prompting.

Spaceship engineering wasn't part of the Aldrich hereditary memory libraries, it was Brendan's personal area of interest, but it was a fairly public interest. He and his siblings had all been given the same investment training, disguised as extra privileges, and quite a bit of freedom. He hadn't been entirely joking when he implied that he already owned all of the major shipbuilders in the system, although he didn't own them outright. Those were his personal investments, and anyone could view that data.

The only flaw in the theory that Adrian was part of some complicated long term plot was Adrian himself. He was too unpredictable in some ways, and too predictable in others. Brendan couldn't imagine trusting Adrian to remember to prompt someone to do something in a subtle manner, and he was an absolutely terrible liar. It was as though the same quirks that made him good with complex maths made it difficult for him to navigate the half truths that well created lies were usually built out of. Brendan himself merely found lies distasteful, but Adrian often acted as though they were completely incomprehensible, or errors in the data of a conversation.

Adrian's mother had a lot of influence with him, and would make a seemingly simple pawn for anyone with money, but that was an illusion. She was incredibly proud of both her son and her Original genetic family line with their 23 pairs of chromosomes. While on the surface her tactic of farming out her descendants was purely for financial gain, Brendan was fairly certain that her real intent was to have her son's descendants rival those of the proverbial Genghis Kahn in number. Of course, very few of those would be born Originals since most families would carry the modern 24 pairs of chromosomes, and would insure that the missing chromosome was added, but there would be a few dedicated Original families who would be just as interested in Adrian's genes.

"What's the matter?" Adrian asked when Brendan sighed again.

Brendan shook his head, but a moment later he asked, "What could anyone gain from secretly promoting my marriage race?"

Adrian scratched his head and gazed at Brendan doubtfully. "Why secretly?"

"If I knew that I might be able to answer the question," Brendan replied dryly.

Adrian appeared to give the question serious thought before suggesting, "Maybe advertising for the winning ship's manufacturer?"

Brendan shook his head again and argued, "There's no reason I can see to keep their endorsement secret in that case, and how could they guarantee that they'd win? If someone thought they had a guaranteed win, it's more likely that they'd use it to choose who I'll get engaged to."

"Well there you go then," Adrian replied promptly. "Someone thinks they have a sure win, but that if you knew about it, you'd reject the girl."

Brendan had already considered that possibility and dismissed it, because even if he hadn't been the first one to suggest racing, he was definitely the one who'd decided to bet his future marriage on it. "I don't know, I think there are too many variables…" he cut his sentence short, because if he was wrong about Adrian, he would be giving too much away, and then cursed himself for the suspicion.

Adrian shrugged without concern, and pointed out, "At least a girl with her own agenda is more likely to put up with you."

Brendan's expression soured, but he shrugged and agreed, "Probably. I'd just rather if her agendas were her own."

"Good luck with that Prince Know-it-all," Adrian mocked. "You're lucky enough that you get to have a few agendas of your own, but most of you corporate royals are just pawns. All of you are just the genetic slaves of your corporations."

Brendan couldn't help grinning, even though he complained, "True. It would be so convenient if I actually knew it all though."

Adrian rolled his eyes and groused, "If I could have even a fraction of your memory library to work with!" Before Brendan could respond, he added, "But at least I wasn't born with your corporate idiocy pre-loaded."

"You have all the luck," Brendan agreed dryly. In actual practice, the family expectations that the two of them had to meet were very similar. Both of them were expected to produce descendants and maintain their family's fortunes while they were young and healthy. They wouldn't truly be the masters of their own destinies until they were part of the elder generation themselves.

"Of course," Adrian agreed smugly. "I make my own."

"I guess I can't argue with that," Brendan agreed, as he firmly snuffed the flicker of suspicion that whispered at the back of his own mind.

"Are you going to help finish this or just stand there and admire my work?" Adrian demanded.

"I've already finished more than half of it!" Brendan protested as he guided the next panel into position.

"You cheated though, you started before I got here," Adrian pointed out cheerily.

"Maybe you should check the definition of 'cheat' before using it like that," Brendan advised with amusement.

"I speak a living language that adapts to my needs!" Adrian replied airily. "Not that dusty stored version that your great great grandfather used."

Brendan laughed.