It seemed like several minutes of calls before his secretary announced he had a visitor. "He insists that he see you right away." she finished.

"And who is this very persestant visitor?" Zeek asked.

"Senator Lerk." Zeek frowned; Lerk was the last person he wanted to see and for good reasons.

"Tell him I'm busy." Zeek instructed. The secretary left to give the news to the Senator. Ten seconds later, Zeek looked up from his desk to notice that Lerk had come in anyway.

"Dreadfully sorry to interupt your work," Lerk said. "But I urgently needed to see you."

"Indeed." Zeek replied sarcastically. Lerk didn't notice. "What is it I can do for you, Senator?"

Lerk chuckled. "Oh, very humorous, my boy. You know you needn't be so formal with me, Ezekiel." Zeek winced; he hated being called by that name.

"Okay, fine. What do you want?"

"I'm shocked, Ezekiel; I can't drop in for a visit?"

"At this time, no."

"Oh come on. You know, your life would be more pleasant if you would just stop this nonsense of keeping your relation to me a secret."

"Sorry, Uncle Hont, but last I checked, you weren't very popular among the people. Correction, you aren't popular with the people. Now I ask again, what do you want?"

"I have need of your services, Ezekiel. Think of it as doing a family errand. I understand that you run the tabloids Profiles and Personalities, correct?"

"Yes, you are correct, and no I am not going to help you with your campaign."

"What makes you think this has anything to do with my political battle against Ravencroft?"

"Because you ask me to help you with it every election year."

"Ezekiel, please! I just want to find some advantage against Ravencroft!"

"The answer is no, Uncle! First off, I heard you have your own scum to gather information and destroy reputations for you."

"Please, I just make sure the people don't pick the wrong person for Governor, again."

"Second, even if I were to actually take part in this elaborate scheme of yours, whatever it is, what information on Governor Ravencroft can possibly damage him?"

"Have we forgotten the sort of...family Ravencroft was raised in?"

"No, of course not, it's in the hisotry books for crying out loud! Now, if there's nothing else, I need to get back to work."

"Ezekiel, you know as editor of this fine newspaper, it is your duty to report any and all findings on the planet's news, especially the election."

"What are you saying?"

"Just have a reporter come to my press confrence tomorrow, and you'll see. Oh and Ezekiel...please, think carefully on whose side you choose. I'm only saying this in your best interest." With that, Lerk left.

Zeek just poked out of the door and asked if his secretary had heard anything; she said no. Satisfied, Zeek slammed the door in frustration. He hated it when his uncle visited, but what could be done? The man was the only family he had. Zeek thanked every patron god in Limbo that the only people who knew he was Senator Lerk's nephew were those of the inner political circle, who had kept that fact as secret as possible. Yes, Zeek was practically raised by his uncle, but he never shared his uncle's thoughts on humans, or hybrids for that matter. Indeed, if he had a choice between living a comfortable life with his uncle and a hard life away from him, he'd choose the hard way. For those bigoted thoughts, Zeek despised his uncle as much as, if not more than the rest of the galaxy.