On a space station, no one knows you are the former Patty Hearst. Kidnapped by terrorists, Patty Heart shoots her adoptive father when the rescue mission arrives and is convicted of that. In some sort of deal, Patty gets probation and anonymity on a distant space station university. OK, It's not really Patty Hearst, it's Ira and his adoptive father is a senator in a race of alien conquerors of Earth, and this is somewhat of an analog for indigenous kids getting adopted by White colonizers. OK, but the story is too short to get into Ira's inner life and that's needed to make the ending not feel didactic.