After Ty closed the portal door, to remain closed for a week, he considered making the door go away, to remove his temptation to open it. He didn't do it, recognizing the futility. Even if he destroyed it now, he could instantly recreate it in a moment of weakness. He could teleport himself to Lisa's bedroom at any time, or teleport her to his room. He had to avoid doing these things for a week. It would be hard, but he had given his word. No one could force him to do anything, except himself.
He'd expected Lisa to be more accepting of her father's decreed consequences for Ty's violation of the rules. But when he had agreed to accept the consequences, she'd looked at him as if he was a traitor. She'd actually argued for him to go against Diego's request. Because face it, all Diego could do was request that Ty do something. He couldn't force Ty, knew that, and even stated it out loud. What would happen if Ty ignored Diego? He didn't know, but he couldn't imagine that it would be good. He'd been on good terms with Diego and Maria, and wouldn't want to lose that.
Ty thought about breaking the rule about not harming Lisa. He'd actually broken that rule several times since having agreed to it. He thought about how much work it had taken to repair her mind once, and what it had taken to reassemble her from four billion fragments this time. "But if I fix her, I haven't really broken the rule!" he told himself. But he didn't convince himself. He knew that was wrong, just sophistry. If he broke a pot, and mended it to be good as new, even such that there was no evidence that it had been broken, it still had been.
Ty wasn't happy about spending a week without Lisa, but he'd get through it. He was more worried about how she would take it, given how upset she had been with him for accepting it. Well, he couldn't do anything about that. As he blooded more about being without Lisa for a week, it occurred to him that maybe he didn't have to. He still had a file on an SSD containing four billion Lisa fragments. He could take that to Jupiter again, and put together another copy of Lisa. He thought about than for a few minutes, but realized that it was a bad plan. It would break his word with Diego, and he thought it was unethical to create another Lisa without her consent.
The more Ty thought about it, though, the less concerned he was about his own unhappiness over not being able to see Lisa. She had seemed far more distraught than he had been. He started worrying about how she was taking it.
Ty went downstairs, and found June sitting on the living room sofa. He sat next to her. "Hi, Mom," he said.
From his tone, it was obvious to June that he was quite unhappy. "What's wrong, Ty?" she asked.
"Lisa's parents have ground us, well, her, for a week we're not allowed to see each other."
"Oh, Ty, I'm sorry!" June said. "I'd hoped that they would be more understanding, but I don't think they're completely wrong."
"I don't think so either," said Ty. "And I agreed to accept it. But Lisa... she didn't take it well." Ty explained Lisa's reaction."
"She actually asked you to go against her parents wishes?" June said, in astonishment. "I thought she was more... I don't know, responsible, than that?"
"Me too, Mom. I'm worried."
"Well, it's only a week. I'm sure she'll get over it, and it won't be long before you're back together. That will solve everything."
"Yeah, I guess," Ty said. "I suppose I'll go do some of my homework, to take my mind off this."
"That sounds like a good plan," June said. "You're a good boy, a good person, and I'm very proud of you for admitting what you've done, and now for accepting the consequences like a man." She kissed his forehead.
"Thanks, mom!" Ty said, and he went back to his room. He did have some homework. He considered transforming himself into a phone app, to knock out the homework quickly, as he and Lisa had each done previously, but he decided against it. He wanted the homework to distract him for a while. He sat at his desk and started.