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Dr. Cheung's at a funeral all day, so Linya decides to go up to London and see if Miles is out of his Mood.
Security has decided to be deeply unhelpful today. She is currently showing them various forms of ID and repeating in a slow, patient voice that she has been here before, there is not more than one of her, and she promises she is not there to assassinate her husband or whatever fool thing has them skittish today. Perhaps she shouldn't drop in while the captain's missing; it seems to make them worse. But she got in before while he was missing...
isthisart
isthisart
She sighs. One of her fingers twitches a little before she stills it. Even if she were sure of who he was, she couldn't pick him up.
They're being watched.
She tilts her head back and begins to sing again.
They're being watched.
She tilts her head back and begins to sing again.
thisvorlunatic
Time passes. Meals are intermittently delivered by groups of stunner-armed guards.
And then the door opens and no food is passed in. One of the guards gestures to Miles with his stunner.
Miles is rather nervous about this, to say the least. But he doesn't see any viable alternatives. Out he goes.
And then the door opens and no food is passed in. One of the guards gestures to Miles with his stunner.
Miles is rather nervous about this, to say the least. But he doesn't see any viable alternatives. Out he goes.
unmarred
A perfect rendering of Admiral Naismith is waiting in the hall.
"Take him to the study," he says briskly, London-accented. The guards obey. Miles is secured to a chair in the middle of the room, and the guards dismissed.
The clone paces slowly back and forth, studying Miles.
"Take him to the study," he says briskly, London-accented. The guards obey. Miles is secured to a chair in the middle of the room, and the guards dismissed.
The clone paces slowly back and forth, studying Miles.
thisvorlunatic
Miles... feels deeply uncomfortable.
But he can't help seeking an angle. His brain is just built that way. It's automatic.
He takes a steadying breath and says, unsteadily, "Hello, Mark."
But he can't help seeking an angle. His brain is just built that way. It's automatic.
He takes a steadying breath and says, unsteadily, "Hello, Mark."
unmarred
This stops him in his tracks. Frozen, utterly immobile, neither tense nor loose, merely still.
thisvorlunatic
And what the hell does that mean? But it's too late to go back, so Miles goes forward.
"Betan law gives you the status; Barrayaran custom gives you the name. Mark Pierre Vorkosigan. My long-delayed twin brother."
"Betan law gives you the status; Barrayaran custom gives you the name. Mark Pierre Vorkosigan. My long-delayed twin brother."
unmarred
"That... is technically true," he muses, still in the local accent. "Or at least the argument could be made. I hadn't—mm. Of course. Your mother wouldn't have it any other way," he cocks his head inquiringly, "isn't that right?"
unmarred
"I tried hating you," he says conversationally, now that Miles has drawn him out. "It didn't take... you did not create me. The blame for my existence cannot be laid at your door."
unmarred
"Oh," he breathes, with a flash of deep anger, "yes." But then he shakes his head and resumes pacing. "Now that I'm here, though... I lack a direction, you see. In, out, up, down, forward, back. My degrees of freedom are severely curtailed. I was hoping... Ser Galen promised me I'd get to talk to you, one on one, face to face. He's been more hesitant about that recently. I suspect he has finally noticed you're not a fucking idiot. He promised me I'd be the next Emperor of Barrayar, but I bet you'd tell me differently, wouldn't you?"
thisvorlunatic
Trying to follow Mark's train of thought is like trying to paint the stripes onto a candy cane one-handed. Miles blinks in topological bewilderment.
"Um, yes," he says, after half a beat when he thinks he's caught up. "That is, if your ambition is to be Emperor, you have the means to accomplish it. If your ambition is to survive being Emperor, you might want to pursue early retirement plans. Athos should be just about far enough, if nobody knows you went there."
"Um, yes," he says, after half a beat when he thinks he's caught up. "That is, if your ambition is to be Emperor, you have the means to accomplish it. If your ambition is to survive being Emperor, you might want to pursue early retirement plans. Athos should be just about far enough, if nobody knows you went there."
unmarred
"I'm not sure I'd fit in," he says with an odd little smile. "Anyway. That's my point. Somehow he's managed to train me to be you my entire life without noticing who you are. If he had, he wouldn't have tried such a stupid ruse. I'm not a future Emperor, I'm a political high explosive."
thisvorlunatic
"Ah... yes, just about," says Miles. "May I ask what you plan to do about this? And... why you're telling me?"
unmarred
"I've no idea. I told you. No direction." He spreads his hands. "All I know is that you are the one thing in the universe I understand perfectly."
thisvorlunatic
Miles has no idea how to navigate this psychological minefield. But he gets a very strong sense that Mark is balanced on some kind of five-dimensional knife-edge, and any step in a wrong direction could be very, very bad.
"Um."
"Um."
unmarred
"I'd wondered," he says thoughtfully, "how long it might take you to start picking up on me... I don't want to let him kill you. But I don't know that I want to throw my life away trying to stop him. It's not loyalty, you understand. The day my hatred outweighs my fear, Galen is a dead man."
thisvorlunatic
"...noted. Do you," Miles asks on reckless impulse, "get some kind of weird kick out of telling me things I could use to get you killed?"
unmarred
He wipes his eyes and asks breathlessly, "When your wife picked me up, I - how do you live through it? Or do you not know what I'm talking about? Maybe you don't. If everyone felt like that when things like that happened, I - I can't conceive of how society would work."