dissonance

[isthisart]

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...

Comments

[unmarred]

"Fuck it," he says, in a distinctly local accent. "Sorry I even bothered."

And he draws his stunner and fires.

[isthisart]

She is surprised enough that she's barely started trying to dodge when the nimbus catches her.

She is not immune to stunners. She collapses to the floor.

[unmarred]

And now - Miles, if you must - has a problem on his hands, but a merely logistical one, and therefore infinitely less distressing than the problem he was facing a few moments before.

He applies himself to the task of getting Lady Vorkosigan safely stowed for eventual delivery back to his superiors. Maybe they can get some use out of her.

[thisvorlunatic]

The literal actual Miles, on the other hand, has already been delivered.

He is just coming off the initial stun when his kidnappers finally bundle him into a small windowless room, after a dizzying trek through mazelike streets that he could not hope to track in his condition. The door clicks shut behind him. He squints at the brightness of the single ceiling light, and looks around.

[alicornucopia]

A man curled up on one of the benches with his back to the rest of the room sits up stiffly. He holds his hands over his eyes, squinting against the harsh light. He is stubbly, unkempt, disgruntled, and Captain Galeni.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Ah, fuck. There you are," Miles says hoarsely. "I was wondering."

[alicornucopia]

"Were you?" wonders Galeni dubiously.

[thisvorlunatic]

"I admit, in large part because I expected to find you in the same place as my eighteen million marks. That fond hope has now been laid to rest."

Miles staggers to the unoccupied bench and parks himself on it.

[alicornucopia]

"I suppose it might be pointless to ask if you're - you."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I don't know," says Miles, almost cheerfully. "Which me were you expecting?"

[alicornucopia]

Galeni doesn't dignify that with a response, just sits and regards Miles with minute attention to detail, apparently coming to no firm conclusion.

[thisvorlunatic]

"You've met the other one, then, I take it."

[alicornucopia]

"Yesterday. If you're the real one, anyway. I think it was yesterday." Galeni glances at the light.

[thisvorlunatic]

"God, don't tell me they keep that thing on all the time," shudders Miles. "It's, let's see - maybe one in the morning, of the fifth day since you went missing. Did he really...? I mean, actually pretend to be me? To you? Did it work?"

[alicornucopia]

"I thought it was you till the end, when he told me he was - practicing. Testing. And incidentally collecting information on my reactions to you. This lasted four or five hours."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Hell," says Miles, shuddering again. "Well - historian - how do you tell a forgery from the real thing?"

[alicornucopia]

"Well," says Galeni dryly. "He saluted."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Not a perfect copy, then," Miles says with a dry, brittle smile. "Damnation... I suppose there's no reasonable way they could have given him my bones; following this logic, all I have to do to convince you is punch a wall. You'll excuse me if I don't rush to try it."

[alicornucopia]

Galeni rolls his eyes.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Anyway, regardless of my identity, surely you can tell me who they are." He gestures up at the light. "And whatever Miles Version Two let slip about his origins." (Fuck, don't say he's a clone, don't say he's a clone. That would be much, much too weird.)

[alicornucopia]

"He said he was a clone. Although he might well have been lying." Galeni heaves a sigh. "It's Komarrans."

[thisvorlunatic]

"...bugger," sighs Miles. "Twice. Ugh, I think I've even seen the little shit once before - I was coming back from my adventure at the burning wineshop, and I saw myself in the mirror, wearing the wrong uniform and looking wrecked to hell. I was feeling pretty wrecked to hell at the time, so I chalked it up to a hallucination caused by some combination of stress and strong painkillers and forgot all about it. No wonder the clone story sprang to mind when I was talking to that reporter. And here I was thinking I was just a genius, and then wondering just now if I have some kind of magical power to make all my lies come true..."

[alicornucopia]

"If only. You could talk your way out of here."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I have actually talked myself out of similar situations multiple times in my life," says Miles, faintly cheered. "By the way, they are recording us, aren't they?"

[alicornucopia]

Galeni points at the light.