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

[isthisart]

That startles a smile out of her.

[thisvorlunatic]

[isthisart]

"I hope they haven't wrecked my pen. Taking it was obvious, but it's got several hours' work on it that isn't backed up in the charger."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah," says Miles. "Well - I can't imagine what they'd get out of taking it apart, so there's that."

[isthisart]

"At least they can't use it unless they've cloned me too."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Which I find exceedingly unlikely."

[isthisart]

"Yes, quite. All the obvious ways to do it would have the clone still be very young and then she'd be unable to use the pen because her grip would be wrong."

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles falls thoughtfully silent.

[isthisart]

"If I start singing again is it going to make you cry?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Probably not."

[isthisart]

She starts singing.

She doesn't sing that one song again, just fills the quiet with meandering music.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles curls up uncomfortably and listens.

He does not, in fact, cry again.

[alicornucopia]

Galeni is returned to them, giggling vacuously, after extremely prolonged interrogation.

"Pretty," he comments on the singing, and he flumphs onto his bench to listen and wait out the fast-penta.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles refrains from asking Galeni any questions while the drug is still active.

[isthisart]

So does Linya; her song is wordless anyway.

Galeni eventually falls into a doze - Linya sings softer - and wakes up and staggers to the washroom himself.

"What did they want?" Linya asks when he comes out.

"Personal history, mostly," says Galeni morosely. "He's having a hard time believing that I mean what I say, that he can't just whistle and summon me like he could when I was fourteen. Like I put on this uniform for a joke or by accident or out of despair - anything but a reasonable, principled decision."

"He?"

"Vorkosigan didn't tell you? Our host is my father," says Galeni bitterly.

"It didn't come up. We have been trying to ascertain how I can be sure this is the one I'm accustomed to," she says.

"Have him punch a wall."

"It's been suggested."

[thisvorlunatic]

(Miles laughs, not entirely happily.)

[isthisart]

"And, what, you don't want him to break his hand if he's for real?"

"I suspect," says Linya, glancing at Miles, "that he breaks bones for worse reasons all the time and that the resulting discomfort is probably less significant to him than the fact that I don't know who the hell he is, or he wouldn't have proposed it, but there's also the fact that there could easily be, in some corner of medical science with which I am unfamiliar, a way to duplicate the original's osteological problems."

"Ah."

[thisvorlunatic]

"The clone's supposed to kill my father and Gregor," argues Miles. "At a bare minimum. My bones are not what I'd call an advantage in close combat."

[isthisart]

"Both of those people are, on occasion, unarmed in your presence," says Linya. "The bone condition doesn't affect your ability to hold a nerve disruptor."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Nor does it affect my ability to get one past Gregor's close security perimeter, who, trust me, don't grant exceptions for friends of the family."

[isthisart]

"I've watched the Emperor's security come into Vorkosigan House. They were professional, but - I don't think I'll elaborate on where in the house you could hide nerve disruptors while the ceiling is watching, come to think of it."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Good call. Fine. What's your take, Captain Galeni? Does my much-delayed twin brother have my bones, or no?"

[alicornucopia]

"He said he didn't, but again, could have easily lied. He didn't punch a wall, or offer to."

[thisvorlunatic]

"But then, he never tried to convince you he was me while you knew there was another option. Square one," sighs Miles.

[isthisart]

"His excuse for not picking up your pen involved a fractured metacarpal. I imagine this was fictitious whether that would have been easy to do or not."