fermata

[isthisart]

Linya sees Dr. Cheung onto a ship other than the Ariel, which agrees to tote him to Komarr very, very slowly, knocking him out for each jump and having someone look after him when he comes around green in the gills. It's not going to be a fun trip for him, but it's better than trying to collaborate with a multi-week conversational turnaround time. It's pricey - the ship has nonperishable cargo with no deadline at its destination and already employs a medtech, but still - but she thinks it's worth it.

Her business on Earth concluded, she examines the list of tourist attractions she didn't get around to, determines that none of them are worth sticking around for, and gets on a much faster vessel and goes all the way home. The first thing she does when there is go looking for whichever of the Count or Countess is easiest to find.

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

He giggles. "No, thank you."

[isthisart]

"I imagine I could improve on his genome, but I doubt I could perfect it, anyway - when I was studying I already strongly expected that I'd be doing half-haut children, not elaborate cutting-edge research and development, so that was where I focused. I am thoroughly qualified to work on Little Aral Adri and would need to study up considerably to do super-soldiers."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I imagine the inter-species aspect would complicate matters, too."

[isthisart]

"Yes. It's an exaggeration to say that haut never touch animal genetics - some take it up as a hobby and there is a popular toy project with designer butterflies that some of my acquaintances did when I was nine, that sort of thing - but it's definitely not a focus."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Designer butterflies?"

[isthisart]

"Butterflies are fun! I didn't do the project, but I critiqued color schemes when the deadline hit and everyone showed theirs off."

[thisvorlunatic]

"That sounds terribly charming."

[isthisart]

"They were very pretty. Do you want to see?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Sure."

[isthisart]

Linya puts her pen display where he'll be able to see it from his position of dubious mobility and calls up a series of photographs of extremely elaborate and lovely butterflies in every color combination that could be reasonably described as appealing.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Ooh. I like those swirly grey ones," he says.

[isthisart]

"They were generally considered to be a bit understated, but they did make very cute caterpillars - I don't have pictures of the caterpillars, unfortunately. Some of the girls were very guarded about letting the competition look while their work was in progress."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I think I like them because they're understated. It doesn't make them any less beautiful, but in that whole colourful swarm they'd stand out very strikingly."

[isthisart]

"My favorites were the gold-and-blues with the triangle markings."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Those were cute. They put me in mind of Ivan - if you darkened the blue by several shades and took a little shine off the gold they'd be in the Vorpatril house colours."

[isthisart]

"I don't believe I've ever seen him in his house colors."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I suspect he has something against his House uniform. Couldn't tell you what. The colour scheme's not that bad."

[isthisart]

"It isn't terrible, although it doesn't seem like it would necessarily flatter him in particular."

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles head-shrugs.

[isthisart]

"So that's why you need to stay far, far away from Jackson's Whole..."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yes. And then there's Dagoola. How much do you already know...?"

[isthisart]

"News-blurb paragraph, more or less, enough to guess what you were talking about - there was a prison camp, it was completely emptied."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah. Did the news blurb go into the conditions there?"

[isthisart]

She shakes her head. "You mentioned it, but it didn't make the brief."

[thisvorlunatic]

"It should have. They were... not pleasant. My mission was to get myself captured in the guise of a Marilacan rebel, locate a particular officer - Guy Tremont, I think his name was - and have him prepared for pickup when my Dendarii broke us out a little while later. I got myself captured, and that's about when the plan went straight to hell. They were keeping the prisoners bundled all together in a single huge force-bubble, issued with exactly the minimum rations required by interplanetary law, which were delivered periodically in an enormous pile of identical ration bars. Exactly one to a customer, just like the cups and bedrolls and clothing articles they sent us in with. Our floor was bare dirt, our ceiling was the sky. When I found Tremont, he'd gone catatonic, and was still alive only because a friend of his made him eat and drink periodically."