calligraphy

[isthisart]

Linya is working on a massive flowchart-like diagram of a planned software project for Dr. Cheung. It's laid out in every color and in three dimensions with sprawl of its little writing that takes up most of her office and keeps fading out at the edges and in her shadow when she moves around, but reappears when she turns or approaches.

Comments

[isthisart]

"I don't know how long they'll let me stay, but they let me in briefly. I may have implied that I will be more effective at preventing you from demanding the presence of any additional people you only intend to yell at than extra sedatives would be. That really couldn't have waited?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"It really couldn't," he says. "Anyway, I didn't yell. Yelling hurts too much. I mostly hissed."

[isthisart]

Linya kisses his forehead. "My mistake. If talking hurts too I can stop asking you questions."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Some. It's okay, though, so does breathing."

[isthisart]

"Aha. So how did you wind up needing your entire torso restructured?"

[thisvorlunatic]

He sighs (and winces slightly.)

"How much do you already know...?"

[isthisart]

She pets his hair, since his head seems okay. "The Lairoubans gave you fast-penta and didn't like your Shakepearean predilections, which I can imagine in detail but not necessarily accurate detail."

[thisvorlunatic]

The hairpets get a (slightly pained) smile.

"They were banking on it making me all goofy and pliable. It, uh, didn't. They got pissed off. Not much interesting to tell from there, until Bel broke in to rescue me, at which point I'm afraid I mumbled sexually suggestive tongue-twisters at it until I passed out."

[isthisart]

...Linya suppresses her snort but not her smile.

[thisvorlunatic]

"In my defense, it kept egging me on after the first few. And proved unable to start a dirty limerick I couldn't finish. When I woke up I told it that next time it made me laugh that hard with that many broken ribs I was having it written up for assaulting a superior officer, but eh, the damage was already done before it got there. And it did save my life. Rather gloriously, too."

[isthisart]

"I'd thank it - for the life-saving, mind - but that would probably puncture your cover."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Alas, yes."

[isthisart]

"Before anything much exciting had appeared to happen, my export agent, who was loitering on the station in case an opportunity to encourage someone in useful directions came up, was invited to have dinner with the Toramirans, who didn't seem to know why they'd invited her."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah, no idea. From what I gathered, the Lairoubans were planning to have them all poisoned at the event they would've attended if they hadn't been talking to your agent instead. Maybe somebody tipped them off. It'd be nice to know who. Nosy and secretive Tau Cetan? Toramiran underling with a hunch? Lairouban would-be assassin with cold feet?"

[isthisart]

"It seems like an odd way to avert a poisoning."

[thisvorlunatic]

"The craziest things happen when you get a lot of people all trying to accomplish secret goals at once. Sometimes even when they're all ostensibly on the same side. You should know."

[isthisart]

"Yes. I suppose Carmina could have just been convenient, but there were certainly hundreds of people with agendas who'd be thrilled to have dinner with a delegation on that station; why her and only her? Doesn't that seem strange?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"A bit, yeah. I don't know. I would give you an explanation if I had one. Maybe her schedule was convenient. Maybe the list of possible diversions was alphabetized by first name."

[isthisart]

"It's a suspicious coincidence. But I'm not sure how to investigate it; Carmina would have told me if she knew anything - about why she was invited or whether someone else really sent the invitation, about my husband's secret identity, whatever."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah. Sometimes coincidences do just happen. The vid feed from the docking bay glitched for a few seconds while I was with the Lairoubans, no foul play, just a normal random outage, and that was when Bel noticed I'd gone missing - trying to report that the troopers who'd gone to check it out hadn't found anything, and it couldn't reach me. Probably saved my last couple of ribs."

[isthisart]

"That makes two coincidences that were extremely helpful and relevant to your mission."

[thisvorlunatic]

"'Once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action' - I don't see a third," he says. "And it stretches credibility to think I'm being stalked by some kind of good fairy whose idea of helping is to make it slightly likelier that my troops will find me before the enemy is quite finished beating me to death."

[isthisart]

"Well, three times wouldn't be enemy action. It would be good fairy action." Hair pet hair pet hair pet. "If not especially fantastic good fairy action."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Mediocre fairy action," he suggests.

[isthisart]

"Yes. Mediocre fairy action. Is this really two coincidences? The Toramirans being drawn away from the poisoned dinner engagement to another meeting could be counted separately from the other meeting being with my export agent."