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good stepfather to Nikki - that was called into deep question now, eh?
Ekaterin, I'm sorry...
It would be hours - days - before the new tight-beam could get back to
Barrayar and
Cetaganda. Insanely upset people could make fatal mistakes in mere minutes.
Seconds...
And if you are a praying man, Vorpatril, pray that no one will do anything
stupid before it gets there. And that we will be believed.
Lady Vorkosigan, Vorpatril whispered urgently. Could he be hallucinating
from the disease?
No, no, she soothed. He's just thinking too fast, and leaving out all the
intervening steps. He does that. It can be very frustrating. Miles, love,
um... for the rest of us, would you mind unpacking that a little more?
He took a breath - and two or three more - to stop his trembling. The ba.
It's not an agent on a mission. It's a criminal. A renegade. Perhaps insane. I
believe it hijacked the annual haut child-ship to Rho Ceta, sent the vessel
into the nearest sun with all aboard - probably murdered already - and made
off with its cargo. Which trans-
shipped through Komarr, and which left the Barrayaran Empire on a trade ship
belonging to Empress Laisa personally
- and just how incriminating that particular detail is going to look to
certain minds inside the Star Creche, I shrink to imagine. The
Cetagandans think we stole their babies, or colluded in the theft, and, dear
God, murdered a planetary consort
, and so they are about to make war on us by mistake
!
Oh, said Vorpatril blankly.
The ba's whole safety lay in perfect secrecy, because once the Cetagandans
got on the right trail they would never rest till they tracked this crime
down. But the perfect plan cracked when Gupta didn't die on schedule. Gupta's
frantic antics drew
Solian in, drew you in, drew me in... His voice slowed. Except, what in the
world does the ba want those haut infants for
?
Ekaterin offered hesitantly, Could it be stealing them for someone else?
Yes, but the ba aren't supposed to be subornable.
Well, if not for pay or some bribe, maybe blackmail or threat? Maybe threat
to some haut to whom the ba is loyal?
Or maybe some faction in the Star Creche, Miles supplied. Except... the
ghem-lords do factions. The haut lords do factions. The Star Creche has always
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moved as one - even when it was committing arguable treason, a decade ago, the
haut ladies took no separate decisions.
The
Star Creche committed treason? echoed Vorpatril in astonishment. This
certainly didn't get out! Are you sure? I never heard of any mass executions
that high in the Empire back then, and I should have. He paused, and added in
a baffled tone, How could a bunch of haut-lady baby-makers commit treason,
anyway?
It didn't quite come off. For various reasons. Miles cleared his throat.
Lord Auditor Vorkosigan. This is your com link, yes? Are you there? a new
voice, and a very welcome one, broke in.
Sealer Greenlaw! Miles cried happily. Have you made it to safety? All of
you?
We are back aboard Graf Station, replied the Sealer. It seems premature to
call it safety. And you?
Still trapped aboard the
Idris
. Although not totally without resources. Or ideas.
I urgently need to speak to you. You can override that hothead Vorpatril.
Ah, my com link is sustaining an open audio link with Admiral Vorpatril now,
ma'am.
You can speak to both of us at once, if you like, Miles put in hastily,
before she could express herself even more freely.
She hesitated only fractionally. Good. We absolutely need Vorpatril to hold,
repeat, hold any strike force of his. Corbeau confirms the ba does have some
sort of a remote control or deadman switch on his person, apparently linked
back to the biohazard it has hidden aboard Graf Station. The ba is not
bluffing.
Miles glanced up in surprise at his silent vid of Nav and Com. Corbeau was
seated now in the pilot's station chair, the control headset lowered over his
skull, his expressionless face even more absent.
Corbeau confirms! How? He was stark naked - the ba is watching him every
second! Subcutaneous com link?
There was no time to find and insert one. He undertook to blink the ship's
running lights in a prearranged code.
Whose idea was that?
His.
Quick colonial boy. The pilot was on their side. Oh, but that was good to
know....
Miles's shivering was turning to shudders.
Every adult quaddie on Graf Station not on emergency duty is out looking for
the bio-bomb now, Greenlaw continued, but we have no idea what it looks
like, or how big it is, or if it is disguised as something else. Or if there
is more than one. We are trying to evacuate as many children as possible into
what ships and shuttles we have on hand, and seal them off, but we can't even
be sure of them
, really. If you people do anything to set this mad creature off - if you
launch an unauthorized strike force before this vicious threat is found and
safely neutralized - I swear I will give our militia the order to shoot them
out of space myself. Do you copy, Admiral? Confirm.
I hear you, said Vorpatril reluctantly. But ma'am - the Imperial Auditor
himself has been infected with one of the ba's lethal bio-agents. I cannot - I
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