At least five, Im told.
Isnt local democracy wonderful, he murmured. And to think the Komarrans imagined we were doing them a favor to leave their downside affairs under their traditional sector control.
I hope you dont mind heights, she said uncertainly, as the bubble-car moaned almost to a halt at the top of the arc. Through the faint distortions of the canopy and tube, half of Serifosa Domes chaotic patchwork of structures seemed spread out to their view. Two cars ahead of them, a couple seized this opportunity to indulge in some heavy necking. Ekaterin studiously ignored them. Or small enclosed spaces.
He smiled a little grimly. As long as the small enclosed space is above freezing, I can manage.
Was that a reference to his cryo-death? She hardly dared ask. She tried to think of a way to work the conversation back to his mother, and thence to how shed dealt with his mutations. Astronomical Survey? I thought your mother served in the Betan Expeditionary Force, in the Escobar War.
Before the war, she had an eleven-year career in their Survey.
Administration, or She didnt go out on the blind worm-hole jumps, did she? I mean, all spacers are a little strange, but wormhole wildcatters are supposed to be the craziest of the crazy.
Thats quite true. He glanced out, as with a slight jerk the bubble-car began to move once more, descending toward the next city section. Ive met some of em. I confess, I never thought of the government Survey as in the same league with the entrepreneurs. The independents make blind jumps into possible death hoping for a staggering fortune. The Survey makes blind jumps into possible death for a salary, benefits, and a pension. Hm. He sat back, looking suddenly bemused. She made ship captain, before the war. Maybe she had more practice for Barrayar than Id realized. I wonder if she got tired of playing wall, too. Ill have to ask her.
Playing wall?
Sorry, a personal metaphor. When youve taken chances a few too many times, you can get into an odd frame of mind. Adrenaline is a hard habit to kick. Id always assumed that my, um, former taste for that kind of rush came from the Barrayaran side of my genetics. But near-death experiences tend to cause you to reevaluate your priorities. Running that much risk, that long youd end up either damn sure who you were and what you wanted, or youd be, I dont know, anesthetized.
And your mother?
Well, shes certainly not anesthetized.
She grew more daring still. And you?
Hm. He smiled a small, elusive smile. You know, most people, when they get a chance to corner me, try to pump me about my father.
Oh. She flushed with embarrassment, and sat back. Im sorry. I was rude.
Not at all. Indeed, he did not look or sound annoyed, his posture open and inviting as he leaned back and watched her. Not at all.
Thus encouraged, she decided to be daring again. When would she ever repeat such a chance, after all? Perhaps what happened to you was a different kind of wall for her.
Yes, it makes sense that you would see it from her point of view, I guess.
What exactly did happen?
To me? he finished. He did not grow stiff as he had in that prickly moment over dinner the other night, but instead regarded her thoughtfully, with a kind of attentive seriousness that was almost more alarming. What do you know?
Not a great deal. Id heard that the Lord Regents son had been born crippled, in the Pretenders War. The Lord Regent was noted for keeping his private life very private. Actually, shed heard his heir was a mutie, and kept out of sight.
Thats all! He looked almost offended-that he wasnt more famous? Or infamous?
My life didnt much intersect that social set, she hastened to explain. Or any other. My father was just a minor provincial bureaucrat. Many of Barrayars rural Vor are a lot more rural than they are Vor, Im afraid.
His smile grew. Quite. You should have met my grandfather. Or perhaps not. Well. Hm. Theres not a great deal to tell, at this late date. An assassin aiming for my father managed to graze both my parents with an obsolete military poison gas called soltoxin.
During the Pretendership?
Just prior, actually. My mother was five months pregnant with me. Hence this mess. A wave of his hand down his body, and that nervous jerk of his head, both summed himself and defied the viewer. The damage was actually teratogenic, not genetic. He shot her an odd sidelong look. It used to be very important to me for people to know that.
Used to be? And not now? Ingenuous of him-hed managed to tell her quickly enough. She was almost disappointed. Was it true that only his body, and not his chromosomes, had been damaged?
Now I think maybe its all right if they think Im a mutie. If I can make it really not matter, maybe it will matter less for the next mutie who comes after me. A form of service that costs me no additional effort.
It cost him something, evidently. She thought of Nikolai, heading into his teens soon, and what a hard time of life that was even for normal children. Were you made to feel it? Growing up?
I was of course somewhat protected by Fathers rank and position.
She noted that somewhat. Somewhat was not the same as completely. Sometimes, somewhat was the same as not at all.
I moved a few mountains, to force myself into the Imperial Military Service. After, um, a few false starts, I finally found a place for myself in Imperial Security, among the irregulars. The rest of the irregulars. ImpSec was more interested in results than appearances, and I found I could deliver results. Except a slight miscalculation-all the achievements upon which Id hoped to be rejudged disappeared into ImpSecs classified files. So I fell out at the end of a thirteen-year career, a medically discharged captain whom nobody knew, almost as anonymous as when I started. He actually sighed.
Imperial Auditors arent anonymous!
No, just discreet. He brightened. So theres some hope yet.
Why did he make her want to laugh? She swallowed the impulse. Do you wish to be famous?
His eyes narrowed in a moment of introspection. I would have said so, once. Now I think I just wanted to be someone in my own right. Make no mistake, I like being my fathers son. He is a great man. In every sense, and its been a privilege to know him. But there is, nevertheless, a secret fantasy of mine, where just once, in some history somewhere, Aral Vorkosigan gets introduced as being principally important because he was Miles Naismith Vorkosigans father.
She did laugh then, though she muffled it almost immediately with a hand over her mouth. But he did not seem to take offense, for his eyes merely crinkled at her. It is pretty amusing, he said ruefully.
No no, not that, she hastily denied. It just seems like some kind of hubris, I guess.
Oh, its all kinds of hubris. Except that he did not look in the least daunted by the prospect, merely calculating.
His thoughtful look fell on her then; he cleared his throat, and began, When I was working on your comconsole yesterday morning- The deceleration of the bubble-car interrupted him. The little man craned his neck as they slid to a halt in the station. Damn, he murmured.
Is something wrong? she asked, concerned.
No, no. He hit the pad to raise the canopy. So, lets see this Docks and Locks district
Lord Vorkosigan seemed to enjoy their stroll through the organized chaos of the Shuttleport Locks district, though the route he chose was decidedly nonstandard; he zig-zagged by preference down to what Ekaterin thought of as the underside of the area, where people and machines loaded and unloaded cargo, and where the less well-off sorts of spacers had their hostels and bars. There were plenty of odd-looking people in the district, in all colors and sizes, wearing strange clothes; snatches of conversations in utterly strange languages teased her ear in passing. The looks they gave the two Barrayarans were noted but ignored by Vorkosigan. Ekaterin decided that his lack of offense wasnt because the galactics stared less-or more-at him, it was that they stared equally at everybody.