The supervisor, a pleasant young Komarran man, returned with the clerk, and Ekaterin gave her explanation again. He listened, and rechecked all the documentation, and turned to her with an air of earnest regret.
Im sorry, Madame Vorsoisson. If you were a Komarran planetary shareholder, instead of a Barrayaran subject, the rules would be very different.
All Komarran planetary shareholders are Barrayaran subjects, Vorkosigan pointed out from behind her, in a bland tone.
The supervisor managed a pained smile. Im afraid thats not quite what I meant. The thing is, a similar problem came up for us just a few months ago, regarding treatment under quasi-emergency conditions of a Vor child of Komarr-resident Barrayarans. We went with what seemed to us to be the common-sense approach. The childs legal guardian later disagreed, and the judicial, er, negotiations are still going on. It proved to be a very costly error of judgment for the clinic. Given that Vorzohns Dystrophy is a chronic and not an immediately life-threatening condition, and that you should in theory be able to obtain your legal permissions in a week or two, Im afraid Im going to have to ask you to reschedule.
Ekaterin took a deep breath, whether to argue or scream she was not sure. But Lord Vorkosigan leaned past her shoulder and smiled at the supervisor. Hand me that read-pad, will you?
The puzzled supervisor did so; Vorkosigan rummaged in his pocket and pulled out his gold Auditors seal, which he uncapped and pressed to the pad, along with his right palm. He spoke into the vocorder. By my order, and for the good the Imperium, I request and require all assistance, to wit, suitable medical treatment for Nikolai Vorsoisson. Vorkosigan, Imperial Auditor. He handed it back. See if that doesnt make your machine happier. He murmured aside to Ekaterin, Just like swatting flies with a laser cannon. The aims a bit tricky, but it sure takes care of the flies.
Lord Vorkosigan, I cant Her tongue stumbled to a halt. Cant what? This wasnt like waffling over the lunch bill; Tiens benefits would be paying for Nikkis treatment, if only the Komarrans could be persuaded to disgorge it. Vorkosigans offered contribution was entirely intangible. Nothing your esteemed uncle would not have done for you, if I could have spared him to you today. He gave her one his ghost-bows, seated.
The supervisors expression changed from suspicious to stunned as his comconsole digested this new data. You are Lord Auditor Vorkosigan?
At your service.
I er uh in what capacity are you here, my Lord?
Friend of the family. Vorkosigans smile twisted just slightly, Red tape cutter and general expediter. To his credit, the supervisor managed not to gibber. He dismissed the clerk and sped them through processing, and himself escorted them upstairs and into the hands of the medtechs in the genetics department. He then vanished, but things ran blazingly quickly thereafter.
It almost seems unfair, Ekaterin murmured, when Nikki was whisked away briefly by a tech to pee into a sampler, to think Nikki just jumped the queue, there.
Yes, well I found last winter that an Auditors seal had the same enlivening effect on ImpMils veterans treatment division, whose hallways are much draftier and drab than these, and whose queue times are legendary. Quite ridiculous. I was charmed. Vorkosigans face grew more introspective, and sober. Im afraid Ive not quite found my balance with this Imperial Auditor thing yet. What is the just use of power, what is its abuse? I could have ordered Madame Radovas to be fast-pentad, or ordered Tien to land us at the experiment station that first evening, and events would now be well, I dont quite know what they would now be, except different than this. But I did not wish to He trailed off, and for just a flash, Ekaterin caught an impression of a much younger man beneath his habitual mask of irony and authority. He is no older than me, after all.
Did you anticipate that problem with the permissions? I should have thought of it, I suppose, but they took all the information when I made the appointment, and didnt say anything, so I thought, I assumed-
Not specifically. But I hoped I might have a chance to do some little service or another today. Im pleased it was so easy.
Yes, she realized enviously, he could just wave all ordinary problems out of his path. Leaving only the extraordinary ones her envy ebbed. It occurred belatedly to Ekaterin that he too might feel some guilt about Tiens death, and that was why he was going to such lengths to assist Tiens widow and orphan. So intense a concern seemed unnecessary, and she wondered how to reassure him that she did not blame him without creating more awkwardness than she erased.
A battery of tests was completed upon Nikki in about half the time Ekaterin had mentally allotted for them. The Komarran physician met with them in her comfortable office very shortly thereafter; Vorkosigan dismissed the bodyguards to lurk in the corridor.
Nikkis gene scan shows the dystrophy complex to be very much in the classic mode, the doctor told them, when Ekaterin and Nikki were seated side by side in front of her comconsole desk. Vorkosigan, as usual, took a backseat and just watched. He has a few idiosyncratic complications, but nothing our lab cant handle.
She illustrated her talk with a holovid of the actual offending chromosomes, and a computer-generated vid of exactly how the retrovirus would deliver the splice that would work to supplement their deficiencies. Nikki did not ask as many questions as Ekaterin had hoped he would-was he intimidated, weary, bored?
I believe our gene techs can have the retrovirus personalized for Nikki in about a week, the doctor concluded. Im going to have you return for the injection then, Nikki. Plan to stay overnight in Solstice for a recheck the following day, Madame Vorsoisson, and if possible, visit us again just before you leave Komarr. Nikki will need to be reexamined monthly thereafter for three months, which you can have done at a clinic I will recommend to you in Vorbarr Sultana. Well give out a disk with all the records, and they should be able to pick it up from there. After that, assuming all goes well, a early checkup should suffice.
Thats all? said Ekaterin, weak with relief.
Thats all.
There was no damage yet? We are in time?
No, hes fine. Its hard to project, with Vorzohns Dystrophy, but I would guess in his case the onset of detectable gross cellular damage would have begun to appear in his late teens or early twenties. You are in good time.
Ekaterin held Nikkis hand hard as they exited, her steps firm, to keep her feet from dancing. With an, Aw, Mama, Nikki extracted himself, and walked with independent dignity beside her. Vorkosigan, his hands shoved deep in his gray trouser pockets, followed smiling.
Nikki fell asleep in the shuttle, with his head pillowed on Ekaterins lap. She watched him fondly, and stroked his hair, lightly so as not to wake him.
Vorkosigan, sitting across from them with his reader on his knees again, watched her in turn, and murmured, Is it well?
Its well, she said softly. But it feels so strange Nikkis illness has been the whole focus of my life for so long. I gradually pared away all the other impossibilities to concentrate wholly on this, the one main thing. It feels as though I had been steeling myself to batter down some unscalable wall. And then, when I finally took a deep breath and put my head down and charged, it just fell, all in a heap, like that. And now Im stumbling around in the dust and the bricks, blinking. I feel very unbalanced. Where am I now? Who am I now?