Yes, if that whole mess topside wasnt some really bizarre suicide mission, or internecine sabotage, or and where is Marie Trogir, blast it? Im not at all sure the Komarrans knew, either. When he talked to me, Soudha seemed to be angling to find out if I knew anything of her. Unless that was just more of his misdirection.
Are you seeing anything in your inventory yet? asked Vorthys.
Mm, not exactly what Im looking for. The final autopsy report on Radovas revealed some cellular distortions, in addition to the gross, and I use that term advisedly, damage. They reminded me a little of what happens to human bodies which have suffered a near-miss from a gravitic imploder beam. A hit, of course, is very distinctive, in a messy and violently-distributed way, but a near-miss can kill without actually bursting the body. Ive been wondering since I first saw the cell scans if Soudha has reinvented the gravitic imploder lance, or some other gravitic field weapon. Scaling them down to personnel size has been an ongoing ambition of the weapons boffins, I know. But the parts list doesnt quite jibe. Theres a load of heavy-duty power transmission equipment among this stuff, but Im damned if I see what theyre transmitting it to.
The math fragments found in Radovass library intrigue me very much, said Vorthys. You spoke to Soudhas mathematician, Cappell-what was your impression of him?
Its hard to say, now that I know he was lying through his teeth at me through the whole interview, said Miles ruefully. I deduce that Soudha trusted him to keep his head, at a time when the whole team must have been scrambling like hell to complete their withdrawal. Soudha was very selective, I now realize, in just who he gated through to me. Miles hesitated, not just sure he could lay out the logic of his next conclusion. I think Cappell was a key man. Maybe next after Soudha himself. Although the accountant, Foscol no. I give you a foursome. Soudha, Foscol, Cappell, and Radovas. Theyre the core. Ill bet you Betan dollars to sand the farrago about a love affair between Radovas and Trogir was a complete fabrication, a convincing smoke screen they developed after the accident, to buy time. But in that case, where is Trogir now? After a moment he added, And were they planning to use their thing, or sell it? If sell, theyd almost have to find a customer out of the Empire. Maybe Trogir double-crossed everyone and took off with the specs to some high bidder. ImpSecs got a tight watch for our missing Komarrans on all the jump-point exits from the Empire. They only had a couple hours start, they cant have got out before the lid clamped down. But Trogir had a two-week head start. She could be long gone by now.
Vorthys shook his head, declining to reason in advance of his data; Miles sighed, and returned to his list.
By the end of an hour, Miles was cross-eyed from staring at meters and meters of really supremely boring inventory readouts. His mind wandered, revolving a plan to go attach himself like a hyperactive leech to all the field agents searching for the fugitive Komarrans. Sequentially, he supposed; he had learned not to wish to be twins, or any other multiple of himself. Miles thought of the old Barrayaran joke about the Vor lord who jumped on his horse and rode off in all directions. Forward momentum only worked as a strategy if one had correctly identified which way was forward. After all, Lord Auditor Vorthys didnt run around in circles; he sat composedly in the center and let it all come to him.
Miless meditations on the proven disadvantages of cloning were interrupted when Colonel Gibbs called them. Gibbs was sporting a demure smile of amazing smugness. The Professor wandered over into range of the vid pickup and leaned on the back of Miless chair as Gibbs spoke.
My Lord Auditor. My Lord Auditor. Gibbs nodded to them both. Ive found something odd I expect you want. We finally succeeded in tracing the real purchase orders of Waste Heats largest equipment expenditures. They have, over the last two years, bought five custom-designed Necklin field generators from a Komarran jumpship powerplant firm. I have the companys name and address, and copies of the invoices. Bollan Design thats the builder-still has the tech specs on file.
Soudha was building a jump ship? Miles muttered, trying to picture it. Wait a minute, Necklin rods come in pairs maybe they broke one? Colonel, has ImpSec visited Bollan yet?
We did, to confirm the invoice forgery. Bollan Design appears to be a perfectly legitimate, though small, company; theyve been in business about thirty years, which rather predates this embezzlement operation. Theyre unable to compete head to head with the major builders like Toscane Industries, so theyve specialized in odd and experimental designs and custom repairs of out-system and obsolete jumpship rods. Bollan as a company does not appear to have violated any regulation, and seems to have dealt with Soudha as a customer in all good faith. The invoices at the time they left Bollan were not yet altered; that was done when they arrived on Foscols comconsole, apparently. Nevertheless the chief design engineer who worked on the order directly with Soudha has not been to work for three days, nor did my field agent find him at home.
Miles swore under his breath. Ducking fast-penta interrogation, you bet. Unless his body turns up dead in a ditch. Could be either, at this point. You have a detainment order out on him, I trust?
Certainly, my lord. Shall I download everything weve acquired so far this morning on your secured channel?
Yes, please, said Miles.
Especially the tech specs, put in Vorthys over his shoulder. After I look at them, I may want to talk to the people at Bollan who are still there. May I trouble ImpSec to be sure none of the rest of them go on an extempore vacation before I get in touch with them, Colonel?
Already been done, my lord.
Still looking smug, Gibbs signed off, to be replaced by the promised financial and technical data. Vorthys tried to foist the financial records off on Miles, who promptly filed them and went to look at Vorthyss tech readouts.
Well, said Vorthys, when, after a cursory initial scan, he was able to pull up a holovid schematic, which rotated slowly and colorfully in three dimensions above his vid-plate. What the hell is that?
I was hoping youd tell me, Miles breathed, now hanging in turn over the back of Vorthyss station chair. Sure doesnt look like any Necklin rod Ive ever seen. The lines turning in air sketched out a shape like a cross between a corkscrew and a funnel.
All the designs are slightly different, noted Vorthys, bringing up four more shapes to hang in series beside the first. Judging by the dates, they were scaling up with each subsequent model.
According to the attached measurements, the first three were relatively smaller, a couple of meters long and a meter or so wide. The fourth was double the dimensions of the third. The fifth, probably four meters wide at the larger end and six meters in length. Miles pictured the size of the assembly room doors in the building next to this one. Wherever that last one had been delivered to-four weeks ago?-it hadnt been here. And one did not leave a delicate precision device like a Necklin rod out in the wind and rain.
Those things generate Necklin fields? said Miles. What shape? With a pair of jumpship rods, the fields counter-rotate and fold the ship through five-space. He held his hands out parallel with each other, palm up, then pressed them inward, in the metaphor hed been given, the field wrapped around the ship to create a five-space needle of infinitesimal diameter and unlimited length, to punch through that area of five-space weakness called a wormhole, and unfold again into three-space on the other side. Hed also been dragged through a more convincing mathematical demonstration, in his last term at the Academy, all details of which, never called on subsequently thereafter, had evaporated out of his brain shortly after the final exam. That was long before his cryo-revival, so it was one bit of memory loss he could not blame on the snipers needle-grenade. I used to know this stuff he muttered plaintively.