Cetaganda

Ghem-General Chilian took another car; Miles and the haut Pel found themselves alone with Kety in a van-like space clearly designed for the lady-bubbles.

'You're late. Complications?' Kety inquired cryptically, settling back in his seat. He looked worried and stern, as befit an earnest mourner—or a man riding a particularly hungry and unreliable tiger.

Yeah, and I should have known he was Lord X when I first spotted that fake gray hair, Miles decided. This was one haut-lord who didn't want to wait for what life might bring him.

'Nothing I couldn't handle,' reported Pel. The voice-filter, set to maximum blur, altered her tones into a fair imitation of the haut Vio's.

'I'm sure, my love. Keep your force-screen up till we're aboard.'

'Yes.'

Y ep. Ghem-General Chilian definitely has an appointment with an unfriendly air lock, Miles decided. Poor sucker. The haut Vio, perhaps, meant to get back into the haut- genome one way or another. So was she Kety's mistress, or his master? Or were they a team? Two brains rather than one behind this plot could account for its speed, flexibility, and confusion all together.

The haut Pel touched a control, and turned to Miles. 'When we get aboard, we must decide whether to look first for the haut Nadina or the Great Key.'

Miles nearly choked. 'Er . . .' He gestured toward Kety, sitting less than a meter from his knee.

'He cannot hear us,' Pel reassured him. It seemed to be so, for Kety turned abstracted eyes to the passing view outside the luxurious lift-van's polarized canopy.

'The recovery of the Key,' Pel went on, 'is of the highest priority.'

'Mm. But the haut Nadina, if she's still alive, is an important witness, for Barrayar's sake. And . . . she may have an idea where the Key is being kept. I think it's in a cipher lab, but it's a damned big ship, and there's a lot of places Kety may have tucked a cipher lab.'

'Both it and Nadina will be close to his quarters,' Pel said.

'He won't have her in the brig?'

'I doubt . . . Kety will have wished many of his soldiers or servitors to know that he holds his consort prisoner. No. She will most likely be secreted in a cabin.'

'I wonder where Kety figures to stage whatever fatal crime he's planned involving Ivan and the haut Nadina? The consorts move on pretty constricted paths. He won't site it on his own ship, nor his own residence. And he probably doesn't dare repeat the performance inside the Celestial Garden, that would be just too much. Something downside, I fancy, and tonight.'

Governor Kety glanced at their force bubble, and inquired, 'Is he waking up yet?'

Pel touched her lips, then her controls. 'Not yet.'

'I want to question him, before. I must know how much they know.'

'Time enough.'

'Barely.'

Pel killed her outgoing sound again.

'The haut Nadina first,' Miles voted firmly.

'I … think you're right, Lord Vorkosigan,' sighed Pel.

Further dangerous conversation with Kety was blocked by the confusion of loading the shuttle to convey the portion of retinue that was going to orbit; Kety himself was busied on his comm link. They did not find themselves alone with the governor again until the whole mob had disgorged into the shuttle hatch corridor aboard Kety's State ship, and gone about their various duties or pleasures. Ghem-General Chilian did not even attempt to speak with his wife. Pel followed at Kety's gesture. From the fact that Kety had dismissed his guards, Miles reasoned that they were about to get down to business. Limiting witnesses limited the murders necessary to silence them, later, if things went wrong.

Kety led them to a broad, tastefully appointed corridor obviously dedicated to upper-class residence suites. Miles almost tapped the haut Pel on the shoulder. 'Look. Down the hall. Do you see?'

A liveried man stood guard outside one cabin door. He braced to attention at the sight of his master. But Kety turned in to another cabin first. The guard relaxed slightly.

Pel craned her neck. 'Might it be the haut Nadina?'

'Yes. Well . . . maybe. I don't think he'd dare use a regular trooper for the duty. Not if he doesn't control their command structure yet.' Miles felt a strong pang of regret that he hadn't figured out the schism between Kety and his ghem-general earlier. Talk about exploitable opportunities . . .

The door slid closed behind them, and Miles's head snapped around to see what they were getting into now. The chamber was clean, bare of decoration or personal effects: an unused cabin, then.

'We can put him here,' said Kety, nodding to a couch in the sitting-room portion of the chamber. 'Can you keep him under control chemically, or must we have some guards?'

'Chemically,' responded Pel, 'but I need a few things. Synergine. Fast-penta. And we'd better check him for induced fast-penta allergies first. Many important people are given them, I understand. I don't think you want him to die here.'

'Clarium?'

Pel glanced at Miles, her eyes widening in question; she did not know that one. Clarium was a fairly standard military interrogation tranquilizer—Miles nodded.

'That would be a good idea,' Pel hazarded.

'No chance of his waking up before I get back, is there?' asked Kety in concern.

'I'm afraid I dosed him rather strongly.'

'Hm. Please be more discreet, my love. We don't want excessive chemical residues left upon autopsy. Though with luck, there will not be enough left to autopsy.'

'I'm reluctant to count on luck.'

'Good' said Kety, with a peculiar exasperation. 'You're learning at last.'

'I'll await you,' said Pel coolly, by way of a broad hint. As if the haut Vio would have done anything else.

'Let me help you lay him out,' Kety said. 'It must be crowded in there.'

'Not for me. I'm using him for a footrest. The float-chair is … most comfortable. Let me … enjoy the privilege of the haut a little longer, my love,' Pel sighed. 'It has been so long. …'

Kety's lips thinned in amusement. 'Soon enough, you shall have more privileges than the Empress ever had. And all the outworlders at your feet you may desire.' He gave the bubble a short nod, and departed, striding quickly. Where would a haut-governor with an interrogation chemistry shopping list go? Sickbay? Security? And how long would it take?

'Now,' said Miles. 'Back up the corridor. We have to get rid of the guard—did you bring any of that stuff that the haut Vio used on Ivan?'

Pel pulled the tiny bulb from her sleeve and held it up.

'How many doses are left?'

Pel squinted. 'Two. Vio over-prepared.' She sounded faintly disapproving, as if Vio had lost style-points by this redundancy.

'I'd have taken a hundred, just in case. All right. Use it sparingly—not at all if you don't have to.'

Pel floated her bubble out of the cabin again, and turned up the corridor. Miles slid around behind the float-chair, crouching with his hands gripping the high back and his boots slipping slightly on base which held the power pack. Hiding behind a woman's skirts? It was frustrating as hell to have his transportation—and everything else—under the control of a Cetagandan, even if the rescue mission was his idea. But needs must drive. Pel came to a halt before the liveried guard.

'Servitor,' she addressed him.

'Haut,' he nodded respectfully to the blank white bubble. 'I am on duty, and may not assist you.'