activating hydrology is a huge thermal buffering system, what with the heat of liquefaction load locked up in all that ice. At present—before the accident—it was felt the best use of waste heat was in the creation of microclimates around the domes, to be reservoirs for the next wave of higher biota.'
'It sounds like insanity to an engineer to say, 'We need to waste more energy in heat loss,'' agreed Vorthys, 'but I suppose here it's true. What's the feasibility of dedicating some number of fusion reactors to pure heat production?'
'Boiling the seas cup by cup?' Soudha grimaced.
The man who had been introduced as the head of Microbial Reclassification smiled, not entirely gratefully, at Soudha, and turned to the Auditors. 'Well, yes. Bacteria are booming. Both our deliberate inoculations, and wild genera. Over the years, every Earth type has been imported, or at any rate, has arrived and escaped. Unfortunately, microbial life has a tendency to adapt to its environment more swiftly than the environment has adapted to us. My department has its hands full, keeping up with the mutations. More light and heat are needed, as always. And, bluntly, my lords, more funding. Although our microflora grow fast, they also die fast, rereleasing their carbon compounds. We need to advance to higher organisms, to sequester the excess carbon for the millennial time- frames required. Perhaps you could address this, Liz?' He nodded toward a pleasantly plump middle-aged lady who had been named head of Carbon Drawdown.
She smiled happily, by which Miles deduced her department's responsibilities were going well this year. 'Yes, my lords. We've a number of higher forms of vegetation coming along both in major test plots, and undergoing genetic development or improvement. By far our greatest success is with the cold– and carbon-dioxide-hardy peat bogs. They do require liquid water, and as always, would do
She gazed longingly at Vorthys, but he merely said, 'Thank you, Madame.'
'We plan a flyover of the peat plantations later this afternoon,' Vorsoisson told her. She settled back, temporarily content.
And so it continued around the table: more than Miles had ever wanted to know about Komarran terraforming, interspersed with oblique, and not so oblique, pleas for increased Imperial funding. And heat and light.
'Ah, Administrator Soudha,' Vorthys said, as the Waste Heat department head stepped past them toward the door. 'A word, please?'
Soudha stopped, and smiled faintly. 'My Lord Auditor?'
'Was there some special reason you could not help that young fellow, Farr, find his missing lady?'
Soudha hesitated. 'I beg your pardon?'
'The fellow who was looking for your former employee, Marie Trogir, I believe he said her name was. Was there some reason you could not help him?'
'Oh, him. Her. Well, uh . . . that was a difficult thing, there.' Soudha looked around, but the room had emptied, except for Vorsoisson and Venier waiting to convey their high-ranking guests on the next leg of their tour.
'I recommended he file a missing person complaint with Dome Security. They may be making inquiries of you.'
'I … don't think I'll be able to help them any more than I could help Farr. I'm afraid I really don't know where she is. She left, you see. Very suddenly, only a day's notice. It put a hole in my staffing at what has proved to be a difficult time. I wasn't too pleased.'
'So Farr said. I just thought it was odd about the cats. One of my daughters keeps cats. Dreadful little parasites, but she's very fond of them.'
'Cats?' said Soudha, looking increasingly mystified.
'Trogir apparently left her cats in the keeping of Farr.'
Soudha blinked, but said, 'I've always considered it out of line to intrude on my subordinate's personal lives. Men or pets, it was Trogir's business, not mine. As long as they're kept off project time. I … was there anything else?'
'Not really,' said Vorthys.
'Then if you will excuse me, my Lord Auditor.' Soudha smiled again, and ducked away.
'What was that all about?' Miles asked Vorthys as they turned down the corridor in the opposite direction.
Vorsoisson answered. 'A minor office scandal, unfortunately. One of Soudha's techs—female—ran off with one of his engineers, male. Completely blindsided him, apparently. He's fairly embarrassed about it. However did you run across it?'
'Young Farr accosted Ekaterin in a restaurant,' said Vorthys.
'He really has been a pest.' Vorsoisson sighed. 'I don't blame Soudha for avoiding him.'
'I always thought Komarrans were more casual about such things,' said Miles. 'In the galactic style and all that. Not as casual as the Betans, but still. It sounds like a Barrayaran backcountry elopement.'
Vorsoisson shrugged. 'The cultural contamination between the worlds can't run one way all the time, I suppose.'
The little party continued to the underground garage, where the aircar Vorsoisson had requisitioned was not in evidence. 'Wait here, Venier.' Swearing under his breath, Vorsoisson went off to see what had happened to it; Vorthys accompanied him.
The opportunity to interview a Komarran in apparently-casual mode was not to be missed. What kind of Komarran was Venier? Miles turned to him, only to find him speaking first: 'Is this your first visit to Komarr, Lord Vorkosigan?'
'By no means. I've passed through the topside stations many times. I haven't got downside too often, I admit. This is the first time I've been to Serifosa.'
'Have you ever visited Solstice?'
The planetary capital. 'Of course.'
Venier stared at the middle distance, past the concrete pillars and dim lighting, and smiled faintly. 'Have you ever visited the Massacre Shrine there?'