'That was your argument four weeks ago. You saw the result.'
Illyan looked perturbed.
Vorkosigan spoke low and controlled. 'Everything the Emperor requires of me will be accomplished. He's a great choreographer, and he shall have his dance of dreamers down to the last step.' Vorkosigan's hand closed in a fist, and opened again. 'I have withheld nothing that is mine from his service. Not my life. Not even my honor. Grant me this.' He pointed at Cordelia. 'You gave me your word on it then. Do you intend to take it back?'
'Will someone please tell me what you are talking about?' interrupted Cordelia.
'Lieutenant Illyan is having a little conflict at the moment between duty and conscience,' said Vorkosigan, folding his arms and staring at the far wall. 'It is not solvable without redefining one or the other, and he must now choose which.'
'You see, there was another incident,' Illyan jerked his thumb in the direction of Vorrutyer's quarters, 'like that, with a prisoner, a few weeks ago. Commodore Vorkosigan wanted to, er, do something about it then. I talked him out of it. After—afterwards, I agreed that I would not interfere with any action he chose to take, should the situation come up again.'
'Did Vorrutyer kill her?' asked Cordelia morbidly.
'No,' said Illyan. He stared moodily at his boots.
'Come on, Illyan,' said Vorkosigan wearily. 'If they aren't discovered, you can give the Emperor your true report, and let him edit it. If they are found here—the public integrity of your reports is not going to be your most pressing worry, believe me.'
'Damn! Captain Negri was right,' said Illyan.
'He usually is—what was the instance?'
'He said that permitting private judgments to turn my duty in the smallest matter would be just like getting a little bit pregnant—that the consequences would very soon get beyond me.'
Vorkosigan laughed. 'Captain Negri is a very experienced man. But I can tell you that—very rarely—even he has been known to make a private judgment.'
'But Security is tearing the place apart out there. They're going to arrive back here eventually just by process of elimination. The moment it occurs to someone to suspect my integrity, it's all over.'
'In time,' agreed Vorkosigan. 'How much time, do you estimate?'
'They'll complete the search sweep of the ship in a few hours.'
'Then you'll just have to re-direct their efforts. Widen their search area—didn't any ships depart the flag during the time window after Vorrutyer's death and before the security cordon was started?'
'Yes, two, but …'
'Good. Use your Imperial influence there. Volunteer all the assistance that you, as Captain Negri's most trusted aide, can supply. Mention Negri frequently. Suggest. Recommend. Doubt. Better not bribe or threaten, that's too obvious, although it may come to that. Slander their inspection procedures, make records evaporate—whatever is necessary to muddy the waters. Buy me forty-eight hours, Illyan. That's all I ask.'
'All?' choked Illyan.
'All. Try to be sure it's you and no one else who brings meals and so on. And try to slip in some extra rations when you do.'
Vorkosigan relaxed measurably when he had gone, and turned to her with a sad and awkward smile that was good as a touch. 'Well met, lady.'
She sketched him a salute, and returned the smile. 'I hope I haven't messed things up for you too much. Personally, that is.'
'By no means. In fact, you have simplified them enormously.'
'East is west, up is down, and being falsely arrested for getting your C.O.'s throat cut is a simplification. I must be on Barrayar. I don't suppose you'd care to explain what's going on around here?'
'No. But at last I understand why there have been so many madmen in Barrayaran history. They are not its cause, they are its effect.' He sighed, and spoke so low it was almost a whisper. 'Oh, Cordelia. You have no idea how much I need one sane clean person near me. You are water in the desert.'
'You look pretty, uh—you look like you've lost weight.' He looked, she thought, ten years older than six months ago.
'Oh, me.' He ran his hand over his face. 'I'm not thinking. You must be exhausted. Do you want to go to sleep, or something?'
'I'm not sure I can, yet. But I'd like to wash up. Didn't think I ought to run the shower when you weren't here, in case it's monitored.'
'Good thinking. Go ahead.'
She rubbed her hand over her nerveless thigh, black cloth sticky with blood. 'Uh, have you got a change of clothes for me? These are messed up. Besides, they were Vorrutyer's. They have a psychic stink.'
'Right.' His face darkened, 'Is that your blood?'
'Yeah, Vorrutyer was playing surgeon. It doesn't hurt. I've got no nerves there.'
'Hm.' Vorkosigan fingered his scar, and smiled a little. 'Yes, I think I have just the thing for you.'
He unlocked one of his drawers with an eight-digit number code, sorted down to the bottom layer, and to Cordelia's astonishment pulled out the Survey fatigues she had left behind on the
'You—saved my clothes?'
'As you see.'
'Good heavens. Uh—why?'
His mouth crimped ruefully. 'Well—it was all you left. Except for the shuttle your people abandoned downside, which would have made a rather awkward memento.'
She ran her hand over the tan cloth, feeling suddenly shy. But just before disappearing into the bathroom with the clothes and a first-aid kit, she said abruptly, 'I've still got my Barrayaran uniform at home. Wrapped in paper, in a drawer.' She gave him a firm nod; his eyes lit.
When she came out again the room was dim and night-quiet, but for a light over the desk where Vorkosigan was studying a disk at his computer interface. She hopped onto his bed and sat cross-legged again, wriggling her bare toes. 'What's all that?'
'Homework. It's my official function on Vorrutyer's—the late Admiral Vorrutyer's—Staff.' He smiled a little as he corrected himself, like the famous tiger of the limerick when he returned from the ride with the lady inside. 'I'm charged with planning and keeping the contingency orders up to date, in case we are forced to fall back. As the Emperor said in the Council meeting, since I was so convinced it was going to be a disaster, I could bloody well do the planning for it. I'm regarded as a bit of a fifth wheel around here at the moment.'
'Things going well for your side, are they?' she asked, oppressed.
'We're becoming nicely overextended. Some people regard that as progress.' He entered some new data, then shut down the interface.
She sought to turn the subject from the dangerous present. 'I take it you didn't get charged with treason after all?' she asked, thinking back to their last conversation, long ago and far away above another world.
'Ah, that turned out something of a draw. I was recalled back to Barrayar after you escaped. Minister Grishnov—he's head of Political Education, and third in real power after the Emperor and Captain Negri—was practically drooling on himself, he was so convinced he'd got me at last. But my case against Radnov was air- tight.
'The Emperor stepped in before we could draw blood, and forced a compromise, or more correctly, an abeyance. I haven't actually been cleared, the charges are still pending in some legal limbo.'
'How'd he do it?'
'Sleight of hand. He was giving Grishnov and the whole war party everything they'd asked for, the entire Escobar scheme on a platter, and more. He gave them the Prince. And all the credit. After the conquest of Escobar, Grishnov and the Prince each think they're going to be the de facto ruler of Barrayar.
'He even made Vorrutyer swallow my promotion. Pointed out he'd have me directly under his command. Vorrutyer saw the light at once.' Vorkosigan's teeth set at some searing memory, his hand opening and closing once, unconsciously.
