Brothers in Arms Read Online Free PDF Page B

Revolt during the Regency—they're mostly a lot poorer now. They're aging, though. Another half generation, if your father's integration policies succeed, and they'll have totally lost momentum, Captain Galeni says."
    Ivan picked up another data disk. "And then we come to the real hot stuff, which is keeping track of what the other embassies are doing. Such as the Cetagandan."
    "I hope they're on the other side of the planet," said Miles sincerely.
    "No, most of the galactic embassies and consuls are concentrated right here in London. Makes watching each other ever so much more convenient."
    "Ye gods," moaned Miles, "don't tell me they're across the street or some damned thing."
    Ivan grinned. "Almost. They're about two kilometers away. We go to each other's parties a lot, to practice being snide, and play I-know-you-know-I-know games."
    Miles sat, hyperventilating slightly. "Oh, shit."
    "What's up you, coz?"
    "Those people are trying to kill me."
    "No they're not. It'd start a war. We're at peace right now, sort of, remember?"
    "Well, they're trying to kill Admiral Naismith, anyway."
    "Who vanished yesterday."
    "Yeah, but—one of the reasons this whole Dendarii scam has held up for so long is distance. Admiral Naismith and Lieutenant Vorkosigan never show up within hundreds of light years of each other. We've never been trapped on the same planet together, let alone the same city."
    "As long as you leave your Dendarii uniform in my closet, what's to connect?"
    "Ivan, how many four-foot-nine-inch black-haired gray-eyed hunchbacks can there be on this damned planet? D'you think you trip over twitchy dwarfs on every street corner?"
    "On a planet of nine billion," said Ivan, "there's got to be at least six of everything. Calm down!" He paused. "Y'know, that's the first time I've ever heard you use that word."
    "What word?"
    "Hunchback. You're not really, you know." Ivan eyed him with friendly worry.
    Miles's fist closed, opened in a sharp throw-away gesture. "Anyway, Cetagandans. If they have a counterpart doing what you're doing—"
    Ivan nodded. "I've met him. His name's ghem-lieutenant Tabor."
    "Then they know the Dendarii are here, and know Admiral Naismith's been seen. They probably have a list of every purchase order we've put through the comm net, or will soon enough, when they turn their attention to it. They're tracking."
    "They may be tracking, but they can't get orders from higher up any faster than we can," said Ivan reasonably. "And in any case they've got a manpower shortage. Our security staff is four times the size of theirs, on account of the Komarrans. I mean, this may be Earth, but it's still a minor embassy, even more so for them than us. Never fear," he struck a pose in his station chair, hand across his chest, "Cousin Ivan will protect you."
    "That's so reassuring," Miles muttered.
    Ivan grinned at the sarcasm and turned back to his work.
    The day wore on interminably in the quiet, changeless room. His claustrophobia, Miles discovered, was developed to a much higher pitch than it used to be. He absorbed lessons from Ivan, and paced from wall to wall between times.
    "You could do that about twice as fast, you know," Miles observed to Ivan, plugging away at his data analysis.
    "But then I'd be done right after lunch," said Ivan, "and then I wouldn't have anything to do at all."
    "Surely Galeni could find something."
    "That's what I'm afraid of," said Ivan. "Quitting time rolls around soon enough. Then we go party."
    "No, then you go party. I go to my room, as ordered. Maybe I'll catch up on my sleep, finally."
    "That's it, think positive," said Ivan. "I'll work out with you in the embassy gym, if you want. You don't look so good, you know. Pale and, um . . . pale."
    Old, thought Miles, is the word you just edited. He glanced at the distorted reflection of his face in a bit of chrome plating on the console. That bad, eh?
    "Exercise," Ivan thumped his chest, "will be good for you."
    "No doubt," muttered