"I might be, someday. Only if I live, of course."
"And they would all be good little Imperial subjects," sneered Galen, recovering his initial balance with an effort.
Galeni shrugged. "Seems to fit in with Vorkosigan's offer of life. I can't give you anything else you want of me."
"You two are more alike than either of you realize, I think," Miles murmured. "So what's your proposition, Ser Galen? Why have you called us all here?"
Galen's right hand went to his jacket, then slowed. He smiled, tilted his head as if asking permission, disarmingly. Here comes the second stunner, thought Miles. Coyly, pretending to the last minute that it's not really a weapon. Miles didn't flinch, but an involuntary calculation did flash through his mind as to just how fast he could vault the railing, and how far he could swim underwater holding his breath in a strong surf. Wearing boots. Galeni, cool as ever, didn't move either.
Even when the weapon Ser Galen abruptly displayed turned out to be a lethal nerve disrupter.
"Some stand-offs," said Galen, "are more equal than others." His smile tightened to a parody of itself. "Pick up those stunners," he added to the clone, who stooped and gathered them up and stuck them in his belt.
"Now what are you going to do with that?" said Miles lightly, trying not to let his eye be hypnotized, nor his mind paralyzed, by the silver bell-muzzle. Shiny beads, bells and whistles.
"Kill you," Galen explained. His eyes flicked to his son, and away, toward and away; he focused on Miles as if to steady his high resolve.
So why are you still talking instead of firing? Miles didn't speak that thought aloud, lest Galen be struck by its good sense. Keep him talking, he wants to say more, is driven to say more. "Why? I don't see how that will serve Komarr at this late hour, except maybe to relieve your feelings. Mere revenge?"
"Nothing mere about it. Complete. My Miles will walk out of here as the only one."
"Oh, come on!" Miles didn't have to call on his acting ability to lend outrage to his tone; it came quite naturally. "You're not still stuck on the bloody substitution plot! Barrayaran Security is all warned, they'll spot you at once now. Can't be done." He glanced at the clone. "You going to let him run you head first into a flash-disposer? You're dead meat the moment you present yourself. It's useless. And it's not necessary."
The clone looked distinctly uneasy, but jerked up his chin and managed a proud smile. "I'm not going to be Lord Vorkosigan. I'm going to be Admiral Naismith. I did it once, so I know I can. Your Dendarii are going to give us a ride out of here—and a new power base."
"Ngh!" Miles made a hair-tearing gesture. "D'you think I'd have walked in here if that were even remotely possible? The Dendarii are warned too. Every patrol leader out there—and you'd better believe I have patrols out there—is carrying a med scanner. First order you give, you'll be scanned. If they find leg bone where my synthetics should be, they'll blow your head off. End plot."
"But my leg bones are synthetics," said the clone in a puzzled tone.
Miles froze. "What? You told me your bones didn't break—"
Galen swivelled his head round at the clone. "When did you tell him that . . . ?"
"They don't," the clone answered Miles. "But after yours were replaced, so were mine. Otherwise the first cursory med scan I got would have given it all away."
"But you still don't have the pattern of old breaks in your other bones . . . ?"
"No, but that would take a much closer scan. And once the three are eliminated I should be able to avoid that. I'll study your logs—"
"The three what?"
"The three Dendarii who know you are Vorkosigan."
"Your pretty bodyguard, and the other couple," Galen explained vindictively to Miles's look of horror. "I'm sorry you didn't bring her. Now we shall have to hunt her down."
Was that a fleeting queasy look on Mark's face? Galen caught it too, and frowned faintly.
"You still couldn't bring it off," argued Miles. "There are five thousand Dendarii. I know hundreds of them by name, on sight. We've been in combat together. I know things about them their own mothers don't, not in any log. And they've seen me under every kind of stress. You wouldn't even know the right jokes to make. And even if you succeed for a time, become Admiral Naismith as you once planned to become Emperor—where is Mark then? Maybe Mark doesn't want to be a space mercenary. Maybe he wants to be a, a textile designer. Or a doctor—"
"Oh," breathed the clone, with a glance down his twisted body, "not a doctor …"
"—or a holovid programmer, or a star pilot, or an engineer. Or very far away from him." Miles jerked his head at Galen; for a moment the clone's eyes filled with a passionate longing, as quickly masked. "How will you ever find out?"
"It's true," said Galen, looking at the clone through suddenly narrowed eyes, "you must pass for an experienced soldier. And you've never killed."
The clone shifted uneasily, looking sideways, at his mentor.
Galen's voice had softened. "You must learn to kill if you expect to survive."
"No, you don't," Miles put in. "Most people go through their whole lives without killing anybody. False argument."
The nerve disrupter's aim steadied on Miles. "You talk too much." Galen's eyes fell one last time on his silent, witnessing son, who raised his chin in defiance, then flicked away as if the sight burned. "It's time to go."
Galen, face hardening decisively, turned to the clone. "Here." He handed him the nerve disrupter. "It's time to complete your education. Shoot them, and let's go."
"What about Ivan?" asked Captain Galeni softly.
"I have as little use for Vorkosigan's nephew as I have for his son," said Galen. "They can skip down to hell hand in hand." His head turned to the clone and he added, "Begin!"
Mark swallowed, and raised the weapon in a two-handed firing stance. "But—what about the credit chit?"
"There is no credit chit. Can't you spot a lie when you hear it, fool?"
Miles raised his wrist comm, and spoke distinctly into it. "Elli, do you have all this?"
"Recorded and transmitted to Captain Thorne in I.Q.," Quinn's voice came back cheerily, thin in the damp air. "D'you want company yet?"
"Not yet." He let his hand fall, stood straight, met Galen's furious eyes and clenched teeth; "As I said. End plot. Let's discuss alternatives."
Mark had lowered the nerve disrupter, his face dismayed.
"Alternatives? Revenge will do!" hissed Galen. "Fire!"
"But—" said the clone, agitated.
"As of this moment, you're a free man." Miles spoke low and fast. "He bought and paid for you, but he doesn't own you. But if you loll for him, he'll own you forever. Forever and ever."
Not necessarily, spoke Galeni's silent quirk of the lips, but he did not interfere with Miles's pitch.
"You must kill your enemies," snarled Galen.
Mark's hand and aim sagged, his mouth opening in protest.
"Now, dammit!" yelled Galen, and made to grab back the nerve disrupter.
Galeni stepped in front of Miles. Miles scrabbled in his jacket for his second stunner. The nerve disrupter crackled. Miles drew, too late, too goddamn late—Captain Galeni gasped—he's dead for my slowness, my one-last-chance stupidity—face narrowed, mouth open in a silent yell, Miles sprang from behind Galeni and aimed his stunner—
To see Galen crumple, convulsing, back arching in a bone-cracking twist, face writhing—and slump in death.