Mirror Dance b-9

by Lois McMaster Bujold

  Deep down inside, Lord Mark came wide awake, screaming. The Other smothered him up. He lies. He lies.

  “Their fumble proved to be a costly error, for which they will pay. Your double vanished, then somehow turned up with Vasa Luigi. A typically smooth bit of sleight of hand on Vasa’s part. I’m still not convinced dear Lotus doesn’t have a private line of some kind into the Durona Group.”

  Ryoval circled him again. It was very disorienting. “Vasa is quite convinced his twin is the Admiral, and you are the clone. He has infected me with his doubts, though if as he claims the man is indeed cryo-amnesic, it could prove most disappointing even if he’s right. But it doesn’t matter now. I have you both. Just as I predicted. Can you guess what is the first thing I shall have you two do to each other?”

  Grunt could. Spot-on, though not with the whispered refinements Ryoval added.

  Lord Mark raged, wept with terror and dismay. Not a vibration rippled Grunt’s slack-mouthed surface, nor marred the flat glisten of his eyes with any inner purpose. Wait, begged the Other.

  The Baron walked to a counter or bar, made of some zebra-grained, polished wood, and unwrapped an array of glittering tools, which no one could quite see, though Howl stretched his neck. Meditatively, Ryoval looked his kit over.

  You have to stay out of my way. And not sabotage me, said the Other. I know Ryoval gives you what you hunger for—but it’s a trick.

  Ryoval doesn’t feed you, said Gorge.

  Ryoval is my food, whispered the Other.

  You’ll only get one chance, said Howl nervously. And then they’ll come after me.

  I only need one chance.

  Ryoval turned back. A surgical hand-tractor gleamed in his grip. Grunt, frightened, gave way to the Other.

  “I believe,” said Ryoval, “that I will pull out one of your eyes, next. Just one. That should have some interesting psychological focusing effects, when I threaten the remaining one.”

  Smoothly, Howl gave way. Last of all, reluctantly, Gorge gave way, as Ryoval walked toward them.

  Killer’s first attempt to struggle to his feet failed, and he fell back. Damn you, Gorge. He tried again, shifted his weight forward, heaved up, stepped once, half-unbalanced without the use of his arms to save himself. Ryoval watched, highly amused, unalarmed by the waddling little monster he doubtless thought he had created.

  Trying to work around Gorge’s new belly was something like being the Blind Zen Archer. But his alignment was absolute.

  His first kick took Ryoval in the crotch. This folded him neatly over, and put his upper body within practical range. He flowed instantly into the second kick, striking Ryoval squarely in the throat. He could feel cartilage and tissue crunch all the way back to Ryoval’s spine. Since he was not wearing steel-capped boots this time, it also broke several of his toes, smashed up and down at right angles. He felt no pain. That was Howl’s job.

  He fell over. Getting up again wasn’t easy, with his hands still shackled behind him. Wallowing around on the floor trying to get his legs under himself, he saw with disappointment that Ryoval wasn’t dead yet. The man writhed and gurgled and clutched his throat, on the carpet next to him. But the room’s computer control did not recognize the Baron’s voice commands now. They had a little time yet.

  He rolled near to Ryoval’s ear. “I am too a Vorkosigan. The one who was trained as a deep-penetration mole and assassin. It really pisses me off when people underestimate me, y’know?”

  He managed to get back on his feet, and studied the problem, which was, Ryoval was still alive. He sighed, swallowed, stepped forward, and pounded the man with repeated blows of his feet till Ryoval stopped vomiting blood, convulsing, and breathing. It was a nauseating process, but in all, he was very relieved that there seemed no part of himself who actually enjoyed it. Even Killer had to muster a determined professionalism, to see it through to the end.

  He considered the Other, whom he now recognized as Killer. Galen made you, mostly, didn’t he?

  Yes. But he didn’t make me out of nothing.

  You did very well. Hiding out. Stalking. I’d wondered if any of us possessed any sense of timing at all. I’m glad at least one of us does.

  It was what the Count our Father said, Killer admitted, pleased and embarrassed to be praised. That people would give themselves to you, if you waited them out, and didn’t rush to give yourself to them. And I did. And Ryoval did. He added shyly, The Count’s a killer too, you know. Like me.

  Hm.

  He pulled his wrists against the shackles, and limped over to the zebra-wood counter to study Ryoval’s kit. The selection included a laser-drill, as well as a sickening assortment of knives, scalpels, tongs, and probes. The drill was a short-focal-range surgical type suitable for cutting bone, a dubious weapon, but a most suitable tool.

  He wobbled around and tried to pick it up, behind his back. He almost wept when he dropped it. He was going to have to get down on the floor again. Awkwardly, he did so, and lumbered around till he managed to grub up the drill. It took many minutes of fiddling, but at last he got it turned around and aimed in such a way as to cut through his shackles without either slicing his hand off, or burning himself in the butt. Released, he flung his arms around his swollen torso, and rocked himself like someone rocking a weary child. His foot was starting to throb. The assorted mass vectors had apparently also combined to wrench his back, when he’d kicked Ryoval in the throat.

  He stared, aside, at his victim/tormentor/prey. Clone-consumer. He felt apologetic toward the body he had pummeled underfoot. It wasn’t your fault. You died, what, ten years ago? It was the one up top, inside the skull, who had been his enemy.

  An illogical fear possessed him that Ryoval’s guards would break in, and save their master even in death. He crawled over, much easier now that he had his hands free, took the laser-drill, and made certain that no one would be transplanting that brain again, ever. No one, no way.

  He sagged back into the low chair, and sat in utter exhaustion, waiting to die. Ryoval’s men surely had orders to avenge their fallen lord.

  No one came.

  … Right. The boss had locked himself in his quarters with a prisoner and a surgical kit, and told his goons not to bother him. How long before one worked up the courage to interrupt his little hobby? Could be … quite a long time.

  The weight of hope returning was an almost intolerable burden, like walking on a broken bone. I don’t want to move. He was very angry with ImpSec for abandoning him here, but thought he might forgive them everything if only they would charge in now, and waft him away without any further exertion or effort on his part. Haven’t I earned a break? The room grew very silent.

  That was over-kill, he thought, staring down at Ryoval’s body. A trifle unbalanced, that. And you’ve made a mess on the carpet.

  I don’t know what to do next.

  Who was speaking? Killer? Gorge, Grunt? Howl? All of them?

  You’re good troops, and loyal, but not too bright.

  Bright is not our job.

  It was time for Lord Mark to wake up. Had he ever really been asleep?

  “All right, gang,” he muttered aloud, enfolding himself. “Everybody up.” The low chair was a torture-device in its own right. Ryoval’s last snide dig. With a groan, he regained his feet.

  It was impossible that an old fox like Ryoval would have only one entrance to his den. He poked around the underground suite. Office, living room, small kitchen, big bedroom, and a rather oddly equipped bathroom. He gazed longingly at the shower. He had not been allowed to bathe since he’d been brought here. But he was afraid it might wash off the plastic skin. He did brush his teeth. His gums were bleeding, but that was all right. He drank a little cold water. At least I’m not hungry. He vented a small cackle.

  He found the emergency exit at last in the back of the bedroom closet.

  If it’s not guarded, stated Killer, it must be booby-trapped.

  Ryoval’s main defenses will work from the ou
tside in, said Lord Mark slowly. From the inside out, it will be set up to facilitate a quick escape. For Ryoval. And Ryoval alone.

  It was palm-locked. Palm-lock pads read pulse, temperature, and the electrical conductivity of the skin, as well as the whorls of fingerprints and grooves of life-lines. Dead hands didn’t open palm-locks.

  There are ways around palm locks, murmured Killer. Killer had been trained in such things once, in a previous incarnation. Lord Mark let go, and floated, watching.

  The surgical array was almost as useful as an electronics kit, in Killer’s hands. Given abundant time, and as long as the palm lock was never going to be required to work again. Lord Mark gazed dreamily as Killer loosened the sensor-pad from the wall, touched here, cut there.

  The control virtual on the wall lit at last. Ah, murmured Killer proudly.

  Oh, said the rest. The display projected a small glowing square.

  It wants a code-key, said Killer in dismay. His panic at being trapped quickened their heart rate. Howl’s tenuous containment loosened, and electrical twinges of pain coursed through them.

  Wait, said Lord Mark. If they needed a code-key, so must Ryoval.

  Baron Ryoval has no successor. Ryoval had no second-in-command, no trained replacement. He kept all his oppressed subordinates in separate channels of communication. House Ryoval consisted of Baron Ryoval, and slaves, period. That’s why House Ryoval failed to grow. Ryoval didn’t delegate authority, ever.

  Therefore, Ryoval had no place nor trusted subordinates with whom to leave his private code-keys. He had to carry them on his person. At all times.

  The black-gang whimpered as Lord Mark turned around and returned to the living room. Mark ignored them. This is my job, now.

  He turned Ryoval’s body over on its back, and searched it methodically from head to toe, down to the skin and farther. He missed no possibility, not even hollow teeth. He sat back uncomfortably, distended belly aching, sprained back on fire. His level of pain was rising as he re-integrated, which made it a very tentative process. It has to be here. It has to be here somewhere.

  Run, run, run, the black-gang gibbered, in a remarkably unified chorus.

  Shut up and let me think. He turned Ryoval’s right hand over in his own. A ring with a flat black stone gleamed in the light… .

  He laughed out loud.

  He swallowed the laugh fearfully, looking around. The Baron’s soundproofing held, apparently. The ring would not slide off. Stuck? Riveted to the bone? He cut off Ryoval’s right hand with the laser drill. The laser also cauterized the wrist, so it wasn’t too drippy. Nice. He limped slowly and painfully back to the bedroom closet, and stared at the little glowing square, just the size of the ring’s stone.

  Which way up? Would the wrong rotation trigger an alarm?

  Lord Mark pantomimed Baron Ryoval in a hurry. Slap the palm lock, turn his hand over and jam the ring into the code slot—”This way,” he whispered.

  The door slid open on a personal lift tube. It extended upward some twenty meters. Its antigrav control pads glowed, green for up, red for down. Lord Mark and Killer gazed around. No obvious defenses, such as a tanglefield generator… .

  A faint draft brought a scent of fresh air from above. Let’s go! screamed Gorge and Grunt and Howl.

  Lord Mark stood spraddle-legged and stodgy, staring, refusing to be rushed. It has no safety ladder, he said at last.

  So what?

  So. What?

  Killer sagged back, and muffled the rest of them, and waited respectfully.

  I want a safety ladder, muttered Lord Mark querulously. He turned away, and wandered back through Ryoval’s quarters. While he was at it, he looked for clothes. There wasn’t much to choose from; this clearly was not Ryoval’s main residence. Just a private suite. The garments were all too long and not wide enough. The trousers were impossible. A soft knit shirt stretched over his raw skin, though. A loose jacket, left open, provided some more protection. A Betan-style sarong, bath-wear, wrapped his loins. A pair of slippers were sloppy on his left foot, tight on his swollen, broken right foot. He searched for cash, keys, anything else of use. But there was no handy climbing gear.

  I’ll just have to make my own safety ladder. He hung the laser drill around his neck on a tie made from a couple of Ryoval’s belts, stepped into the bottom of the lift tube, and systematically began to burn holes in the plastic side.

  Too slow! the black gang wailed. Howl howled inside, and even Killer screamed, Run, dammit!

  Lord Mark ignored them. He turned on the “up” field, but did not let it take them. Clinging to his hot hand and foot holds, he pocked his way upward. It was not difficult to climb, buoyed in the flowing grav field, only hard to remember to keep his three points of contact. His right foot was nearly useless. The black gang gibbered in fear. Mulish and methodical, Mark ascended. Melt a hole. Wait. Move a hand, foot, hand, foot. Melt another hole. Wait… .

  Three meters from the top, his head came level with a small audio pick-up, flush to the wall, and a shielded motion sensor.

  I imagine it wants a code word. In Ryoval’s voice, Lord Mark remarked blandly, observing. Can’t oblige.

  It doesn’t have to be what you guess, Killer said. It could be anything. Plasma arcs. Poison gas.

  No. Ryoval saw me, but I saw Ryoval. It will be simple. And elegant. And you will do it to yourself. Watch.

  He gripped his handhold, and extended the laser drill up past the motion sensor for the next burn.

  The lift tube’s grav field switched off.

  Even half-expecting it, he was nearly ripped from his perch by his own weight. Howl could not contain it all. Mark screamed silently, flooded in pain. But he clung, and did not let them fall.

  The last three meters of ascent could have been called a nightmare, but he had new standards for nightmares now. It was merely tedious.

  There was a tanglefield trap at the top entrance, but it faced outward. The laser drill disarmed its controls. He managed a crippled, shuffling, crabwise walk into a private underground garage. It contained the Baron’s lightflyer. The canopy opened at the touch of Ryoval’s ring.

  He slid into the lightflyer, adjusted the seat and controls as best he could around his distorted and aching contours, powered it up, eased it forward. That button on the control panel—there? The garage door slid aside. Once through, he shot up, and up, and up, through the dark, the acceleration pummeling him. Nobody even fired on him. There were no lights below. A rocky winter waste. The whole little installation must be underground.

  He checked the flyer’s map display, and picked his direction— East. Toward the light. That seemed right.

  He kept accelerating.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The lightflyer banked. Miles craned his neck, and caught a glimpse of what was below. Or what wasn’t below. Dawn was creeping over a wintry desert. There appeared to be nothing of interest for kilometers around.

  “S” funny,” said the guard who was piloting the lightflyer. “Door’s open.” He touched his comm, and transmitted some sort of code-burst. The other guard shifted uneasily, watching his comrade. Miles twisted around, trying to watch them both.

  They descended. Rocks rose around them, then a concrete shaft. Ah. Concealed entrance. They came to the bottom, and moved forward into an underground garage.

  “Huh,” said the other guard. “Where’s all the vehicles?”

  The flyer came to rest, and the bigger guard dragged Miles out of the backseat, and unfastened his ankles, and stood him upright. He almost fell down again. The scars on his chest ached with the strain from his hands bound behind his back. He got his feet under himself, and stared around much as the guards were doing. Just a utilitarian garage, badly-lit, echoing and cavernous. And empty.

  The guards marched him toward an entrance. They coded through some automatic doors, and walked to an electronic security chamber. It was up and running, humming blankly. “Vaj?” one guard called. “We’re here. Scan us.
”

  No answer. One of the guards went forward, looked around. Tapped a code into a wall pad. “Bring him through anyway.”

  The security chamber passed him. He was still wearing the grey knits the Duronas had given him; no interesting devices woven into the fabric, it seemed, alas.

  The senior guard tried an intercom. Several times. “Nobody answers.”

  “What should we do?” asked his comrade.

  The senior man frowned. “Strip him and take him to the boss, I guess. Those were the orders.”

  They pulled his ship-knits off him; he was far too out-massed to fight them, but he regretted the loss deeply. It was too damned cold. Even the ox-like guards stared a moment at his raked and scored chest. They re-fastened his hands behind him, and marched him through the facility, their eyes shifting warily at every intersection.

  It was very quiet. Lights burned, but no people appeared anywhere. A strange structure, not very large, plain and—he sniffed—decidedly medical in odor. Research, he decided. Ryoval’s private biological research facility. Evidently, after the Dendarii raid of four years ago, Ryoval had decided his main facility wasn’t secure enough. Miles could see that. This place did not have the business-air of the other locale. It felt military-paranoid. The sort of place where if you went there to work, you didn’t come out again for years at a time. Or, considering Ryoval, ever. He glimpsed a few lab-like rooms, in passing. But no techs. The guards called out, a couple of times. No one answered.

  They came to an open door, beyond which lay some sort of study or office. “Baron, sir?” the senior guard ventured. “We have your prisoner.”

  The other guard rubbed his neck. “If he’s not here, should we go ahead and work him like the other one?”

  “He hasn’t ordered it yet. Better wait.”

  Quite. Ryoval was not the sort to reward initiative in subordinates, Miles suspected.