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had stolen from him. One of many little pieces. He felt suddenly perforated,
frayed, tattered. And afraid.
"How, ah," Miles began, and had to pause and clear his thick, dry throat,
"however did you manage to escape the embassy?"
"I ve just spent the morning attending to Admiral Naismith s duties," the
clone told him. Smugly, Miles fancied. "Your bodyguard thought she was handing
me back to Barrayaran embassy security. The Barrayarans will think my Komarran
guard is a Dendarii. And I win myself a little slice of unaccounted time.
Neat, no?"
"Risky," remarked Miles. "What do you hope to gain that s worth it? Fast-penta
doesn t exactly work on me, y know." In fact, Miles noticed, the hypospray was
nowhere in sight. Missing, like Ser Galen. Curious.
"It doesn t matter." The clone made a sharp throw-away gesture, another piece
torn from Miles, twang. "I don t care if you talk truth or lies. I just want
to hear you talk. To see you, just once. You, you, you " the clone s voice
dropped to a whisper, twang, "how I ve come to hate you."
Miles cleared his throat again. "I might point out that, in point of fact, we
met for the very first time three nights ago.
Whatever was done to you was not done by me."
"You," said the clone, "screwed me over just by existing. It hurts me that you
breathe." He spread a hand across his
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file:///F|/rah/Lois%20McMaster%20Bujold/Lois%20McMaster%20Bujold%20--%2009%20B
rothers%20In%20Arms.txt chest. "However, that will be cured very shortly. But
Galen promised me an interview first." He wheeled off the desk and began to
pace; Miles s feet twitched. "He promised me."
"And where is Ser Galen this morning, by the way?" Miles inquired mildly.
"Out." The clone favored him with a sour grin. "For a little slice of time."
Miles s brows rose. "This conversation is unauthorized?"
"He promised me. But then he reneged. Wouldn t say why."
"Ah hm. Since yesterday?"
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"Yes." The clone paused in his pacing to regard Miles through narrowed eyes.
"Why?"
"I think it may have been something I said. Thinking out loud," Miles said.
"I m afraid I figured out one too many things about his plot. Something even
you weren t supposed to know. He was afraid I d spill it under fast-
penta. That suited me. The less you were able to pump from me, the more likely
you d be to make a mistake." Miles waited, barely breathing, to see which way
this bait would be taken. A whiff of the exhilarated hyperconsciousness of
combat thrilled along his nerves.
"I ll bite," said the clone agreeably. His eyes gleamed, sardonic. "Spill it,
then."
When he was seventeen, this clone s age, he d been inventing the Dendarii
Mercenaries, Miles recalled. Perhaps it would be better not to underestimate
him. What would it be like to be a clone? How far under the skin did their
similarity end?
"You re a sacrifice," Miles stated bluntly. "He does not intend for you to
make it alive to the
Barrayaran Imperium."
"Do you think I haven t figured that out?" the clone scoffed. "I know he
doesn t think I can make it. Nobody thinks I can make it "
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Miles s breath caught as from a blow. This twang bit bone-deep.
"But I ll show them. Ser Galen," the clone s eyes glittered, "is going to be
very surprised at what happens when I come to power."
"So will you," Miles predicted morosely.
"D you think I m stupid?" the clone demanded.
Miles shook his head. "I know exactly how stupid you are, I m afraid."
The clone smiled tightly. "Galen and his friends spent a month farting around
London, chasing you, just trying to set up for the switch. It was I who told
them to have you kidnap yourself. I ve studied you longer than any of them,
harder than all of them. I knew you couldn t resist. I can outthink you."
Demonstrably true, alas, at least in this instance. Miles fought off a wave of
despair. The kid was good, too good he had it all, right down to the screaming
tension radiating from every muscle in his body. Twang, Or was that
home-grown? Could different pressures produce the same warps? What would it be
like, behind those eyes . . . ?
Miles s eye fell on the Dendarii uniform. His own insignia winked back at him
malevolently as the clone paced. "But you can outthink Admiral Naismith?"
The clone smiled proudly. "I got your soldiers released from jail this [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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