The Vorkosigan Companion - Lillian Stewart Carl [113]
Memory (1996)
Miles Vorkosigan's life grows even more complicated, beginning with his accidental maiming of the ImpSec courier he and the Dendarii had been sent to rescue, due to the unusual seizures he has been suffering from since his resuscitation from cryo-stasis. Convinced this isn't a permanent problem, Miles leaves the cause of the accident out of his report to Simon Illyan, but gets into a heated argument with Elli Quinn over it, as he hadn't told her about his problem before the mission either. He promotes her to commodore, but their argument leaves them both tense and rattled. Another surprise is the requested resignation of Baz Jesek and Elena Bothari-Jesek, who want to settle down and start a family. They ask to be released from their armsman's oath, which Miles grants. Recalled to Barrayar, Miles spends the weeklong trip with Sergeant Taura, and realizes that she is growing old fast, owing to her accelerated metabolism, and may die in the next couple of years. He is greeted with disastrous news on Barrayar, after cooling his heels at Vorkosigan House and getting the place in order while his parents are away during Aral's appointment as the viceroy of Sergyar. Simon Illyan knows all about Miles's medical condition, and even worse, knows he falsified his mission report to ImpSec. He requests Miles's resignation immediately, leaving him adrift without the Dendarii or his military career to anchor him. After literally being washed out of his depression by Ivan and Duv Galeni, Miles spends the next few weeks soul- searching, including going up to the Dendarii Mountains to visit the village where he had solved Raina Csurik's murder a decade ago. He finds some peace there, and begins to rebuild his life. His attempt to help Duv win the heart of a Komarran heiress, Laisa Toscane, goes disastrously awry when she catches the eye of the Emperor instead, leaving Duv, who was moving too slowly for his own good, brokenhearted. Despite Duv's animosity toward Miles, he comes to him with the next pressing matter—Simon Illyan has been having memory problems, reliving events that happened months or even years ago. With Illyan placed incommunicado in the clinic at ImpSec headquarters, Miles is stonewalled by Simon's replacement, General Lucas Haroche, leading him to request Gregor's intercession. The Emperor makes Miles an Imperial Auditor, one of the Emperor's own high investigators, with broad, undefined powers. The circumstances around Simon's health failure grow more troublesome, as the doctors discover that the eidetic memory chip implanted in his brain is failing. They remove it in a successful operation that leaves Simon more or less intact, but somewhat less than the man he used to be. During his recovery, first at Vorkosigan House, then at Vorkosigan Surleau, Miles comes