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The Vorkosigan Companion - Lillian Stewart Carl [150]

By Root 1144 0
purge after the Escobar war. (SH)

Groat:

Another name for the hulled and crushed buckwheat that is grown and eaten on Barrayar, often served boiled with syrup at breakfast. Groats are also used in Barrayaran wedding ceremonies, with the Seconds closing a circle of the grain poured on the ground after the bride and groom step inside. After the vows are completed, the groom's Second opens the circle, collecting a kiss on the cheek from the bride as the married couple exits. (All except FF)

Groundcar:

The standard ground transportation vehicle used throughout the galaxy, they range in size from small cars to cargo trucks. A groundcar uses antigravity technology for lift, and is propelled and controlled by fans. Though they are normally close to the ground, a cargo truck on Earth was raised high enough to try to squash Miles during an assassination attempt. (All)

Grunt:

One of the sub-personalities Mark creates to survive Baron Ryoval's torture, he comes out when Mark is being sexually abused. (CC, MD)

Gulik, Ti:

A jump pilot, he is one of Silver's lovers, and also brings her contraband video fiction. Approximately twenty-five years old, he has brown curly hair, and a mostly easygoing temperament. After unknowingly transporting Claire, Tony, and Andy down to Rodeo, he is fired by Bruce Van Atta, and then is cajoled by Leo Graf and Silver into helping the quaddies escape by piloting the jump ship through the wormhole. He also pilots the shuttle down to Rodeo to collect Tony and Mrs. Minchenko. (FF)

Gum-leaf:

A mild stimulant plant that grows on Barrayar. Its leaves are chewed like tobacco and have a pleasantly bitter, astringent taste. Cordelia tries some during Gregor's escape in the Dendarii Mountains. Mara Mattulich also chews gum-leaf. (B, MM)

Gupta, Russo:

A bioengineered amphibious human, he is tall, with pale, unhealthy-looking skin, dark hair shaved close to his skull, leaving patchy fuzz, a large nose, small ears, long, narrow webbed hands and feet, and gill slits under his ribs that need to be regularly sprayed with water when he is on land. Goes by the nickname Guppy. He was created on Jackson's Whole by House Dyan as one of a set of beings that were to be the stage crew for an underwater ballet troupe. House Ryoval acquired him and the others in a hostile takeover and abandoned him.

He joined with the smuggler band of Firka, Gras-Grace, and Hewlitt, and was the only survivor of Ker Dubauer's attempt to kill them all after they transported his haut-fetus cargo. He tracked Dubauer to Graf Station and tried to kill it with a rivet gun in front of Miles and Bel Thorne. He joined the passenger roster of the Rudra after it was delayed at the station, intending to leave as soon as he had killed Dubauer, or follow the Ba if it got away. He sleep-gassed Bel and Garnet Five, but left them where they were. Caught by quaddies after an all-points bulletin was put out for him, he is interrogated by Miles, who gets the whole story, and pieces together the rest of the ba's plot regarding the haut-fetuses. (DI)

Gustioz, Oscar:

A thin man, somewhere between young and middle-aged, he is a parole officer from Escobar who has come to Barrayar to arrest Doctor Borgos on charges of fraud, grand theft, and skipping bail. He also wanted to arrest Mark, but was thwarted by his Class III Diplomatic Immunity. While he is trying to take Borgos into custody, Kareen and Martya Koudelka pelt him first with butter bugs, then with tubs of bug butter, coating him in the stuff. When Miles arrives, he reviews Gustioz's documentation, and refuses to provide the last form he needs to extradite Borgos back to Escobar. (CC)

• • H • •

Haas:

No surname given. He is referred to as Brother Haas. A farmer on Athos, he is a large man, with red skin from his work and muscular, callused hands. Ethan Urquhart delivers the bad news that his male fetus, which was developing in a uterine replicator, is nonviable due to the deteriorating ovarian cultures. He was hoping for a child from the CJB line to increase the likelihood of a doctor for his commune

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