Ethan of Athos (28 page)

Cee's voice came out of the darkness. “Is hell an adventure, compared to heaven? I've been to the bottom of the pit, thank you. I have no wish to descend again for adventure's sake.” His tone mocked the very word. “Your garden sounds just fine to me.”

He sighed long. There was a pause. Then, “Wait a minute, though. I got the impression the mutual D. A. business, outside the communal brotherhoods, was sort of like married couples -- is sex entailed in all this?”

“Well...” said Ethan. “No, not necessarily. D. A. arrangements can be, and are, entered into by brothers, cousins, fathers, grandfathers -- anyone qualified and willing to act as a parent. Parenthood shared between lovers is just the most common variety. But here you are on Athos, after all, for the rest of your life. I thought, perhaps, in time, you might grow accustomed to our ways. Not to rush you or anything, but if you find yourself getting used to the idea, you might, uh, let me know...” Ethan trailed off.

“By God the Father,” Cee's voice was amused, assured. And had Ethan really feared he would surprise the telepath? “I just might.”

Ethan paused in front of the bathroom mirror before turning out the light, and studied his own face. He thought of Elli Quinn, and EQ-1. In a woman, one saw not charts and graphs and numbers, but the genes of one's own children personified and made flesh. So, every ovarian culture on Athos cast a woman's shadow, unacknowledged, ineradicably there.

And what had she been like, Dr. Cynthia Jane Baruch, 200 years dead now, and how much had she secretly shaped Athos, all unbeknownst to the founding fathers who had hired her to create their ovarian cultures? She who had cared enough to put herself in them? The very bones of Athos were molded to her pattern. His bones.

“Salute, Mother,” Ethan whispered, and turned away to bed. Tomorrow began the new world, and the work thereof.

 
MILES VORKOSIGAN/NAISMITH: His UNIVERSE AND TIMES

Chronology
        
Events

Approx. 200 years before Miles's birth -- Falling Free -- Quaddies are created by genetic engineering.

During Beta-Barrayaran War -- Shards of Honor -- Cordelia Naismith meets Lord Aral Vorkosigan while on opposite sides of a war. Despite difficulties, they fall in love and are married.

The Vordarian Pretendership -- Barrayar -- While Cordelia is pregnant, an attempt to assassinate Aral by poison gas fails, but Cordelia is affected; Miles Vorkosigan is born with bones that will always be brittle and other medical problems. His growth will be stunted.

Miles is 17 -- The Warrior's Apprentice --
 
Miles fails to pass physical test to get into the Service Academy. On a trip, necessities force him to improvise the Free Dendarii Mercenaries into existence; he has unintended but unavoidable adventures for four months. Leaves the Dendarii in Ky Tung's competent hands and takes Elli Quinn to Beta for rebuilding of her damaged face; returns to Barrayar to thwart plot against his father. Emperor pulls strings to get Miles into the Academy.

Miles is 20
           
-- “The Mountains of Mourning” in Borders of Infinity and The Vor Game -- Ensign Miles graduates and immediately has to take on one of the duties of the Barrayaran nobility and act as detective and judge in a murder case. Shortly afterwards, his first military assignment ends with his arrest. Miles has to rejoin the Dendarii to rescue the young Barrayaran emperor. Emperor accepts Dendarii as his personal secret service force.

Miles is 22
           
-- Cetaganda -- Miles and his cousin Ivan attend a Cetagandan state funeral and are caught up in Cetagandan internal politics.

Miles is 22 -- Ethan of Athos -- Miles sends Commander Elli Quinn, who's been given a new face on Beta, on a solo mission to Kline Station.

Miles is 23
           
-- “Labyrinth” in Borders of Infinity -- Now a Barrayaran Lieutenant, Miles goes with the Dendarii to smuggle a scientist out of Jackson's Whole. Miles's fragile leg bones have been replaced by synthetics.

Miles is 24
           
-- “The Borders of Infinity” in Borders of Infinity and Brothers in Arms -- Miles plots from within a Cetagandan prison camp on Dagoola IV to free the prisoners. The Dendarii fleet is pursued by the Cetagandans and finally reaches Earth for repairs. Miles has to juggle both his identities at once, raise money for repairs, and defeat a plot to replace him with a double. Ky Tung stays on Earth. Commander Elli Quinn is now Miles's right-hand officer. Miles and the Dendarii depart for Sector IV on a rescue mission.

Miles is 25 -- Borders of Infinity -- Hospitalized after previous mission, Miles's broken arms are replaced by synthetic bones. With Simon Illyan, Miles undoes yet another plot against his father while flat on his back.

Miles is 28
           
-- Mirror Dance -- Miles meets his clone brother Mark again, this time on Jackson's Whole.

Miles is 29
           
-- Memory -- Miles hits thirty; thirty hits back.

Miles is 30
           
-- Komarr -- Emperor Gregor dispatches Miles to Komarr to investigate a space accident, where he finds old politics and new technology make a deadly mix.

Miles is 31
           
-- A Civil Campaign -- The Emperor's wedding sparks romance and intrigue on Barrayar, and Miles plunges up to his neck in both.