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something that doesn t quite add up even from his point of view. Of course
it s a scramble chances must be taken, it s always like that when you try to
convert any plan into action but over and above the practical problems.
Something intrinsically screwy."
"It s daring. But if he succeeds, he ll have it all. If your clone takes the
Imperium, he ll stand in the center of Barrayar s power structure. He ll
control it all. Absolute power."
"Bullshit," said Miles. Galeni s brows rose.
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"Just because Barrayar s system of checks and balances is unwritten doesn t
mean it s not there.
You must know the
Emperor s power consists of no more than the cooperation he is able to extract
from the military, from the counts, from the ministries, from the people
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generally. Terrible things happen to emperors who fail to perform their
function to the satisfaction of all these groups. The Dismemberment of Mad
Emperor Yuri wasn t so very long ago. My father was actually present for that
remarkably gory execution, as a boy. And yet people still wonder why he s
never tried to take the Imperium for himself!
"So here we have a picture of this imitation me, grabbing for the throne in a
bloody coup, followed by a rapid transfer of power and privilege to Komarr,
say even granting its independence. Results?"
"Go on," said Galeni, fascinated.
"The military will be offended, because I m throwing away their hard-won
victories. The counts will be offended, because
I ll have promoted myself above them. The ministries will be offended, because
the loss of Komarr as a tax farm and trade nexus will reduce their power. The
people will be offended for all these reasons plus the fact that I am in their
eyes a mutant, physically unclean in Barrayaran tradition. Infanticide for
obvious birth defects is still going on secretly in the back country, do you
know, despite its being outlawed for four decades? If you can think of any
fate nastier than being dismembered alive, well, that poor clone is headed
straight for it. I m not sure even I could ride the Imperium and survive, even
without the Komarran complications. And that kid s only what seventeen,
eighteen years old?" Miles subsided. "It s a stupid plot. Or . . ."
"Or?"
"Or it s some other plot."
"Hm."
"Besides," said Miles more slowly, "why should Ser Galen, who if I m reading
him right hates my
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rothers%20In%20Arms.txt father more than he loves anybody, be going to all
this trouble to put Vorkosigan blood on the Barrayaran Imperial throne? It s a
most obscure revenge. And how, if by some miracle he succeeds in getting the
boy Imperial power, does he then propose to control him?"
"Conditioning?" suggested Galeni. "Threats to expose him?"
"Mm, maybe." At this impasse, Miles fell silent. After long moments he spoke
again.
"I think the real plot is much simpler and smarter. He means to drop the clone
into the middle of a power struggle just to create chaos on Barrayar. The
results of that struggle are irrelevant. The clone is merely a pawn.
A revolt on Komarr is timed to rise during the point of maximum uproar, the
bloodier the better, back on Barrayar. He must have an ally in the woodwork
prepared to step in with enough military force to block Barrayar s wormhole
exit. God, I hope he hasn t made a devil s deal with the Cetagandans for
that."
"Trading a Barrayaran occupation for a Cetagandan one strikes me as a zero-sum
move in the extreme surely he s not that mad. But what happens to your rather
expensive clone?" said Galeni, puzzling out the threads.
Miles smiled crookedly. "Ser Galen doesn t care. He s just a means to an end."
His mouth opened, closed, opened again.
"Except that I keep hearing my mother s voice, in my head. That s where I
picked up that perfect
Betan accent, y know, that
I use for Admiral Naismith, I can hear her now."
"And what does she say?" Galeni s brows twitched in amusement.
"Miles she says what have you done with your baby brother?"
"Your clone is hardly that!" choked Galeni.
"On the contrary, by Betan law my clone is exactly that."
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