Post MoM AU, general post

[use_everything]

And then one day, it was over.

The memory of how it happened was hazy. Perhaps it was as simple as being ported out, perhaps there was a great experiment, bringing together physicists, chemists, alchemists and scientists to get something WORKING. But like the memories of that time, that other dimension, singular events come and go, like a dream, or an age past.

From the very start, however, there were changes.

Comments

[dendarii]

Well, right. I understand that.

But I knew you as Mark on Earth too.

[jacksonian]

[ He draws away, swallows. He's alarmed. ]

[dendarii]

... I think it's possible to remember bits and pieces ahead of time. I occasionally had something pop back before everything did.

And you might have your powers already. Like I said, mine came in when I was eight.

[jacksonian]

I don't have any powers.

[ He swallows again. ]

I'm - I don't have - anything. I don't have any gifts.

[dendarii]

That's not true. Whether or not you have your superpowers or not. You ran financials for the whole family on Earth. Taught me a lot.

[jacksonian]

The whole family?

[ He looks up, uncertain. ]

For the...Vorkosigans?

[dendarii]

And Gregor. All the Vor on Earth at the time, really.

[jacksonian]

[ He shakes his head. ]

No one would trust me with that.

[dendarii]

Gregor did. All two million marks' worth.

[jacksonian]

[ Two million...? ]

And did I - was it...okay?

[dendarii]

Better than okay. It was fantastic. You financed a mercenary operation, your own investments, bought us a house in the country ...

[jacksonian]

But I don't...I've never been trusted with money. I've never even been allowed to have money.

[dendarii]

Would you like to be?

[jacksonian]

[ A long pause - and then, warily: ]

Yeah...

[dendarii]

Good. You can help me with mine, then. In addition to your own.

[jacksonian]

...Really?

[dendarii]

Of course. I'm completely hopeless at it.

[jacksonian]

I could screw it up.

[dendarii]

No worse than me.

[jacksonian]

[ He frowns, looking off to the side, and doesn't answer that. He doesn't know how to articulate that - well. It's not enough to just be barely-as-good-as-Miles. He wants to be better. He wants to be good... ]

[dendarii]

So I'll leave it to you. Trust me: this is your kind of thing.

[jacksonian]

[ A pause. Then - ]

How do you know it was me, anyway? Who was there.

[dendarii]

[ Miles blinks at him, a bit confused. ]

How many 4'8" Vorkosigans do you think exist, really?

[jacksonian]

[ Too many.

He gives a morose shrug. ]

There were clones besides me, I think. Clones of you. I think there had to have been. If it was...some alternate timeline, how can you be sure it was me and not one of them?

[dendarii]

[ Quietly: ]

Because you're here right now. How do you think Da found you so easily? How we set up the ambush so perfectly?