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]

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?

[jacksonian]

Because it was easy to figure out how Galen would jump. The moment you showed up on Komarr, doing all that, he'd have lost his temper and acted prematurely. Obviously.

[dendarii]

All that is true. But it requires knowing Galen was there, on Komarr, at that exact time. And that you would be there too.

Haven't you wondered who told us all that?

[jacksonian]

You had a mole. Obviously.

[dendarii]

Yes, we did. It was you.

[jacksonian]

[ He stares, uncomprehending. ]

It...What?

[dendarii]

You told us. The you in about three years. You and Da set a time and place for him to come rescue you. The first safe opportunity.

[jacksonian]

That's not...

[ He falters. Then he swallows, blinks hard, and says: ]

That's not possible. I - [ He struggles, then asks, his voice small: ] I...got myself out?

[dendarii]

[ Miles nods firmly. (He would lay much of it at Aral's feet too, but - he senses now is not the time to reduce this moment for Mark.) ]

Just so.