Lois Bujold - Captain Vorpatril's alliance

Four people stood around the pit, staring.

“Nothing’s happening,” said Tej after a minute.

“I thought you said this would work fast,” said Pearl.

“It’s not instantaneous,” chided Grandmama. “Macro-biological processes seldom are.” She added after a while, as anything visible continued to not happen, “The Mycoborer was developed as a method of laying pipe without having to dig trenches; the genetic developer hopes it can be trained to build its own custom pipe as it goes, but that seems to lie in the future. For the moment, they’re happy to have it proceed in a straight route with uniform diameter.”

“Pipes,” said Tej, trying to picture this. “Will they be big enough for people to get through?”

“Some pipes are quite large,” said Grandmama. “For civic water tunnels and underground monorails, for example.”

“Oh,” said Tej. “Um…if it’s really alive, what stops it from just growing forever?”

“The tubular walls, which are composed of its own waste products, eventually choke it off,” said Grandmama. “Failing that, there is a suicide gene built-in after it loses enough telomeres, and failing that, there is ordinary senescence. And failing that , it can be sterilized by heat. Really, I was entirely in sympathy with poor Carlo over his frustration with the delays about the scaled-up outdoor testing. Those Earth regulatory agencies are so obstructive.”

Amiri blinked. “Wait. This stuff has never been tested?”

“Outdoors, no. It has been tested most extensively in Carlo’s laboratory.” She added pensively, “It is supposed to penetrate fairly swiftly through soil, subsoil, and clay. So-so through sand. Poor in limestone, stopped by granite and other igneous rocks and by most synthetic materials. It is possible we may be compelled to reroute a few times, if the Mycoborer comes up against unexpected subsoil inclusions.”

Amiri was staring downward, looking disconcerted. “Never been tested…and we’re betting the House on it?”

“It’s being tested now ,” said Grandmama, in a voice of utmost reason. “And in a very tidy legal isolation from its Earth-based parent company, too. Biological isolation as well. Although I have promised to send Carlo a full report of the trial, sub rosa of course. That was, as dear Shiv would say, our deal.”

She took the cold light from Pearl, knelt, and squinted. “Ah,” she said, sounding suddenly satisfied. “Now you can start to see something.”

All Tej saw was what appeared to be a foam of black goo forming around the lip of the borer hole, but Amiri seemed vaguely impressed.

“No noise, no vibration, no power surges of any kind,” said Grandmama. “Silent and stealthy as a fungal filament. Nothing for sensors to detect, until we start to walk about down there. I trust you all can contain your chatter, when the time comes.”

“Great,” said Pearl. “Now can we go to lunch?”

“Excellent idea,” said Grandmama. “Certainly.”

“Is it safe to leave this stuff alone?” asked Amiri.

Grandmama shrugged. “If it’s not safe to leave, it’s not safe to stay with, now is it?”

“That’s…a point,” said Amiri reluctantly. He didn’t say what kind.

Tej helped shift the slab back, move the shelves, and tidy up. When they finished, there was no sign of their intrusion but a new crack in the concrete, which, since the floor had a few others, ought to pass visual inspection. They exited the garage into a cold afternoon rain, and then she had no attention left for anything but getting them all through Vorbarr Sultana traffic alive.

As a first step toward re-seducing Tej, Ivan had a splendid dinner waiting her return that evening. And waiting, slowly drying out. About two hours after she’d said she’d be home, the door at last slid open, and voices sounded. Ivan arose grumpily from the couch, schooled his face into a smile, and lost it again as not only Tej, but Rish and Byerly strode in. In the middle of a raging argument.

“—and stop putting bugs in my hair!” Rish snarled to By. “You’d think you were twelve!”

“If you would just talk to me, we wouldn’t have any need for this roundabout method of communication,” said By, his normally suave voice slipping a bit.

“And where do you get the we need , anyway? If I need to talk to you, I will, believe me!”

Tej rubbed her temples, as if they ached. “Hi, Ivan Xav,” she said in a dull voice. She did not advance to kiss him or, as had been her even more charming habit considering her fetching build, hug him. “Sorry I’m late. Things ran on.”

“What things?”

“Just things.”

“Well, dinner?” said Ivan brightly. Yeah, it looked to be hypoglycemia city all around, here.

“I had a late lunch,” said Tej.

“I’m going back to the hotel,” said Rish. Ivan didn’t even get out an Oh, good , before she went on, “Are you coming with me, Tej? Or do you want to stay here and be interrogated ?”

Tej cast Ivan a grimace that had little in common with a smile, and a tired wave. “Yes, all right…”

“Wait!” Ivan called as they reversed direction, shedding By. “When will you be back?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, will you be back here to sleep? Should I wait up?”

“I don’t know .”

“ I won’t,” said Rish. “I’m going to bunk in with Em and Pearl. I suppose the hotel can give me a gel-mattress or something.” She glowered at Byerly, and padded past him without looking back. Tej trailed disconsolately. The door slid shut once more.

Silence fell. Ivan and By stared at one another.

Ivan said, “Weren’t you supposed to be the glib, debonair ImpSec agent, here?”

Byerly said a rude word. “Or not, as the case may be. She’s cut me off, she says. I suppose I shouldn’t have tried to slip in a few subtle questions during sex. She didn’t like it.”

“Ah,” said Ivan, and mentally edited his own planned ploy for later. If there was a later.

“But I am half maddened with curiosity. Arquas have been handing me off one to another for the past three days, all the same run-around going nowhere. They wouldn’t be working so hard if they didn’t have something to hide. Unless it’s a practical joke, I suppose.” He let out his breath in a huff and sloped over to fling himself on Ivan’s couch.

Ivan stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed, reluctantly. “Can’t you call for backup?”

“Did.” By put his head back, eyes closing. “ImpSec, it seems, is busy this week. Galactic, Domestic, Komarran, all the Affairs. That high-level diplomatic conference going on at the Residence, the big comconsole-net security convention downtown, prep for dear Laisa’s upcoming excursion with the crown prince to Komarr to see the grandparents—yes, they promise me help. At the end of the week. Or next week. Maybe. Meantime, I’m on my own. Just me and this ungodly herd of your in-laws .” His eyes opened, and shot a look of unmerited blame Ivan-ward. “To whom I am already outed .”

Ivan had seldom seen By emit so much emotion at one time. Granted, it was all one emotion, frustration, but still. Byerly-the-Smooth was decidedly ruffled.

“I’ve cozied up to every Arqua,” said By, closed-eyed and addressing the ceiling once more. “Staked out the hotel. Planted bugs, which have either yielded nothing but rubbish, or gone fuzzy altogether. They’re spotting them, all right. God. What haven’t I tried?”

Ivan hesitated. “Simon?”

By made to raise his head, but it fell back. He did open his eyes again. “Are you nuts?”