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Sep. 26th, 2009 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkstheboundsIf anyone had bothered to ask him before plying him with truth-inducing mind-altering drugs, Jamie could have told them that they wouldn't do anyone any good.
But of course no one ever listens to his advice.
Right now he is sitting in his cell trying to cheer himself up with the possibility that at least a mental institution might be easier to escape from than his present solitary confinement. Oddly, it is not very comforting.
But of course no one ever listens to his advice.
Right now he is sitting in his cell trying to cheer himself up with the possibility that at least a mental institution might be easier to escape from than his present solitary confinement. Oddly, it is not very comforting.
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Date: 2009-09-27 03:16 am (UTC)Which is why it may be surprising when the distinctive sound of locks clicking open echoes dully in the room.
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Date: 2009-09-27 03:23 am (UTC)He's sort of expecting Barrayaran security again.
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Date: 2009-09-27 03:29 am (UTC)The Chief makes a gesture toward the cell. "Would that be him?"
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Date: 2009-09-27 03:51 am (UTC)"Yasha?"
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Date: 2009-09-27 04:01 am (UTC)Partly it's a hunch; partly it's the sure knowledge that the man, whatever he is, is something other than ordinary; partly it's just the sensation that whatever it is, he can't make things any worse.
"Uncle!" he shouts, bursting into a tremendous smile. "It's really you!"
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Date: 2009-09-27 04:05 am (UTC)Tee grimaces, half scowl and half sarcastic smile. "Something jog your memory, kid?"
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Date: 2009-09-27 04:22 am (UTC)"Yasha," he scolds, in Russian, "where have you been? What've you gotten yourself into? Your mother's worried sick, I've been looking all over for you!"
His accent is pure Barrayaran. (The Chief and Tee aren't to know that that's because of armsman's service in another lifetime, and not so very long ago.)
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Date: 2009-09-27 04:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 05:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 05:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 05:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 06:01 am (UTC)The Chief flicks her a quelling glance, and she falls silent, still glaring at Jamie.
"We heard a very interesting story from him some days ago," he says, still very evenly. "Under fast-penta, by way of the gentlemen from Barrayaran Imperial Security. I'm wondering if you can offer any explanation for it, because we're frankly baffled."
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Date: 2009-09-27 06:03 am (UTC)'He's not well,' the man had said. All right then. He looks down, as if ashamed. "It doesn't help, you know, my illness."
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Date: 2009-10-09 04:08 am (UTC)"Fast-- Yasha, that's interrogation, what's been going on?" Rounding on the guard, "Has he been taking his meds at all?" And back to Jamie: "Yasha, why are you locked up? What's going on?"
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Date: 2009-10-09 04:23 am (UTC)His tone's even and unruffled. "About a month ago he talked a guard into removing him from his cell, whereupon he incapacitated the guard with a sedative apparently stolen from our infirmary and made his way to the docks, where he attempted to use the contents of the guard's wallet to pay passage off-station. At this point, as the language was the only clue we had, we thought it prudent to solicit the assistance of Barrayaran Security."
A long beat.
"I'm hoping you can shed some light on these events, Mr. Stanevich."
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Date: 2009-10-09 04:51 am (UTC)Mr Stanevich lifts an arm, his fingers spread and stiff, and says a single quiet word in something that's emphatically not English or Russian.
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Date: 2009-10-10 03:56 am (UTC)Well. That's interesting.
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Date: 2009-10-14 04:22 am (UTC)"Suppose," he says, "we start this explanation over."
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Date: 2009-10-14 04:24 am (UTC)"All right - where'd you like me to start? I don't think you really want my whole life story, seeing as we don't -"
He glances at the frozen Chief and amends, "Well, I reckon we do have all day at that, but all the same."
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Date: 2009-10-14 04:48 am (UTC)He shoves his hands in his pockets -- a casual, ordinary gesture, and one that for a moment makes him look like simply a man out for a walk, pausing for conversation with a neighbor.
"You're not from around here," he says, a little abruptly. "Our Chief Harrison could tell me that, of course, and is probably about to question us both at length about it, because you don't fit at all into the boxes he's used to. I can hardly blame the man."
"But you've come a good deal further than he thinks, aren't you?"
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Date: 2009-10-14 05:14 am (UTC)He glances at Will, quickly, to see if he registers any startlement or disbelief. (Though somehow, Jamie is fairly sure that he won't. Not this man.)
"I'll tell you what it is, being off Earth has thrown me for a bit of a loop. As far as crossing universes goes, I mean."
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Date: 2009-10-14 05:27 am (UTC)Long ago, when Will was much younger, this expression made him look disconcertingly old beyond his years. Now his face is middle-aged, and this adult gravity sits much more naturally on that stolid, unremarkable countenance. It's only in brief flashes that one sees his true age, and the depth of that grave watchful compassion.
"Fewer Ways out here," he agrees, after considering Jamie for a moment. "Though I wouldn't say none... The paths are different, though, certainly."
"How did you get here?"
This isn't just curiosity. It's what you might call professional concern.
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Date: 2009-10-15 03:25 am (UTC)He looks embarrassed, more than anything; he looks like nothing more than a thirteen-year-old who's gotten in a bit over his head. The signs of a long, long life are very hard to see, in Jamie Hamilton.
"The Bounds are my usual route. I didn't come that way this time, or I would have come through on Earth. I got shoved through the door at a place you might know - a funny little joint called Milliways . . ."
He pauses, and then goes on. "Look, I've got to ask - have you got any idea of a chap called Uquar? It might be a bit easier to explain why I've got to get back, if you have."
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Date: 2009-10-16 04:40 am (UTC)He thinks over the question, his round placid face going blanker for a few moments with thought: Uquar, Uquar. "No," he says at length. "Not that name, at any rate."
Which in itself is interesting.
There's plenty at Milliways that he hasn't heard of before, of course, even after so long. But showing up in his world -- that's different.
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Date: 2009-10-16 04:54 am (UTC)That's one relief, anyways. If he can get to Milliways, he can get to where he needs to go.
"Oh - Uquar's not at Milliways," he says. "Well, I wondered."
He'd say another name, but - that'd give the wrong idea, he thinks, likely as not.
"Anyawy, I have got to get back to Earth, or Milliways, or anywhere I can cross back to my normal roads. I'm hoping you can lend a hand with that, because otherwise I'm at my wit's end."
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Date: 2009-10-22 02:54 am (UTC)"I'd rather get you out of here some ordinary way first, though -- it's tidier, for one. I'm not sure we've many options left there, though."
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Date: 2009-10-22 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 04:10 am (UTC)Will lifts a hand from his pocket long enough to shove back his hair in the old, thinking gesture.
"You've confused them enough, at least. Mostly you're wanted off-station and out of their hair. If we can manage something plausible enough, they'll take the excuse to get rid of you and ImpSec at once -- and ImpSec only cares if you're a threat to Barrayar. Which you aren't, of course."
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Date: 2009-10-22 04:14 am (UTC)"Can't you just go on telling them how mad I am? Mad people can be cunning."
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Date: 2009-10-25 03:17 am (UTC)It takes a certain amount of further discussion before all the details of the rest of the story are worked out.
Luckily, they've got time.
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Date: 2009-10-25 03:43 am (UTC)"All right," Jamie says, at last, "we ought to be set. Ah -" He glances over at the frozen officer. "How do you get things to start up again?"
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Date: 2009-10-25 05:06 am (UTC)He says one quiet, unfamiliar word, and time falls into place around them again.
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Date: 2009-10-25 05:23 am (UTC)(- and once or twice Jamie catches the 'EXTREME SKEPTICAL' face being aimed his way, especially once he reaches the bit about the runaway pony -)
- but eventually, Jamie and Will are standing by the docks, with a few wary guardsmen watching to make sure this uncomfortable burden really does, finally, get safely off-station and out of their hair.
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Date: 2009-10-25 05:58 am (UTC)Funny how none of the crew seems to be quite looking their way. It's not conspicuous avoidance; it's more as if they all happen to be genuinely busy with their tasks, right at the same moment.
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Date: 2009-10-25 06:25 am (UTC)(It's easier, considering that every room in a space station looks nearly the same anyways. Jamie's not much of an outdoorsman, but at this point all he's really craving is a breath of outdoors air.)
"And then - how long do you think it will take, to get back?"
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Date: 2009-10-28 04:19 am (UTC)"We'll take one of the more direct routes."
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Date: 2009-10-28 04:33 am (UTC)It's a good thing he's used enough to being locked up not to suffer too much from claustrophobia . . . even so, the idea of clambering into another small confined space surrounded by lack-of-atmosphere is not filling him with joy.
Ah well. Needs must.
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Date: 2009-10-28 04:34 am (UTC)