Bujold, Lois McMaster
MILES, MYSTERY & MAYHEM (an omnibus of CETAGANDA, ETHAN OF ATHOS, and
"Labyrinth" from BORDERS OF INFINITY)
Lois McMaster Bujold
BAEN Publishing 2001
Pb 556 pages
ISBN#
0-7434-3618-0
CETAGANDA: Miles and his cousin Ivan Vorpatril attend the State Funeral for the Dowager Empress of Cetaganda on Eta Ceta IV, "the heart and homeworld of the sprawling Cetagandan Empire." Cetaganda gets more than its expects from these two Vor lordlings, both lieutenants of Barrayaran Imperial Security. There's a mystery afoot in high Cetagandan society and someone figures to dump the blame on this pair of "barbarians." Always one who is trying to prove himself, Miles refuses to share this mystery with either the local Barrayaran embassy or Cetagandan security. It begins when Ivan and Miles are approached by a lone Cetagandan who passes a strange object into their keeping. Then a series of "accidents" befalls our pair, publicly humiliating events that to Miles's brilliant mind are anything but accidents. Then Miles is approached by a lady, and not just any lady but the next empress-to-be. She is incredibly beautiful and Miles gets an instant crush that can never be satisfied. So he resigns himself to aiding this lovely lady with her dilemma (an unknown haut-lord is considering treason and aiming to pin the blame on Barrayar). By now there's also a murder to solve and the corpse turns out to be the man who delivered that strange object (a key) to Miles and Ivan--the now deceased Dowager Empress's personal servant. Miles's Celestial Lady wants her key returned. Miles wants to clear Barrayar of blame. But Miles's key is unfortunately a copy and Miles has only five days to solve this puzzle and find the original. Find it he does, but recovering it is a very dangerous enterprise. This story gives a wonderful view into the odd yet beautiful Cetagandan society.
A sample from the text (the local Barrayaran ImpSec agent is questioning Miles--beliving him to be on assignment): "'I could add a philosophical observation.' ... 'Please do, my lord.' ... 'You don't hire a genius to solve the most intractable imaginable problem, and then hedge him around with a lot of rules, nor try to micro-manage him from two weeks' distance. You turn him loose. If all you need is somebody to follow orders, you can hire an idiot. In fact, an idiot would be better suited.' Vorreedi's fingers drummed lightly on his comconsole desk. Miles felt the man might have tackled an intractable problem or two himself, in his past. Vorreedi's brows rose. 'And do you consider yourself a genius, Lord Vorkosigan?' he asked softly. Vorreedi's tone of voice made Miles's skin crawl, it reminded him so much of his father's when Count Vorkosigan was about to spring some major verbal trap. ... 'My intelligence evaluations are in my personnel file, sir.' ... 'I've read it. That's why we're having this conversation.' Vorreedi blinked, slowly, like a lizard. 'No rules at all?' ... 'Well, one rule, maybe. Deliver success or pay with your ass.' ... 'You have held your current post for almost three years, I see, Lieutenant Vorkosigan ... Your ass is still intact, is it?' ... 'Last time I checked, sir.' For the next five days, maybe. ... 'This suggests astonishing authority and autonomy.' ... 'No authority at all. Just responsibility.' ... 'Oh, dear.' Vorreedi pursed his lips very though fully indeed. 'You have my sympathy, Lord Vorkosigan.'"
ETHAN OF ATHOS is one of the rare non-Miles stories in Bujold's Vorkosigan saga. However, we do get to play with Miles's friend Eli Quinn. It seems Admiral Miles Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries has contracted Eli out to do a little spying (and assassination) for House Bharaputra of the planet Jackson's Whole. She's following a Cetagandan ghem-Colonel and his henchmen who blew away a genetics lab on Jackson's Whole. Now their mission settles on Kline Station where they attack a humble geneticist from the all-male planet of Athos. Doctor Ethan Urquhart is on a mission of his own. The shipment of 450 live human ovarian cultures his planet ordered from Jackson's Whole never arrived. Now he must brave galactic civilization to find a replacement shipment, he must face that dreaded phenomenon known as women! And, of course, no matter how hard he tries, poor Ethan cannot avoid Eli Quinn.
From the text: "'You again,' groaned Ethan. He gave Commander Quinn a malignant glower as her exact words--his exact words--registered. 'Where'd you plant the bug, Quinn?' ... 'On your credit chit,' she answered promptly. 'It was the one item you slept with.' She rocked on her toes and cocked her head to peer around Ethan's shoulder. 'Won't you introduce me to your new friend? Pretty please?' ... Ethan bleated under his breath. ... 'Exactly,' Quinn nodded. 'And I must say you're the best stalking-goat I ever ran. The way troubles flock to you is just astonishing.'"
"Labyrinth" (winner of the Analog reader's poll for best novella of 1989): This is a vivid portrayal of Admiral Naismith taking on Jackson's Whole. It only started as a simple "pick-up" mission of an escaping geneticist seeking asylum from the atrocities of laissez-faire capitalism gone wild. But Doctor Canaba refuses to leave unless Miles and his mercenaries first retrieve a valuable culture the doctor hid in the muscle of one of his lab's experimental animals. Okay--thinks Miles--get in, kill the animal, retrieve the culture, and get out without getting caught. Ahh, easier said than done on vicious Jackson's Whole. Miles gets in, gets separated from his team, gets caught, then gets caged with Bharaputra's experiment.
From the text: "I can't believe this. Trapped in Ryoval's basement with a sex-starved teenage werewolf [with an IQ of 135!]. There was nothing about this in any of my Imperial Academy training manuals.... He remembered his mission, which was to get her left calf muscle back to the Ariel alive. Dr. Canaba, if I survive you and I are going to have a little talk about this...."
MILES, MYSTERY & MAYHEM is a sociologist's dream. The wide-ranging societies and human species variants in this collection are what "world-building" is all about. Top-notch writing with good old-fashioned storytelling.
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