Cryoburn (Vorkosigan Saga) by Lois McMaster Bujold

Author:Lois McMaster Bujold [Bujold, Lois McMaster]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-05-15T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Roic figured midnight would have been the right time for a body-snatching expedition, possibly in the middle of a thunderstorm. Among other things, an electrical storm might help account for any power-flicker anomalies they left in their wake. But there were no suitable cold fronts predicted any time soon, and so Roic found himself, Raven, and m'lord, with Johannes driving the lift van again, turning in at the impressive entrance of the NewEgypt facility at high noon. It was only in Roic's imagination that the dog-headed statues flanking the main gate seemed to follow them with their painted eyes.

Johannes was armed with a couple of little floral arrangements in water tubes and a script, but he wasn't called upon to deploy either; the human gate guard waved them right through.

"What t' hell," said Roic.

"It's visiting hours," said m'lord mildly. "They aren't going to harass their patrons' kin, nor their potential future customers coming in for their tour, at this time of day. This isn't a military installation. All NewEgypt security has to worry about is theft—which is more likely to come from an employee—vandalism, which isn't likely to occur in broad daylight, and maybe something like the N.H.L.L.—who would probably wait for that midnight thunderstorm you wanted. Seems like their style, somehow."

Roic settled back with a disgruntled, "Huh."

He shifted uncomfortably in his somewhat-too-tight hospital uniform, XL, scavenged by Raven and Medtech Tanaka, possibly from the same source as some of their medical supplies now laid in and waiting back at Madame Suze's. M'lord wore a similar set, XS, a bit too loose, with the sleeve and trouser ends rolled up. Raven's set fit perfectly. Johannes was dressed in what Roic had been assured were unexceptionable Kibou street clothes, tidy and middle-class.

The van slipped past both the pyramid-topped building's lobby, fronted by an inviting faux-Egyptian garden with stone sphinxes, and the sign pointing to the loading docks for pre-frozen patron intake, hidden on the more utilitarian backside, then on around to a discreet side entrance meant for employees.

"All right, this is where we unload," m'lord said. "Don't look hurried, but don't waste time."

Trying not to look hurried, not to mention harried, Roic helped Raven open the back of the lift van and slide out the float pallet. A stack of boxes, emptied of their medical supplies, concealed the long shape in what Roic thought of as the freezer bag beneath. The body bag, designed for short-term transport, would, if left sealed, keep its contents at cryo-temperature for a couple of days, Raven had explained to him. Roic had to grant, it was a hell of a lot less bulky and eye-catching than a portable cryochamber. Johannes drove off to find the visitor parking and wait, and m'lord led the pallet and its handlers inside through automatic doors that parted for them without protest.

M'lord checked the holomap on his wristcom and led off through a succession of corridors. They encountered a trio of gossiping employees and an elderly couple, clearly visitors, on their way to the cafeteria that Roic smelled in passing, but none spared the pallet a glance.

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