singing open the great gates

[middlingalong]

The following day, very little happens, except for Vorreedi mentioning that Yenaro has been arrested (by the civil police, for theft, on charges from a ghem-lord Miles has never heard of, as opposed to by Cetagandan security for treason).

Also, Ivan gets bored - with all the bodyguards Vorreedi now requires for them after the incident at the bioestheties exhibition, the possible spontaneity of going out with his ghem girlfriends is much reduced.

But the next day they get to attend the Singing Open of the Great Gates.

And oh, is there ever singing.

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

"Well, I don't know, what does yours do?"

[isthisart]

"Comconsole functions, it can patch into most standard networks, that's how I'm accessing the library now. It's DNA locked, the consumer version probably won't do that, there are shortcuts I could take locking it to myself because I borrowed from the way the chairs only react to specific haut-ladies. It can pick up sound, but not project it - there wasn't a good way to get any reasonable acoustic quality without making it bulkier. It can take pictures as well as display them, though. It can do flat midair screens like this, or three-dimensional projections, although I don't have any way for it to project around corners so if I cover up both of its ends," she demonstrates, the projection winks out, "it's no good - that makes the three-d option less useful than it otherwise might be. It'll draw freehand, or recognize a library of gestures - alphabets and software shortcuts. It's got okay data capacity on its own, but its charger and external storage unit is where I keep anything I don't expect to need in the next week or so - again, didn't want it too bulky. And the white projection you've seen is another feature the consumer version probably won't have because most people aren't tetrachromats, but I find it a useful privacy screen."

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Tetrachromat?"

[isthisart]

"I can see more colors than you can. The white screen looks the equivalent of greyscale to me. It's only been standard for haut designed within the last couple of decades - anyone my own age could still read over my shoulder, but if it was only people older than me, they wouldn't be able to."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Weird," he says. "But - in a good way."

[isthisart]

"I tend not to watch a lot of holos because everything in them looks sort of - flat and unreal and sad," she says. "I mean, the pen takes pictures in all colors, but most media isn't designed for it. I suppose if I weren't a tetrachromat everything would look like that all the time and I just wouldn't know the difference."

[thisvorlunatic]

"'All' meaning all the ones you see - I assume there's still more that you can't?" he says. "You should make my pen take tetrachromat pictures too, even if I can't tell the difference."

[isthisart]

"In theory there could be pentachromats, but as far as I know none have been made, so - all the colors that anyone can see. And sure, I can make the cameras the same - are you thinking you'll be taking pictures of things to show me?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"I'm thinking that if I did, I'd want them not to look flat and unreal and sad," he says.

[isthisart]

"That makes sense."

[thisvorlunatic]

[isthisart]

"I think," she says, tucking her pen away, "that I need lunch."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Then let's get lunch!"

[isthisart]

After some looking, they locate the ship galley, which Linya inspects with considerable curiosity but makes no disparaging remarks about.

She collects for herself about twice as much food as Miles does.

[thisvorlunatic]

...Well all right then.

[isthisart]

Om nom nom. She makes a very subtle face at the first bite but doesn't complain or make more faces as she continues her meal.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles decides not to ask any questions whose answers he won't like, such as for example 'how's the food?'.

[middlingalong]

Ivan has apparently also had the idea of lunch. He sits next to Miles rather than alone or with total strangers.

"So how's life, Lady Vorkosigan?" he inquires.

[isthisart]

"Can't complain," she says, responding seamlessly to her new form of address. "I'm going to learn Russian and design a consumer version of my," she taps her pen, "gadget. If that doesn't take two weeks I'll think of something else."

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Is it likely not to take two weeks?"

[isthisart]

"That probably depends on whether you talk to me in Russian."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Well, I won't swear I'm the best conversational partner you could ask far - in Russian, anyway - but I can if you'd like."

[isthisart]

"That'll help, then. I mean, I don't claim I'll step onto Barrayar with a native-level vocabulary, but I should be able to hold basic conversations."

[thisvorlunatic]

[middlingalong]

"Two-week language learning. What else can you do?"