"She's not that long-winded, is she? Or is my time perception skewed on the subject?"

"Your time perception is absolutely untrustworthy. She'd let me go but only after rolling her eyes, probably - you go on about her without seeming to notice as the sun rises and sets six times comically in the background -"

He cracks up at that.

"Yeah? Do you have it signed by the Emperor of Barrayar?" says 'Miles Vorkosigan', rather pointedly.

"We don't need it to be," says the police officer. "All the detention order means is that you can't leave London. You are free to not leave London here, but then you can't answer the subopena and let the municipal bench find whether there is sufficient evidence to charge you."

"...Charge me with what?"

"Ivan!" says Miles, looking like seven kinds of absolute hell and sporting four days' beard growth he didn't have two hours ago. "We've come to arrest me. Where was I last seen?"

"Er, getting arrested," says Ivan. "For trying to assassinate yourself. What."

"Some police officers came in and said they had a detention order for you and you asked if it'd been signed by the Emperor of Barrayar and they said they didn't need it to be you just had to not leave London until you came to see the municipal bench about ascertaining if there was enough evidence to lay charges and you went off with them and Miles what the hell?"

"You remember that kidnapping attempt that you said was a trap and I said I knew that and wanted to find out what kind? Well, it turns out the trap was an actual clone substitution plot, and for the past four days you've been talking to the substituted clone. By all accounts he does a just about flawless me. Which means now I probably have to worry about him breaking out of wherever the locals have put him, unless he's talked his way out by now, so our next stop should be the Assizes, as soon as I've showered, shaved, and changed."

"Maybe don't shave. He does a flawless you."

Miles makes a face. "Ugh. Point. But if you ever find yourself confused, try getting the object of your confusion to sit still for a medical scan - his bones are normal, no weakness, no old breaks. Although the terrifying asshole who raised him did pointlessly replace his leg bones with synthetics after I got mine done, so don't waste your time looking for that tell."

"And now we're going to - arrest him ourselves, after proving that you didn't try to assassinate yourself how exactly? Even if you show up as Naismith and say it's your personal opinion he didn't send the assassins..."

"Naismith my way through it, obviously. Apply whatever combination of charm and lies they require before they'll let him go. If they are not susceptible to charm and lies, improvise."

"Right. Of course. I'll... go tell the ambassador?"

"If you must."

Ivan must, apparently. Off he scurries.

"I think it is past time to report this entire mess to HQ," Galeni opines.

"Are you kidding me, sir?" says Miles. "Never send interim reports. Only final ones. Interim reports tend to elicit orders, which you much then either obey, or spend valuable time and energy evading which you could be using to solve the problem."