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Cam is out flying. There's a decent cloud of atmosphere around the gold plane, now, millenia of demons making air around themselves for comfort and not sealing it up because why would you bother. There's a small forest, here - the effect is kind of ruined by the lamps it has to grow under, but it's still pretty.
He feels an open summons and lets it grab him -
Cam on Barrayar
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from_scratch
from_scratch
"I can't quite tell if you mean that as utmost sarcasm or if you think he'll be able to convince me to help him spy on other people."
thisvorlunatic
"Sarcasm of the not-quite-utmost variety."
(A thought occurs to Miles. He is a good enough undercover agent not to give any outward sign that his inward self is jumping up and down shrieking DOES ILLYAN'S MEMORY CHIP COUNT AS ENCRYPTED FOR THIS PURPOSE?!.)
"He won't exactly be pleased by the necessity of coming up with an entire new set of security procedures based on this information, but it's the sort of work he enjoys, I think. I should probably go file a report for him before we reach the first jump, actually, so he can spend our trip concocting an extensive series of tests."
(A thought occurs to Miles. He is a good enough undercover agent not to give any outward sign that his inward self is jumping up and down shrieking DOES ILLYAN'S MEMORY CHIP COUNT AS ENCRYPTED FOR THIS PURPOSE?!.)
"He won't exactly be pleased by the necessity of coming up with an entire new set of security procedures based on this information, but it's the sort of work he enjoys, I think. I should probably go file a report for him before we reach the first jump, actually, so he can spend our trip concocting an extensive series of tests."
from_scratch
"Sure, makes sense. I can rifle through my notes and get you a copy of what I have on how my world handled it, although obviously the tech and underlying political situations involved is very different."
thisvorlunatic
"Appreciate it anyway," Miles says cheerfully. "Thanks." And he scurries off.
from_scratch
Cam does the promised notes-rifling and compiles assembled observations on the subject in a local format to give to Miles next time they encounter one another.
thisvorlunatic
Which is several hours later, after Miles has scribbled off a note to Illyan that summarizes the new information about demonic spying ability. He's not completely sure of whether or not his report counts as having spent time in decrypted material record, and he's pretty sure that Cam has enough information to reconstruct this particular report if it does, so rather than outright ask Illyan if he should test the memory chip thing, he dances around the subject in a series of what he hopes are blatant hints to Illyan while being innocuous to anyone who doesn't already know. (Has anyone told Cam about Illyan's memory? To Miles's merely mortal recollection, they haven't.)
from_scratch
Cam hands over his notes. "My information on this is spotty. My ability to get consistent news from the mortal world back home has deteriorated sharply over time as things that I was relying on to update under consistent titles went out of circulation and I had to get all my new lists of reading material from summoners. But it's what I've got."
thisvorlunatic
"Still a hell of a lot better than nothing. I'll go send a followup."
from_scratch
"Incidentally, demons are not just a security bane. We are also instantaneous communication devices. If somebody fifty jumps from here has a report for Simon I don't mind conjuring it up as long as this doesn't eat into anything more important than practicing the violin."
thisvorlunatic
"...ooh," says Miles. "That's definitely going in the followup."
(He plays the violin? No, no, focus. Work time.)
"He might or might not take you up on it, but it could come in very handy, with the right protocols..."
Miles waves distractedly and scampers off to write up report number two. He includes and summarizes Cam's notes, and spends a few minutes suggesting various schemes to collect information from across the galaxy as quickly and efficiently as possible, contingent on Cam's cooperation. Damn, though, if they can put the right system in place and get Cam to summon a batch of reports as often as every week, it'll seriously improve the speed of the Barrayaran intelligence network.
Illyan still hasn't gotten back to him on the memory chip question. He tries not to fret. Maybe Illyan decided to take the minimal risk and wait until they get back from Komarr, or maybe he decided he doesn't trust Cam enough to test it and would rather rely indefinitely on no one ever mentioning to Cam that the Chief of ImpSec's brain has extra onboard hardware storage. And Miles is very much failing at this not-fretting business.
(He plays the violin? No, no, focus. Work time.)
"He might or might not take you up on it, but it could come in very handy, with the right protocols..."
Miles waves distractedly and scampers off to write up report number two. He includes and summarizes Cam's notes, and spends a few minutes suggesting various schemes to collect information from across the galaxy as quickly and efficiently as possible, contingent on Cam's cooperation. Damn, though, if they can put the right system in place and get Cam to summon a batch of reports as often as every week, it'll seriously improve the speed of the Barrayaran intelligence network.
Illyan still hasn't gotten back to him on the memory chip question. He tries not to fret. Maybe Illyan decided to take the minimal risk and wait until they get back from Komarr, or maybe he decided he doesn't trust Cam enough to test it and would rather rely indefinitely on no one ever mentioning to Cam that the Chief of ImpSec's brain has extra onboard hardware storage. And Miles is very much failing at this not-fretting business.
from_scratch
When it is mealtime Cam obligingly supplies a meal. It is delicious!
middlingalong
"This is excellent. You will make somebody a lovely spouse one day."
thisvorlunatic
Miles squashes the urge to kick Ivan very hard under the table. It would be beneath him. And a pretty big hint to Cam.
"I concur," he says instead. "Do demons ever cook, come to think of it? I mean, obviously appearing all your food is faster when you know the exact end result you want, but it seems like cooking would still have a place when it came to invention. Except that hardly anybody would know how, because they wouldn't need to."
"I concur," he says instead. "Do demons ever cook, come to think of it? I mean, obviously appearing all your food is faster when you know the exact end result you want, but it seems like cooking would still have a place when it came to invention. Except that hardly anybody would know how, because they wouldn't need to."
from_scratch
"I can invent just as easily - faster, less attention to physics and trying not to burn things, ability to directly insinuate more salt or whatever into the food without wishing I'd done it half an hour earlier, whatever - with direct creation. Some demons cook as a hobby, in much the same way they might sew or make things out of Legos, but I never liked it enough. ...Do you still have Legos?"
from_scratch
"Little interlocking plastic blocks. Plus their accessories. It is weird to interact with people who do not know what Legos are."
thisvorlunatic
"Maybe invention isn't the word I was looking for - experimentation might be closer. What's so great about Legos?"
from_scratch
"I don't know in advance what it tastes like if I render avocado into a dry foam, even if I can do it just on the basis of having come up with that verbal description, so I'd call that an experiment - but maybe you mean a different kind of experimentation? Still, on some level unless you're trying to cook blindfolded you know what you're putting into your whatever, and it's faster to put it into the whatever my way. If you are a demon. Legos were a huge cultural mainstay of classic toys around when I was growing up and still were by 2159, albeit waning. Want a set?"
from_scratch
Miles gets a little cloth bag full of assorted Lego blocks. "Let me know if you need more."
thisvorlunatic
He shrugs and stuffs them in a pocket. "I'll see what all the fuss is about next time I'm bored. I am not currently bored. This is definitely a meal of the non-boring variety."
from_scratch
Cam blinks quizzically at Ivan. To Miles he just says, "Thanks. Do I still get the credit if I confess to having stolen the spread from the demon equivalent of a restaurant?"
thisvorlunatic
Miles does not even give Ivan a 'shut the fuck up, Ivan' look. He thinks one pretty aggressively, but maintains an outward calm.
"Yes. But you'd get more credit if you'd invented it yourself, of course."
"Yes. But you'd get more credit if you'd invented it yourself, of course."
from_scratch
"Naturally. Cheffery hasn't been my big focus. Mostly I know physics and medicine and engineering as adapted for demons, and some incidentals. And I'll probably be updating all of the above here rather than attending culinary school."