Miles debated whether or not to call Pym. Visions of armed goons or assassination squads... well, maybe not. This was Vorkosigan House, after all. Maybe Zap or her kittens had gotten locked in his old room, in which case he'd have a kitty mess to clean up.

His hand was on the knob when the door opened. Automatically he gripped his stunner; otherwise he was paralyzed. Astonished, he strained to remember as his gaze moved up, and up.

Standing at the threshold was a tall, brown-haired woman. She glanced at the stunner, then at Miles. They stared at each other for several seconds before she stepped back self-consciously. Belatedly he realized she was dressed in only a bedsheet. She pulled the sheet closer with a sinewy hand. The unadorned gold ring on that hand was particularly riveting. Miles remembered himself, shifting his gaze higher. Good God, she can break me in half.

"Who are you?" he choked. Her chin jerked up, an apparent nervous tic. His hand spasmed, and the stunner fell to the floor.

The woman paled a degree more. Strands of red glinted in her long, long hair. "I'm no one you know."

But you should be... Miles blinked. Red hair, whipping away from him in the screaming air... not now.

The woman looked him over, taking in his Auditor's chain. Her eyes were light-colored, either grey or light blue, bright despite her own shadow.

He tried to kick the stunner over. Instead it rolled into the room, and he followed it in.

Maybe she's lost. In here? "How did you get in here?" Miles hoped she knew.

"We would dearly love to know," said a man's voice. The owner of the voice emerged from the bathroom, just as tall as the woman, with dark hair and cool grey eyes. He was dressed, at least, in well-fitting civilian clothes. Definitely goon-shaped. He waved his hands to show he was unarmed. Not that it mattered--- Miles backed up, anticipating a lunge. The man studied him intently with a gaze that seemed to cut right through to the bone. Miles half expected a hex sign against mutations.

The door shut quietly behind him. He'd been so busy watching the man, he'd lost track of his companion. She tossed the stunner on the middle of the bed. "Rather careless, Miles. I thought you'd have learned by now not to underestimate women."

Miles fought the urge to scream. In a locked room with two strangers, and how in thirty hells they'd gotten in here he'd never know. Hypnosis? Stupidity? "Who are you people?"

To his consternation, the woman ignored him. "Do you think they took the others?" She asked the man.

"Undoubtedly," he said.

"We should assume there's a target, then."

"The first priority should be contact."

"We'll need a tech for that. We ought to find them."

"We'll start looking right away."

The woman sat on the bed. She held Miles's gaze with piercing grey eyes. Like her brother's, Miles thought. They're as alike as Duronas.

"Miles, you must listen to me very carefully. Whatever you do, do not tell ImpSec about us."

"Yeah, they're gonna love this story. Why shouldn't I?" Miles glanced around automatically for his comconsole, then remembered that it was in his suite downstairs.

"But tell Gregor. Tell the Emperor and no one else. Gregor and Laisa may be in danger."

"From whom? From what?"

She continued, "But under no circumstances is Gregor to inform ImpSec. For at least two weeks." Her brother nodded agreement.

"And above all," he said, "it's imperative that you and Ekaterin be protected. If anything happens to the two of you, we are lost."

"I'm sorry this is all so confusing, Miles. We're not crazy, mostly, just in a tearing hurry. You have to trust us." The man, her brother, tossed her a bundle of clothes. "We're not here to hurt you." She smiled grimly as she slipped into the bathroom.

"That's the last thing on our minds. If we can, we'll try to protect you," the man said, finishing the thought.

Miles retorted, "Why warn me if I can't call ImpSec? What'll we do, beat off this mysterious threat with a club?"

The man grinned despite himself. "It's an idea. What we're up against is bigger than ImpSec. Surely you haven't forgotten that fiasco with Illyan's chip? We don't want to risk an internal struggle like that. Look, there may not be anything here. Maybe we are just a bunch of paranoid crazies, in which case you'll laugh at all this two weeks from now. But there's too much at stake here."

"It's my sworn duty to protect the Emperor. I can't do that if you don't tell me what the threat is!"

"We don't know ourselves. Our very presence here, which I assure you is not voluntary on our part, is dangerous in and of itself. That's all I can say." The man was leaning on the door now. Miles glanced at the windows, then realized the force-screen was on. No escape, though the drop wasn't too bad with his synthetic bones.

"I'd still like to know what you expect me to do against a threat that you say is bigger than ImpSec."

"Use your initiative. In the meantime, just keep a lookout for any danger signs. I imagine they'll be rather obvious to you and Gregor. You only have four people to protect: yourself, Ekaterin, Laisa, and Gregor. If there's more, we'll contact you."

"Just tell Gregor. He'll know what to do." The woman swept out of the bathroom, dressed in a Vor matron's dress, either the one of the Countess's own, or her loaners for Elena. It fit her well. Her hair was pulled back, accentuating her high cheekbones and her eyes. Miles felt a pang of familiarity wash over him. Then it occurred to him that the man had probably taken the dress from his parents' bedroom.

"Are you ready, Ina?" he said.

"Let's go, Lexi. Miles?"

"Yes?"

"Give me your word--- that you'll tell Gregor. You don't have to beef up security quite yet, just be on the lookout for unfamiliar things. Just two weeks, all right?"

Like strange people in my house? Aw, what the hell, ImpSec won't believe it anyway. "My word as Vorkosigan."

He watched them go. Run, get help, his brain screamed, but he found he was rooted to the spot. He heard the front door shut. It was only then that he noticed that the stunner was gone.