Emperor's Gift

Disclaimer: I adore Lois McMaster Bujold. She's a lovely lady that has signed almost all the Vorkosigan novel's in my collection and admits to writing fanfiction early in her career.

The Emperor's Gift

Simon undressed to his skivvies and climbed into the bed.

"I'll have one of the servants made you up a room." Lord Admiral Vorkosigan sat on the edge of the bed. His father the Count was in his home in his district.

"Am I not pleasing?" Simon sat up in the bed. His job was to be with the Admiral 26.7 hours a day. Negri was very specific. Simon could sleep on the floor, but he would be disregarding his duty if he vacated the room. "Lord Admiral, if you should use a console when I'm not here, I would be negligent in my duty."

The admiral stared at the young man. "They could have implanted a recording device in me - somewhere where I couldn't easily remove it."

"A recording device can be tampered or altered. You remove the eidetic memory chip from my brain and it stops functioning. You fast-penta me and I stop functioning. Much more secure." Simon didn't like talking about his death so bluntly, but he was a Greek boy, an object to be used. He was useful because of the chip in his head, not for himself.

"A recorder won't lie."

"My chip doesn't lie, sir." Simon kept his voice bland. He didn't want to sound insulted. He was here to observe Vorkosigan because his presence made career soldiers act in ways unacceptable to their positions. Vorkosigan claimed he did nothing to incite his fellows. However, he was always present when these events occurred. Negri explained that they either had to prevent Vorkosigan from making human contact or record all incidents of human contact so Vorkosigan's mouth wouldn't lead them into a civil war or worse.

"You can," said the admiral.

"Yes, sir." Simon looked at the older man still wearing his undress greens. He had a small scar on his face - more of the kind you get from a duel than a ship battle. Simon didn't know the history behind that scar, but he would learn. "This chip means I must live with my actions. Everything I do is recorded. I do not have the option of forgetting."

"You served the Emperor before me."

"Yes, sir. He felt having a human recording device would make him appear technically advanced. However, a head-of-state once called him a barbarian for having less than ethical surgery done on me." The head-of-state that said that was Dowager Empress Lisbeth Degtiar. However, Vorkosigan didn't need to know that.

"Those weren't his exact words," the admiral commented.

"She used the word barbarian." Simon smiled. We, barbarians, forced their ghem-lords into retreat. She didn't use the word lightly. "Her words were 'only a barbarian would butcher someone else to raise his own stasis.' She said more, but you don't want to hear it."

"Lieutenant, you should always feel free to talk in my presence."

"Thank you, sir."

"What were your orders?"

"Would you like me to repeat them verbatim?"

"Please, do."

"Negri said, "Vorkosigan likes soldiers. Make yourself accessible to him. He is not to speak to anyone without you present. You are to monitor all his communications. You are to listen to his conversations and read his out-going mail.' He said more. Shall I go on?"

"Lieutenant, you cannot serve two masters."

"Sir, since I'm glued to your side, I don't see why we cannot make this an enjoyable experience." Simon climbed out of the bed and kneeled before the Lord Admiral. "Would you like me to help you undress?"

The admiral looked at Simon like he was seeing him for the first time. "I was given the Emperor's toy. How dare they!"

Simon helped the admiral out of his right boot. "Consider it an honor." He wasn't a cheap whore that was passed from admiral to admiral. The Emperor was an old man who didn't do much more than look. The Emperor didn't approve of Prince Serg's behavior and would never act in a sadistic way. Simon's body was unscarred, except for the small incision covered by his fine brown hair. His skin color was regular and without blemish. He was the perfect recording device because nothing about him stood out.

The admiral touched Simon's soft hair. "Quite pleasing."

"I'm yours." Simon smiled slightly and started to remove the second boot then he removed the admiral's trousers and lowered his pants. "May I, sir?"

Vorkosigan smiled.

"I amuse you, sir."

"Proceed," the admiral said in a voice more attuned to the battlefield than the bedroom.

Simon put the Admiral's organ in his mouth. It was thicker than the Emperor's rod. Then the Admiral was a stout man. Servicing the Admiral gave him no pleasure, other than the pleasure one received from a job well done.

Simon swallowed the Admiral's seed. Licking the organ clean, Simon wondered if he was straight. However, having sex with a woman didn't seem to be part of Simon's life path. He had been the Emperor's toy and now he belonged to Vorkosigan, the hero of Komarr.

The Admiral spoke, "Lieutenant, join me in bed." The admiral took off his shirt and vest. Simon snuggled against the man's chest. His curly black hair was speckled with gray. Vorkosigan's muscles were surprising fit for a man of his years.

Simon felt Vorkosigan's strong arms embrace him. He would learn to love this admiral like he loved his Emperor.

---

Simon woke to the sensation of a finger gliding on his nose.

The admiral smiled at him. "Good morning."

"Sir, did you sleep well?" Simon saw the light coming through the windows.

Admiral picked up his dressing gown. The admiral gave Simon a look like how could you be so happy at this hour in the morning.

"We need to shower. We have a conference at 0900." After he spoken, Simon looked at the clock it was only 0530.

"Negri shouldn't have ordered you to sleep with me." Admiral put on his gown on while sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Sir, would you prefer me to sleep on the floor?" Simon looked at the Admiral with his best puppy dog eyes; that look usually worked with the Emperor. Then the Emperor enjoyed buying him presents, little trinkets. Simon wasn't going to lie and say that the Admiral was a handsome man. Simon looked the man over lazily. The Admiral didn't have bad legs; short and stocky. The admiral had large thigh and calf muscles that Simon wanted to feel more intimately.

"Stop the bedroom eyes."

"After seeing the Emperor undressed, you're very pleasing to the eye."

"That's not a compliment." Admiral left the bedroom.

Simon followed; he used the bathtub in the large bathroom while the admiral showered. After his bath, Simon put on his undress greens. Simon said as the Admiral entered the bedroom, "I didn't mean any offense." Simon looked back at the first time the Emperor asked him to undress. Simon had recalled his mother saying many times that it was his duty to love the Emperor. He had thought, as the Emperor had moved his hands over his body, this wasn't what his mother in mind.

"It's forgiven."

"Aren't you angry about the chip?"

"I'm a peasant; I have no rights."

"You must have known that they all went insane or died." The Admiral put on his undress greens.

"Not until after the surgery." Simon looked at the few flimsies on the desk. "I had tutors and part of their duty was to look for symptoms. I earned a second college degree in a matter of weeks."

"Why do you think it succeeded with you and failed with the others?" The Admiral looked at the outgoing mail that Simon had processed and signed the documents where it was required.

"I was watched. The others did it for their own behalf and wouldn't have admitted to having argumentation to improve their memories and, if they did tell someone, it wouldn't be the experts an emperor has at his disposal."

The Admiral sat down. "It could be you - your personality."

"I don't want to think that I'm special."

"Simon, you're unique. You're the only person in the Nexus to function with this chip."

Simon thought himself pitiful. He was throwing himself at this man so his time observing him would be at least tolerable. "I'll call down for a breakfast tray." Simon called down to the cook.

"Whatever said between us without a third party stays between us," Vorkosigan stated.

"Thank you, sir." Simon returned to processing the mail. Simon knew that keeping Vorkosigan's confidence protected both of them. "The nurse smiled when I dressed without delay after the surgery. She grinned when I asked for tea."

"So?"

"I keep my personal decisions to a minimum. I'm in the military. The way I make my bed, dress (everything) is precise - no decision making. I had the Emperor's staff to help me with the small decisions until I established a routine."

The Admiral scratched his chin. "They went crazy because they couldn't decide what color socks to wear."

"Precisely. Sir, your mail is in order." Simon had all the letters sealed and ready for delivery. A courier would delivery the mail to the proper offices.

----

After Simon finished reading the schedule for the following day, he undressed completely and lied on the four-poster bed. "Join me."

"I have requisitions that need my signatures. " The admiral stated sitting in front of a small desk.

"I read them all." Simon turned on his side.

"You're efficient."

Simon laughed.

"How am I supposed to work with you tempting me?" Vorkosigan put down his pen.

"What do you do for fun?" Simon sat up partway.

"I'm enjoying looking at you. I used to draw. I wasn't much of an artist."

"Wouldn't you prefer touching me?" Simon lied on his stomach hoping to entice the admiral with the curve of his ass.

"You're beautiful." The admiral put down his flimsies.

"And yours." Simon felt the other man's weight on the bed but didn't turn toward him. Simon turned slightly as he felt kisses on his back.

"When I was a younger man, I drew my lovers."

"I don't think it would be wise for you to draw my picture. I don't think we should advertise." Simon didn't think a drawing of him would mean very much. People tended not to notice him. When he asked why he was chosen for ImpSec, he was told it was because he was so ordinary looking no one could give a description - average height, brown hair and eyes with no distinguishing marks.

"My staff knows that you sleep with me. Captain Negri sent you here in hopes that you would seduce me." The admiral planted kisses on Simon's bottom. "You feel so good."

Simon reached for a tube of gel. "Sir." Simon handed the tube to Vorkosigan.

"Simon, tell me if I'm hurting you." Vorkosigan moved his hands lightly over Simon's back.

"I'm sure it will feel very good." Simon relaxed hoping not to give away that he hadn't been penetrated before. He wanted to look and feel open to the admiral.

The admiral took his time opening Simon before penetrating him. "You're so tight."

"That feels incredible. I have this dictionary in my head, but the words don't come to me." Simon didn't want to talk as he felt things that he never felt before. It was this wonderful sensation of both pleasure and pain. His chip only recorded sight and sound; sensations and emotional memories were only recorded in his human memory. He had two memories of each event. Simon gripped the pillow beside him trying not to call out.

The admiral was breathing hard, but must have practiced holding his tongue during sex. The admiral collapsed besides Simon then kissed the back of Simon's neck. "It's been awhile."

Simon turned on his side. "As in never."

"You should have told me."

"I wanted you to love me."

"Don't hide things from me." Vorkosigan kissed Simon's forehead.

"It's only sex. I would never hide imperial business." Simon kissed the admiral briefly. Simon was always censoring material but it was for brevity's sake. "I wish we could lie in bed all day."

"That would give the staff the wrong ideas." The admiral closed his eyes and slept a moment. "What do you see in me?" Aral asked rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Simon wanted a sexy answer: the kind a woman would tell a man. "Your power." Simon batted his eyes in a way that hoped was alluring. He looked over Aral's muscular chest and arms. Something about his smell was rather compelling.

"Are you homosexual?"

"I don't think so." Simon tried to kiss the Admiral, but Vorkosigan pulled away.

"You don't know." Vorkosigan moved a finger over Simon's arm.

"I know I want to kiss you, to touch you." Simon kissed Vorkosigan briefly enjoying the stirring of his loins that it caused. He must have been bisexual; he definitely responded in more than a functionary way. He had never approached a Greek girl because touching her hand could be interpreted by her family as a marriage proposal. "You see a robot in this beautiful human chassis "

"Robots can't think or reason. They follow strings of command. You make decisions based on emotional responds." Vorkosigan moved a finger over Simon's forehead then kissed Simon's forehead. "You're very human."

"I have two memories for every event. I use the computer-generated one. This chip doesn't keep me from forming human memories, but I ignore them like a man with a strong eye and weak eye will ignore the fuzzy images coming from the weak eye."

Vorkosigan's hand stroked Simon's sex. His thoughts weren't silent, but his emotional brain was all that mattered as he felt the pleasant sensations overtake him. If his chip was recording other sights or sounds, it wasn't apparent at the moment.

Simon came in Vorkosigan hand. As the aftershock unfolded, he put his head on Vorkosigan's chest.

"What are you thinking?"

"So much. I could give you a list; I'm always processing information." Simon kissed Vorkosigan's belly. The assignment to watch Vorkosigan was indefinite; he could have this assignment the rest of the admiral's life. The possibility of spending the next sixty years with this man didn't fill Simon with dread.

"About me?"

"The lips move too slow." Simon knew every facet of the man snuggled against him. He could tell Vorkosigan every detail that he read about his public life and all the little things that he noticed since he was assigned to his person. Aral appeared to be one of the Vor that took honor into his heart. Anything Simon could say would only be a small part of the whole man. Simon sat up and put on his briefs and then his other clothes. Simon had to abbreviate because he couldn't share all that he was thinking; there wasn't enough time in the universe to discuss a few moments of his mental processes.

Vorkosigan walked around the bed and kissed Simon. Not a peck, but a deep passionate kiss and Simon's hormones caused him to want to press his body against Vorkosigan's and never want to let go.

Simon said, "I'm homosexual. You make me feel things I never felt before."

"Welcome to the human condition."

Simon walked over to the comconsole and checked if they had any new messages. He must have known all of Negri's codes by now, especially since he had learned because Negri punched codes in his presence. Either Chief of ImpSec forgot about his eidetic memory chip or wanted Simon to know them and didn't want it said out-loud. Simon wanted to believe the latter.

Vorkosigan looked impressed at the speed that Simon processed screens of classified information. "Negri can see us."

"Negri's system is so compartmentalized that he couldn't find a needle in his own haystack."

"And you're the only one that can understand his system."

"I wouldn't claim to understand his rational, but I can locate any information on his data base," Simon explained.

"You're more than a recording device."

Simon looked at Vorkosigan in his undress greens. "What I did is completed untraceable." The computer at ImpSec would record that Negri sent encoded information to Vorkosigan house; however, thousands of transmissions were sent a day and no one other than Simon could track such things. Simon, having just read all the ImpSec communications for the previous day, wondered how much Vorkosigan had witnessed.

"Wouldn't ImpSec have your physiological profile?"

"Destroyed." Simon left nothing that would be helpful to find another candidate that wouldn't break down. Broad assumptions but he wasn't going to assist the Emperor to find other candidates.

"Could you control the Nexus?"

"Fast courier speed would put certain limitations on my ability to access and control information."

Vorkosigan grinned looking at Simon with new eyes. "You're a weapon."

"A soldier would say that."

"Your packaging is deceptive." Vorkosigan kissed Simon's neck.

Simon didn't want to tell Vorkosigan (now becoming Aral) that his ability to retrieve and send information was limited by the speed the computer could accept his codes. Simon wondered how he could accomplish the implied part of his mission of keeping Admiral Vorkosigan employed so he wouldn't add more stress to the political situation. Sex was a starter. It was very pleasant and since Vorkosigan was gentle and a bit of a romantic; it had the potential to consume many hours of their time. Vorkosigan was fairly young and had fantastic stamina; it wouldn't take much effort to persuade Vorkosigan to remove his attention from making war to making love. Simon grinned at the possibility of having sex with the man two or three times in a day.

After evening tea, Simon put on a Russian Mazurka over the room speakers. "I can memorize the patterns, but the doing is different."

"There are many rooms that the servants don't frequent."

"You'll teach me to dance."

"Negri wants you keep me busy," Vorkosigan said.

"He wants you not to cause war," Simon said simply. He was sent because a recording device wouldn't keep the admiral occupied.

"Do you know any dances?" Vorkosigan led Simon to another wing.

"Greek line dances and a few simple reels. The dances children do. I never danced with a girl. It wasn't done in the Greek community."

"Waltzes are fairly easy and the mirror dance is only three steps. It's the mirror part that makes it interesting. My older brother taught me to dance. Patterns are the easy part; the challenge is getting your feet to cooperate." Vorkosigan put on a slow waltz. "Enjoy the music." Vorkosigan held Simon's hands. "In official dances, people hardly touch, and, in the mirror dance, you don't touch at all."

"I suspect at balls, I'll always be in my red and blue, but I should know the dances on the outside chance that someone asks me."

"The man asks the lady."

"Not always. Three tenths of the time, the woman asks the man," Simon corrected.

Vorkosigan added turns to the waltz. "It's supposed to fun."

"And dancing with your brother was fun?"

"When he didn't step on my feet. Our parents thought it was adorable. I still have some holo-vids. Life was so different before my brother and mother died."

"What did you do with your time before I arrived?"

"My da gardens and cares for the horses. I'm more into reading. I like taking walks on beach. I'm a soldier. I don't give much thought to my free time."

"You could return to drawing."

"I did a few paintings when I was young. I gave them away." Vorkosigan moved a little closer to Simon. "Do you want to be the one that twirls?"

"You're leading."

"After you're comfortable, you should lead so when the ladies ask." Vorkosigan twirled Simon. "Very good. You learn fast." He gave Simon a peck on the lips.

After about five waltzes - the last three Simon led, they stopped to get water. "That was quite fun." Simon took a glass off a tray a servant left them.

"You're so beautiful." Vorkosigan smiled at Simon.

"They put the chip in my head because I'm pretty. That was my sole qualification."

"You dance well." Vorkosigan drank a little more. "We could do a mirror dance. It's complicated in its simplicity." Vorkosigan opened a bottle of wine and poured it into two glasses.

"I feel like I'm being courted." Simon clicked his glass against Vorkosigan's.

"I'm the count's son. You could do worse."

"Forth in line to throne. You're quite a catch."

"We shouldn't talk like this." Vorkosigan sipped his wine.

"We could be together the rest of our lives."

"They want to be rid of both of us. You must terrify ImpSec and you're Ezar's toy, so they can't dispose of you."

Simon put his glass down. "Dance?"

Vorkosigan started the music. "Three steps and we mirror each other's hands taking turns leading."

Simon followed Vorkosigan's lead. "I feel you should lead."

"You aren't a lady."

"A few clicks and I could have ImpSec without Negri being the wiser." The dance became faster. Simon needed to focus on his legs so he wouldn't look foolish in front of his lover, his husband. "I'm biding my time, instead of seizing power. You excrete masculinity and take control. I watch. All I'll ever be is a human recording device."

"You follow the chain of command. No shame in that."

"I'm sleeping with an admiral."

"You were ordered to do so."

"I was ordered to watch you nothing more."