[ He doubts he'll figure it out any time soon, no. But Wash thinks he will. He's good at that. Some part of him still isn't sure, endless self doubt and the fear that everything he does is just sign after sign of what little sanity he has left slipping and slipping away, but the rest of him is as sure as he can be that Byerly is more than he seems, a liar, and a good one.

Too good of a liar to not have a purpose. He'll find what that is. ]

I plan to do what I can. [ For his friends, more than for Barrayar, but damned if he doesn't hate the Cetagandans, if they didn't have his skin crawling from the moment he was first brought into the base. ] And if I do find your corpse out in the cold somewhere, I'll make sure they bury it as far from the stables as possible.

Was that all, then?

[ Of the questions, of the digging, just looking back at him, calm, surprisingly awake despite everything. Tire yourself out talking to this brick wall yet, By? He can pull out more lectures on translight travel. ]