One arm torn off, somewhere in the initial crunch rather than later, judging from the close-up vids of the freezing-effects of liquids lost at the stump. It had been a quick death, anyway. Miles knew better than to add, Almost painless. No traces of illicit drugs or alcohol had been found in her frozen tissues.

The Komarran medical examiner, along with his six final reports, included a message wanting to know if he had Miles’s permission to release the bodies of the six members of the mirror’s station-keeping crew back to their waiting families.

Good God, hadn’t that been done yet? As an Imperial Auditor, he wasn’t supposed to be running this investigation, just observing and reporting on it. He did not desire his mere presence to freeze anyone’s initiative. He fired off the permission immediately, right from Madame Vorsoisson’s comconsole.

He started working his way through the six reports. They were more detailed than the prelims he’d already seen, but contained no surprises. By this time, he wanted a surprise, something, anything beyond Spaceship blows up for no reason, kills seven. Not to mention the astronomical property damage bill. With three reports assimilated, and his bland breakfast becoming a regret in his stomach, he backed out for a short period of mental recovery.

Idly, while waiting for the queasiness to pass, he sorted through Madame Vorsoisson’s data files. The one titled Virtual Gardens sounded pleasant. Perhaps she wouldn’t mind if he took a virtual stroll through them. The Water Garden enticed him. He called it up on the holovid plate before him.

It was, as he had guessed, a landscape design program. One could view it from any distance or angle, from a miniature-looking total overview to a blown-up detailed inspection of a particular planting; one could program a stroll through its paths at any given eye level.