Jin tried to figure out how old the man was.  His face was pale and furrowed, with sprays of fine lines at the corners of his eyes, and his chin was shadowed with a day's beard stubble, but that could be from being lost Below, which would unsettle anybody.  His dark hair was neatly cut, a few gleams of gray showing in the light.  His body seemed more scaled-down than distorted, sturdy enough, though his head, set on a short neck, was a bit big for it.  Jin decided to work around to his curiosity more sideways, to be polite.  "What's your name, mister?"

The man's eyes flew open; they were clear gray in color, and would probably be bright if they weren't so bloodshot.  If the fellow had been bigger, his seedy looks might have alarmed Jin more.  "Miles.  Miles Vo—well, the rest is a mouthful no one here seems able to pronounce.  You can just call me Miles.  And what's your name, young . . . person?"

"Jin Sato," said Jin.

"Do you live on this roof?"

Jin shrugged.  "Pretty much.  Nobody climbs up to bother me.  The lift tubes inside don't work."  He led on, "I'm almost twelve," and then, deciding he'd been polite enough, added, "How old are you?"

"I'm almost thirty-eight.  From the other direction."

"Oh."  Jin digested this.  A disappointingly old person, therefore likely to be stodgy, if not so old as Yani, but then, it was hard to know how to count Yani's age.  "You have a funny accent.  Are you from around here?"

"By no means.  I'm from Barrayar."

Jin's brow wrinkled.  "Where's that?  Is it a city?"  It wasn't a Territorial Prefecture; Jin could name all twelve of those.  "I never heard of it."

"Not a city.  A planet.  A triplanetary empire, technically."

"An off-worlder!"  Jin's eyes widened with delight.  "I never met an off-worlder before!"  Tonight's scavenge suddenly seemed more fruitful.  Though if the man was a tourist, he would likely leave as soon as he could call his hotel or his friends, which was a disheartening thought.  "Did you get beaten up by robbers or something?"  Robbers picked on druggies, drunks, and tourists, Jin had heard.  He supposed they made easy targets.

"Something like that."  Miles squinted at Jin.  "You hear much news in the past day?"

Jin shook his head.  "Only Suze the Secretary has a working comconsole, in here."

"In here?"

"This place.  It was a cryofacility, but it was cleared out and abandoned, oh, way before I was born.  A bunch of folks moved in who didn't have anywhere else to go.  I suppose we're all sort of hiding out.  Well, people living around here know there's people in here, but Suze-san says if we're all real careful not to bother anyone, they'll leave us be."

"That, um, person you were with earlier, Yani.  Who is he?  A relative of yours?"