Kibou-daini is a planet obsessed with cheating death. Barrayaran Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan can hardly disapprovehes been cheating death his whole life. But when a Kibou-daini cryocorpan immortal company whose job is to lead its all-too-mortal frozen patrons into an unknown futureattempts to expand into the Barrayaran Empire, Emperor Gregor dispatches his top troubleshooter, Miles, to check it out. Once there, Miles discovers generational conflict over money and resources and meets a boy with a passion for pets and a dangerous secret, a Snow White trapped in an icy coffin who burns to rewrite her own tale, and a mysterious crone who embodies the warning Dont mess with the secretary. Bribery, kidnapping, conspiracysomething is rotten on Kibou-daini, and it isnt due to power outages in the Cryocombs.