Simon Illyan’s poisoning was a deliberate act of institutional sabotage by Lucas Haroche, who exploited his authority and access inside ImpSec to remove and administer Komarran bioengineered prokaryotes. Its eventual exposure depended on a small but decisive discrepancy in an evidence-room inventory: two capsules were missing from a container that appeared secure. Laboratory analysis connected the remaining material to the same batch used against Simon Illyan, and Lucas Haroche’s confession disclosed how ambition had turned that overlooked evidence into a weapon.

Discovery in the Evidence Rooms

The investigation found a small sealed biocontainer on a shelf in the ImpSec Evidence Rooms. Its numeric lock was rudimentary, and the access code was written in the inventory description; the lock had not been forced. The box itself was therefore not proof of a break-in. Its contents, however, did not match the record. A shockproof gel lining held six parallel slots: three contained small brown capsules and three were empty. The inventory stated that one of the original six had been removed for examination five years earlier and destroyed, leaving five. Only three remained, accounting for two further missing units.

The distinction between the container and its contents mattered. The exterior forensics examination found old fingerprints and smudges but no recent traces, and the circuit intended to sound an alarm if the container was removed had never been activated. That circuit monitored the box, not the individual capsules. The inspection thus exposed a weakness in the chain of custody without showing that the container had been forced or carried away: someone with legitimate access could remove capsules while leaving the monitored object in place. The two missing units corresponded to the two capsules Lucas Haroche later admitted taking.

Miles Vorkosigan ordered the container sent to Forensics with Ivan Vorpatril accompanying it, and directed Vaughn Weddell to analyze one capsule under tightly restricted access. The remaining two were to be returned to a replacement box under Miles Vorkosigan’s Auditor’s seal. These precautions reflected both the significance of the discrepancy and the risk that evidence might again be mishandled. Vaughn Weddell identified the sample as the same prokaryote used against Simon Illyan—and, more specifically, as material from the same batch.

How the Capsules Delivered the Agent

Simon Illyan reported no memory of swallowing a small brown capsule during the preceding four months. Vaughn Weddell’s examination showed why that recollection did not describe the actual method: the capsules were neither permeable nor soluble and had not been designed to be swallowed. They were designed to be broken open, releasing their contents into the air. The delivery system carried the otherwise unmanageably tiny prokaryotes inside hollow, sporelike particles, which could float until they encountered a wet surface such as a mucous membrane or the bronchia; there, the particles dissolved and released their load.

This finding connected the physical evidence to the way Simon Illyan had been poisoned. A person could release the contents near him without making him ingest a capsule, while the capsules themselves could be removed from the evidence container without triggering its removal alarm. The account establishes the intended airborne route and the identity of the material, but does not specify the precise place or moment of either administration. The uncertainty in Simon Illyan’s memory could not resolve that gap; the laboratory comparison and Lucas Haroche’s later account did.

Access, Motive, and the First Dose

Lucas Haroche told Gregor that he had known about the Komarran bioengineered prokaryotes from the beginning. Diamant of Komarran Affairs had informed him while their offices coordinated a sweep of Ser Galen’s saboteurs, sharing personnel and assistance during the crisis. Lucas Haroche had also been present when the capsules were stored in the ImpSec Evidence Rooms. He said that he thought little of them for years, and recalled that Simon Illyan had once praised his work on the Yarrow case.

The change came after Miles Vorkosigan’s professional crisis. Lucas Haroche described the moment Miles Vorkosigan emerged from Simon Illyan’s office as the point when he reconsidered the capsules. That afternoon, while going to the Evidence Rooms on another matter, Lucas Haroche opened the box and pocketed two. He said that removing the capsules had been easy because the alarm was attached to the box rather than its contents, and because his authorized status meant he was not searched. He knew he would eventually have to address the monitoring system, but his confession does not establish that he did so.

His stated motive was advancement. Lucas Haroche believed Simon Illyan might remain in office for another five or ten years, and feared that younger candidates would overtake him if he waited. He considered Simon Illyan tired and stale, and wanted his own opportunity to serve the Imperium while he was still at his peak. The poisoning was therefore tied to a calculated desire to clear a path to power, even though Lucas Haroche later tried to characterize part of his conduct as impulsive.

Repeated Administration and Confession

Lucas Haroche said that he administered the first capsule three or four days after taking them. Simon Illyan regularly visited his office to check facts and seek his opinion, providing the occasions on which Lucas Haroche could expose him to the material. When nothing seemed to happen for about a week, Lucas Haroche used the second capsule. He admitted that he had not anticipated how slowly the symptoms would appear or how severe they would become, and said he had thought the attack would not kill Simon Illyan.

The two-stage dosing is central to the account: the first exposure did not produce an effect Lucas Haroche recognized, so he repeated the attack before the first dose’s consequences were apparent to him. His explanation does not lessen his responsibility. The second administration was an additional deliberate act, made after several days had passed, and it deepened the harm he had already set in motion. At the same time, the evidence distinguishes his stated objective from murder: Lucas Haroche said he wanted to disable or displace Simon Illyan, not kill him, while conceding that the effects had been more severe than he expected.

The confession came under Gregor’s instruction that Lucas Haroche recount what he had done and why, beginning at the beginning and leaving out defenses. Lucas Haroche’s account linked his access to the evidence, his knowledge of the delivery system, his career ambition, and the decision to dose Simon Illyan twice. The physical inventory and laboratory identification corroborated crucial details, including the missing capsules and the match to the same batch. Together, the material evidence and confession established the poisoning not as an unexplained medical failure but as a concealed abuse of official access.