Dreamfall by Joan D. Vinge Read Free Book Online

looks
human.” He moved closer. “The eyes could be a cosmo job, if he’s one of those
perverts.” He smirked. “Except I’ve never seen anyone but a freak talk that way
after we put the patch on him.”
    “Exactly my point.” Borosage looked back at me again, and
his grin soured. “So what is it, boy? Are you mixed blood? A ‘breed?” He ran a
thick finger along my jaw. “You do look like a ‘breed .... “
    I tried not to listen to what they said after that, about my
mother, my father, about whores and gang rapes and how no decent person would
let a thing like me live .... I sat motionless, breathing the stagnant
overheated air, until they ran out of ideas.
    And then Borosage freed my wrist—the one that wore the databand.
Disbelief leaped like a fish inside me.
    He didn’t free the other hand. “Look at you,” he said,
picking at my sleeve. “Dressed up like a Gentleman of the Board. Wearing a
databand. Trying to pass. Who did you think would believe it? Did you think we
would? ... You know what I think, freak?” he said to me, holding my hand. “I
think you stole that databand.” He jerked my arm forward, and one of the other
Corpses handed him a descrambler.
    I swore silently. [‘d had one of those, once. A descrambler
could access the personal code of a databand in less time than it took the
owner to remember it. It was about as illegal as everything else that was
happening to me right now. I watched a run of data flow across the digital
display, and then suddenly the datafeed stopped. It flashed no access, the
symbols so clear that even I could see them.
    Borosage swore, this time. I started to breathe again; glad,
not for the first time, that I wore a thumb-lock on my deebee. Unless I thumbed
it in the right spot, the only way it would come off my wrist was if somebody
cut off my hand. I’d bought myself some extra security, because I knew how easy
the regular locks were to descramble.
    “What did you do to jam this?” Borosage shoved my hand into
my face.
    “ Mine —!” I said, and then, looking down, “Phone fun’shun!”
The function light didn’t go on—the processors didn’t recognize my voice.
Borosage made a disgusted noise, as if I’d just proved that the band was
stolen. I tried to see what time it was. I didn’t get the chance, &s he
strapped my hand down again.
    I told myself that someone had to be wondering where I was.
They could trace me as long as I still had the databand on. Someone would come
after me. I just had to hold everything together long enough so that these
bastards didn’t maim me before it happened.
    Borosage’s scarred hand caught me by the jaw. “You know you’re
in real trouble no\w, freak. The sooner you tell us everything you know, the
sooner I’ll think about letting you make a call, or even take a piss.” He let
go of me, with a twist of his hand that made me grunt as it hurt my bruised
face. “Where’s the boy?”
    “What. Boy?” I mumbled. I braced myself as his open palm
came at me, but that didn’t make it hurt less when it hit my face. My head
slammed against the seatback. I tasted blood; felt it leak from the corner of
my mouth.
    “Kidnapping,” he said, through the ringing in my ears, “is a
serious offense. I am talking about the human boy whose data-band we found in
your possession. Joby Natasa, age three standard years, son of Ling and Burnell
Natasa. He was kidnapped by the Hydran woman employed to care for him. We
almost caught her tonight—but we caught you instead.” He leaned into my face
again. “Now, you know what I think? I think this whole thing was politically
motivated. I think you might be some kind of terrorist.” He took a step back,
peeling off his uniform jacket. “Do you still want to tell me you don’t know
what I mean—‘t”
    Jeezu —I shut my eyes, remembering the look in the
eyes of the woman carrying the child. Her child; I’d thought it was her own
child. She hadn’t looked like a