Dreamfall by Joan D. Vinge Read Free Book Online Page B

uncle’s.
    Sand entered the room first, alone. The others stayed where
they were, as if they’d been put in stasis. Sand stopped in front of Borosage.
He held out his hand with the unthinking arrogance of a man who was used to
getting his way. Borosage looked surprised again, but he handed Sand the prod.
I stared like everyone else as Sand took it.
    Sand deactivated the prod and dropped it on the floor. “Get those
restraints off him.” He pointed at me. His hand jerked with impatience as no
one moved.
    Fahd came forward slowly to turn me loose while Borosage
watched me with blood in his eyes. I slumped in the seat as the restraints
retracted, wiping blood from the corner of my mouth.
    “Are you all right?” Sand asked me, frowning.
    “Guesh. So,” I said, and watched them all frown as they
heard the words come out. I felt for the patch on my throat, found it under my
chin, and peeled it off. “Drugged. Me.”
    “standard procedure with Hydran prisoners,” Borosage said,
glaring at me, at Sand. “Without the drug blocking their psi, we couldn’t keep
them in detention.”
    Sand’s frown deepened, but he didn’t question it. “Get him
the antidote,” was all he said.
    “Wait a minute,” Borosage starting to get his nerve back. “This
is my Prison!—”
    “And is this how you treat your prisoners?” Sand snapped. “Drugging
them and then beating a confession out of them?” He shot a look at Kissindre’s
uncle and Protz this time, while some part of me wondered how often he’d done
the same thing himself, or something too much like it.
    Borosage’s face reddened. “No, sir,” he said sourly. “Just
the freaks.” Resentment and incomprehension filled his face as he realized that
Sand wasn’t here for the reason he’d expected; that he had no idea what the
hell Sand really wanted from him. “This ‘breed was involved in the kidnapping
of a human child by Hydran radic4ls—” Barely controlled anger stretched his
voice to the breaking point. “We caught him red-handed! The Board ordered me to
do whatever was necessary to get the child back. I was just following orders.”
    Sand glanced at me again. Behind him I saw Kissindre and the
others still gaping like virgins at the door of a whorehouse. “You have
arrested the wrong man, Borosage,” Sand said, his voice as empty of emotion as
his mirrored eyes. ‘And you were just about to put him in the hospital for no
reason at all.”
    “No, sir!” Borosage swelled up like he’d sucked poison. “We
caught him holding the missing child’s ID, over in Freaktown. And he’s wearing
a databand, which is stolen property, because, as you know, sir, mixed bloods
are ineligible for full Tau citizen status.”
    Sand glanced at me in sudden surprise; his eyes searched out
my databand. He studied me a minute longer, running God only knew what kinds of
analyses on my responses with the cyberware behind his eyes. But he only said, “Until
about three hours ago, your prisoner and I were attending a formal reception
with these people here.” He gestured. “The reception being held up at the Aerie
for the xenoarchaeology team that your government has brought here to study the
cloud-reefs. Your prisoner is a member of that team. He has been on-planet for
less than a day. I’m sure he has some explanation for this.” He glanced at me
again, back at the sullen knot of Corpses. “Give him the antidote.”
    Borosage nodded, barely. Fahd came and stuck another patch
on my neck.
    I waited, silent, until enough time had passed for my speech
to come around. I said, slowly and carefully, “I went for a walk. I wanted to
see the Hydran town ....” I glanced away from their expressions. ‘A woman with
a child ran into me. She said someone was chasing her. She seemed frightened. I
thought I could help her.” I wondered again why she hadn’t just teleported
herself and the child to somewhere safe. “I didn’t know it wasn’t her child. I
didn’t know it was