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

minute I almost believed it, because she almost believed it. But then her
face fell, as if the weight of the lie was too much. “Their neighbors really
don’t know he’s the Alien Affairs Commissioner.” She stared up into the sky, as
if she’d discovered something incredible in the empty heights. “They really don’t
know.” Her fists clenched inside her coat pockets, straining at the heavy
cloth. “They don’t.”
    I let my breath out; it sounded like a laugh, instead of the
anger that was half choking me.
    “Kiss—” Ezra Ditreksen came up beside her, putting his arm
around her. “Missed you ....” He leaned over and kissed her on the mouth.
    I looked away, figuring he was making a point. I searched my
pockets for a camph, remembering that he hadn’t been with her at the Corporate
Security station last night. Maybe after the way he’d made Perrymeade look at
the reception, he hadn’t been invited.
    “What happened to you?” he said, to me this time ... Did you
get in a fight, for God’s sake?”
    I stuck the camph in my mouth, letting him have a good look
at the bruises and the split lip. That he had to ask meant that he didn’t
actually know what had happened to me last night, that none of the others did.
Suddenly I felt a lot better. “I fell down,” I said.
    He grimaced, disgusted, while all the expression disappeared
from Kissindre’s face. “I told you he was drunk,” he muttered.
    “Ezra,” she said, frowning. It seemed to be the only thing
she ever said to him, at least in my presence.
    “You’re lucky you didn’t get into trouble with Corporate Security,
going off like that,” Ezra said to me. ‘Aside from the fact that you insulted
our hosts.”
    I moved away, before I did something he’d regret for longer
than I would.
    A vibration that was both more and less than noise filled
the air above me. I glanced up with the others, to see a transport dropping
down out of the early morning sky. It settled onto the smooth surface of the
landing terrace; its metallic skin flooded with logos in Tau’s combine colors,
endless safety warnings, and a diarrhea of instructions.
    The hatch opened and Protz stepped out, wearing thermal
clothing. I saw other figures waiting behind him in the shadowed interior. I
wondered whether any of them were Hydran, since the whole reason for our team’s
existence was to study the cloud-reefs the Hydrans considered sacred ground. I
wondered whether anyone had asked the Hydrans what they thought of our mucking
around in their religious traditions. probably not.
    I watched as the others exited one by one. They were all human.
I wasn’t sure whether I was disappointed or relieved. The two FTA inspectors I’d
seen at the party were here—a woman named Osuna and a man named Givechy.
Neither of them looked like they expected to enjoy this much. Protz looked
nervous. I wondered if he was afraid I’d spill my guts about last night. He
didn’t meet my eyes.
    The last person out of the transport didn’t look like he belonged
with the rest. He could have been a hitchhiker, except for the Tau logos on his
coat. He was tall and lean, probably in his late twenties, with black hair and
dark eyes. His face was long and skeptical-looking, weathered to a kind of
nutmeg color that reminded me of faces I’d seen in Freaktown, although I was
sure he was all human.
    Protz began to make introductions. That seemed to be his
entire reason for existing. He introduced the stranger as Luc Wauno, a
cloud-spotter for Tau. I looked at Wauno again with more interest: what he did
was observe and record the movements of the cloud-whales ... except for today,
when his job seemed to be playing guide for us.
    Wauno nodded, if he made any response at all, to each person
he met. He looked like he’d rather be in the middle of nowhere staring at the
sky. The only time he opened his mouth or even cracked a smile was when Protz
introduced him to Kissindre. I saw him say a couple of words to