Dreamfall by Joan D. Vinge

4n”—[s glanced at my eyes—“outsider.”
    “A freak,” I said.
    He shrugged.
    “They all know that you were willing to help a Hydran woman
you thought was in trouble,” Perrymeade said, looking self-conscious.
    “,She set me up. She used me. She thinks I’m stupid.” She
knows what I am. I shook my head. “I can’t do that. The Hydrans aren’t
going to trust me.”
    “,I don’t have many options here,” Perrymeade said. ‘And unfortunately,
neither do You.”
    Kissindre came up beside me. “Is there a problem?” she said,
matching the look on Perrymeade’s face as it turned to annoyance. she folded
her arms, standing on her own ground, the team leader and not the dutiful niece
    “No problem,” I said, meeting Perrymeade’s eyes. “I’ve got
work to do.” I started to turn away.
    “.Borosage has issued a deportation order on you,” Sand said
behind my back ... If you don’t cooperate, the Tau government will revoke your
work permit. You’ll be off this project and off the planet inside of a day.”
    I turned back, slowly, and looked at them: sand with his inhuman
eyes, Perrymeade hanging on invisible puppet strings beside him.
    “you miserable bastard,” Kissindre whispered, so far under
her breath that even I barely heard it. I wondered which one she meant; hoped
for her sake it was Sand. “What is this?” she asked. “Uncle Janos—?”
    “It’s about the kidnapping.” I jerked my head at Sand. “They
want me to be their cat’s-Paw.”
    Kissindre started, the only one of them who got the
reference.
    “.Go-between,” Perrymeade said. “Our go-between with the
Hydrans, Kissindre. We’re not getting the cooperation we need from the Hydran
community to ... to rescue the kidnapped child. Under the circumstances, it
seems that Cat is the logical person to help us—the only person who might have
a chance of gaining the Hydrans’ trust or cooperation.” He turned back to me. “We
really need your help, son.”
    “Right,” I said.
    “Damn it! This is asinine—” Kissindre’s fists settled on her
hips as she looked from Perrymeade to Sand. “You brought us here to do work for
you. I thought that was important for Tau’s ‘rehabilitation.’ How in the nine
billion names of God are we supposed to do this work if you’re already
interfering with it?”
    “Kissindre ...” Perrymeade said. He glanced at Sand too, as
if he wasn’t sure about what he was going to say next. “The kidnapped child is
your cousin.”
    “What?” she said. “‘Who?”
    “My nephew Joby. My wife’s sister’s son.”
    “Joby? The baby, the one who was—” She broke off.
    He nodded. “He was taken by the Hydran woman who worked as
his therapist. I set up the exchange program that gave her the training and put
her in that position.”
    Realization filled her eyes. “My God,” she murmured. “Why
didn’t you tell me last night?”
    He glanced at Sand again. “I didn’t even find out myself
until this morning.” His voice was even, but there was resentment in it. “This
whole situation is one that the Tau government wants played down, for ... a
number of reasons.” He glanced away again, not looking at any of us this time.
I followed his line of sight to the spot where the two Feds were standing, out
of earshot, listening to Ezra lecture them about the equipment. “But especially
because they believe the boy was taken by a radical group. His safety depends
on our keeping this quiet. If it becomes public knowledge, there could
be—incidents that would endanger Joby’s safety and hurt people on both sides of
the river.”
    “And make the Feds ask questions you don’t want to answer,”
I said.
    He frowned. “That is not the point.”
    “Yes, it is. It’s keiretsu.”
    “Don’t make judgments about situations you don’t understand,”
Sand said irritably. He turned back to Kissindre. “I am extremely sorry for
this intrusion. You will have no further interference from us, I