My attempts at conversation were ignored, as was my press pass. Which was taken from me along with my shoes - then the rest of my clothes. I pulled on the robe of itchy black burlap that they gave me, dropped back into the chair and made no attempt to outstare my guards.
To be frank this was a kind of a low point, made even lower when the effects of the calm-and-collected pill began to wear off. Just about the time my morale hit bottom the loudspeaker gurgled incomprehensible instructions and I was hurried down the hall to another room. The lights and stool were the same - but this time they faced a steel desk with an even steelier-eyed officer behind it. His glare spoke for him as he pointed to my dissected clothing, bag, shoes.
"I am Colonel Neuredan — and you are in trouble."
"Do you always treat interstellar journalists like this?"
"Your identity is false." His voice had all the warmth of two rocks being grated together. "Your shoes contain molebind projectors.
"There's no law against that!"
"There is on Paskonjak. There is a law against anything that threatens the security of the Mint and the Interstellar Credits produced here."
"I've done nothing wrong."
"Everything that you have done has been wrong. Attempting to deceive our security with false identification, stunning a guard, penetrating the Mint without supervision - these are all crimes under our law. What you have committed so far makes you liable for fourteen concurrent life sentences." His grim voice grew even grimmer. "But there is even worse than that…"
"What could be worse than fourteen life sentences?" Despite my efforts at calm control I could hear my voice cracking.
"Death. That is the penalty for stealing from the Mint."
"I haven't stolen anything!" Definitely a quaver now.
"That will be determined very shortly. When the decision was made to mint five-hundred-thousand-credit coins every precaution was taken to prevent their theft. Integral to their fabric is a transponder that listens for a specific signal at a specific frequency. It answers and reveals the location of the coin."
"Stupid," I said with more bravado than I felt. "Won't work here. Not with all the coins you have made…"
"All now safe behind ten feet of solid lead. Radiation proof. If there are any other coins not in our custody the signal will sound."
Right on cue I heard the pealing of bells in the distance. The iron face of my inquisitor was touched by a fleeting cold smile.
"The signal," he said. We sat in silence for long seconds. Until the door burst open and the hurrying guards dropped a very familiar bag onto the desk. He lifted the end slowly and the coins jangled forth.
"So that's what they look like. I never…
"Silence!" he thundered. "These were removed from the minting room. They were found suspended in the chimney from the smelter. Along with these other objects."
"Proves nothing."
"Proves everything!" Quick as a snake he grabbed my hands, slammed them onto a plate on his desk. A hologram of my fingerprints appeared instantly on the air above.
"Any prints lifted from the coins?" he asked over his shoulder.
"Many," a spectral voice responded. A portion of the desk top rose up bearing what appeared to be photographic prints. He looked at them and for the second time I was treated to the sight of that frigid smile as he dropped the prints through a slot. A second hologram floated in the air beside the first, moved over and merged with it as he touched the controls.
The double image flickered and became one.
"Identical!" he said triumphantly. "You can tell me your name, if you wish. So it can be spelled correctly on your tomb stone. But only if you wish."
"What do you mean tombstone? And what do you mean death sentence? That's illegal by galactic law!"
"There is no galactic law down here," he intoned with a voice like a funeral march. "There is only the law of the Mint. Judgment is final."
"The trial… " I said feebly, visions of lawyers, appeals, torts and documents dancing in my head.
There was no mercy in his voice now, no touch of the tiniest of iceberg smiles on his lips.
"The penalty for theft in the Mint is death. The trial takes place after the execution."
Chapter 2
I am still young - and it did not look like I was going to get any older. My dedication to a life of crime had led to a far shorter lifespan than could normally be expected. Here I was, not yet twenty years old. A veteran who had fought in two wars, had been imprisoned and drafted, who had been depressed by the death of my good friend The Bishop, been impressed by Mark Forer the great Artificial Intelligence. Was that it? Had I had it? No more to life than that? All over.
"Never!" I shouted aloud, but the two guards merely gripped my arms the harder and pushed me along the corridor. A third armed guard went ahead and unlocked the cell door, while the one behind me prodded my kidneys with the barrel of his gun.
They were good and they took no chances. They were big and mean and I was small and lean. Shivering with fear, I was crouching even lower. Once the cell door was open the guard with the keys turned towards me and unlocked my handcuffs.
Then gasped as my knee caught him in the stomach and knocked him back into the cell. At the same time I grabbed the two guards beside me by the wrists, crossed my arms with a single spasmodic burst of effort that pulled the two of them crashing together; their skulls bonked nicely. At the same instant I lashed backward-catching the fourth guard on the bridge of his nose with the back of my head. Everything happening at approximately the same time.
Two seconds ago I had been bound and captive.
Now one guard was out of sight, groaning in the cell. Two more holding their heads and howling, the fourth one clutching a bloody nose. They hadn't been expecting this: I had.
I ran. Back the way we had come and through the still open door. Hoarse, angry cries were cut off as I slammed it shut, locked it. The thick panel shook as heavy bodies thudded against the other side.
"Got you!" a victorious voice shouted and rough hands grabbed me. He could not know by touch that I was a Black Belt? He found out the hard way.
Eyes closed, breathing easily, he just lay there and made no protest as I stripped him of uniform and weapons. Nor did he thank me when I draped my burlap robe over his pale form, hiding his black lace undies from prying eyes. His clothes were not too bad a fit. Not too good either with the cap tilting forward over my eyes. But it would have to do.
There were three doors leading from this room. The one that I had locked was pounding and bouncing in its frame: next to it was the one that we had come in through. It didn't take much intelligence to use the unconscious guard's keys to open the third one.
It led to a storage room. Dark shelves, filled with nameless objects, vanished away into the distance. Not too promising but I was in no position to choose. I executed a quick leap back to the entrance door, unlocked it and threw it open, then dived ahead into the storage room. As I closed this final door behind me, even before I could lock it, there was a mighty crash and screams of anger as the assaultees finally broke the door down.
Misdirection wouldn't last long. Run past the shelves. Hide here? No - there would be a thorough search. A door at the far end, bolted on the inside. I opened it a crack and looked at the empty room beyond. Opened and stepped through.
And stopped quite still as the guards who were flattened against the wall all pointed guns at me.
"Shoot him!" Colonel Neuredan ordered.
"I'm unarmed!" My gun slid across the floor as I threw my hands into the air. Fingers quivered on triggers - it was all over.