"Bunch, Chris - Last Legion 01 - The Last Legion 2.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bunch Chris)

'Do you have anything to say for yourself, Stef Yoshitaro?'

'I do not recognize that name any longer.'

'So I understand. Very well. Njangu Yoshitaro.'

'I don't guess there's any point in saying anything, is there?'

'Show proper respect for the court,' the heavyset bailiff rumbled.

The judge touched other sensors.

'A long and unattractive career,' she mused. 'Beginning when you were
just thirteen. What happened to you, Njangu? The file on your family
shows no reason for you to be what you are.'

It wouldn't. Mother never went out until the bruises went' down, and Dad
bought his synth all over the city or sometimes made his own. And Marita
would never tell anyone about our father's little nighttime visits. No.
There's no good reason for me to be anything but what I am.

'Very well. Do you have anything to say for yourself? Are there any
mitigating factors? The charges are most serious, even setting aside the
matter of the attempted robbery of Van Cleef's with your fellow gang
members. What I understand you hooligans call a clique.'

None you'd recognize.

'In consideration of your age,' the woman said, her voice formal, 'I
offer two options. The first, of course, is Conditioning.'

Condit? A voice inside your head until you died, telling you just what
to do. No spitting on the sidewalk, Yoshitaro. No alk. No drugs. Work
hard, Yoshitaro. Don't criticize the Commonweal. Tell any policeman
whatever he asks. A guaranteed job, dull eyes handling other people's
credits and never thinking for a minute of slipping a handful into your
own pocket for fear of that hidden voice.

I don't think so.

'The second is Transport for Life.'

It couldn't be any harder on the prison planetoid than here in
Primeport.

'You may have half an hour to reach a decision,' the woman said.
'Bailiff, escort this man to the holding cell.'

The man came toward Njangu, but he was already on his feet.