"Card, Orson Scott - Maps in a Mirror 02 - Flux - Tales of Human Futures" - читать интересную книгу автора (Card Orson Scott)

FLUX -- TALES OF HUMAN FUTURES Extracted from MAPS IN A MIRROR: THE SHORT FICTION OF ORSON SCOTT CARD v1.1 (12-28-1998)

If you find and correct errors, please update the version number by adding 0.1, change the date, and redistribute it.

(c) 1990 Orson Scott Card

STORIES INCLUDED IN THIS COLLECTION:

"A Thousand Deaths" Omni, December 1978

"Clap Hands and Sing" Best of Omni #3, 1982

"Dogwalker" Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, November 1989

"But We Try Not To Act Like It" Destinies, August 1979

"I Put My Blue Genes On" Analog, August 1978

"In the Doghouse" (with Jay A. Parry) Analog, December 1978

"The Originist" Foundation's Friends, 1989





A THOUSAND DEATHS


"You will make no speeches," said the prosecutor.

"I didn't expect they'd let me," Jerry Crove answered, affecting a confidence he didn't feel. The prosecutor was not hostile; he seemed more like a high school drama coach than a man who was seeking Jerry's death.

"They not only won't let you, " the prosecutor said, "but if you try anything, it will go much worse for you. We have you cold, you know. We don't need anywhere near as much proof as we have."

"You haven't proved anything."

"We've proved you knew about it," the prosecutor insisted mildly. "No point arguing now. Knowing about treason and not reporting it is exactly equal to committing treason."

Jerry shrugged and looked away.

The cell was bare concrete. The door was solid steel. The bed was a hammock hung from hooks on the wall. The toilet was a can with a removable plastic seat. There was no conceivable way to escape. Indeed, there was nothing that could conceivably occupy an intelligent person's mind for more than five minutes. In the three weeks he had been here, he had memorized every crack in the concrete, every bolt in the door. He had nothing to look at, except the prosecutor. Jerry reluctantly met the man's gaze.

"What do you say when the judge asks you how you plead to the charges?"

"Nolo contendere."

"Very good. It would be much nicer if you'd consent to say 'guilty'," the prosecutor said.

"I don't like the word."