"William C. Dietz - The Prison Planet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dietz William)

he was a prisoner, and everybody knows you don't tell prisoners a damn thing.
Weeks passed, and the ship left hyperspace three times to orbit around three different
worlds. Renn assumed they were prison planets. He hadn't paid much attention to prison planets in
the past. After all, why should he care about the fate of the empire's criminals, deviates, and
psychopaths? They deserved what they got didn't they? He grinned at the irony of it, and tried to
remember what he'd read or heard about prison planets.
The concept had originated with the first emperor. Having won a long civil war, he'd built
his empire on the shattered remains of an earlier confederacy, thereby uniting hundreds of human-
occupied worlds. Afterwards, he faced the task of restoring civil order to planets which had spent
years under military authority. While efficient, martial law is always onerous, and most worlds
were eager to get rid of it. So when the war was over, most moved to establish approved forms of
planetary government.
As the new governments were phased in, and the military governments were phased out, most


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planets experienced a sudden upsurge in crime. As a result, newly restructured court systems swung
into action, convicted wrong-doers at a record pace, and stuffed them into already crowded
prisons. "Build more prisons," the emperor's advisors told him, but he resisted the idea, knowing
prisons were expensive, and easily used to symbolize governmental oppression, fancied or real.
What's more, he felt an empire should offer its citizens a certain amount of consistency, and
couldn't see how equitable prisons could be constructed on hundreds of different planets. So what
was the answer?
The answer came, as many answers did, while the emperor lounging in the comfort of his
daily stim bath. Of course! It was so obvious! Why hadn't he thought of it
before? For a long time he'd been concerned about the many second- and third-rate planets,
which though inside the sphere of his control, were unsettled. Such worlds made tempting targets
for the neighboring II Ronnian empire. As human and alien empires grew steadily towards each
other, each did its best to establish footholds in the other's territory, and unoccupied worlds
were especially tempting. So why not use some of those worlds as prisons? By doing so he could
simultaneously get rid of the prisoners and make those particular planets less attractive to the
II Ronn.
The more the emperor thought about it the more he liked it. Although unpleasant, many of
the worlds were not only capable of supporting human life, they also contained valuable resources.
Suddenly the emperor saw a way to make the prison planets self-supporting as well! Once dirtside,
the prisoners would be on their own. There would be no cells, no guards. They could settle for
mere survival if they chose, or if they wanted something more, they could work for it. If they
wanted off-planet technology, supplies, and products, they'd have to pay for them, and that meant
producing something of value. What they produced would vary depending on the resources of their
particular planet and the demands of the marketplace. Slouching back in his stim bath, the emperor
smiled, and rewarded himself with another five minutes of relaxation.
The emperor wasted no time putting his idea into effect. The requisite planets were soon
selected, surveyed, and evaluated. Experts from a variety of disciplines examined each planet's
geology, mineral resources, major ecosystems, weather patterns, and more. From this knowledge they
designed basic equipment packages, cured potential diseases, and chose which products the
prisoners should produce.
Then, to discourage unauthorized arrivals and departures, automatic weapons systems were
placed in orbit around