"08 - The SSR Sings the Blues" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

"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 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