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

"Do you want to know?"

"Not really."

"Then I will be pleased to tell you. I assure you that there was extensive
deliberation over the correct method to be used. Thought was given to the
firing squad, electrocution, poison gas-a number of possibilities were
actively considered when the law was passed. But all of them involve
someone pulling a switch or a trigger, and that would not be humane to the
someone."

"Humane! What about the prisoner?"

"Of no importance. Your death has been decreed and will take place as soon
as possible. This is what will happen. You will be taken to a sealed
chamber and chained there. The entrance will be locked. After this the
chamber will be flooded with water by an automatic device actuated by your
body heat. It is always there, always turned on. You alone will be
responsible for your own execution. Now isn't that quite humane?"

"Drowning is humane all of a sudden?"

"Possibly not. But you will be left a pistol containing a single bullet.
You can commit suicide if you wish to."

I opened my mouth to tell him what I thought of their humanity, but I was
seized by many hands and dragged forward before I could speak. The glass
was whisked away-and so was I. Deep down to a dank chamber, walls damp with
water and covered with moss. A cuff was clamped around my ankle; a chain
ran from it to a staple in the wall. They all exited except for the Colonel
who stood with his hand on the operating lever of the thick, undoubtedly
watertight, door.

He grinned in victorious triumph, bent over and placed an antique pistol on
the floor. As I dived for it the door shut and sealed with a final thud.

Was this really the end? I turned the pistol over in my hands, saw the dull
shape of the single cartridge. End of Jim diGriz, end of the Stainless
Steel Rat, end of everything.

There was the distant thank of a valve opening and cold water gushed down
on me from a thick pipe in the ceiling. It gurgled and slopped, covering my
feet, then quickly up to my ankles. When it reached my waist I lifted the
gun and looked at it. Not much of a choice. The water rose steadily.
Covered my chest, up to my chin. I shuddered.

Then the water stopped splashing down. It was cold and I was shivering
uncontrollably. The light in the waterproof fixture revealed only stone
wall, dark water.