rigged up a drawing board and a table, where Lafon kept
his little store of luxury goods. Three steps. And then,
suddenly aware that Lafon was very close to him, 'he
turned, astonished A little too late. He saw that Lafon
had snatched up a metal chair; he saw Lafon swinging it,
his black face maniacal; he saw the chair coming down.
He reached for his shoulder holster; but it was very much
too late for that.
v
Captain O'Leary dragged the scared little wretch into
the warden's office. He shook the con angrily. "Listen to
this, warden! The boys just brought this one in from the
Shops Building. Do you know what he's been up to?"
The warden wheezed sadly and looked away. He had
stopped even answering O'Leary by now, he had stopped
talking to Sauer on the interphone when the big convict
called, every few minutes, to rave and threaten and de-
mand a doctor. He had almost stopped doing everything
except worry and weep. Butstill and all, he was the
warden. He was the one who gave the orders.
O'Leary barked, "Warden, pay attention! This little
greaser has boUixed up the whole tangler circuit for the
prison. If the cons get out into the Yard now you won't
be able to tangle them. You know what that means?
They'll have the freedom of the Yard, and who knows
what comes next?"
The warden frowned sympathetically. "Tsk, tsk."
O'Leary shook the con again. "Come on, Hiroko! Tell
the warden what you told the guards."
The con shrank away from him. Beads of sweat were
glistening on his furrowed yellow forehead. "I1 had to
do it, Cap'n!" he babbled. "I shorted the wormcan in the
tangler subgrid, but I had to! I got a signal, 'BoUix the
grid tonight or wheep, some day you'll be in the Yard
and they'll static you." What could I do, Cap'n? I didn't
want to"
O'Leary pressed: "Who did the signal come from?" But
the con only shook his head, perspiring the more.
The warden asked faintly, "What's he saying?"
O'Leary rolled his eyes to heaven. And this was the
wardencouldn't even understand shoptalk from the
mouths of his own inmates!
He translated: "He got orders from the prison under-
ground to short-circuit the electronic units in the tangler
circuit. They threatened to kill him if he didn't."
The warden drummed with his fingers on the desk.
"The tangler field, eh? My, yes. That is important.
You'd better get it fixed, O'Leary. Right away."
"Fixed? Warden, lookwho's going to fix it?" O'Leary
