“Drink this. It will eliminate the symptoms of the gas.” I snapped my eyes open again and looked at the big man who was just closing the door behind him. He was in uniform of some kind, with plenty of gold buttons and stripes, the sort of thing much favored by the military. He was holding out a plastic beaker which I seized gingerly and sniffed.

“We had plenty of time to poison or kill you while you were unconscious,” he said. A sound argument. I drained the bitter liquid and instantly felt better.

“You have stolen my money,” I said just as he was beginning to speak.

“Your money is safe-” “It will be safe only when it is in my hands. As it was when you found me, strapped to my body. Whoever took it is a thief.” “Don’t talk to me of thievery!” he snapped. “You probably stole it yourself.” “Prove it! I say I worked hard for that money and I don’t intend to have it stolen for the space-war widows pension scheme...” “That is enough. I did not tome here to talk about your miserable groats. They will be placed on deposit in the galactic bank...” “At what rate of exchange? And what kind of interest will it earn?” He was coldly angry now. “That’s enough. You are in deep trouble-and you have a lot of explaining to do. Professor Lustig tells me that your name is Jim. What is your entire name and where do you come from?” “My name is Jim Nixon and I am from Venia.” “We will get nowhere if you persist in lying. Your name is James diGriz and you are an escaped convict from Bit 0’ Heaven.” Well, as you can imagine, I did some rapid blinking at this information. Whoever this lad was he had one hell of an ‘intelligence network, I could see that I was no longer playing the amateur team of the professors. They had called in the pros. And he had thrown me this curve ball to catch me off-balance, get me rattled, get me to talk freely. Except I did not work that way. I shifted mental gears, sat up in the bed so I could see him eye to eye, and spoke calmly.

“We have not been introduced.” The anger was gone now and he was as calm as I was. He turned and pressed a button on the wall that unfolded a metal chair. He sat down on it and crossed his legs.

“Captain Varod of the League Navy. Specializing in planetary mop-up details. Are you ready to answer questions?” “Yes-if you will tradqme one for one. Where are we?” “Abput thirteen lightyears out of Spiovente, you’ll be happy to hear.” “I am.” “My turn. How did you get to that planet?” . “Aboard a Venian freighter that was smuggling weapons to the now deceased Capo Doccia.” That got his attention all right. He leaned forward eagerly as he spoke. “Who was the captain of the freighter?” “You are out of turn. What are you going to do with me?” “You are an escaped prisoner and will be returned to Bit 0’ Heaven to serve out your prison sentence.” “Really?” I smiled insincerely. “Now I will be happy to answer your question-except I have completely forgotten the captain’s name. Would you care to torture me?” “Don’t play games, Jim. You are in deep trouble. Cooperate and I will do what I can for you.” “Good. I remember the name and you put me down on a neutral planet and we call it quits.” “That is impossible. Records are kept and I am an officer of the law. I must return you to Bit 0’ Heaven.” “Thanks. I just got terminal amnesia. Before you leave would you tell me what is going to happen to Spiovente?” Hesatbacfe m the;chairwith no intention at all of leaving..

“The first thing that will happen will be the termination of Lustig’s disastrous intervention. We were forced into that by the Intergalactic Applied Socioeconomics Association. They manage to raise sufficient funds to put into effect some of their theories. A number of planets financed them and it was easier to let them make idiots of themselves than to try and stop them.” “And they have done that now?” “Completely. They have all been shipped out and were very happy to go. Having political and economic theories is one thing. But applying them to harsh reality can be a traumatic experience. This has been done in the pastand always with disastrous results. We know none of the details now, they are lost in the mists of time, but there was an insane doctrine called Monetarism that is reputed to have destroyed whole cultures, entire planets. Now another experiment has gone astray, so the specialists will move in as they should have done in the first place.” “Invasion?” “You have been watching to much tri-D. War is forbidden and you should know better than to suggest that. We have people who will work within the existing society of Spiovente. Probably with this Capo Dimonte, since he has Just doubled his domain. He will be aided and encouraged to grow in power, to annex ftiore and more territory.”. “And kill more and more people!” “No, we will see to that. Very soon he will not be able to rule without aid and our bureaucrats are waiting to help him. Centralized government...” ‘The growth of the judiciary, taxes, I know the drill. You sound just like Lustig. “ “Not quite. Our techniques are proven-and they work. Within one generation, two at the most, Spiovente will be welcomed into the family of civilized planets. “ “Congratulations. Now, please leave so I can sit and brood about my future incarceration.” .

“And you still won’t tell me the name of the gunrunner? He could continue in his smuggling operations-and you would be responsible for more deaths. ’ I would be too. Was I responsible for the dead in the courtyard of the keep as well? The attack had been my idea. But Dimonte would have attacked in any case and there could have been even more dead. The acceptance of responsibility was not done easily. Captain Varod must have been reading my mind.

“Do you have a sense of responsibility?” he asked. Good question. He was a shrewd old boy.

“Yes, I do. I believe in life and the sanctity of life and I do not believe in killing. Each of us has only one go at life and I don’t want to be responsible for cutting short anyone else’s. I think I have made some mistakes and I hope I have learned by them. The name of the gunrunner is Captain Ga...” “Garth,” he said. “We know him and have been watching him. He has made his last voyage.” My thoughts spun rapidly. “Then why ask me if you knew all along?” “For your sake, Jim, nobody else’s. I told you that our job was rehabilitation. You have made an important decision and I believe that you will be a better individual for it. Good luck in the future.” He stood to leave.

“Thanks a lot. I’ll remember your words when I am cracking boulders on the rock pile.” He stood in the open door and smiled back at me. “I am In the justice business on a very large scale. And, in truth, I don’t believe in prisons and incarceration for failed bank robbery. You are destined for better things than that. Therefore I am having you returned to prison. You will be transferred to another ship, on another planet, where you will be locked away until it arrives.” He went out, then turned back for just an instant. “Taking into consideration what you have told me, I am forgetting that you still have a lockpick in the sole of your shoe.” Then he was gone for good. I stared at the closed door and suddenly burst out laughing. It was going to be a good universe after all, filled with good things to be appropriated in a manner only possible to one who knew his trade. And I knew mine!

“Thank you. Bishop, thanks for everything. You have done it, guided me and taught me. Because of you-a Stainless Steel Rat is born!”