Star Risk - 01 Star Risk, Ltd by Chris Bunch Read Free Book Online Page B

you," he said cheerily, sitting down.
    "Hasford Klinger," the man said. "Of the Alliance Prisoners Aid. And this is my assistant, Choly Wells."
    "I've never heard of your organization, sir," Goodnight said. "And the one time I was regrettably incarcerated, no one came to see about my welfare."
    "The Alliance, sir," Baldur said, "is constantly growing, changing to meet the needs of its citizenry. We like to think we represent a kindlier, gentler part of the great galactic civilization."
    Goodnight decided that Klinger was certainly what he claimed to be. No one but a bureaucrat working for some Warm & Cuddly Organization could make a speech like that without vomiting.
    "I'm surprised to see you, in any event," Goodnight said. "Are you bringing fruits and candies, perhaps? Or flowers?"
    He looked at "Choly Wells," thought wistfully of conjugal visitation privileges, shut off that train of thought. Miss Wells, if she was available, would certainly not be interested in a bearded, scruffy man about to get his neck squeezed.
    "We are not in the business of providing small comforts, sir," Baldur said.
    "No," King added, "we ensure that a prisoner who is not a member of a planetary society is given all the rights of a native, and that no discrimination is made against him."
    She opened a briefcase, took out a thick document.
    "This is the first item we'd like you to read and if you can agree with the statements made, you initial each page. There are three copies."
    She passed the document to Baldur, who flipped through it.
    "Yes, this is the standard form," he said. "I'd appreciate you signing where marked, and initialing all other pages."
    Goodnight started to lose his temper.
    "I came down here, out of a perfectly good erotic fantasy, so that you can be sure I'm going to be killed in an ethical manner?"
    "Now, Mr. Goodnight, I know you're under great strain," Baldur said. "But our having this document conceivably can open other doors."
    "Such as appeals to the government for clemency, offworlders who might wish to protest the circumstances of your sentencing, possibly even stays of execution," King added.
    Goodnight stared to stomp out.
    But he saw the tiny sideways movement of Baldur's head.
    "All right." What did he have to lose, and besides, this'd make a good story for the other doomed ones.
    He went to the pass-through.
    Baldur opened the cover, put in the document, took an ornate, metal-worked pen from his pocket and set it on top of the ream of paper, just as King was seized with a spasm of coughing.
    Both men turned to her, concerned.
    "Are you all right?" Goodnight asked.
    "Just� just a bit of an allergy," she managed. "I'm not used to Tormal's air yet."
    Baldur patted her, while Goodnight wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her.
    Baldur waited for the pass-through to cycle, but nothing happened.
    He swiveled, looked up at one of the eyes.
    "Well?"
    There was a click, and the pass-through carried its cargo through to Goodnight's side.
    Goodnight started to pick up the document, but, as his hand moved underneath it, he felt something. Something that felt most familiar, something that definitely shouldn't be there, absolutely shouldn't be provided by a Prisoners Aid representative, unless said representative was working to the extreme limits of his job description.
    Two fingers curled the bester battery into his palm, and he picked up the pen atop the document.
    Taking it out, he slipped, and dropped the sheaf of papers.
    By the time he scrabbled them up, the battery was safely tucked in a turned-up cuff of his prison coverall.
    "Well," he said, voice suddenly oozing friendship, as he began signing and initialing pages, "I'm sorry if I was less than polite when you came in. I sincerely hope that this won't be the first of your visits."
    "As do we," King said, taking out another form. "Next we have some questions I hope you won't mind answering. First, is your cell comfortably located?"
    Her last word was slightly