She frowned. ?I think you’re in for a long wait.? 67

Later Clemens showed her the assembly hall, pointing out inconsequential he thought she might find of interest. Eventually they sat, alone in the spacious room. Prisoner Martin quietly swept up nearby.

?How much of the story of this place do you know??

?What you’ve told me. What Andrews said. A little that I heard from some of the prisoners.?

?Yeah, I saw you talking to Dillon.?He poured himself a short whiskey from the metal flask he carried. The distant ceiling loomed above them, four stories high.

?It’s pretty interesting, from a psychosocial point of view. Dillon and the rest of them got religion, so to speak, about five years ago.?

?What kind of religion??

Clemens sipped at his liquor. ?I don’t know. Hard to say. Some sort of millenarian apocalyptic Christian fundamentalist brew.? 68

?Ummmm.?

?Exactly. The point is that when the Company wanted to close down this facility, Dillon and the rest of the converts wanted to stay. The Company knows a good thing when it sees it. So they were allowed to remain as custodians, with two minders and a medical officer.? He gestured at the deserted assembly hall. ?And here we are.

?It’s not so bad. Nobody checks on us, nobody bothers us. Regular supply drops from passing ships take care of the essentials. Anything we can scavenge we’re allowed to make use of, and the company pays the men minimal caretaker wages while they do their time, which is a damn sight better than what a prisoner earns doing prison work Earthside.

?For comfort the men have view-and-read chips and their private religion. There’s plenty to eat, even if it does tend to get monotonous; the water’s decent, and so long as you shave regular, the bugs don’t bother you. There are few inimical native life-forms and they can’t get into the installation. If the weather was better, it would almost be pleasant.?

She looked thoughtful as she sipped at her drink. ?What about you? How did you happen to get this great assignment??

He held his cup between his fingers, twirling it back and forth, side to side. ?I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but it’s actually much nicer than my previous posting. I like being left alone. I like being ignored. This is a good place for that. Unless somebody needs attention or gets hurt, which happens a lot less than you might think, my time here is pretty much my own. I can sit and read, watch a viewer, explore the complex, or go into a holding room and scream my head off.?He smiled winningly. ?It’s a 69

69

helluva lot better than having some sadistic guard or whiny prisoner always on your case.?He gestured at her bald pate.

?How do you like your haircut??