A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born

"A different gas, thank you kindly," I said to no one in particular as I opened my eyes wide.

A small room, curved metal walls, a narrow bunk under me. Even if my last sight had not been of the hovering spacer, I should have been able to figure this one out. They . had taken me aboard. But where were all my groats? I looked around rapidly, but they were certainly not in sight. The rapid movements of my head had brought on an attack of dizziness so that I fell back onto the bunk and groaned in loud self-pity.

"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..