Maria laughed, a silvery ripple that made the young man grit his teeth. "Maybe he's jealous," she suggested. "Or bored. What do you fellows have to do, anyway, except go around handing out cell work and picking it up?" "There is no place on Greenhaven for idle hands," said the young man, eyeing the untouched sewing with disapproval. "Isn't there ever any excitement? How often does someone try to escape?" "It is forbidden to escape," said the guard soberly. He looked as if he wished that he himself could escape. Heavy steps halted outside the door of the cell to signal the arrival of the chief warden. The latter turned a severely inquiring stare upon the young man, who hastily stepped aside to admit his chief. "Have you been conversing with the prisoner?" asked the older man. He was clad in a similar uniform with, perhaps, a slightly higher collar. His dark-browed features reflected greater age and asceticism. Otherwise, Maria thought ruefully, there was little to choose between them. He seemed to have a chilling effect upon the guard. "Only in the line of duty, sir," the young man responded. The warden spotted the basket of undone work. He frowned. "This should have been attended to long ago," he said. "What excuse can there be?" Maria planted both hands on her hips. "Plenty!" she announced. "In the first place, you have no right to hold a Terran citizen in a hole like this. In the second, that ridiculous five year sentence is going to be appealed and cancelled as soon as the Terran consul gets things moving." "That is at least doubtful," retorted the warden, favoring her with a wintry smile which raised the corners of his mouth an eighth of an inch. "Meanwhile, there are methods we can use to enforce obedience. Would you rather I summon some of the women of the staff?" "I'd rather you'd explain to me what was so awful about trying to buy a picture of the city in that little shop? If they weren't for tourists to buy, why did they have them?" "Such nonsensical objects are provided for tourists and others who must from time to time be admitted to Greenhaven. That does not excuse flouting our laws and seeking to cause dissatisfaction through the example of bribery. The city of First Haven has been wrung from the wilderness, but the struggle to complete our building of the colony must not be hindered or subverted. It is necessary--" "Aw, hell! You talk like a book too!" exclaimed Maria. The two men stared at her, silent, wide-eyed, utterly shocked at this open evidence of dementia. "The price list is sacred to you," she snapped, "but it's all right to put that junk on sale to clip the tourists, isn't it? Why doesn't that strike you as being immoral? They're no good, but their money is, is that it?" She turned and stalked back to the shelf-bed, where she sat down and deliberately crossed her legs.