Executions and executioners -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
The Master Screen went dead. Tony blinked. Bill of divorcement. Will
have to marry again in the morning as outlined under Congressional Act.
By God, that's progress for you! He sat staring at the Master Screen
for a long time.
Then he sighed, punched the button on Supplies and Control.
"Hell-hips!" he growled. "Snap it up. Execution at one-twenty-seven.
Bill of divorcement."
The narrow face peered sourly out at him from the Master Screen. It
didn't have much emotion in it now. It was almost blank, like the face
of a humanoid robot somebody'd left something out of.
"Been hittin' the bottle again, huh?" said Tony.
"My name is Clacker, _Mr._ Radek. Arthur Jared Clacker. Kindly keep
that in mind when you address me."
"Sure, sure. Nice name. Lovely name. Sounds like a stone-boat going
over ground glass. Whip up that bill of divorcement."
"It's ready, _Mr._ Radek. _Been_ ready for the last half hour.
I suggest that if there were a little of my own well known and
demonstrated efficiency in _your_ office, perhaps Executions would
be something to be proud of. Instead of what it is. Instead of the
foul-smelling, sloppily run, lice-infested...."
Tony's hand reached out for the button on Supplies and Control. "Watch
those lights," he said tiredly.
* * * * *
He got up from the desk, stretched a little and went across the office
to the cooler in the opposite wall. His feet made no noise; he had that
quiet tread that all cats, a few men and some women achieve. His hand
interrupted the automatic cellgard and a tiny, almost hidden door in
the wall swung wide. He reached up, poked his hand in the cooler, felt
around. A little smile came into his eyes. He took his hand out of the
cooler, got up on tiptoes and looked inside. No roses. Not even one
rose.
Not even _half_ of a rose.
Chuckling, he went back to the desk and jabbed a finger at the button
over Supplies and Control.
"Hell-hips!" he rapped. "Where's all that well known and demonstrated
efficiency I've had to rake out of my ears?"
The narrow face lit up the Master Screen once more. It looked bored
now. "_Mr._ Radek, there was something?"
"Yeah. Something." Tony's voice dropped, got deadly soft. "How many
weeks since you checked the cooler, boy? There aren't any ritual roses."
"There--there aren't any?"
"That's right, Mr. Clacker. Now get away from that screen. I'm
reporting this to Central Direction." His finger jammed down on the
Supplies and Control button. He watched the Master Screen go blank and
grinned. He thought, "Shake a little, Mr. Clacker, shake a little,"
because he didn't dare even whisper to himself.
He sat down at the desk again and thought of something. His finger went
out, touched the button on the screen on the left--the _Portal Waiting_
screen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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