Well, after partially-collapsing the base's ceiling on a bunch of workers, Gris starts to feel less than welcome at the hangar and decides to go get dinner. But his delicious dish of cerkez tavugu ("boiled chicken, Circassian style, with a sauce of crushed walnuts and red pepper") is interrupted by a buzz from Faht Bey reminding Gris that he promised to have a conference with the angry mob to discuss Dr. Crobe's fate. They're all in favor of feeding the doctor to a "disintegrator bin," but Gris knows that Crobe is a "very valuable asset in any Apparatus operation" (even though he randomly attacks coworkers for surprise dissections) who might become vital in the future, because remember, "Heller was very sneaky and he might recover or get lucky and then my neck would be out." And who better to counter a young, strong commando than an old, insane doctor?
So Gris meets with the "conference" of pirates and political officers, which quickly votes for death, but when Gris protests they ask if he's going to enter a "plea of responsibility." See, Voltar has this thing where you can take full responsibility for a condemned prisoner and afterwards "have them," I guess as a servant or something? This is how the Apparatus finds its "executed" prisoners, apparently, not by anything as underhanded as smuggling them out at night or faking their deaths or simply disappearing people. Nope, it's all nice and legal. The catch is, if the former prisoner subsequently commits a crime, the person who took responsibility for him shares the punishment, up to and including execution.
You might be wondering at this point why the Apparatus would use this strange legislation to endanger itself by taking responsibility for hardened criminals. Stop thinking. The important thing is that Gris is now officially responsible for the behavior of Dr. Crobe, with his life on the line if the doctor does something especially heinous. The law is drafted as the plot requires.
Without letting Gris answer their question, the angry mob decides that Dr. Crobe will probably commit some crime and allow them to execute Gris. Then they vote to confirm that Gris is now the claimant of Dr. Crobe. They leave before Gris can actually say anything. But what can Gris do, really? It's all legal. And the Apparatus is of course known for always following the law.
Oh, what cunning (bleepards) they were! The probability of Doctor Crobe doing something else was an absolute certainty. I knew the man! What a murderous revenge that Assassin pilot had taken. This could get me killed very dead in the most legal possible way. And right when I was in triumph everywhere. Low blow.
Crobe crouched there eyeing [sic] me with his glittery black eyes, probably wondering what to turn me into. I hoped it wasn't a spider. I dislike spiders.
At least Crobe wasn't eyeing Gris with his nose.
Gris has sudden "INSPIRATION!" and uses a safety line to tie up Crobe - yeah, the doctor doesn't react at all, much less resist or anything. Then Gris runs to his room to take out fifty thousand lira and talks to a construction superintendent about setting up a cell for Crobe. We get over a page's worth of description for Gris' master dungeon, but the short version is: bulletproof door with window, sci-fi dumbwaiter, bookshelves so Crobe can keep reading about psychology, a toilet and running water ("though I suspected Crobe would never touch it"), and a bed with clamps to pin down the doctor if he lies down to take a nap.
Yes, this is better than just shooting Crobe to ensure that he can never endanger Gris by committing a crime. Remember, Gris needs Crobe for his vague, half-assed plans.
Gris is told that the cell will take four days to build (and a lot of lira, but how could Gris possibly use up all his money?), and with no other option sticks a tied-up Crobe in an empty cell.
And amidst the buzzing of drills and the clang of metal in the cell block, for the next four days I stayed right there and guarded Crobe.
Oh, the arduousness of duty in the Apparatus!
All he did for four whole days was lie in his lashings and glare.
Note that at no point do Gris and Crobe try to communicate with each other.
In conclusion, the main plot has once again completely stalled, so Hubbard has pulled another subplot out of his backside and made Crobe's behavior a matter of life and death for Gris. Just another twist in the roller coaster that is Mission Earth.
Back to Chapter Two
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