Myth 13 - Myth Alliances Asprin, Robert (top 100 novels .TXT) 📖

“I wish I could pitch all of you into a bottomless pit, but I am required to follow the rule of law.”

“Pitch us! It'd be better than spending another night in your pokey! I've been more comfortable in college dormi?tories!”

“Perverts,” the judge muttered.

“Pervects,” Vergetta corrected him. “We have a right to be addressed properly, your honor.”

“I'm not sure the word doesn't apply,” Domari retorted. “I've heard some ugly things about Perverts.”

“It's an ugly universe,” Vergetta replied philosophically. “You don't want us staying here, judge. Look at the condi?tion of your jail. And if we can slip in and out of here with?out detection, well, you can't keep us here against our will.”

That statement made the judge even more nervous. “Then why are you still here?”

“Because we want to reassure you that we're law-​abiding beings. You've heard a lot of other things about Pervects, right? Don't tell me you haven't. I can tell by your face. Let's come to some kind of agreement. I know you'd really like to settle this. So would we.”

Senior Domari picked up his stack of papers and began to straighten them again. Vergetta knew she shouldn't ha?rass him any more. The poor boy was at the end of his pa?tience, but so was she. She had too many questions, and no one knew the answers. Who were the two Pervects that had been spotted running away last night? Niki and Caitlin wouldn't have run away if you'd shoved a basilisk in their faces. She hoped they hadn't tried a stupid rescue. Then-​job was to stay on Wuh and keep the stupid sheep from bankrupting all of them in her absence. But who was re?sponsible for landing them in jail in the first place? Who was out to destroy their reputation? Who had come in, un?provoked, and messed up their deal so their harmless little toy was considered to be the most dangerous thing since the do-​it-​yourself landmine kit?

The most puzzling thing was how a Klahd had gotten a hold of a pair of their goggles. It had turned up in the cell that had been vacated by the only real jailbreak. Moms-​hone assured her that no units had ever gone to Deva or Klah. Paldine had been convinced at first that someone had

created a knockoff and was planning to steal their market, but this pair was one of theirs.

“I must ask you again, er, ladies, which two of you led the patrol on a merry chase all over town early this morn?ing, and then broke into the jail again. And why?”

None of them knew the answer to that question, but the Ten would be damned if they would let an outsider know they didn't know.

“Just a demonstration, your honor,” Vergetta offered, a broad grin breaking out over her face.

“A demonstration?” Domari echoed.

“Of course! We're demons, right? So ... never mind,” she averted the subject hastily, when the judge showed no signs of getting the joke.

The others glanced at her, but she gave them a hasty wave as if to say, Leave the talking to me, girls. We can use this.

“Look, your little prison might hold Scammies, and it ought to hold scam-​mers, if you understand what I'm saying, but I'd like to point out that you couldn't keep a Klahd wiz?ard behind bars for even one night, and believe me when I tell you darlink, that after another night or so those walls aren't going to hold us any longer. And look at the evidence: we can come and go as we please. So why don't you just let us leave? I promise you from the bottom of my heart, that when we go you will never see any of us again. Ever.”

The judge looked genuinely tempted. Vergetta could tell that she was beginning to get through to him. She hoped so; it had been an exhausting time, staying up all night bashing at the walls. She wasn't as young as she used to be. It was one thing for young Charilor, who went out partying for a week, then could come home fresh as a daisy and beat up a neighboring army, but for the older folks it was tougher. She hoped the judge's resolve wasn't as durable.

Domari cleared his throat. "It's ... just not that simple, madam. There's the matter of the psychological harm that you may have caused to the population. When you have an

expert of the magnitude of Zol Icty himself condemning your device, it becomes quite a serious situation. So many of our fine people have required virtual deprogramming to return to their normal lives ..."

“Psychobabble!” Oshleen protested.

“Psycho-​what?”

The slender Pervect rose to her feet, giving a raised eye?brow to Vergetta. The elder female handed off the talking stick without protest. Oshleen had obviously come up with a good wrinkle on her own.

“It's nonsense. It's clear that he has no faith at all in your citizenry. In their mental resilience. I mean, look at the wonderful device Ñyou admitted that you tried it and enjoyed it yourself. How could we, as honest merchants, have believed you could not tell the difference between fantasy and reality? You're smarter than that,” she added, in her most persuasive voice. Oshleen undulated forward, as far as her chains would let her. “He's the one you ought to arrest.”

“I... I can't do that.” But Oshleen had gotten him so confused that he didn't know what to